How Many Visitors Can A Koala Bear?

The koala bear’s low energy diet may make it particularly sensitive to stress from visitor noise and handling.

AsianScientist (May 23, 2014) – A study shows that Koalas can become stressed by noisy and up-close encounters with human visitors.

The koala is a much-loved Australian icon and extremely popular with foreign tourists, but little work had been done to understand how they cope with human interaction.

“Our study showed that up-close and noisy encounters with human visitors resulted in koalas showing so called ‘increased vigilance’, which is a common response to stress,” said Dr. Jean-Loup Rault from the University of Melbourne’s Animal Welfare Science Center.

“Stress is generally an energy-costly mechanism. This could be a problem as koalas survive on an extremely low energy diet — largely made up of Eucalyptus leaves — and minimize energy expenditure by sleeping 20 hours a day.”

Researchers tested the effect of visitor numbers, visitor noise, and visitor proximity on koalas at the Koala Conservation Center, which forms part of the Phillip Island Nature Parks network.

“This work also highlights the value and importance of behavioral observations as a monitoring tool to assess visitor-related stress in koalas” according to Zoo’s Victoria’s Sally Sherwen, a collaborator on the study.

The research raises questions about the classic trade off between visitor education and animal welfare.

“Some wildlife parks offer close encounters or even hands on experiences with koalas,” said Dr. Rault. “Only now are we beginning to understand the impact of these visitor encounters on koalas’ behavior and welfare.”

The article can be found at: Larsen et al. (2014) Number of Nearby Visitors and Noise Level Affect Vigilance in Captive Koalas.

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Source: University of Melbourne; Photo: Andrew Napier/Flickr/CC.

Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.

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