Mist is the colony matriarch - while I don't know how old she is, the earliest photos I have of her were as a mature mum with back young in 2012. Thank you for the many thoughtful comments on my photos
@365karly1@kchuk@hermann@beryl@vignouse@happysnaps
oh thanks for those great questions!
Firstly females usually reach sexual maturity around 2 years old. Pregnancy is 35 days, then the tiny pinky about the size of a jelly bean is born and crawls up into her pouch for 6 months drinking mums milk.
In the wild the average life expectancy is around 10 - 14 years. I've seen a male that made it to 19 years old, and females usually live a little longer the males.
Having said this - a large proportion of male koalas are killed before they reach 4 years old because they are roaming to find habitat they can call their own because males are very territorial.
I can safely guess that Mist is at least 9 years old.
Greta hasn't been on the property much at all the past year but we know she is 11 -12 years old because we had her to the vet and we could examine her teeth and age her. She had a huge healthy joey last year and was looking very well.
@lanikyea that's a great question - what we have found is that sick koalas can display irritated areas, particularly on the ears that are probably from biting insects. While I do see insects buzzing around the koalas at times, I've never seen them having any undue issues with insects if they are healthy. They do tend to sleep with their faces well tucked in and maybe this is one of the reasons :)
oh thanks for those great questions!
Firstly females usually reach sexual maturity around 2 years old. Pregnancy is 35 days, then the tiny pinky about the size of a jelly bean is born and crawls up into her pouch for 6 months drinking mums milk.
In the wild the average life expectancy is around 10 - 14 years. I've seen a male that made it to 19 years old, and females usually live a little longer the males.
Having said this - a large proportion of male koalas are killed before they reach 4 years old because they are roaming to find habitat they can call their own because males are very territorial.
I can safely guess that Mist is at least 9 years old.
Greta hasn't been on the property much at all the past year but we know she is 11 -12 years old because we had her to the vet and we could examine her teeth and age her. She had a huge healthy joey last year and was looking very well.
I like how she is sitting in the fork of the gum tree.