The CSIRO will publish a peer-reviewed study on the number of Koalas currently alive in Australia. They've used new study methods such a thermal drone technology and audio recorders, which have "revealed koalas to be more widespread in some habitats than previously known". These technologies have given scientists a "much more spatially comprehensive and sensitive survey data".

The result? Well the CSIRO have found that there are vastly greater numbers of what John Brown, the Hawke government minister for the environment, described as "flea-ridden, piddling, stinking, scratching, rotten little things". In 2023 the CSIRO thought there were between 287,830 and 628,010 koalas in Australia. Now their figures are 729,000 to 918,000.

900, 000!! So much for going extinct.

Now you'd normally think that the koala industry would be thrilled to find that their favourite critter wasn't going the way of the Dodo.

But alas no. This is a disaster for them. Entire careers have been based around saving koalas from extinction. Fortunes made. Institutions funding raising like there's no tomorrow, which is what they tell a gullible public. And now!....poof, all gone.

Whatismore, all those anti-loggers who use the alleged extinction of the koala as an excuse to shut down whole areas of forest to the wood harvesting industry, have lost all their legal points overnight.

But fear not. The koala industry doesn't give up that easily. Mere facts aren't enough to stop these charlatans from keeping the scam going. They've already announced that they have no intention of accepting the science and will stick by their claims that there are less that 100,000 of the critters in Australia.

It'll be interesting to see if the CSIRO sticks to its guns or if the politics of the issue will force them to backdown and go along to get along as they've done with the climate debate

The obsession with wild animals most people will never see off a TV screen is one of their more harmless idiosyncrasies; not so harmless is the serious effect mad activists and paid “experts” have on Australia’s economy and growth.

Just wait until they find ‘endangered’ species nobody has heard of when it comes to mining rare earths/minerals for America as per the deal our supporter of environmentalism and aboactivism, Albanese, signed up for with Donald Trump.

Yes, and the GBR is at great risk of being destroyed by global warming, yet it keeps growing bigger.

I'm all for preserving koala habitats, especially if that means stopping the wind and solar scam.

That number isn't even in the peer-reviewed study yet, mhaze.

//900,000!! So much for going extinct.//

It's from media coverage of preliminary modelling, and the scientists involved have been very clear that the increase is mostly due to improved detection methods.

The official 2024 report from the CSIRO-led National Koala Monitoring Program puts the estimate at 224,000 to 524,000, and explicitly says it cannot be compared to previous years because of the difference in methodology.

//Entire careers have been based around saving koalas… poof, all gone.//

What's "gone"?

Koalas are still listed as endangered in several states. Habitat destruction, disease, and climate stress haven't magically disappeared. The scientists themselves also warn that the data is still patchy and the confidence intervals are wide.

//Anti-loggers have lost all their legal points overnight.//

As if population size is the only metric that matters. It's not.

What matters is whether their habitats are connected and how stable those local populations are. A big national number doesn't erase local collapses.

//The koala industry doesn't give up that easily… Mere facts aren't enough to stop these charlatans…//

This is projection.

The only side here that has historically distorted numbers for political convenience is the logging industry. The conservation community has pushed for better data - and now that better data has arrived, they're not ignoring it. They're contextualising it. Unlike you, they've actually read the report.

//Will CSIRO stick to its guns, or will politics force them to back down like with climate?//

So, when their data supposedly proves your point, they're potential heroes - but if they don't bend to your worldview next time, they're compromised again? You can't have it both ways.

CSIRO's climate research is globally respected, and now that their koala research shows a larger-than-expected population, you're willing to entertain the findings only because you think it undermines conservation. That's just cherry-picking dressed up as scepticism.

The report is nuanced. You are not. And if you really cared about the truth, you'd be quoting from it - not inventing villains.