
Koalas ‘Functionally Extinct’ After Australia Fires Destroy 80% of Their Habitat - hanniabu
https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2019/11/23/koalas-functionally-extinct-after-australia-bushfires-destroy-80-of-their-habitat/
======
roywiggins
"Following the initial declaration of 'functional extinction' in May,
Christine Adams-Hosking, a conservationist at the University of Queensland,
penned an article for The Conversation more accurately outlining the fate of
the koala in Australia. In it, Adams-Hosking made it clear the functional
extinction tag was one likely applied with a little too much haste. In a study
conducted in 2016, a collaboration of researchers attempted to quantify how
many koalas were left, but it's a complex game."

[https://www.cnet.com/news/koalas-are-not-functionally-
extinc...](https://www.cnet.com/news/koalas-are-not-functionally-extinct-but-
they-need-our-help/)

------
vpribish
forbes is shit, the headline is a lie.

[https://www.cnet.com/news/koalas-are-not-functionally-
extinc...](https://www.cnet.com/news/koalas-are-not-functionally-extinct-but-
they-need-our-help/)

~~~
neonate
Not only Forbes, apparently.

[https://twitter.com/JacquelynGill/status/1198437407475015682...](https://twitter.com/JacquelynGill/status/1198437407475015682?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1198437407475015682&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnet.com%2Fnews%2Fkoalas-
are-not-functionally-extinct-but-they-need-our-help%2F)

(from the parent's link)

------
frereubu
I hate to be the person saying something like "koalas are only in _terrible_
trouble, not _awful_ trouble", because it's clear that the issues are serious
(not to mention the over-arching issue of climate change). But in an article
linked from this one there's this quote:

"The number given by the Australian Koala Foundation is much lower than the
most recent academic estimates, but experts agree that koala numbers in many
places are in steep decline."

So the line about "experts" in the Forbes article are the Australian Koala
Foundation, not academics who study koalas.

As I say, I'm reluctant to bring this up because it may sound like I'm
deliberately trying to diminish the importance of habitat destruction on
koalas, which is clearly serious. But the headline for me feels like Forbes
chose the most emotive possible interpretation to gain some clicks, rather
than it being a sober analysis of the (clearly serious) situation, and
therefore I'm doubtful of the "functionally extinct" part of this.

The reason I'm quibbling is that if this claim is over-stated, it's going to
lead to people thinking "well, last time they said functionally extinct it
wasn't true, so it probably is this time," and will make these kinds of claims
easier to dismiss in the future.

~~~
greglindahl
It's also worth noticing that the author of the Forbes thing is a "Forbes
contributor" i.e. a person using the Forbes blogging platform, not a Forbes
journalist. Serious topics deserve better journalism than this article.

------
mikorym
Although 1000 koalas are believed to have been killed in these recent fires
(from the article), it doesn't look like they are "functionally extinct" [1].
Also, it seems like that particular claim was made earlier the year as well
(before the presumed most recent fires). I don't know what to say about the
"80% of their habitat" claim.

In any case, as many have lamented before me, it's a pity that we keep wanting
poster boy animals rather than just general, sanitory debate around nature
conservation.

[1] [https://www.newscientist.com/article/2203655-no-koalas-
are-n...](https://www.newscientist.com/article/2203655-no-koalas-are-not-
functionally-extinct-but-they-are-in-trouble/)

~~~
hanniabu
> we keep wanting poster boy animals rather than just general, sanitory debate
> around nature conservation.

Same here, but I also can't disagree because if we don't get the population a
little enraged and hyped up about it then there will be no pressure on the
politicians. At least this is the case in the US where oil/gas/mining
lobbyists continue to have protected lands changed to unprotected so they can
rape and desecrate it for profits.

~~~
gedy
> if we don't get the population a little enraged and hyped up

I disagree - people just become numb and tune it all out. Plus, the opposite
side then just point out the exaggerations to their own benefit.

~~~
microcolonel
Bingo, outsize panic serves politicians, but rarely serves causes in the long
run.

------
jacquesm
There will come a time when we can only view the most interesting wildlife
that was common a hundred years ago only in pictures and movies. Super sad. As
a kid I had an encyclopedia of all the animals, not a kids book but a pretty
serious book with a page per species. I wonder how many of those that were
still around back then (1975) are gone today. Probably not a happy answer to
that question.

Koala's still stand a chance of survival if humanity wishes it to be so.

~~~
stan_rogers
Was it, perchance, the Larousse? I loved that book.

~~~
jacquesm
Interesting, never thought of looking it up, this was the book:

[https://www.boekwinkeltjes.nl/b/103530821/De-grote-
encyclope...](https://www.boekwinkeltjes.nl/b/103530821/De-grote-encyclopedie-
van-het/)

For sale on the local ebay equivalent for 1,50 euros... a steal at that price:

[https://www.marktplaats.nl/a/boeken/dieren-en-
huisdieren/m14...](https://www.marktplaats.nl/a/boeken/dieren-en-
huisdieren/m1458743914-dierenrijk-stanek-grote-encyclopedie-van-het-
dierenrijk-1963.html)

The ad has some of the contents in it, most of the images were b&w with only
very few pages in color. Still, I loved that book and tried real hard to learn
it by heart.

~~~
stan_rogers
Similar in scale and tone to the Larousse, certainly. Every kid should have
one in their life.

------
hkmurakami
Doubly tough that the eucalyptus tree is an excellent fuel source for
wildfires (hence there's been an extensive removal program by northern
California municipalities over the last decade)

~~~
hanniabu
That's interesting, is it because the sap acts as a flammable gel?

~~~
ekimekim
from
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus#Adaptation_to_fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus#Adaptation_to_fire):

"Eucalyptus oil is highly flammable; ignited trees have been known to explode.
Bushfires can travel easily through the oil-rich air of the tree crowns...

...In seasonally dry climates oaks are often fire-resistant, particularly in
open grasslands, as a grass fire is insufficient to ignite the scattered
trees. In contrast, a eucalyptus forest tends to promote fire because of the
volatile and highly combustible oils produced by the leaves, as well as the
production of large amounts of litter high in phenolics, preventing its
breakdown by fungi and thus accumulating as large amounts of dry, combustible
fuel."

So yes, part of it is that it secretes oils that are highly flammable. Another
part is that it tends to accumulate dead leaves etc at the base, which aren't
broken down as fast as that of most trees.

The Eucalyptus has evolved to expect periodic fires - it's flammable because
stoking fires is adventageous to it. The problem is that now, due to climate
change, the fires are more frequent and more intense, and because habitats are
so small, there's nowhere else for the koalas to go when one part of the
forest burns.

------
joeraut
This is really sad to hear. I hope that we're capable of restoring their
habitat to a reasonable extent, and that the natural population subsequently
rises up again.

------
Supermancho
I thought koalas were a borderline nuisance species...far more than 1000
koalas in Australia. Maybe less than 1000 outside Australia. Not sure how
accurate this headline/story is.

~~~
wrs
There seems to be some confusion between a _population_ becoming extinct and a
whole _species_ becoming extinct. More information here. [1]

[1] [https://theconversation.com/a-report-claims-koalas-are-
funct...](https://theconversation.com/a-report-claims-koalas-are-functionally-
extinct-but-what-does-that-mean-116665)

~~~
fwxwi
Or perhaps the title of this article is intentionally ambiguous to make people
click.

