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Australia's koalas may soon be extinct
Last reviewed: 30.06.2025
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Australia's koalas are at greater risk of extinction than ever before and should be classified as vulnerable, scientists who carried out a study commissioned by the Australian government have said.
As it turned out, the number of koalas has sharply decreased. The main reasons for the sharp decline of these marsupials are dog attacks and road accidents. Before 1788, when Australia was colonized by British colonists, there were about 10 million koalas. Now their number in the wild is about 43,515.
Other threats that negatively affect koala populations include frequent and prolonged droughts, eucalyptus forest clearance, new housing development, bushfires and diseases including chlamydia and koala retrovirus.
Koalas that live in northern Australia have a much harder time surviving because there are so many of them that they have great difficulty finding food.
The study's authors propose listing koalas as vulnerable and urge urgent action to conserve these adorable animals.
History tells us that before Europeans arrived in Australia, droughts and fires were the main causes of koala deaths. In the 20th century, these animals became targets for fur trade. As a result of the sharp decline in koala numbers, the government was forced to ban koala hunting in 1927. It was only in 1954 that their numbers began to gradually recover.
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