Koala Bears
Kingdom: Animalia
Characteristics that place it here:
multicellular with specialized eukaryotic cells
rely on other organisms for nourishment
ingest food and digest food in an internal cavity
have their own means of location
Phylum: Chordata
Characteristics that place it here:
bilaterally symmetrical bodies (the right and left side of the body are a mirror image of each other.)
at some point of the life cycle they have a pair of gill slits or pouches used to obtain oxygen in a liquid environment.
have a notochord at some phase of their life cycle
members often have a head, tail and a digestive system with openings at both ends of their body.
Class: Mammalia
Characteristics that place it here:
conceive their young within the reproductive tract of the mother
nourish young with milk produced by the mother's mammary glands
are heterodonts (that means that they have a variety of specialized teeth)
are endothermic (that means they are warm blooded)
they have hair and sweat glands
they have a 4 chambered heart
they have a complex nervous system
they have large brains
Order: Diprotodontia
Characteristics that place it here:
It's a marsupial
they have claws
they are herbivors
they are economically important
Family: Phascolarctidae
Characteristics that place it here:
they are part of the marsupial family
they have a short tail
their ears are large and rounded
they have a large nose
they feed on leaves, stems, flowers and bark
they have unusual stomachs
Genius: Phascolarctos
Characteristics that place it here:
the males are larger than the females
they have dense, wooly fur that's gray
their paws are large
their hind feet have 5 strongly clawed digits
Species: Phascolarctos cinereus
Characteristics that place it here:
they have short stubby tails
they have large noses
they have large round ears
they live to be 18 years old
Refrences:
The Classification of living things. January 10, 2001
koala picture: Australia koala bear photos
http://www.eaglestock.com/koala.htm
Poem:
The Koala Bear
A cute animal friend.
Eats leaves and climbs trees all day.
It climbs up my heart.
~Kensie Sanchez
