Koala Facts

Once discovered by the Western inhabitants of Australia at the turn of the Nineteenth Century, it did not take long before the world's population also fell under the Koala's enchanting spell.

Native Australian love of Koalas initially focused on Koala fir, and shortly after the turn of the Twentieth Century, their love of Koala fur almost translated into Koala extinction.

While Koalas have enjoyed a protected status in Australia since the late 1920s, the same can not be said for their habitat. Because of a variety of interrelated causal factors such as clearing for land development, changes in forest management practices and a changing climate, Australia's Eucalyptus forests have been declining.

In turn, these forest declines place Koalas on a circuitous population trajectory.

It starts with the Koalas Eucalyptus dependency. Their limited Eucalyptus diet, coupled with its decreased availability, leads to additional ecosystem stresses and inevitably additional stress on Koala populations.

Whereas it use to be relatively simple to transplant an endangered Koala population to an uninhabited forest, the lack of available uninhabited forests now translates into potential Koala population declines.

Increasing conflict regarding the development of Koala habitat has now transformed the Koala from being an Australian icon into being a symbol of the limits of the country's traditional pattern of economic development.

Fortunately, Koala popularity has also translated into substantive Koala behavioral research.

Recent efforts to implant contraception devices into individuals inhabiting over-grazed areas shows some initial success. While the program might be controversial, at least it offers a more humane population management option compared to other available options such as culling.

Here are some more koala facts.

• Koalas are primarily nocturnal and arboreal animals that inhabit the forest areas along Australia's East Coast.
• Close to their entire universe consists of living in, and consuming the leaves of local varieties of Eucalyptus trees. Their home range extends about 280 acres or the average size of an Iowa farm.
• The koala's limited diet translates into a sedentary lifestyle. Approximately 80% of a koala day is spent sleeping. The remaining time is split between eating and hanging out in the trees.
• Fertile females can bear and care for one baby per year, although the average breeding cycle runs on a two year time table. As with other marsupials, young koalas, called joeys, spend their early developmental phase in their mother's pouch.
• Do Koalas bite? The answer is a definitive yes. When startled, they bite and scratch with their sharp claws.

© 2010 Patricia A. Michaels