Koalas nearly went extinct before humans arrived, DNA study reveals
A new genomic study reveals that koalas experienced a major population decline 100,000 years ago due to climate change, long before human arrival in Australia. While modern threats like habitat loss are human-driven, this research provides a new timeline for the species' genetic history.
Why it matters
Correcting the timeline of koala population history helps conservationists better understand how the species responds to environmental stressors.
A major genomic analysis is changing scientists' understanding of koala evolution. The research indicates that koalas ( Phascolarctos cinereus ) underwent a severe population decline about 100,000 years ago, well before humans reached Australia.
Every koala alive today appears to descend from a single ancestral population that endured dramatic environmental shifts, including intense glacial periods.
Modern koalas, however, are now confronting a different combination of dangers. These include hunting, widespread land clearing, bushfires, and disease.
Researchers from the University of Sydney and Texas A&M University led the study, which challenges earlier research suggesting that koala numbers collapsed only after humans arrived in Australia. The findings were announced in Molecular Biology and Evolution , published by Oxford University Press.
"The study rewrites the timeline for the koala's genetic history in Australia," says PhD student Toby Kovacs, who led the research.
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