World_of_Animals_Issue_46_2017

All about the koala
Life in a gumtree
There are two things that a koala looks for in
a home – eucalyptus trees and other koalas
Koalas are native to Australia, but they’re not found
everywhere on the island. The population congregates along
the eastern and southeastern coastline where the climate
is wetter, the soil is more fertile, and there are plenty of
eucalyptus trees.
With food their top priority, koalas tend to cluster in areas
with high numbers of their favourite plants. They like to munch
on just a handful of the over 700 different eucalypt species
found in Australia, and their top food sources include cabbage
gum and ribbon gum. They’ll also snack on other eucalyptus
trees when their favourites aren’t available, including bimble
box, woollybutt and monkey gum. Eucalyptus forests also
contain other tree species that the koalas use for shelter,
including tall, strange-smelling turpentine trees and evergreens
known locally as ‘brush box’.
Koalas have thrived in Australia for thousands of years, but
the eastern and southeastern coasts aren’t just ideal habitat
for them – the fertile soils also attracted human settlers and
now there’s intense competition for space. It’s estimated
that 80 percent of their habitat has been destroyed since
Europeans first arrived in Australia; some of it carved away to
make space for developments, and some lost to droughts or
fires. From an estimated 10 million animals in 1800, numbers
have plummeted to fewer than 100,000.
Loss of habitat continues to be the biggest threat, and
according to the IUCN Red List, koalas are one of ten species
most at risk of the effects of climate change. As the chance
of droughts and wildfires increases, their future could become
more and more uncertain.
Habitat restoration
programmes are
underway to replace
lost eucalyptus trees
Environmental factors
Life in the trees isn’t as simple as it seems
Competition
Humans and koalas share the same
land, attracted to eastern Australia by
the fertile soil. But this close proximity
brings a battle for space, and at the
moment humans are ‘winning’.
Wildfires
Bushfires have shaped the Australian
landscape for millennia, but if koala
populations are penned in by human
developments there’s nowhere to run
when disaster strikes.
Roads
With roads carving up the ground
between koala strongholds, traffic
accidents are a real problem. Males
are particularly vulnerable when
they go looking for a mate.
Predators
Even though they’re high in the
trees, koalas aren’t invulnerable to
predators. Dingoes, owls, eagles
and pythons all pose a threat, as do
invasive species like cats and foxes.
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