News Archive -
Granite Belt Koala Survey
20-Oct-09 18:46 Tags: None
The Stanthorpe Field Naturalists have received a request from Christine Hosking at the University of Queensland for residents in the Granite Belt to report on the occurrence of koalas in our district.
Christine is currently completing her PhD at the University of Queensland and is investigating the optimal areas for protecting koalas throughout Queensland. Christine says "With the decline of koalas in southeast Queensland, it is vitally important to examine remaining koala habitats at a State-wide scale."
Christine is seeking recent sightings information to ascertain where koalas are still occurring. If you have a seen a koala recently (2008-2009) then Christine would be most grateful if you could complete this very quick survey by Friday 27th November, 2009.
Click here to download the survey, email completed surveys to c.hosking@uq.edu.au.
More about koalas
Koalas eat a good 500gms of gum leaves each day, and this is the reason they don’t stay in one place for very long. Find out what varieties of eucalyptus are part of a koala's diet. Even though they are only awake for around 4 hours a day, when they decide to, they can move quite quickly.
The females breed when they are around 2 years of age, with gestation being 35 days. The joeys are born in November to February, and stay in the pouch for around 6 months. The next six months is spent on mum’s back, until they are weaned at 12 months.
Crossing the road can be fatal for Koalas, as they don’t know about speed limits! Quite a few are reported killed in this area, and there have been a couple lucky enough to have “fixable” traumas. Dog attacks are a problem, with more not surviving than those that do. The biggest problem for the Koalas on the Southern Downs is Chlamydia which is a sexually transmitted disease. It becomes obvious with “wet bottoms” or badly infected eyes. By this time the females usually have such intense cysts that they aren’t able to breed and are destined for a slow painful death. Some of the males, if found soon enough, can be cured.
Group of the Month for October
06-Oct-09 23:36 Tags: Group of the Month
They've only been on GraniteNet for 1 month and they've already made a name for themselves. Congratulations to the Rare Wildflower Consortium for becoming GraniteNet's October group of the month.
Happy Days
04-Oct-09 22:32 Tags: GraniteNet
The calendar is back online. Enjoy.
