Koala

MarsupialsGreater Bilby Koala Marsupial Mole Numbat Western Quoll

The Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is one of Australia’s most iconic animals.

Sometimes called a ‘koala bear’, the koala is not a bear, they are marsupials (subclass Marsupialia, class Mammalia). Marsupials are mammals that have a pouch and include other well know Australian animals such as kangaroos and wallabies.

The misnomer can be traced back to early European settlers arriving in Australia, who named the koalas ‘bears’ because of their resemblance to bears. Their scientific name Phascolarctos cinereus is from the Latin meaning ‘pouched bear’.

Koalas are an arboreal herbivorous marsupial (which is quite a mouthful).

Arboreal comes from the Latin arboreus, which means “pertaining to trees.” It is often used to describe creatures that live in trees.

Herbivorous comes from the Latin word herba, which means “green plants,” and is used to describe animals that eat plants such as grass and leaves.

The koala is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae, its closest living relatives are the wombats. The koala is found in coastal areas of the mainland’s eastern and southern regions, inhabiting Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. A stout animal, tailless body, large head with round, fluffy looking ears and large, dark nose. The koala has a body length of between 60 to 85 cm and weighs between 4 to 15 kg.

There are variation in fur colour, ranging from silver grey to a chocolate brown. The koalas from the northern populations are typically smaller and lighter in colour than then those further south.

Koalas are popular additions to many wildlife parks and reserves.

Koalas were once hunted by Indigenous Australians and were depicted in myths and cave art for millennia. The first recorded encounter between an European and a koala was in 1798, with an image of the koala published in 1810 by naturalist George Perry. The botanist Robert Brown wrote the first detailed scientific description of the koala in 1814, although his work remained unpublished for 180 years. It was the popular natural history illustrator John Gould who illustrated and described the koala, introducing the species to the general British public in his 1863 work The Mammals of Australia.

The distinctive appearance of the koala has made it recognisable worldwide and recognised as a symbol of Australia. Koalas are listed as a vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. During the early 20th century, koalas were heavily hunted for their fur, with large-scale cullings in Queensland resulting in a public outcry that initiated a movement to protect the species. Urbanisation and agriculture saw their habitat become fragmented and reduced, so sanctuaries were established, and translocation efforts made to move koalas to new regions around Australia. New threats today include droughts, bushfires and related climate change.

Cultural Significance
Recognised internationally as an icon and symbol of Australia, the image of the Koala appears in numerous places, such as coins, logos, emblems, mascots and sporting teams.

Hunted by Indigenous Australians, the koala first appearance are in their dreamtime stories and cave art. The first recorded encounter of the koala with Europeans was in 1798, with an image published in 1810 by naturalist George Perry. Although botanist Robert Brown wrote the first scientific description of the koala in 1814, his writing was not published for

The first recorded encounter between a European and a koala was in 1798, and an image of the animal was published in 1810 by naturalist George Perry. Botanist Robert Brown wrote the first detailed scientific description of the koala in 1814, although his work remained unpublished for 180 years.

The fact is, the European and scientific discovery of the Koala took place between June-September 1803 and involved type specimens collected at ‘Hat Hill’ (Mount Kembla) in the Illawarra district of New South Wales, located on the coast 50 miles, or 80 kilometres, south of Sydney.

The first animals brought in to Sydney during August 1803 were immediately figured by botanical draughtsman Ferdinand Bauer (1760-1826) and described by noted botanist Robert Brown (1773-1858), both members of the HMS Investigator survey and scientific expedition under Captain Matthew Flinders (Austin, 1964). The drawings, descriptions and portions of the deceased animals were despatched to England shortly thereafter (1803-5). However circumstances were such that this information was largely put aside and not worked upon, or published. Indeed, the local “discovery” of the Koala is shrouded in mystery, arising out of the fact that New South Wales at the time was a penal colony, where free and open scientific investigation was not easily accommodated. In addition, the imprisonment of Captain Flinders at Mauritius between 1803-10 impacted upon plans to publish a detailed account of the findings of the Investigator expedition. The opportunity offered by having on hand both a competent scientist and highly skilled artist at the moment of the Koala’s discovery was therefore let slip by the British. Instead, it was taken up between 1814-17 by a group of German and French zoologists who, as far as is known, never actually saw a living Koala or had access to the June-September 1803 type specimens. The role of Brown and Bauer, “two men of such assiduity and abilities”, as Matthew Flinders praised them in a letter to Sir Joseph Banks on 20 May 1803, was consigned to the level of an historical footnote, where they remain to this day.

https://documents.uow.edu.au/~morgan/koala.htm

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• Scientific classification
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Subphylum: Vertebrata
• Informal: Gnathostomata
• Class: Mammalia
• Subclass: Marsupialia
• Order: Diprotodontia
• Suborder: Vombatiformes
• Family: Phascolarctidae
• Genus: Phascolarctos
• Species: Phascolarctos cinereus
• Subspecies:
  • Phascolarctos cinereus (combined populations of Qld
  • Phascolarctos cinereus (combined populations of Qld, NSW and the ACT)
  • Phascolarctos cinereus adustus Thomas, 1923
  • Phascolarctos cinereus cinereus (Goldfuss, 1817)
  • Phascolarctos cinereus victor Troughton, 1935

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MarsupialsGreater Bilby Koala Marsupial Mole Numbat Western Quoll

MacropodidaeKangaroo, Wallaroo, Euro, Wallaby Black-footed Rock Wallaby Red Kangaroo Wallaroo Eastern Grey Kangaroo Western Grey Kangaroo

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