Koalas are an Australian icon. However, the Koala populations go back rapidly. The fluffy tree dwellers are even threatened with extinction. Diseases as well as generally loss and fragmentation of your habitat are to blame. But apparently the koalas threaten the most enemies on the ground: two thirds of the registered Koala deaths occur if the animals do not sit on a tree. This could explain why Koalas only spend about ten minutes a day on the ground – only about one percent of her life, as biologists have found. Why they are slowly moving there despite the impending dangers is still unclear.
KOALAS (PHASCOLARCTOS CINEEUS) are a bag of bag that only occurs in Australia, and therefore a common symbol for this continent. However, the number of animals that were once widespread is disappearing more and more, so that the species is now threatened with extinction. Noteworthy: Around 66 percent of all koalas die while they are on the ground. There they mainly encounter dogs and cars, as previous research showed. “Koalas mostly live in trees, but due to extensive clearing, they are increasingly forced to move on the ground, which makes them serious risk of injuries and death,” says Gabriella Sparkes from the University of Queensland in Australia.
Nevertheless, surprisingly little is known about the behavior of the gray -like icons on the ground. “We still have no clear understanding of how often Koalas fall from trees, how far or quickly they move, how long they stay on the ground or what influences these decisions,” says Sparkes.
Koalas run very slowly on the ground
In order to close these knowledge gaps and to be able to better protect Koalas in the future, biologists have now analyzed the movement of the Koalas in more detail for the first time. To do this, they equipped several wild koalas in a strongly cleared area with collars that contained GPS loggers and accelerometers. These measuring devices recorded the positions of the animals every five minutes, while staying on the ground even every five seconds. Based on the acceleration sensors, the researchers determined whether the koalas go, climb, sit or move elsewhere. “In connection with GPS tracks, we get an incredibly detailed overview of how Koalas move through her habitat,” explains Sparkes.
The evaluation of the collar data showed: The Koalas spend most of the time in trees, where they sleep for up to 20 hours a day and eat eucalyptus. “What surprised us was how rare and briefly it use the soil – only two to three times a night, average in total about ten minutes or less than one percent of her day,” reports Sparkes. The soil is therefore definitely not the preferred terrain of nocturnal animals. Nevertheless, Koalas apparently move very leisurely on the ground. “They spent almost as much time sitting and pausing as they walk. They only spent about seven percent of their time on the floor with jumps,” said Sparkes. This could be because jumping the koalas costs a lot of energy. Or the fact that the bags select very precisely which tree they climb and carefully evaluate their surroundings.
Which trees would help Koalas?
The findings suggest that Koalas are slow and slight prey on the ground. This raises new questions about how well Koalas will survive in their habitats in the future if there are fewer and fewer trees. The team therefore now examines in follow -up studies how long Koalas stay in different types of trees. “If we can identify the tree species or living space conditions that encourage Koalas to stay in the trees longer, we may be able to design landscapes in such a way that fewer ground stays are required,” said Sparkes. Targeted trees, the crowns of which combine, could then complement the current protective efforts and contribute to keeping koalas away from the floor and thus from the danger zone.
Source: Society for Experimental Biology (SEB); SEB Conference 2025
