Koalas

Koalas

Koalas
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 3 to 6
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	6.74

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		digestive, droppings, leans, mating, opening, territorial, cases, grunt, poisonous, male, birth, doing, stage, several, certain, cute
	content words:		Eastern Australia

Print Koalas
edHelper.com subscriber options:

	Print Koalas (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)
	Quickly print reading comprehension
	Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on Koalas

Leave your feedback on Koalas (use this link if you found an error in the story)

Koalas

¹     Koalas are cute, furry mammals living in the forests of Eastern Australia. They like to make eucalyptus trees their homes. They belong to a group called "marsupials." Marsupials share one common feature - they give birth to their baby at a very early stage, and the young grow and complete their development inside their mother's pouch. Other than koalas, kangaroos and wombats are also marsupials.

²     Koalas are territorial animals. They mark their home ranges by leaving their scent or scratching eucalyptus trees with their sharp claws. Their home ranges cover about 15 to 20 eucalyptus trees. Koalas are true tree lovers - they rarely come down from a tree. When they want to move from one tree to another, they simply jump! They only climb down when the distance between two trees is too far or when they need to find a mate. What are koalas doing everyday on the trees? They spend as many as 20 hours a day sleeping and the rest climbing trees, eating, or looking after their babies.

³     Koalas are inactive because their diet gives them very little energy. Koalas' favorite food is eucalyptus leaves. Even though there are over 600 types of eucalyptus trees in Australia, a koala eats the leaves of only 2 or 3 kinds. Interestingly, eucalyptus leaves are so poisonous that they can kill most animals. Thanks to their sense of smell and a special digestive system, koalas have no problem eating eucalyptus leaves. Koalas sniff a eucalyptus leaf first before eating it. They do so to be certain that this leaf is from their preferred types of eucalyptus trees. Koalas' digestive system has a special function to take the poisons out of eucalyptus leaves so that they will not get sick. Koalas rarely drink water. In fact, the word "koala" means "no drink" in several Australian aboriginal languages. Do koalas really not drink water? No, koalas drink water by absorbing moisture from the leaves or by sipping raindrops on the leaves.

Paragraphs 4 to 5:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

Copyright © 2008 edHelper