What is the difference between male and female koalas

Share on twitter. Share on pinterest. Share on whatsapp. Share on email. Latest News. Climate Change. Upcoming Events. Related Posts. Wendy Stiles Photography. Quick Contact. Full Name. The Foundation. Contact Us. Facebook Instagram. Male Koalas broadcast their availability in breeding season — October to March. Their voice travels far, and clucky females make their travel plans to the deepest voice in the land.

Induced ovulation — egg release after sex — is not uncommon. Cats, rabbits and camels do it too. They do it all in a rush, once a year, when sex is had and pregnancy is likely. Imagine all that tension bottled up into one insane week per year.

An analogy: All year a lady Koala will sit in her house as a happy single mother in her sweatpants, eating, watching TV and playing with her kid. But then October comes around, the weather improves, and the males start to sing to her. It awakens something. For another month she stays in her sweatpants watching TV, but she starts to think about doing her hair and going to the gym.

By December she is fit and fine and ready for the town. She packs her bags and goes on a little sex holiday. She can walk many kilometres. She goes straight to the house of the male she wants, sets herself up in the spare room and waits. This allows the Koala to grip more securely.

Distinctive parallel Koala scratch marks on tree trunks are due to this particular characteristic. On the hind paw, there is no claw on the biggest digit, which is opposable to the others for gripping. The second and third digits are fused together to form a double-clawed digit which is used for grooming purposes, such as for removing ticks.

Above Left: Front Paws. Photo: Phillip Wright. The fur varies in colour from light grey to brown. Koalas in the south generally tend to have fur which is darker and thicker and sometimes browner than those in the north. These variations are gradual changes from north to south, and there are some differences of opinion amongst scientists as to whether the variations mean that there are separate sub-species of the koala.

Koalas have patches of white fur inside the ears, on their chin, chest and neck, inside the front limbs and sometimes on the back of the hind limbs, and usually in patches on their rump. Mature males are recognisable by the brown scent gland in the centre of their chest which they rub on the tree trunks to deter other Koalas, especially other males, from entering their home trees. Koalas in the south of Australia are considerably larger and have thicker, often browner fur than those in the north.

These are likely to be adaptations to the colder winters in the south of the country. Koalas rely on their highly developed sense of smell to differentiate levels of toxins in eucalyptus leaves , to detect the levels of toxicity in the leaves at any particular time. However, on the other hand the average weights of the female Koalas are around 6 to 9 Kilograms. The maximum weights for the male Koalas belonging to the Victorian territory of Australia are around 16 to 18 Kilograms.

Females can gain a weight of around 10 to 12 at maximum. The minimum weights for the male Kolas belonging to the Queensland territory will have 10 Kilograms for males and 7 kilograms for the female Koalas. The average weights of the Male Koalas belonging to the Queensland territory are around 12 Kilograms.