Current Event:

The government of Australia has, for the first time, listed koalas as a vulnerable species in the states of New South Wales and Queensland and in the Australia Capital Territory.

A female koala carries her joey (young) on her back. The joey spends its first seven months in the mother's pouch and the next six riding on her back. Courtesy Dave Watts, Tom Stack & Associates

Objective:

The vulnerable classification means that governments in these three areas of Australia must consider the well-being of koalas when making decisions about forests and new construction. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles takes a look at why the koala population has dipped.

Words to Know:

• Australia
• endangered
• eucalyptus trees
• extinct
• habitat
• koala
• marsupial
• New South Wales
• Queensland
• vulnerable species

Discussion Topics:
1. Australia‘s federal government lists threatened species in three categories: vulnerable, endangered, and critically endangered. Animals that face possible extinction are also commonly listed as lower risk. Give your students a list of threatened species of animals and ask them to identify to which category the animals belong. Or give your students one of the categories and ask them to name animals that belong in each category.

2. Koalas have been listed as vulnerable, but not yet endangered. Tell your students that most species become endangered because of human activities. Ask them to give examples of what these activities may be. (They might say that species mainly become endangered because of (1) loss of habitat, (2) wildlife trade, (3) overhunting, and (4) competition with domestic and foreign animals.)

3. Koalas are marsupials. Ask your students to compare and contrast marsupials with other mammals. (Similarities: All mammals have fur and the young feed on the mother’s milk. Differences: Marsupials, such as kangaroos, give birth to undeveloped young that mature in a pouch. Most mammals, including human beings, are placental mammals that do not give birth until their young are more fully developed.)

4. Native to Australia, a koala’s diet consists of the leaves of eucalyptus trees. These leaves are poisonous to almost all other animals. However, these leaves provide koalas with relatively poor nutrition. As a result, they must sleep up to 20 hours a day and move only very slowly. Ask your students how the dependence of koalas on eucalyptus leaves may make them especially vulnerable. (Many eucalyptus forests have been cut down, greatly reducing koala habitat. Part of the reason the Australian government classified the koala as vulnerable is to protect the remaining eucalyptus forests, without which koalas could not survive in the wild.)