00:00What could be more Australian than the koala?
00:09This is the quintessential icon of Australian wildlife.
00:14Fluffy marsupials many would regard as ever so cute.
00:20The vast eucalyptus forests that stretch inland along Australia's eastern seaboard are home
00:27to an estimated 40,000 to 80,000 koalas.
00:35The succulent tips of the eucalyptus forests are the koala's prize meal.
00:43The koala can eat roughly the equivalent of a shopping bag full of leaves every day.
00:51The koala gets its name from an ancient Aboriginal word meaning no drink, because it receives
00:57over 90% of its hydration from the eucalyptus leaves.
01:03It eats and only drinks when ill or at times when there is not enough moisture in the leaves
01:08such as during droughts.
01:13The koala is one of only three mammals which can survive on a diet of eucalyptus leaves.
01:19In Australia there are over 600 types of eucalyptus.
01:26Australian koalas will only eat 40 to 50 varieties with only about 10 types of leaves
01:30being preferred.
01:36The koala is well suited to life in the trees.
01:39They have an excellent sense of balance and their bodies are lean and muscular.
01:44Strong limbs support its weight when climbing.
01:49Their paws are especially adapted for gripping and climbing with rough pads on the palms
01:54and soles helping it to grip tree trunks and branches.
01:59Koalas have a thick woolly fur which protects them from both high and low temperatures.
02:04It also acts like a raincoat to repel moisture when it rains.
02:08The fur varies in colour from light grey to brown with patches of white on the chest and
02:14neck inside arms and legs and inside the ears.
02:18Koalas use a range of sounds to communicate with one another over relatively large distances.
02:26There is a deep grunting bellow which the male uses to signify its social and physical
02:31position.
02:35Koalas spend 75% of their time sleeping.
02:40In captivity they live surprisingly much longer than they do in the wild.
02:47Koalas in captivity live around 12 to 15 years on average whereas in the wild they
02:52generally live around 8 to 12 years.
02:56A lot more care is provided to koalas in captivity.
02:59They don't have to search for their food, it all comes to them.
03:03They get the very best food available and are well maintained.
03:08They do get a little aggressive at times when they are looking for a partner.
03:13It's important for the same group of animals to stay together so that they can establish
03:17their own hierarchy.
03:20Because koalas are territorial they'll push intruders out of their space.
03:27Come breeding time these docile creatures become raging bulls challenging any male koala
03:32that enters their territory.
03:33As if to battle the territory's dominant males go in for the attack.
03:41These are vicious encounters, sharp claws and teeth exacting brutal punishment.
03:45The fact that they are up to three metres above the ground doesn't appear to matter
03:51to these furry gladiators.
03:54Without disengaging for one second these sparring males finally fall to the ground.
04:01Like two sumo wrestlers they grapple one another, fur-fly, teeth snapping at the flesh.
04:07For thirty minutes they wear each other down trying to get that perfect stranglehold.
04:15It's almost a fight to the death, the winner becoming the dominant male who can claim all
04:20females nearby as part of his heron.
04:25Some of those females are on heat.
04:28The bobbing, hiccuping movement displayed by this young lady shows she's in oestrus.
04:39Koala babies are called joeys.
04:42For the six months after a joey is born it remains solidly inside the pouch growing slowly.
04:49Only after six months does it emerge and what a fine specimen it proves to be.
04:54Six weeks old it's completely hairless.
04:59Its mouth is virtually wedded to his mother's teat, a bonding and growing process that normally
05:04lasts for the next four months.
05:09The joey will be with its mum until it's about twelve months of age.
05:14In the wild they'll stay with their mothers for around twelve to fifteen months.
05:20Sometimes they'll be chased away a little earlier, especially if the female comes back
05:24into season and then a male is around ready for mating again.
05:29In Australia, koalas are disappearing faster than they're being born.
05:34From the upright slaughter of almost three million for their skins earlier last century,
05:40koalas are these days disappearing from a whole host of killers, almost all of them
05:45related to man.
05:47Another of the hazards of life in the bush for all native animals is fire.
05:54It rages without conscience, killing, maiming and terrorising all in its path.
06:01Only when the heat becomes unbearably intense does this koala retreat.
06:06In situations like this some koalas are forced to swim for their lives to cross a river to
06:12safety.
06:17Koalas are moving in on koala habitat at an alarming rate, knocking down trees that are
06:21home to koala colonies by the tens of thousands and erecting new housing developments.
06:30Koala housing giving way to human housing.
06:36With his home cut down, any wonder this poor koala is bewildered.
06:45Here we know too is this sad creature who strayed onto a beach at Port Macquarie.
06:52She circles around and around in total confusion.
06:57Chances are that she'll become victim to another big koala killer, the pet dog.
07:04Dogs account for a staggering number of koala deaths every year.
07:08As many as one in every 20 koalas die this horrific way.
07:14But it's not all bad news for koalas.
07:18On islands like Kangaroo Island off the South Australian coastline, koala numbers are thriving.
07:26Koalas were introduced here some 80 years ago, but are now in such large numbers they've
07:30become a real problem, threatening to kill off entire forests of eucalyptus trees.
07:36A kangaroo island stripped of its gum trees is something South Australian authorities
07:41are keen to avoid, with wildlife officers charged with saving both the trees and the
07:46koalas.
07:48National Park rangers have initiated a plan to catch hundreds of koalas every year, tagging
07:53them to keep track.
08:00Many males are sterilised.
08:02Koalas are flown back to the mainland where they're released.
08:12Another island where koalas have become a problem is French Island just off the Victorian
08:16coastline.
08:17More than 30,000 koalas now live here, and like Kangaroo Island, too many koalas have
08:24resulted in trees stripped of leaves and left to die.
08:30The solution has been to relocate many of the koalas back to the mainland.
08:35First to be caught today is a healthy male adult.
08:39This team uses a red flag to frighten the koala downwards.
08:44Once within reach, a rope noose is placed around his neck, but even then the koala can
08:50hang on tenaciously.
08:51It all appears very cruel, but the rangers assure us it isn't, that the koala would otherwise
08:58have perished.
08:59Finally brought to ground, one more indignity, an ear tag snapped on.
09:10Koalas caught are released on the mainland.
09:14In New South Wales, new settlements are being developed with koala preservation in mind.
09:20At a government level, scientists are radio tracking individual koalas.
09:27Learning more about their habits and movements, while tourists are now banned from holding
09:37koalas in wildlife reserves.
09:42It's all part of a growing realisation that radical steps have to be taken if the koala
09:48is to survive.
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