Here is Duffy’s latest illustration, a gorgeous koala called Luis – the alpha male in the population at Hawks Nest NSW. Australian animals can be an effective focus for real-life maths activities. Koalas are not actually a bear – they are a marsupial so they raise their babies in a pouch. One joey is born each year and its about 2 cm long. It stays in the mother’s pouch for about 6 months. The adults eat about 500 g of eucalypt leaves each night but they can only absorb about 25% of this food as it is very tough to eat. They sleep for 18 – 20 hours each day so that they can digest all the toxins from the gum leaves. Although there are over 600 types of eucalyptus, koalas can eat only about 50 different types of eucalyptus leaves, including swamp mahogany (eucalyptus robusta). About 80% of koala habitat has disappeared in Australia and the estimate is that there are between 40 000 to 80 000 koalas left. Koalas live for 14-16 years in the wild. Koala fossils have been dated to 20 million years ago. Did you know that koalas also have very similar fingerprints to humans?