Our impact in 2024
It's been a busy year for our team including undertaking surveys to document new koala populations, research to understand climate change impacts, running community events and planning our 2025 conservation priorities.
If you missed our live December Webinar and would like to hear about the work that Science for Wildlife was busy with during 2024, you can watch it here (or follow the link below to watch on Youtube).
Whenever Spring is in the air, it's time to listen up!
From September until March it is koala mating season. During this time, koalas are more conspicuous. Males are bellowing to attract mates and both males and females will travel kilometers to find their love interest for this season. All of this action makes it a great time to get an idea of where koalas are living.
If you’re in an area where koalas might be around, keep an ear out for the surprising sound of male bellow. Click the video to hear what it sounds like. If you hear one, please report it as a "sighting", audio proof still counts!
NEW! Koala Community Education Booklets
We are pleased to be able to share a new update from our Blue Mountains Koala Project, our new Blue Mountains Koala Project Booklets for both the Lower Blue Mountains as well as Hawkesbury/South East Wollemi. These booklets, based around the special koala populations we have uncovered in the Lower Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury, show what makes a koala special, where they are located, some information on their behaviour, as well the different species of Eucalypt they enjoy.
Koala Habitat Maps
We are pleased to be able to share some updates from our Blue Mountains Koala Project.
From September 2020 to February 2021 the team undertook over 100 scat surveys in the Hawkesbury region, the first of their 5 study sites, to track koalas that had survived the 2019/20 bushfires. Another 200 surveys were then completed in the Kanangra-Boyd National Park area, and Newnes Plateau. The field survey teams included help from hard-working and dedicated volunteers. As well as surveys, we encouraged local communities to report any koala sightings directly to us. Using all of the information we collected during earlier ecological research several years before the bushfires, we combined a range of data to create maps to show how the koala colonies are tracking after the fires.
The pre-fire map is based on combined research data prior to the 2019/20 bushfires, using radio-tracking data, systematic surveys and community sightings.
The post-fire map uses survey and sighting data and indicate how the density of koala records in different habitat has changed since the bushfires.
The good news is that koalas are being found distributed across the post-fire landscape, with most occurring in the unburnt and low intensity burn zone. However, koalas are fewer in number since the fires and there are still concerns. Dr Kellie Leigh, CEO, explained that if koala numbers are too low that can lead to ongoing population decline through a process called “small population dynamics”.
The team has another 100 or so surveys to go across other sites including the Lower Blue Mountains, and in the meantime, they have created a predictive map of koala habitats in that region (see below). A lot of the map is flagged as possible koala habitat. Leigh says that koalas in the mountains are using a huge diversity of trees so it’s hard to accurately predict where they will be found.
If you live in or near likely or possible koala habitat, please keep a look out and report any sightings. It is particularly important to be aware of koalas and conserve them in and around developed areas now, since those are asset protection zones and most habitats did not burn, acting as a refuge for koalas and other species. Koalas in those pockets of intact habitat can eventually help to recolonize burnt habitats, including inside protected areas
Lower Blue Mountains Koala Habitat Map. Based on community sightings and pilot surveys, with survey results still to come.
