Ep. 50 – Australian Biologist Danielle Clode on the Extraordinary World of Koalas

In late 2019, amidst record-setting heatwaves and droughts, bushfires swept across the Australian continent. The severity and scale of destruction wrought by these “Black Summer” blazes was unprecedented, burning more than 40 million acres of land, releasing over 700 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, and killing an estimated three billion animals. Amid the smoke and devastation, one animal in particular became the face of the fires’ toll — a face almost synonymous with Australia itself — the koala. 

Author Danielle Clode poses with a koala munching on a eucalyptus leaf. Photo courtesy of Danielle Clode.

The fires killed and injured more than 60,000 koalas and incinerated the highly flammable eucalyptus forests on which koalas depend, leaving the species already beleaguered by habitat loss, infectious disease, and myriad other threats, even more at-risk. 

Koalas, masters of sending their throaty, guttural bellows across long distances, soon became messengers to the world about the devastation that our actions are bringing to many other species. Heartbreaking images and videos of the large-nosed, fluffy-eared marsupials went viral around the world – koalas sitting in laundry baskets in rehab centers with singed fur and burned paws, koalas cowering and silhouetted in burning trees against apocalyptic orange backdrops, koalas sipping from the water bottles offered by firemen and good samaritans. Koalas evinced both the toll of climate destruction, but also  humans’ capacity for action and compassion for non-human animals. Yet, as our podcast guest has written, for as visible as they are and how much they have to teach us about ourselves and our world, there’s so much we don’t know about these unique, often misunderstood creatures.    

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, koalas were driven nearly to extinction by the fur trade. Their thick, dense pelts were popular in apparel such as coats and gloves in Europe and the United States. “That started a big public campaign,” Clode says. “The public face of that campaign was driven by women children’s writers. They were really important in establishing and building popular attention for conservation causes in Australia. A very famous [children’s book] in the 1930s was Blinky Bill. That story was really prompted by the author wanting people to be aware of the dangers to koalas and the risk they faced and how we had to look after them and protect them. I think that establishing that conservation message in young children really grew a generation of conservationists.” Photo courtesy of Danielle Clode.

Who are these imperiled, marvelous, eucalyptus-munching animals that captured the hearts of people across the planet? How do they experience the world? Where did they come from? What does their future hold? How is such a recognizable species still such an enigma? How can we better protect them and the forests on which they depend? Our guest, Danielle Clode, an Australian biologist at Flinders University in Adelaide, spent years delving into these questions in a quest to better understand these lone survivors of a once diverse family of Australian marsupials. Her new book Koala: A Natural History and Uncertain Future delves into koalas’ ancient ancestors, evolution, biology, ecology, evolving relationship with humans, and uncertain fate.

Listen & subscribe to When We Talk About Animals: Apple Podcasts | Soundcloud | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts