Koalas and their Dominant Nose

Koalas possess dominant nose as part of their facial feature. In fact; if you closely watch the face of koalas, the most dominant thing you will notice on their face will be their nose along with their eyes and mouth while the rest is all fur. The size of their nose is also relatively bigger as compared to their tiny button-shaped eyes along with the smaller mouth and that’s why their nose looks very dominant.

Koalas possess a very dominant nose on their face. Their nose is bigger in size as compared to other body parts on their face such as eyes and mouth etc.

A koala’s dominant nose also serves as their most recognized feature on their face. Their dominant nose also helps people to easily differentiate in between koalas and bears (teddy bears too). A koala’s nose is not only dominant but also very unique and there is no similarity between their nose and the noses of other animals. Let’s explore further about the key features of koalas’ dominant nose and its key role within their lives.

Koalas' Facial Feature
Dominant Nose Face of Koalas
Dominant Nose, Eyes & Fur Koalas' Nose is
The Most Recognized Feature Koalas' Nose Similarity
Doesn't Exist in Other Animals

In terms of its size, a koala’s nose is in between 3 to 3.5 inches long with a width of almost 1.5 inches wide. A koala’s nose area is bigger than the nose area of other marsupial mammals (in proportion to the overall body size). The color of the koala’s nose is always black but some white koalas have also been observed with pink colored nose as well. However; it is not necessary that a white koala will always have a pink-colored nose.

A koala’s nose is roughly 3 to 3.5 inches long and almost 1.5 inches wide. Koalas mostly have black colored nose, however; some white koalas (not all) have pink colored nose as well.

Some white koalas have also been spotted with the same black color of their nose as well. This means that apart from color variations, there are no other variations that have been found within the koalas’ nose. Interestingly; the koala researchers have also noticed that each koala has its own unique pattern of nose under its nostrils.

Length - Koalas' Nose
3 Inches Long Width - Koalas' Nose
1.5 Inches Wide Color Variation of Nose
Black & Pink Colored Nose Koalas' Nostrils
Unique Pattern

Many researchers and observers have also titled the koalas’ nose to be like spoon-shaped in appearance. They are quite right in saying this because if you closely watch the shape of spoon and compare its shape, width and curves with koalas’ nose, it does resemble like an inverted spoon. However; critics have argued that a normal spoon’s length is quite bigger than the length of a koalas’ nose.

The koala’s nose, resembles like spoon-shaped in terms of its appearance. Except for a spoon’s length, a koala nose seems to be closer in appearance with a spoon in terms of its width, curves and overall shape (inverted).

Therefore; we can assume that perhaps the researchers are only considering the bowl of spoon that resembles just like the koalas’ nose and ignoring the spoon’s handle in general. Even though a koala’s nose appears to be like spoon-shaped but it doesn’t assist koala in lifting food items like a general spoon. Surprisingly; the koala’s nose has more specialized features than just merely looking as spoon in terms of its appearance.

Appearance - Koalas' Nose
Spoon-shaped Nose Shape, Width & Curves
Appears like an Inverted Spoon Spoon-shaped Nose
Help Koalas in Sniffing

A koala’s nose is not only dominant in appearance but it also dominates its overall lifestyle as well. A koala’s nose possesses a specialized sense of smell through which a koala can easily differentiate in between the fresh and the rotten eucalyptus leaves.

A koala’s nose also dominates its overall dietary lifestyle. A koala’s nose possesses a specialized sense of smell which helps it in selecting the eucalyptus leaves in different seasons.

Its nose can also differentiate different species of eucalyptus leaves and it also determines which leaves to eat and in what season. Furthermore; a koala can also evaluate the levels of nitrogen and toxicity within the eucalyptus leaves through its nose as well. These features do indicate that a koala’s nose completely dominates their dietary lifestyle.

A Koala's Nose has
Specialized Sense of Smell A Koala's Nose can
Differentiate & Identify Fresh Leaves A Koala's Nose can
Determine Level of Toxicity A Koala's Nose Dominates
Koala's Lifestyle

A koala’s nose appears like a plain skin and it does not possess any hair or fur on its nose. It is very soft to feel and a bit warmer to touch as compared to the other body parts. Even at the time of the birth, a koala’s dominant nose is visible and it does have a key sense of smell which helps the koala joey to travel straight into the pouch of its mother.

A koala’s nose is very soft to feel and very warm to touch. Its nose doesn’t have any hair or fur over it while it possesses key sensations for smelling right from the birth.

Moreover; a neonate koala joey can also detect its mother’s teat inside the pouch with the help of its nose. Later; when it grows up to 6 to 8 months, a koala joey starts coming out of its mother pouch and explore the eucalyptus leaves with the help of its nose.

A Koala's Nose has
No Hair on its Skin A Koala's Nose is
Very Soft, Smooth & Warm Koala's Sense of Smell
Is Active at their Birth

Lastly; let’s resemble a koala’s nose with any other animal in the animal kingdom! As mentioned earlier; a koala’s nose is unique and no other animal has a same nose as the koalas does. However; some animals do show a close resemblance with the koala’s nose. Wombats have somewhat similar kind of a nose like koalas but the wombat’s nose is a lot smaller as compared to the koala’s nose. Wombats are also considered as the closest ancestors of the koalas and the two species separated some 42 million years ago.

A koala’s dominant nose also resembles the nose of wombats and tapirs. However; wombats have very small size of their nose while tapirs have much longer size of their nose.

In placental mammals; an animal named as tapir possesses a bit long trunk-shaped nose. The nostrils of tapirs are somewhat similar to the nostrils of koalas but the overall nose size of tapir is much bigger than that of koalas. Therefore; wombats and tapir are the two animals that have somewhat similar noses to the nose of koalas.

Resemblance - Koala's Nose
Resembles Nose of Wombats Wombats are also
The Closest Ancestors of Koalas Another Resemblance of Koala's Nose
Tapir's Nose