Koalas why they are endangered

They are also impacted by other factors including disease, climate change, and devastating bushfires. Koalas lose their homes due to excessive tree clearing for agriculture, housing, roads, and mining.

Most tree clearing is performed in Australia to create pasture for livestock, according to the WWF-Australia. However, recent legislative changes have made it easier for landowners to again clear trees for agricultural use. When koalas lose their habitat, they are forced to come out of the trees and onto the ground so they can move to another location, reports the WWF-Australia.

This makes them more vulnerable to being attacked by dogs or cats or hit by vehicles when they wander out into the road. They also face more competition for territory and food as their habitat shrinks. Devastating bushfires started spreading across eastern and western Australia in October , ravaging many parts of the continent.

By the time they were contained in February , the fires had destroyed more than 2, homes and about An estimated 6, koalas were killed across New South Wales during those wildfires, according to an updated report from the International Fund for Animal Welfare. The marsupials died from burns, smoke inhalation, starvation, and dehydration.

Koalas are seriously threatened by chlamydia. The bacterial infection is primarily transmitted sexually between adults, but it also can be spread by close contact between mother and babies, called joeys. Chlamydia can lead to blindness, pneumonia, severe urinary tract infections, and infertility. Chlamydia symptoms include sore eyes, chest infections, and a wet, dirty tail area, according to the Australian Koala Foundation.

Chlamydia can infect percent of koala populations. However, in on Kangaroo Island, researchers from the University of Adelaide said they found what could be the last Australian koalas without chlamydia, according to a study published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.

We may need our Kangaroo Island koalas to re-populate other declining populations. In addition to chlamydia, koalas can also suffer from several cancers such as skin cancer and leukemia. With the climate crisis, increasing levels of carbon dioxide CO2 in the air are also a threat to koalas. Eating the nutrient-poor leaves can lead to malnutrition and even starvation for the koalas. Often, the marsupials will leave their trees in search of better leaves.

According to estimates, at least 6, koalas were killed in the Black Summer bushfires, leading to a decline between 33 per cent and 61 per cent in New South Wales NSW , and unless urgent action is taken, the marsupials can go extinct in this region by Also read Thing of the past?

Experts fear Australia's iconic koala could go extinct by In Queensland, since there has been at least a 50 per cent drop in the koala population mostly due to deforestation, drought and bushfires. Koala populations in the three jurisdictions were listed as vulnerable in , and since then they have suffered due to many reasons, including as a consequence of land clearing.

Public submissions have been invited on the question of whether the status of their native animal should be changed from vulnerable to endangered in all three jurisdictions. After weighing public submissions, the panel on threatened species will be providing its final advice to the federal environment minister by 30 October.

Sign up here. Are koalas about to hit the endangered list? Please try again later. The Sydney Morning Herald. By Mike Foley June 18, — Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size.