A week ago, I told you that GPS-equipped pigeons followed highways. Now, the University of Queensland and mining company Rio Tinto Coal Australia (RTCA) are using satellite technology to track koalas from space. Their partnership, Koala Venture, started about 15 years ago to study the habitat and diet of the koalas living near the Blair Athol Mine. In a new stage of the partnership, koalas will be fitted with special satellite tracking collars. They hope to understand the way a koala sees its surroundings, and of course to better manage the koala population, their safety and security. Apparently, these koalas are lucky, because other studies say that they could be extinct in 15 years.
Koalas at the Blair Athol mine site near Clermont will be fitted with special satellite tracking collars in the latest stage of a long-term partnership between the two organisations, launched by Environment Minister John Mickel on July 29, 2004.
The partnership, known as Koala Venture, has delivered vital knowledge of koala habitat and diet which is then incorporated into the mine’s operations and rehabilitation programs.
"Koala Venture has been the longest running koala study in Australia and has delivered research findings promoting a broader understanding of koala ecology valuable to the conservation of this national icon," University of Queensland Vice Chancellor Professor John Hay AC said.
"In the next phase of our partnership we will employ this new technology and extend the horizons in which we are operating to provide data on the animals twenty-four hours a day."
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Here is a photograph of a koala receiving a regular health check as part of the Koala Venture program. (Credit: Koala Venture). |
I haven't found anywhere the number of koalas living in this specific area, but apparently, they are in good hands.
In launching the partnership Environment Minister, John Mickel, congratulated Rio Tinto and the University of Queensland on their ongoing commitment to koala conservation.
"This partnership complements the work the Environmental Protection Agency is undertaking to protect and conserve koala colonies across Queensland," Mr Mickel said.
But koalas are not protected everywhere in Australia. For instance, you can read this article from Reuters, "Koalas face extinction, activists warn."
There are about 100,000 koalas in Australia, down from an estimated seven to 10 million at the time of white settlement in 1788. In the 1920s, three million koalas were shot for their fur.
Deborah Tabarat, executive director of the Australian Koala Foundation, said the major problem facing koalas was that the majority of Australia’s 20 million people and the majority of the koala population both call Australia’s eastern states home.
She said that with 80 percent of Australia’s east coast temperate forests destroyed and continued rapid urbanization, koalas along the eastern seaboard could be extinct in 15 years.
Sources: University of Queensland news release, July 29, 2004; Koala Venture website; Reuters, June 29, 2004
4:17:58 PM
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