#0208 · 🦊 mammals
Koala
Phascolarctos cinereus
9 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
what is it?
The koala ( Phascolarctos cinereus , or, inaccurately, koala bear ) is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the wombats, which comprise the family Vombatidae. The koala is found in coastal areas of the mainland's eastern and southern regions, inhabiting Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It is easily recognisable by its stout, tailless body and large head with round,...
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 47,486 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Can live up to 10 years.
- Scientifically named by Georg August Goldfuss in 1817 (209 years ago).
- Listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
fact sheet
- English
- Koala
- Nederlands
- Koala
- scientific name
- Phascolarctos cinereus
- class
- Mammalia
- order
- Diprotodontia
- family
- Phascolarctidae
- IUCN Red List
- VU · vulnerable
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings worldwide
- 47,486
- GBIF records in NL
- 2
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- 10 years
- named
- 1817 by Georg August Goldfuss
IUCN in Dutch: kwetsbaar. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 42983, Wikidata Q36101, GBIF 2440012, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.