Many causes are attributed to the serious drop in koala bear numbers, including habitat destruction, road kills, bush fires and loss of genetic fitness due to inbreeding, but also chlamydia. This STD has found a fertile field in its complicated genetic apparatus, aided possibly by weakened immunity. In some places infection rates are as high as 90 percent. Sadly, the little joeys pick it up suckling in their pouch. Moreover, the infection can also leave mothers infertile.
Now a new threat has been identified leaving them on the brink. The koalas' source of all nourishment, the eucalyptus tree, has been affected by increasing CO2 levels. The koalas rely on the mildly toxic leaves for food and water and up to now have been able to tolerate the toxicity -- they sleep up to 20 hours to work it out. But the rise in CO2 has decreased nutrition content leaving them more poisonous. Feeding on these, the koalas are ingesting ever more poison. Worse, the Australian drought, blamed on global warming for its intensity, has left the leaves with reduced moisture content. The stresses have left the koalas dying from kidney failure.
How long before they are added to the ever-increasing endangered list? Unless the world really sits up and takes notice, we will be soon adding our pollinator bee friends and, eventually, ourselves to that list. It is what we have in common.
Author's Note: This article appeared first on counterpunch.org.
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