Future Creatures / koalas

Koalas live eastern Australia in the eucalyptus forest . Koalas have a diet of eucalypt leaves and a few other related tree species including lophostemon , melaleuca and corymbia species (such as brush box, paperbark and bloodwood trees). In the wild, koalas get water from plant leaves they eat but they also get it from water running down the side of tree trunks during rainfalls. Koalas survive on a diet of eucalyptus leaves and can eat up to a kilogram a day! Pretty impressive, considering eucalyptus is poisonous to most animals. Their special fibre digesting organ, called a caecum, helps to detoxify the chemicals in the leaves. Increasing atmospheric CO2 levels will reduce the nutritional quality of Eucalyptus leaves, causing nutrient shortages in the species that forage on them. As a result, Koalas may no longer be able to meet their nutritional demands, resulting in malnutrition and starvation