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.

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.

Forget the cute factor and save iconic species

In the past, the plants and animals that have received the most conservation resources are usually the cutest, the most iconic or those that have all but disappeared.

The Tasmanian devil, koalas and whales have all received significant funding or media attention. But a growing number of scientists question whether this is the most effective conservation method. Instead, they propose using economics and mathematics to develop cost-effective analyses of which animals should be saved and, more controversially, which ones should be ignored.

This method is already being used to prioritise recovery programs for threatened species in New Zealand and Tasmania, while the NSW government is developing a priority list of recovery projects for about 450 to 500 species.

University of Queensland ecology professor Hugh Possingham, who started his career studying mathematics, says merging conservation with economic principles makes perfect sense. He argues that given the scant resources allocated to rehabilitate threatened species, getting ''bang for your buck'' is important.

In the past, bad decision-making resulted in conservation resources being poorly spent, he says. He cites the extensive campaign to try to stop cane toads advancing into north-western Australia as an example of an inefficient conservation program.

''Everybody considers that a futile activity but we've spent money on it,'' says Possingham, who is the director of the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions. ''Given the limited amount of money, every dollar we spend is precious,'' he adds.

More than $10 million has been handed to scientists to develop methods to eliminate the species over the past two decades and several more million dollars have been given to community groups to prevent the spread of the pest. But none of these endeavours has stopped, or even slowed, the toad invasion, according to a threat-abatement plan released by the federal government in June.

As part of his research, Possingham and colleagues, including his former postgraduate researcher, Liana Joseph, came up with a method to pinpoint which programs to save threatened species should receive funding over others. As part of the model, all species are given a value, which is often based on how genetically distinct they are.

''In Australia, the echidna and platypus, neither of whom are doing very well, are so taxonomically unique, it would be a global tragedy if we lost them, whereas a subspecies of honeyeater has many close relatives,'' Possingham says.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/survival-of-the-cheapest-20110810-1imox.html#ixzz1UiGWNIcw

Koala joey a bit hit at zoo

He may be only 200g, but this koala joey is the big attraction at Western Australia's Cohunu Wildlife Park. The park's latest addition has been out of his mum's pouch for less than two weeks but is already a crowd favourite.

Park owner Lucille Sorbello said the tiny tot only came out of the pouch for short periods to claw around on his mother's back - then went back in for another feed.

The joey, yet to be named, is the third born at the park this year.

It joins 10 other southern male koalas and three breeding females at the park.

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."

Banjo the koala's back where he belongs

We can't think of a lower act than stealing a zoo animal from its enclosure. Many people fail to understand that most of these animals have lived their entire life in captivity and survive on highly specialised diets. They are not pets, nor do they take kindly to being manhandled, bundled into boxes or sacks and being taken from their familiar surroundings - or being stuffed into garbage bins.

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An elderly koala stolen from an Australian wildlife park by bolt-cutter wielding thieves was returned home unscathed, with an anonymous phone tip-off leading keepers to a rubbish bin in the zoo's parking lot.

'Banjo' the koala went missing earlier in the week after the koala-nappers used the cutters to break into his enclosure at the Australian Reptile Park in Somersby, two hours north of Sydney.

His disappearance, which keepers said was the first koala theft from an Australian zoo, prompted fears for his safety since at 13 he was advanced in years, and being fed special daily supplements of vitamins and minerals in addition to his regular diet of eucalyptus leaves.

But Wednesday night, following the phone call, the park found him in a plastic rubbish bin covered with a milk crate, appearing frightened and mildly dehydrated but otherwise fine.

Keepers will have to administer fluids to Banjo, noted for being a fussy eater, in order to bring him back to health.

"It's good to have him back," said park manager Tim Faulkner, who said he wouldn't have lasted long outside.

"People can't care for this sort of thing. It's not a dog."

Koalas, a marsupial native to Australia, typically live 10 years in the wild and around 15 years in captivity. Some 100,000 are estimated to be left in the wild, with their natural habitats under threat from urbanization.

Poor Sam the Koala - stuffed twice!

SAM the Koala has been immortalised alongside Phar Lap in the Melbourne Museum.

The Mirboo North marsupial shot to fame after an image of her drinking from local fire fighter David Tree’s water bottle was circulated around the world.

She died weeks after the Victorian bushfires, but the famous image helped lift spirits and raise money in the wake of the devastating summer bushfire of 2009.

A taxidermist has stuffed Sam’s body and placed it on a tree trunk, which will be displayed in the foyer of the museum.

Victoria’s Arts Minister Lynne Kosky was on hand to launch the new exhibit.

“The images of Sam and her rescuers came to define the wonderful spirit of community and friendship that is now helping Victoria rebuild – and I commend the people who worked so hard to care for her,” Ms Kosky said.

“It is fitting that Sam will have a permanent home in the Melbourne Museum where children and families will be able to visit her and learn about her story.”

Museum Victoria CEO,  J Patrick Greene, said for millions of people here in Australia and overseas, Sam the Koala represents the tragic impact of the summer 2009 bushfires on people’s lives.

“Sam became a symbol of the enormous loss felt by so many in the aftermath of last year’s terrible bushfires, and for this reason I believe it’s important that visitors from Victoria, across Australia and from overseas can see Sam and be reminded of her story and the events of Black Saturday,” Dr Greene said.