Australian ecologists are sounding the alarm: according to them, koalas, charming harmless animals that are one of the symbols of Australia, may disappear in 30 years, having survived only in zoos. And man and his activity are to blame for this.
The population of koalas - Australian marsupial bears - is rapidly declining, despite the efforts of green conservationists. If in 1900 there were about ten million koalas in Australia, now, according to researchers, no more than ten thousand koalas remain in the wild. Koalas have no enemies in the animal kingdom. The main danger for them turned out to be man. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with the massive arrival of Europeans in Australia, the hunt for koalas began because of their thick fur. Gullible animals were exterminated on a huge scale (for example, in 1924, two million koala skins were exported from the eastern states of Australia alone). In 1927, hunting for koalas was prohibited, but another threat to their life remained (and remains to this day): deforestation of eucalyptus forests. Eucalyptus forests are the habitat of koalas, an indispensable condition for their life. After all, the animals feed exclusively on eucalyptus foliage, their body is designed in such a way that they cannot tolerate other food. Koalas don't even drink any liquid other than their mother's milk as a child. The very word "koala" in the language of the aborigines of Australia means "do not drink". These animals have enough moisture contained in eucalyptus leaves. In a day, an adult koala eats about 1 kg of these leaves and, even when starving, will not touch other plants. Deforestation and forest fires (more frequent in recent years) are rapidly reducing the area occupied by forests of eucalyptus trees in Australia. Koalas, normally spending their entire life on a tree, are forced to descend to the ground and travel long distances in search of food. Such travels are fraught with mortal danger for them: they die under the wheels of cars, become victims of packs of dogs. In addition, ticks brought into the country from Indonesia and Japan pose a threat to the health of koalas. From whatever side you look, the mortal enemy of cute, harmless, gullible animals turned out to be a man. Australian legislation does not provide for measures to protect the habitat of koalas. In the state of Queensland, you will no longer find koalas, although in 2000 there were about 20 thousand of them. Sadly, it is likely that in the near future it will be possible to admire the fluffy animals only in the koala parks created by the efforts of the "greens" near the cities of Sydney and Perth.
