Save the Koala Day Date in the current year: September 27, 2024

The koala, sometimes inaccurately called koala bear, is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to coastal areas of eastern and southern Australia. Koalas can be found in the states of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, and Victoria. Although koalas resemble bears, the two animals are not related at all. The koala is the only extant species of the genus Phascolarctos. Its closest living relative is the wombat.

Koalas spend most of their time in eucalyptus trees which they feed on. Although the genus Eucalyptus consists of more then 600 species, koalas show a strong preference for the foliage of around 30 of them. Due to eucalyptus leaves having a high water content, koalas don’t have to drink often. However, larger koalas do require additional sources of water, contrary to a popular misconception that koalas don’t drink at all.

Since the foliage of eucalyptus isn’t a particularly great source of energy, koalas sleep or rest up to 20 hours a day to limit their energy use and spend most of their waking time eating. They spend most of their time in trees and descend to the ground only when they need to move to another tree. Koalas are asocial animals and don’t interact much with one another with the exception of mothers and their offspring (by the way, young koalas are called joeys).

The koala is classified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Read List of Threatened Species. The main threat faced by koalas is the destruction and fragmentation of habitat caused by urbanization in coastal areas and by land clearing in rural areas. Other threats include attacks by domestic dogs, wildlife-vehicle collisions, bushfires, droughts, and the effects of climate change.

Save the Koala Day was created in 2008 by the Australian Koala Foundation (AKF), a non-profit NGO that focuses on the conservation and effective management of the wild koala and its habitat. Since then, the entire month of September has been declared Save the Koala Month, but the last Friday of the month is still observed as Save the Koala Day.

How can you celebrate Save the Koala Day? The best way would be to support the AKF or any other koala conservation organization by donating, buying official merchandise, or symbolically adopting a koala (which is basically a donation that comes with some perks like a personalized adoption certificate, cute stickers, and more).

Other ways to celebrate include checking out koalas at your local zoo or wildlife park if you’re lucky to live in Australia or one of the few countries that have koalas in zoos, reading a book or watching a documentary about koalas, organizing a fundraiser to support the cause, and sharing cute pictures and videos of koalas on social media with the hashtag #SaveTheKoalaDay to spread the word and promote koala conservation.