Felled NSW forest confuses koalas

This sad little chap was rescued recently near Bathurst, NSW, and the picture posted on the WIRES Facebook page courtesy of Louise O'Brien.

The koala was found sitting on a pile of wood chips surrounded by a felled pine forest - an odd location for a marsupial that enjoys living in and feasting on eucalypts.

A concerned worker at the site called WIRES and the koala was able to be rescued and is now in care. Another three confused and displaced koalas have been sighted in the same area. If you're out driving in the area along the Mitchell Highway take care - roads (and loggers) are not the friend of koalas, which are incredibly vulnerable to traffic.

Koala escapes roadkill status with motorbike

Ouch! This little koala ran across the road in heavy traffic this week. 

Luckily this motorbike rider was travelling relatively slowly and slammed on his brakes in time. A little knock, but the little man lived to climb another day.

Not all encounters end this well on Australia roads. 

Marine scientist Len Zell has recently published a book on roadkill, 'Wild Discovery Guides - Australian Wildlife RoadKill'.

Zell has encountered all kinds of road kill on his travels, discovering many intriguing things about Australia's environment from the animals he finds by the road side.

"It gives me an understanding of the diversity of our wildlife and how special it is and how much I don't know about it," he told the ABC.

Zell says the prevalence of certain species found on the roads to tell how populations are surviving in certain areas.

"It does give you a good idea of population density. The last recorded eastern quoll (on the Australian mainland) was as a road kill in Sydney and has never been recorded since."

Reward to find shooter who maimed Fleet the koala

Fleet the koala, as he has been nicknamed by wildlife hospital staff at Australia Zoo, was senselessly attacked by some idiot with an air rifle while perched in a gum tree at Kippa-ring north of Brisbane, Queensland.

The poor six-year-old marsupial suffered pellet wounds to every part of his body. Donations of more than $2000 poured in from the public when news of Fleet's plight was known.

Happily, he looks likely to survive his ordeal and a reward is now being offered to find the identity of the dropkick who shot him. Under the Nature Conservation Act, the maximum penalty for harming a koala is $300,000 or two years in jail.

Drop Bears - they're coming to get ya!

We couldn't help but chuckle when this creative imagery came across our desk, courtesy of eagle-eyed CFZer David Waldron who spotted it doing the rounds in emails and Facebook wall posts.

For those unfamiliar with the 'drop bear', you can read this funny fictitious entry over at the Australian Museum. Who says scientists don't have a sense of humour?

Noisy koalas give cows a run for their money

A 15 pound koala is as loud as a cow weighing more than a tonne, a new study found.

Researchers discovered the marsupial emitted a louder sound as a way of attracting sexual partners during mating season.

The team of Australian and Austrian scientists, writing in The Journal of Experimental Biology, also found their cries were a way of boasting about their body size and intimidate rival lovers.

Koala, platypus and thylacine star in exhibition

Across the seas. an exciting exhibition is being showcased in Canada, featuring taxidermied specimens of the Koala, Platypus and the Tasmanian Tiger aka Thylacine!

The blockbuster exhibition at the Canadian Museum of Nature - Extreme Mammals: The Biggest, Smallest and Most Amazing Mammals of All Time - has been organized by the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Towering over visitors is the life-sized model of Indricotherium, the largest land mammal that ever lived. Other highlights include an entire skeleton of the giant hoofed plant-eater Uintatherium, with its dagger-like teeth and multiple horns, a model of the bizarre-looking 'walking whale,' Ambulocetus, and one of the oldest fossilized bats ever found.

Taxidermy specimens include the egg-laying platypus and the recently extinct Tasmanian wolf (also known as Tasmanian tiger).

Extreme Mammals is organized by the American Museum of Natural History in collaboration with the Canadian Museum of Nature, California Academy of Sciences, and Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

The exhibition is on view at the Canadian Museum of Nature until November 6, 2011.

The Canadian Museum of Nature is located at 240 McLeod Street (corner of Metcalfe) in Ottawa. Visit the website at nature.ca

Banjo update: elderly koala doing well

For anyone curious about how Banjo the koala is faring after his unsettling kidnapping experience recently, rest easy - the little man is doing well.

Banjo was stolen on May 9 from the Australian Reptile Park by heartless thieves who had no regard for the marsupial's wellbeing.

Worried about the koala's wellbeing - most elderly koalas in captivity live on a nutritional supplement - the zoo and NSW Police launched a publicity campaign to raise awareness about the theft, and hopefully encourage the culprits to return Banjo.

On May 11 zoo staff received the phone call they had been waiting for - one of the thieves alerted them to Banjo's presence in a garbage bin in the zoo's car park.

Is this the end of Port Maquarie's koalas?

A Senate Inquiry has been told it is too late to rely on research to save the dwindling koala population in the Port Stephens area, north of Newcastle.

The Hunter Koala Preservation Society says nearly 800 koalas died along the Tilligerry Peninsula in the 10 years to 2009.

The deaths have been blamed on fires, dog attacks, disease, development and car accidents.

The Society's President, Jill Taylor says she is sceptical about the work of steering committees dedicated to protecting koalas.

"These steering committees are full of National Park officers," she said.

"They're not the people who are on the coal face, they are some people that are more interested in doing research.

"Research is OK but let's have it, the koalas are dying at those numbers while they're adding up figures and doing research.

"Let's be real about it, let's put the money into what we need to keep the habitat."

Australia's national parks to star in new TV series

National Geographic Channel in Australia and several European broadcasters are teaming up to coproduce a documentary series about Australia's national parks.

Wild Australia is being produced by Queensland's Wild Fury, Hamburg's Moers Media and NDR Naturfilm. Screen Australia co-financed the series.

Wild Fury and National Geographic Television International (NGTI) are also to produce Koalas: The Secret Society Exposed, a documentary following "a year in the personal lives of eight koala bears."