Archer the Koala: The Cutest Joey at Featherdale

Meet Archer, a koala joey living at the Featherdale Wildlife Park in Sydney, Australia. Keepers there hand-raised him after they saw that he was not growing like other joeys his age.

The video above is “Archer the Koala loves his treats,” from the Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park channel on YouTube. Featherdale’s page about Archer says, “Follow Archer on Facebook at Facebook/archerthekoala.”

Archer’s Tough Start

Featherdale’s page says that in June 2014, when Archer weighed just 300 grams, keepers became concerned that he “wasn’t thriving like other Koala joeys his age.” The park’s General Park Curator, Chad Staples, said: “With the arrival of cold weather, we were worried that mum, Chloe wasn’t taking great care of her joey as she normally would.” He added, “In the end, we made the tough decision to remove Archer from his mum and hand-raise him in order to give him the greatest chance of survival.”

Staples said the keepers were not sure why Archer was not thriving: “Chloe has raised joeys before and is normally a great mum but it could be that her milk production dried up.” On a special koala milk formula, Archer “has already put on 100 grams and is now starting to eat eucalyptus leaves,” according to the page.

How Archer Grew Up

Featherdale’s page lists a few steps in Archer’s first months. Archer’s weigh-in on September 26, the page says, “heralded another giant milestone” when he reached 1 kg, and he was “still smaller than other Koalas his age.” In August, Archer “first started spending nights on his own at the Park and enjoyed his first play date with another Koala joey his age and his half sister, ‘Ghera’.”

Keepers brought him back to the koalas slowly. The page says, “During hand-raising, it is easy for animals to forget how to be an animal as they grow and bond with their human carers.” The keepers “made sure to slowly reintroduce Archer to other Koalas so that he could learn how to be a Koala again, climb trees, forage for leaves and interact with other Koalas.” Archer then spent his days “with other young Koalas in Featherdale’s Koala Sanctuary and loves climbing to the highest branch in the enclosure.”

The page also names his best friend, Aria. The two koalas were “inseparable and can be seen chasing each other around their enclosure in Featherdale’s Koala Sanctuary.”

Where Koalas Live

Featherdale lists koalas as native to Australia. The Queensland Government says koalas “live over a range of open forest and woodland communities but ultimately their habitat is defined by the presence of a select group of food trees.” Koalas are found across a variety of regions: the same page says their distribution “covers much of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and a small area in South Australia.”

The Queensland page also says, “Fossil records indicate that many years ago, the koala inhabited parts of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. There are no fossil records of koalas ever living in Tasmania.”

Built For Climbing

The Queensland Government says koalas “have strong arms, powerful legs and sharp claws suitable for climbing trees.” They “have two opposable thumbs on their fore paws, allowing them a better grip.” Their bottoms are “particularly hard,” which “enables them to wedge comfortably in tree forks for long periods of time.”

On the ground, the page says, koalas “walk slowly as they are poorly adapted to walking on the ground,” though when disturbed they “can break into a bounding gallop, moving at speeds of up to 30km per hour.” It describes their senses this way: “Koalas have poor vision and rely heavily on their other senses. They have excellent hearing which helps them detect predators and other koalas. They have an acute sense of smell which also helps them detect other koalas and their favourite food trees.”

How Big A Koala Is

Size depends on where a koala lives. The Queensland page says, “Queensland’s adult female koalas on average weigh between 5 and 6kg and adult males weigh between 6 and 8kg, compared to Victoria’s adult female koalas with an average weight of 8.5kg and adult males 12kg.” Featherdale says, “Males can weigh up to 14kgs, and females up to 10kgs.” The Australian Museum’s fast facts list a size range of 68-82 cm.

What Koalas Eat And Drink

The Queensland Government says koalas “eat a variety of eucalypt leaves and a few other related tree species, including lophostemon, melaleuca and corymbia species (such as brush box, paperbark and bloodwood trees).” The Australian Museum describes the diet as the leaves of certain eucalypts “as well as some flowers and stems.”

The Queensland page says koalas “consume around 500 grams of leaves each day,” so a koala eats about 500g of leaf per day. A review of feeding and diet selection in koalas in the Australian Journal of Zoology, by Moore and Foley, says that an answer to what makes good food for koalas “must define the dietary niche of koalas, describe how much koalas eat and also consider variation in food choice by koalas at several scales.”

Water comes from the leaves. The Queensland page says koalas “obtain most of their water requirements from the leaves, which can contain up to 50% water,” and that this removes the need to climb down for a drink “except during very hot or dry periods.” Featherdale says koalas “rarely drink water” and that in times of drought or bushfire, “Koalas have been known to drink large amounts of water.”

The Queensland Government says eucalypt leaves “contain many toxic compounds similar to that of cyanide, which most animals cannot eat,” and that koalas “are able to break down the toxic oils using a specialised digestive system.” It says the leaves “are ground into a paste by the koala’s heavily ridged molars,” and “The residue is then broken down by specialised bacteria in an elongated, coiled sac (the caecum).” The leaves are also “very low in energy comprising only 5% sugars and starches on average.”

Why Koalas Sleep So Much

The Queensland Government says koalas “can sleep for up to 20 hours a day, due to their low energy diet, and the intense amount of energy required to break down toxic leaves.” Featherdale says koalas sleep for 18-20 hours a day and wake mostly at night. It also says, “Many people believe that Koalas are drunk or ‘high’. Eucalyptus leaves do not make them drunk or high, but instead provide a minimal amount of energy.”

Koalas are “mostly active at night (nocturnal) and around dawn and dusk,” the Queensland page says, but “can be seen moving during the day if they are disturbed, get too hot or cold, or need to find a new tree.”

Koala Joeys And Pap

Featherdale lists a baby koala’s name as joey. The Queensland page says that after a gestation of 35 days, a female “gives birth to a single joey,” that twins are “quite rare,” and that births usually happen from November to February. It says, “The young stays in the pouch for the next six months before emerging for the first time. The joey will then spend between six and 12 months riding on its mother’s back.” Featherdale says joeys “will develop in the mother’s pouch for 7 months.” Featherdale describes a newborn as a “jellybean-sized joey.”

Joeys also eat pap. The Queensland page says, “Koalas are not born with this bacteria in their system and need to acquire it from their mother when they are young. The mother passes on this bacteria by excreting a sticky runny faecal substance called ‘pap’, which the young ingests instinctively.” Featherdale’s page on Archer says pap is “a rich source of protein and essential micro-organisms which help Koalas digest the toxic eucalyptus leaves which make up their diet.”

Threats To Koalas

The Queensland Government page says, “In February 2022 the status of the koala has recently been changed from vulnerable to endangered. The change in status means an increased level of protection for koalas in Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.”

Featherdale lists these reasons koalas are endangered: low genetic diversity, inbreeding, habitat destruction, predation by feral cats, foxes and dogs, road fatalities, and chlamydia. The Queensland page says, “Local extinctions have occurred due to clearing and fragmentation of eucalypt woodlands and forests for agriculture and human settlement.”

On disease, the Queensland page says chlamydia “is a bacterial infection affecting many koalas in South East Queensland” that “can cause blindness and reproductive tract disease which may render a female infertile.” A 29-year study of koala sightings and clinical care admissions in New South Wales, from 1989 to 2018, covered 12,543 records at Port Stephens, Port Macquarie, and Lismore. Its authors, Charalambous and Narayan, wrote that “the most common prognosis was disease, the most common disease was signs of chlamydia, and the most common outcome was release.” The paper says habitat fragmentation and bushfires “have ultimately contributed to the decline of the koala all over Australia,” and it names “vehicle collisions and dog-attacks” among the pressures that grow with human population in metropolitan zones.

Are you an animal lover? Learn more about cute endangered animals and how you can contribute to saving them in this article. Alternatively, you can also check out and buy some of our cute rescue shirts. A fourth of our proceeds go to animal shelters!

FAQ

Are koalas bears?

Featherdale says koalas are often mistakenly called the “Koala Bear.” It says, “Koalas are not a bear, but are in fact a marsupial.” The Queensland Government says koalas have been classified into their own family, Phascolarctidae, and that wombats are their closest living relatives.

How long do koalas live?

Featherdale says koalas have “a lifespan of 12-15 years in captivity, and 8-10 years in the wild.” The Queensland Government says, “On average, koalas live for 10 to 12 years of age in the wild.” It adds that females “may live as long as 18 years.”

What is the cutest koala in the world?

Cuteness is a matter of opinion. Featherdale’s curator, Chad Staples, said of Archer, “Archer is pretty special. I have to admit that I’m totally smitten, who wouldn’t be!”

Do koalas live in groups?

The Queensland Government says, “Koalas are solitary animals living within a network of overlapping home ranges, which allows contact between individuals for mating.” Featherdale lists the group name for koalas as a colony.

Sources

• Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park, Archer the Koala (original page: featherdale.com.au/archer-the-koala/)
• Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park, Koala (original page: featherdale.com.au/animal/koala/)
• Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park on YouTube, Archer the Koala loves his treats
• Queensland Government, Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation, Koala facts (original page: environment.des.qld.gov.au/wildlife/animals/living-with/koalas/facts)
• The Australian Museum, Koala
• Charalambous R, Narayan E (2020), A 29-year retrospective analysis of koala rescues in New South Wales, Australia, PLoS ONE
• Moore BD, Foley WJ (2000), A review of feeding and diet selection in koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus), Australian Journal of Zoology 48(3), 317-333