Phascolarctos cinereus

Koalas Phascolarctos cinereus) increase their glucose intake by 20% if they eat Eucalyptus spp. foliage, which requires conjugation reactions with glucuronic acid for excretion (Eberhard etal, 1975). Goats and sheep eat more of a toxic diet if given surplus food, which helps detoxication (Provenza, 2004). 

The koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is one of the most admired and best known Australian marsupials and is distributed in two subspecies over the eastern part of the Australian continent. Sexual dimorphism is well developed with adult males being up to 50% larger than adult females in the same population (Martin Lee, 1984). The weight of adult males varies from a mean of 4 kg in the smaller southern form to about 15 kg in the northern subspecies (Lee Carrick, 1989). 

Kratzing, J.E. 1984a. The anatomy and histology of the nasal cavity of the Koala Phascolarctos cinereus). J. Anat., 138, 55—65. 

Martin, R.W. Lee, A.K. 1984. The Koala, Phascolarctos cinereus, the largest marsupial folivore. In Possums and Gliders (Ed. by A.P Smith I.D. Hume), pp 463-467. Sydney Surrey Beatty Sons with Australian Mammal Society. 

Salamon, M. Davies, N.W. 1998. Identification and variation of volatile compounds in sternal gland secretions of male koalas Phascolarctos cinereus). J. Chem. Ecol., 24, 1659—1676. 

Smith, M.T.A. 1979. Behaviour of the Koala, Phascolarctos cinereus (Goldfuss), in captivity. I. Non-social behaviour. Aust. Wildl. Res., 6, 117—128. 

Hanger JJ, Bromham LD, McKee JJ, O Brien TM, Robinson WF. The nucleotide sequence of koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) retioviius a novel type C endogenous virus related to gibbon ape leukemia virus. J Virol. 2000 74 4264-72. 

Fig, 4. The sternal gland in the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) appears as a small, hairless area in the center of the darkly-stained chest fur (Thompson and Fadem, unpublished). 

I, 8-cineole in the male koala Phascolarctos cinereus). Comp. Biochem. Physiol. C, 129 385-395. Chadha, A. and K. M. Madyastha, 1984. Metabolism of geraniol and linalool in the rat and effects on liver and... 

Pass, G. J., S. McLean, I. Stupans, and N. W. Davies, 2002. Microsomal metabolism and enzyme kinetics of the terpene p-cymene in the common brushtail possum Trichosurus vulpeculd), koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) and rat. Chem. Biol. Interact., 32 383-397. 

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