The Importance Of The Koala Bear

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Imagine going on a vacation to the beautiful country of Australia. Australia has many adventures to offer but all you can think about is that you get the chance to be up close and personal with a koala bear. Unfortunately when you arrive to Australia, you find out that you are no longer able to see the koala bear because it is now extinct. With the rate of extinction today, our favorite animals may be gone within the next century. It may seem like this is a long time away but because of human activity and other contributing factors, the world and the lifespan of species are worsening. If nothing is done to help these animals’ environments, we may no longer be exposed to these animals our future and our kid’s future. It is important to …show more content…
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

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