| About
the girl koala...
How
nice to be a female koala! It seems that the birthing process is
a breeze for the mama koala. The gestation period for her little
one is from 34-35 days. After that the infant (which is approximately
the size of a jelly bean) makes her way down the birth canal and
out of mama totally unassisted. From there, she crawls up to and
into mama's pouch where she remains and feeds for 180 days. At six
months old baby koala makes her first appearance and by 250 days
she rides on mama's back for the first time. By eleven months of
age, the independent young koala becomes a tiny marsupial in her
own right. She still stays close to mama but can exist on her own
and can begin taking tiny journeys. You go, girl!
P.S. In case you're wondering,
the birthing process is the same for boy koalas but I think they
don't like to journey solo as much as the little girls do.
(Source: Evelyn Hannon, JW Files) |