Table of Contents
Do koalas eat their moms poop?
Baby koalas, called joeys, eat their mothers’ poop. For the first six months or so after they’re born, they drink milk from a teat in their mom’s pouch. The pap helps the baby grow, and is full of the mom’s gut bacteria, which could help prepare the joey for its adult diet of eucalyptus leaves.
What is a koala’s diet?
Diet. Koalas eat a variety of eucalypt leaves and a few other related tree species, including lophostemon, melaleuca and corymbia species (such as brush box, paperbark and bloodwood trees).
Why do koala joeys eat pap?
Koala joeys eat ‘pap’ – a special substance produced by their mother that looks like poo and acts like a probiotic. It contains gut flora that the joey needs to process eucalyptus leaves. Pap is absolutely essential to a koala’s health.
Why do koalas need to eat the PAP?
Pap is a specialised form of the mother’s droppings which, having passed through her digestive system, give the joey the enzymes it needs to be able to start digesting the tough gum leaves. Without feeding on the pap, young joeys cannot digest eucalyptus leaves in the future, and they will die.
What kind of food does a koala eat?
Pap is the first solid food eaten by the koala joeys and it serves as the transitional diet of the koala joeys from their mother’s milk to the solid diet of Eucalyptus leaves. Despite the fact that pap is said to be the solid food for the joeys, pap is almost 80% water. Pap appears as the jelly-like substance that is dark green in color.
How much Eucalyptus does a koala need to eat a day?
Bacteria in koala’s stomach break down the poisonous oils in the leaves so they do not harm the koala. The koala must eat between 1 and 1.5 pound (454 and 680 grams) of eucalyptus leaves a day to provide it with enough nutrition to survive.
Where do koala Joeys get their pap from?
Pap is usually collected from their hindguts and is sent to the animal sanctuaries for the orphaned koalas across Australia. Many orphaned koala joeys are given pap from another mother koala which feeds pap to its joeys. Photo courtesy of Liger Zoos