Why don't koalas live outside Australia?

Answer 1

Like many Australian animals koalas are stuck on the continent.

Long ago Australia was not a continent, but actually connected to the rest of the world. Some creatures wandered into the area, after thousands of years the area separated, and became a separate continent.

Answer 2

Koalas do not live outside Australia because they are specialist feeders, relying on certain species of eucalyptus trees which are native to Australia alone.

Koalas live in eucalyptus trees and eat only a few types of gum leaves from which they get all nutrients and water requirements. Eucalyptus leaves are tough, toxic and low in nutrition, but the koala's digestive system is capable of removing the toxins, filtering them out by the liver. The caecum completes the process by changing the eucalyptus leaves into digestible nutrients. The caecum is similar to the human appendix.

While there are hundreds of different eucalyptus species in Australia, koalas eat from only about 60 of the species, consuming about half a kilogram of eucalyptus leaves every day. Koalas will not eat all types of eucalyptus, feeding on just 14 species as their primary food source, specifically, the subgenus Symphyomyrphus. These trees are simply not native to anywhere outside of Australia.

Answer 3

koalas live in Australia because they eat eucalyptus and Australia is heavily populated with eucalyptus trees.

Answer 4

Koalas live in where they do because that is where their food is.