Australia Lists Koala as Vulnerable Species
Posted on April 30, 2012
Australia's beloved koala has been listed as vulnerable in three Australian territories: Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. BBC News reports that conservationists felt the vulnerable declaration should have been nationwide.
Australia's Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (DSEWPaC) says, "Koalas in some regions face increasing threats from urban expansion, disease, habitat loss, vehicle strike, and predation by dogs, and from their susceptibility to drought and climate change. However, the health, size and status of koala populations differ significantly across Australia."
A Koala Fact Sheet (PDF) was released by DSEWPaC, which contains this Koala habitat distribution map. The DSEWPaC notes that the map is an indicative map only, and further information can be found through the department's Protected Matters Search Tool, available here.
There is only one species of Koala. Here is a description of the Koala from DSEWPaC:
"The koala is a tree-dwelling, mediumsized marsupial with a stocky body, large rounded ears, sharp claws and variable but predominantly grey-coloured fur. Males generally are larger than females and there is a gradient in body weight from north to south across their range, with larger individuals in the south and smaller individuals in the north. The average weight of males is 6.5 kg in Queensland, compared with 12 kg in Victoria. Koalas in the north tend to have shorter, silvergrey fur, whereas those in the south have longer, thicker, brown-grey fur."