Along with the distinctive loud bellowing of male koalas during the breeding season, olfactory communication is what koalas use to find or avoid each other. Koalas are generally solitary creatures, but that’s not to say they don’t know their neighbours. So why the big schnoz? The answer may lie with the importance of social communication.Īlthough the koala genome has relatively few olfactory receptors, it’s rich in vomeronasal receptors, which are expressed in cells in the nasal cavity that are sensitive to moisture-borne molecules like pheromones. Sniffing out food is important, but it’s not the koala’s biggest forte. Critically, they also protect the central nervous system, as nasal tissue is the only thing separating inhaled toxins from the brain. These enzymes likely help stop the nose from becoming overwhelmed by odours and maintain sensitivity. We know enzymes in our own noses can detoxify certain drugs, and in other specialist herbivores, such as woodrats, many of the same enzymes that detoxify natural plant toxins and drugs in the liver are also expressed in the lining of the nose. The koala’s nose might not only smell plant toxins, it may also play a minor role in detoxifying them.Ī cull could help save koalas from chlamydia, if we allowed it It’s also fortunate the leaves koalas are checking out are right in front of their noses! It falls to the koala’s sense of taste (and genes for taste receptors are especially abundant in the koala genome) to make a final decision on whether a leaf is safe to eat.įortunately for the koala, the only-slightly-toxic compounds called terpenes (the invigorating scent of Eucalyptus oil) are highly volatile and offer a useful cue to the levels of other toxins in a leaf.Īnd one advantage of being a specialist feeder with a basic diet, is that there are relatively few odour cues to learn. Author provided (no reuse)īut most of the toxins that influence koala feeding are not volatile – they have no smell. The smell of a molecule in eucalyptus oil helps koalas determine whether other dangerous toxins exist in the leaf.
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Gum leaves are chock full of natural plant toxins and other unpleasant chemicals, and koalas choose trees that minimise their exposure to the worst of these. This matches up with anatomical observations that also suggest that among marsupials, the koala’s sense of smell is probably relatively poor, partly as a result of features associated with conserving water. Koalas sniff out juicy leaves and break down eucalypt toxins – it's in their genome So many koala experts were surprised to learn recently that koalas don’t have particularly many genes for olfactory receptors – the receptors found on nerve cells in the nasal cavity for detecting different smells. Koalas nearly always smell their food carefully before eating. In both of these activities – or in other words, for most of their waking hours – they follow their nose.
When they’re not sleeping or resting, they are mostly feeding or moving between trees. Koalas, famously, spend most of their time sleeping or resting.
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Author provided (no reuse) A koala’s nose knows how to sniff out toxins The koala’s basic diet of eucalyptus leaves means there a few odours to learn.
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