Trivia question for Jun-24-2011

Olivia loves these guys over all other animals, but if you ask her what her most favorite animal is, she will simply say “all of them”… she doesn’t want any of them to have their feelings hurt 😉

The Koala is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. The koala is found in coastal regions of eastern and southern Australia, from Adelaide to the southern part of Cape York Peninsula. Populations also extend for considerable distances inland in regions with enough moisture to support suitable woodlands. The koalas of South Australia were largely exterminated during the early part of the 20th century, but the state has since been repopulated with Victorian stock. The koala is not found in Tasmania or Western Australia.

So here are Olivia’s questions:  We all know this is a Koala but can you tell us what their name means in the Aboriginal language?  Also, since they have no sweat glands, tell us how they cool themselves?  Finally, as the baby Koala starts to grow, it partakes in a feeding process called ‘cecal feeding’ for about a month, tell us why it is important for the baby to undergo this process?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Well, Olivia did it again.  We got lots of comments but no one came up with the correct answers.  We got some very creative guesses on what their name means though.  Obviously, we featured the Koala.

The name Koala means ‘No Drink’ in a number of Aboriginal languages due to the fact that they can stay up in trees for days and get all of their hydration from the eucalyptus leaves.  Like Kangaroos, these guys have no sweat glands, so they lick their arms repeatedly to cool themselves.

Between suckling and eating hard eucalyptus leaves, the young koala feeds from another source.  It emerges from the pouch and for about one month, eats predigested, bacteria-laden leaf material passed from the mother’s cecum (part of the gut) to her anus.  The method called cecal feeding, arms the young’s own cecum with bacteria it will need to help digest eucalyptus leaves. “BON APPETIT” Here is more on these cuddly little guys.  Koala’s

Thanks for playing along 😉