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Koalas eat gum leaves... right?The koala is one of the world's best-known and loved mammals, and even schoolchildren know that koalas eat gum leaves. This is true, but the real answer is also a little more complicated. Our project aims to provide a more detailed picture of what eucalypts (there are 900 species) and other plants koalas eat throughout their range. To do this, we have developed a new technique to identify plant DNA in the faecal pellets (poo) of koalas. Eventually, we hope that we'll be able to tell anybody who sends us a koala faecal pellet, what that koala had been eating.
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We are not currently seeking help from carers, researchers and members of the public to collect fresh koala poo pellets from throughout Queensland. If you live or work in Queensland, regularly sight koalas and can collect fresh pellets from beneath their trees, and if you are keen to learn what your local koalas eat and want to help inform the protection of vital koala habitat, please bookmark this website and keep checking in, and we'll let you know if we receive funding to continue this work. Alternatively, feel free to drop us a line and we'll add you to our contact list.
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