Koalas are often thought of as cuddly little teddy bears by most people, and stuffed koalas are collectors items to arctophiles. Koalas have always been kind of a collectors item, but in the past, it used to be for hunters who would go out and hunt these marsupials. Hunting and habitat loss has been so devastating to the koala population, that there are very few left to people to enjoy aside from stuffed recreations.

Koalas used to be found all throughout Australia as they can live in a variety of different habitats. Koalas can live in coastal island, tall eucalypt forests, and low woodland inland areas. Since they can live in such a variety of different habitats, they were fairly widespread until the 1900's.

The early 1900's were a big time for hunting in Australia, and after the 1924, hunting had been so detrimental to the koala in South Australia, they were declared locally extinct. Only now are they slowly being reintroduced into the island regions of Southern Australia, and scientists are monitoring the progress of this new population. But hunters were not to be deferred after their crowning success in South Australia. They then moved up to Queensland where the government announced a six month open hunting season on koalas. In just those six months, over one million were killed, so many that the government did not reopen another hunting season until 1927. When the hunting season was reopened this time, over 800,000 koalas were killed in less than a month. After so many were killed in such a short amount of time, public outrage finally convinced the government to shut down the hunting season and declare the koala a "protected species".

Unfortunately for the koala, despite being declared a "protected species", this has done very little to increase their numbers. Just as their threat from hunters was going down, another threat was introduced. This threat was habitat destruction--a threat that is well known to other endangered species around the world. In Australia however, the national government does not make the laws to decide whether or not to protect a species; they leave that up to the separate principalities. This has done very little good for the koala as many of the principalities do not even consider this species threatened. So far, only New South Wales (NSW) has the koala listed as "rare and vulnerable" and this was only declared in 1992. In 1995 though, the NSW government reaffirmed the koala's status within the Threatened Species Conservation Act and introduced State Environment Planning Policy 44-Koala Habitat protection. This is the first such protection in all of Australia.

Unfortunately, the koala does not enjoy such status in the other principalities. In 1996, the Australia Koala Foundation was told by the Queensland government that it planned to upgrade the koala to a "vulnerable" species, thus giving the koala and its habitat some protection under law. However, to this day, this still has not happened. In Victoria, the koala has no special listing as it is considered common there, which is why when koalas were reintroduced into South Australia, they were taken from the population in Victoria.

Since koalas are considered common in many areas in Australia, scientists have been able to do quite a bit of research on their habits. They do know that koalas found in the southern parts of Australia are bigger than the ones in northern Australia. Northern male koalas weigh about 14.3 lbs, females about 11.21 lbs whereas southern males weigh about 26.1 lbs and the southern females about 17.4 lbs. Scientists also know that the koala's diet is made up of 90% eucalypt leaves, and only 10% water, which is how they got their name. Koala in the aboriginal language means "no water."

Scientists have also learned that the mating season for koalas is October through February, with the adult males being most active at night. Once mating has occurred, the gestation period lasts for about 25-35 days, with the young being born sometime in the summer. The litter usually consists of one young, though twin births have been reported. The young koalas stay in their mother's pouch for 5-7 months, feeding on milk. They are weaned at about 6-10 months of age, and they become fully independent of their mothers at 11 months. Wild koalas can live up to ten years, and captive koalas have been reported to have a life span of over twenty years.

Despite knowing about the habits and the habitat of the koalas, still very little is being done to help this species. Most scientists consider this species to be fairly common; however, conservationists and environmental organizations disagree. The Australian Koala Foundation is working hard to push the governments of Queensland and Victoria to give the koala special status to ensure that more of the koala habitat isn't destroyed. If they are successful, then maybe the koalas will once again be as "common" as the government and scientists think.