“It's highly significant”: Five years counting koala poop pays off by revealing undiscovered population

Not many people would like to spend 82 days counting Strzelecki koala dung in the bush, but Anthony Amis knows this research must be done if we want to understand how many of these distinct koalas are alive and well.

What happened: A new study published by Friends of the Earth Land Use Researcher Anthony Amis has found a relatively unknown population of the genetically distinct Strzelecki koala.

• The study took Amis five years to complete and totalled 89 days in the field at two forested areas in South Gippsland (Mullungdung State Forest and Won Wron Flora Reserve).

The results show there is a relatively unknown population of about 700 Strzelecki koalas living in these forests. 

• This could amount to a quarter of the entire Strzelecki koala population.

The Monitor spoke to Amis about his research and what makes the Strzelecki koala distinct from a run-of-the-mill koala.

What makes the Strzelecki koalas so special?

Amis said Strzelecki koalas are Victoria and South Australia's only lineage of koalas that were not impacted by a Victorian program in the 1870s and 1880s that moved koalas to French and Phillip Islands.

• The Victorian government did this because they were concerned about the loss of koala populations at the time.

“There were only three koalas that were moved to French Island,” Amis said. “Those animals bred up to the extent that the government then moved populations back onto mainland Victoria in the 1940s.”

• “The koalas were extinct everywhere in Victoria and South Australia at that time, except for a tiny little population that hung on in the Strzelecki ranges.”

The population of the koalas that were moved from French and Phillip Island then skyrocketed on the mainland in the following decades, making the remnant Strzelecki koala the vast minority.

• Amis said there’s no way to tell the difference between the two koala species by looking at them.

Different genetics, same animal: In Victoria, there are no laws that protect the distinct genetics of a species.

“There's 300,000 to 400,000 koalas in Victoria, it's not an endangered or threatened species,” Amis said. “But if you hone in on the genetics, we're looking at probably 3,000 Strzelecki koalas which carry the entire gene significance of the species.”

Koala scat counting

To figure out the Strzelecki koala population of the area Amis set about dividing over 9,000 hectares of land across the Mullungdung and Won Wron forests into a 500 metre grid on a map.

Amis then surveyed seven trees at each grid point and counted how much koala faeces there was under each tree.

• “It gives you an unbiased, sort of mode of the trees the koalas are honing in on.”

Amis found that the koalas were particularly interested in the Mountain Grey gum, the Strzelecki gum and the Blue gum.

• Overall Amis surveyed 5,400 trees and identified 50 koala hotspots.

“It's highly significant,” Amis said. “​​We were very surprised just to see that many koalas down here.”

Acknowledge the koalas struggle

Friends of the Earth would like to see the federal government acknowledge the Strzelecki koala under the Federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. 

• This would mean any development of land that Strzelecki koalas were found on would have to go through environmental checks.

Amis would also like to see the state government increase the reserve status of the Mullungdung and Won Wron forests to 20,000 hectares.