Koala bears are listened under the Endangered Species Protection Act of 1992, also known as the ESPA, as vulnerable and threatened. Alistair Mezlar, part of the Koala Research Center of Central Queensland, announces that to this date there are about 45,000-80,000 koalas left in the world (Melzer et al. 621). These marsupials are most frequently found in forested habitats and woodlands of eastern and southeast Australia (620). The writer of this article on climate change in the book Wildlife Heroes, Kassie Siegel, who has been studying climate change for fifteen years at the University of California, Berkeley, discusses how the koala bear is a very significant animal in our world specifically because they are known as the symbol of Australia. Koala bears bring in around $1.1-$2.5 billion annually to the economy of Australia through tourism and the koala viewing industry revenue which leads to about 9,000 jobs for Australians (Scardina, Flocken 185). Australia’s economy will certainly take a negative hit when koala bears become extinct. Koala bears are mainly threatened by two different factors. The first is habitat loss due to urbanization, which is a population alteration from rural areas to urban areas. The second is logging, which is when people cut down trees to sell as timber (184). Both of these factors are huge disadvantages to a koala bears environment. Koala bears are approaching extinction, although they are just one of thousands of animals that are going through
Koala bears are listened under the Endangered Species Protection Act of 1992, also known as the ESPA, as vulnerable and threatened. Alistair Mezlar, part of the Koala Research Center of Central Queensland, announces that to this date there are about 45,000-80,000 koalas left in the world (Melzer et al. 621). These marsupials are most frequently found in forested habitats and woodlands of eastern and southeast Australia (620). The writer of this article on climate change in the book Wildlife Heroes, Kassie Siegel, who has been studying climate change for fifteen years at the University of California, Berkeley, discusses how the koala bear is a very significant animal in our world specifically because they are known as the symbol of Australia. Koala bears bring in around $1.1-$2.5 billion annually to the economy of Australia through tourism and the koala viewing industry revenue which leads to about 9,000 jobs for Australians (Scardina, Flocken 185). Australia’s economy will certainly take a negative hit when koala bears become extinct. Koala bears are mainly threatened by two different factors. The first is habitat loss due to urbanization, which is a population alteration from rural areas to urban areas. The second is logging, which is when people cut down trees to sell as timber (184). Both of these factors are huge disadvantages to a koala bears environment. Koala bears are approaching extinction, although they are just one of thousands of animals that are going through