Animal Facts: These tree-dwelling marsupials are the only surviving members of the Phascolarctidae (Greek for ‘pouched bear’) family, whose closest living relatives are the wombats. Koalas are possibly our most iconic native animals; instantly recognisable worldwide as a symbol of Australia and found nowhere else. Sadly, their dramatic and continuing decline is perhaps just as symbolic. Perched high in gum trees, with their stocky, tailless body, large heads and fluffy ears, Koalas live almost entirely on eucalyptus leaves, which are tough to digest. As a result, they’ve developed a very slow metabolism to save energy – in fact, they can sleep up to 20 hours a day! The Hansa Story Artisans hand sew the animals “inside out”, an old-world tradition that results in the minimisation of seams, and their bodies are carefully “sculpted” to create “musculature” and “features” like movement in a walking or sitting position that are unique to each creature. On average, there are 42 separate pieces required to make each animal that a team of truly creative artists must combine to create the distinctly realistic features that characterise HANSA animals. (Some animals have as many as 240 different parts!) Each animal is hand-sewn individually to give it a unique “personality”. There are more than 860 different fabrics and man-made furs from which the “coat” and “hides” are made, along with over 6000 sets of different eyes, whiskers, claws, noses, and related accessories allocated for creating these wonderful plush animals. Stuffing emphasises careful attention to the placement of the highest quality man-made materials. When you hold these wonderfully “life-like” animals, you will see and feel HANSA’s emphasis on quality, which results from careful attention to design, custom fabric selection, cutting, sewing, stuffing, eye placement, feature creation, framing, air brushing and finishing. Since each animal is hand sewn, there will be slight variations in appearance.