Koala - ZAWA-Evolved/ZAWA GitHub Wiki

(image by: ondranik)

The koala is a small marsupial. Native to Australia, the koala is a charismatic, iconic animal.

In real life, koalas are solitary, slow moving animals that are notable for their specialization to feed on eucalyptus foliage. Often called the "koala bear," these animals are actually marsupials. These small, slow-moving eucalyptus specialists are often mocked for being an evolutionary joke, but are a great example of a well-specialized animal filing an otherwise empty niche. Unfortunately, their very picky palette means koalas are especially threatened by the rampant forest mismanagement in Australia, and are common road casualties as they try to travel between shrinking habitats.

Koalas are an uncommon spawn in dry forest biomes. They spawn alone. Male and females are equally likely to spawn, and are not sexually dimorphic.

Koalas are a slow, neutral; they will not attack the player unless their young are threatened. They can be picked up with a right click without issue.

Of all animals in ZAWA: Evolved, koalas are one of the least difficult to capture. Once found, they can be picked up and moved with ease by the player without any tranquilizing or extra items.

Koalas can be tamed with herbivore kibble.

Koalas have 5 hearts (10 points) of health, can deal 0.5 hearts (1 points) of damage, and drop small meat upon death.

Koalas are small animals with modest food needs. The biggest issue that may keep koalas out of the hands of new zookeepers is their diet: koalas are eucalyptus specialists and cannot eat anything else. Players will need to find and farm eucalyptus trees in arid biomes to feed and breed koalas.

Koalas can use scented ball, rope, climbing vine, tire swing, hanging browse, and apple ice treat enrichment items.

Koalas can climb some wooden blocks and leaves, which should be taken into account when building enclosures.

Koalas are a low fertility species, and can be bred with eucalyptus. As small-sized animals they have a gestation time of 40000 ticks, and give birth to 1 joey that will take 3 1/3 minecraft days to reach adulthood.

(note: exhibit building sections contain a mix of gameplay information and building advice. Not all recommendations are necessary to keep animals happy, fed, and watered, but can help players build a realistic enclosure.)

Koalas are solitary animals, but with a big enough enclosure, may tolerate living with one or two other individuals.

Passive, quiet and generally unbothered by other animals, koalas can be housed with other peaceful Australian animals, or animals they won't share space with. Ground-dwelling red kangaroos are a good thematic match, as well as docile dry forest birds. Koalas are slow-moving and have no defenses against predators, and should not be housed with any predatory or aggressive species.

Since koalas are climbers, players should be cautious with building materials. If their koala enclosure's fence is made of planks, logs or stripped logs, they should angle the edge of the fence in, or cover the entire enclosure. Providing climbing enrichment, such as scratching posts or ropes gives them a good alternative.

Providing wall-mounted bowls for arboreal koalas may be the most comfortable option for them. Roughage can also be placed in a wall forage on a favorite tree or climbing structure.

When landscaping an exhibit with koalas, eucalyptus is almost a necessity. It can be quickly harvested by zookeepers to give them fresh food, and looks right at home in arid outback exhibits. Tall acacia trees, or custom-built trees, provide both climbing options, as well as shade and shelter.

Koalas have three color variants: Sydney, Queensland, and Melbourne. They do not have any special variants.

Sydney	Queensland	Melbourne	Baby

Variant images by discord user Gianluca Zanna#0063

The koala's current model was made for ZAWA 2.0 and is a good example of a model and texture that fits within the new Evolved style: it has clean, soft, bright colors with fur texturing, and accurate anatomy with as few pieces as possible.

The new koalas were modeled and textured by Mnesikos.