'Secret' colony discovered hidden in impenetrable Aussie forest
High above steep ravines and unstable ground disturbed by years of underground mining, a "secret" population of endangered koalas has been discovered. Around 300 of the marsupials are estimated to be hidden in protected forest north of Newcastle, a bustling industrial centre that's Australia's seventh-largest city.
It's only through the development of technology that University of Newcastle researchers were able to count the marsupials inside Sugarloaf State Conservation Area.
'Without drones there's no way we would have been able to get into Sugarloaf to survey. Trying to get ground search teams down into these areas would be virtually impossible,' PhD candidate Shelby Ryan told Yahoo News.
The University of Newcastle's Dr Ryan Witt said there had been an odd report of koalas in the area, but no confirmation of a stable population. Because the drone-mounted cameras can record imagery with strong detail, the researchers were able to verify joeys were present in the forest, meaning they are successfully breeding.
Related: Tiny speck in thermal photo confirms presence of increasingly rare animal
'The koala population at Sugarloaf seems to be a bit of a secret even though it's in close proximity to Newcastle,' he said.
Gamilaraay and Wiradjuri man Daryn McKenny grew up in the area but never saw koalas until recently. 'It wasn't until about five years ago that I first spotted a koala at Sugarloaf,' he said.
He's since been involved with helping the university team in their search for the marsupials. 'To know there's close to 300 is just incredible,' he said.
The Sugarloaf project was part of a survey of 67,300 hectares of bushland in NSW. It used a newly created counting model that combined thermal drone searches, spotlight verification and statistical modelling.
Funded by World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia and published in the journal Biological Conservation, the complete study estimated there were 4,357 koalas living across 208 sites. If money is secured for future surveys, then researchers will be able to track movements in population numbers.
In the immediate future, it's hoped the work will lead conservation efforts to help preserve the landscapes where the koalas live.
'We can protect and restore habitat, and try to reduce the impacts of road expansion and other infrastructure. It can also help us manage the threats of bushfires,' Ryan said.
In NSW and Queensland, experts predict koalas are on track to be extinct by 2050. In Victoria and South Australia, government surveys suggest koala numbers are stable and even overabundant in some areas. But there are concerns that development, habitat fragmentation, fire and the blue gum timber industry are creating a perfect storm that will soon see these populations also threatened.
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