Floating Fern vs koala

Salvinia nymphellula compared with Phascolarctos cinereus

Key Differences

Floating Fern is Least Concern while koala is Vulnerable.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Floating Fern	koala
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Tracheophyta	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Polypodiopsida (Polypodiopsida)	Mammalia (Mammals)
Order	Salviniales (Salviniales)	Diprotodontia (Marsupials)
Family	Salviniaceae	Phascolarctidae (Koalas)
Genus	Salvinia	Phascolarctos (Koalas)
Species	Salvinia nymphellula	Phascolarctos cinereus

Conservation Status

Floating Fern

LC — Least Concern

koala

VU — Vulnerable

Population: ~100.0K

Trend: Decreasing ↓

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Floating Fern	koala
Diet	—	Herbivore
Average Lifespan	—	15 years
Average Length	—	75 cm
Average Weight	—	10.0 kg

Habitat & Geographic Range

Floating Fern

Habitat

Inhabits tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests within the Afrotropic biogeographic realm.

Range

Distributed across Cote d'Ivoire and Malawi.

koala

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, forests, and vegetated habitats.

Range

Found in Australia. Currently classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Iconic marsupial of eastern and southeastern Australia, koalas weigh up to 15 kg and spend up to 22 hours daily sleeping to conserve energy from their low-calorie eucalyptus leaf diet. Highly specialized to process toxic eucalyptus compounds that would kill most other mammals, they have gut microbiomes uniquely adapted for detoxification. Listed as Endangered in 2022, with populations decimated by chlamydia disease, habitat clearing, and climate change.