Expert
calls for urgent action to conserve iconic Australian species
Date: June 5, 2019
Source: University of Sydney
A
long-held view that koalas get all their hydration from eating leaves has been
overturned by new research published today from Dr Valentina Mella and
colleagues at the University of Sydney.
The study
in PLOS ONE offers hope in the fight to conserve this threatened
species, with researchers finding that koalas will regularly use artificial
water stations, particularly during hot and dry conditions.
"Drinking
stations could help koalas during heat and drought events and might help mitigate
the effects of climate change," said Dr Mella from the School of Life and
Environmental Sciences.
Dr Mella
also said drinking stations could prove a useful strategy to support other
arboreal folivores such as gliders and possums in Australia and sloths, lemurs
and some monkeys on other continents.
Koala
populations along Australia's east coast have been declining due to lost
habitat from deforestation, diseases such as chlamydia, attacks from feral
animals, fire and vehicle collisions.
The
Australian Department of Environment estimates that combined koala populations
in Queensland and New South Wales declined from 326,400 in 1990 to 188,000 in
2010, a drop of 42 percent.
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