Koala: Functionally extinct. Our grandchildren will most likely never see koalas. An inconvenient truth. What's happened? (8 photos)

After reading this article, your mimics will overheat, your hearts will be touched, and your eyes will shed a hail of tears. We will talk about one of the cutest and plumpest animals, which our children may never see. Meet the koala!





Let us clarify right away that the koala is not a bear at all, but a two-incisor marsupial from the family of the same name. Alas, koalas have no living brothers in the family, although the paleontological record remembers real giant koalas almost the size of a bear.



The animals are unique inhabitants of Australia and are not found anywhere else, as are the vast majority of marsupials. On their home continent, these guys climbed right up to the very top tiers of eucalyptus forests. Marsupials eat there - without getting off the eucalyptus.





Nothing unusual, just Australian firefighters came to save an Australian cat

Using his example, the koala shows why laziness is bad. The fact is that eucalyptus is not the most nutritious food, and it is also poisonous. But the ancestors of the koalas did not want to go down to earth and look for other food. Therefore, animals spend a lot of energy and time digesting tough leaves and neutralizing toxins. That is why all processes in the koala are slow. Including mental ones.



Yes, all marsupials do not shine with intelligence, but the koala seems to surpass everyone in slow-wittedness. Her brain is literally without convolutions, and most of the skull is occupied not by gray matter, but by cerebrospinal fluid, which protects the already tiny organ from concussions. The animal pot has difficulty solving even simple everyday problems. For example, if you put a eucalyptus leaf on a plate, the animal will not even realize that it can be taken and eaten.



But stupidity is not a vice. But promiscuous sexual relationships are very much so. Sexually transmitted diseases are a real scourge for the species. In some regions of Australia, 90% of koalas have chlamydia. Moreover, the disease is transmitted not only through friendship between organisms, but also from mother to child. Due to infection, the animal goes blind and becomes infertile.



Koalas are also very pugnacious. Especially males who have found a female ready to breed.

Until recently, there were plenty of koalas on the continent. Moreover, the animals were purposefully shot to limit the population size. They were afraid that a large number of koalas would lead to epidemics, a depletion of food supply and promiscuity. But people didn’t take into account that in addition to the human factor, there are also natural ones.



Nowadays, koala rescue is carried out not only by professionals, but also by volunteers who are not indifferent to the fate of the animals.

The latest Australian fires have led to a reduction in the area of ​​eucalyptus forests, and at the same time the number of koalas has dropped to a critical level. All government recovery programs turned out to be almost ineffective. So, in 2020, Australian authorities declared the animals functionally extinct. This means that the number of adults capable of leaving healthy offspring to restore the species is too small. Deforestation, fires and diseases are driving the koala into a black book. The koalas ended up there, despite the fact that there remain pitiful grains of hope for their future.