Koala: Origins of an Icon
Stephen Jackson
Language: English
Pages: 338
ISBN: 1742373232
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
This fascinating story of the koala explores the ecology, behavior, and history of an extraordinary animal, as well as ongoing threats to its existence such as disease and habitat loss, and the controversial debate about how to best manage the populations of Australia's favorite marsupial. Tracing its origins from a peaceful relationship with Aborigines to Europeans valuing only its fur to its rightful place as an Australian icon, this investigation shows the resilient and adaptive nature of the koala—described by many as a triumph of evolution. Today its homeland is compromised and the creature is endangered, and this remarkable recollection of its life stands as a testament to its necessary survival.
disproportionately small brain. Most mammals have a brain equal in volume to the available space in the skull. The koala’s brain occupies only 61 per cent of this space and is unusual in that the cerebral hemispheres are smooth.16 In his classic book, The Future Eaters, Tim Flannery explained that the koala’s unusually small brain size is an adaptation for conserving energy, as the brain (and the liver) has the highest energy requirements of any organ in the body.17 The size of the koala’s brain
attempt to identify the koala’s food trees on the basis of either leaf chemistry or environmental characteristics failed to provide a full explanation of food tree preferences. William Foley and his team at the Australian National University in Canberra took a different approach. They discovered that certain eucalypt phenol compounds known as formylated phloroglucinol compounds (FPCs) adversely affect the leaves’ palatability and have a major influence on koala food tree selection. They found the
hit by cars, 16 of which could not be saved; nine had been attacked by dogs, seven of which died; 35 animals were diseased, only four of which survived; three had heavy tick loads, one died; and eight animals were considered to be healthy.66 In 1990, the increasing numbers of koalas requiring veterinary attention in the greater Brisbane region led the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service to set up the Moggill Koala Hospital.67 In its first year of operation, 89 koalas were admitted to the
criteria developed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). They determined that despite an estimated reduction in its geographic range since European settlement of greater than 50 per cent, the koala was considered ‘common throughout the broad band of forests and woodlands dominated by Eucalyptus trees, extending from Queensland to the south-eastern corner of mainland South Australia’. The review proposed that, at a national level, the koala did not
(1997), ‘Risk assessment and koala management in South Australia’, Australian Biologist 10: 47–56. 52. Possingham, H., Barton, M., Boxall, M., Dunstan, J., Gibbs, J., Greig, J., Inns, B., Munday, B., Paton, D., Vickery, F. and St. John, B. (1997), Koala Management Task Force: Final report, Adelaide: University of Adelaide, Department of Environmental Science and Management. 53. See Martin & Handasyde (1999). 54. Masters, P., Duka, T., Berris, S. and Moss, G. (2004), ‘Koalas on Kangaroo Island: