How super koalas are saving their species

We’re delight­ed to announce the arrival of four koala joeys, mark­ing a sig­nif­i­cant mile­stone in our ground-break­ing conservation. 

While these may look like your typ­i­cal adorable joeys, they hold the poten­tial to become the super­heroes for their species’ survival. 

What chal­lenges do koalas face?

Australia’s cher­ished koala pop­u­la­tions face a mul­ti­tude of chal­lenges includ­ing habi­tat loss, cli­mate change, human-induced threats and dis­eases such as chlamy­dia and koala retrovirus. 

How does the breed­ing pro­gram work?

These joeys are the result of a care­ful­ly planned breed­ing plan involv­ing a colony of 20 female koalas from Kan­ga­roo Island and four males from Victoria’s Strz­elec­ki Ranges. 

The pri­ma­ry objec­tive of the pro­gram is to raise healthy, dis­ease-free and genet­i­cal­ly diverse koalas. If required, these koalas could poten­tial­ly bol­ster pop­u­la­tions in Queens­land, New South Wales and the ACT. 

The pro­gram is based at Cle­land Wildlife Park and is spear­head­ed by the Depart­ment for Envi­ron­ment and Water and Koala Life, with sup­port from Flinders Uni­ver­si­ty and The Uni­ver­si­ty of Adelaide. 

Can I catch a glimpse of these joeys? 

As the joeys play an impor­tant role this breed­ing pro­gram and are still devel­op­ing, they are not avail­able for pub­lic viewing. 

How­ev­er you can still head to Cle­land Wildlife Park and meet our res­i­dent koalas, as well as many oth­er native species includ­ing kan­ga­roos, emus, yel­low foot­ed rock wal­la­bies to name a few! 

Where can I find out more?

To find out more about Koala Life and their work in safe­guard­ing the species, vis­it www​.koalal​ife​.asn​.au

Love koalas? Why not Show your sup­port for SA’s wildlife res­cue sec­tor with a new num­ber plate.

We’ve also put togeth­er Your guide to the koalas found in South Aus­tralia and find out How drones and fit­ness track­ers are help­ing South Aus­tralian researchers mon­i­tor koalas.