The BBC reported today (11th November 2009) that “Australia's koalas could be wiped out within 30 years unless urgent action is taken to halt a decline in population, according to researchers”. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8352107.stm).
The report goes on to describe how “development, climate change and bushfires have all combined to send the numbers of wild koalas plummeting” and that “many have been killed by the sexually transmitted disease Chlamydia”. Not a nice fate!
The report is well written, factually accurate and has impeccable sources (The Koala Foundation and one of the World’s leading biogeographers, Professor Hugh Possingham). But is it right? Will koalas go extinct within 30 years?
To try to answer this question we need to first ask what is meant by extinction? In this case, although not stated, extinction probably means extinction in the wild as there is a relatively large global breeding population in zoological parks.
