Image - Caroline Marschner
The koalasThose nice animals from Australia are having a very bad time due to the progressive increase in temperatures. They, who spend their lives in the trees, are changing their behavior so as not to die of thirst.
As temperatures are only increasing, a team of biologists and veterinarians decided to put drinking fountains and water sources near them and record them with security cameras. Thus they could discover that they went to drink, something that caught their attention.
Koalas are animals that they spend the day in the trees, consuming the leaves. And it is precisely from this food that they obtained all the water they needed; for that reason they did not need to have other sources of water. Therefore, when the experts saw that they went to the sources that they put to satisfy themselves, they were concerned.
They observed that they came to drink at night, since they are nocturnal animals, but also during the day. But what surprised them the most was that they did it during the winter. Thus, during the summer the situation can get worse and be much more extreme.
With rising temperatures the koala population may decrease, something that puts Australian institutions on alert, since trees lose their leaves as a survival measure, which means that these animals are running out of food and water.
Still, experts believe that putting drinkers in the trees could help the koala to get aheadeven if it means you have to change your behavior.
This is a marsupial that is having serious problems already due to chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease that infects the reproductive parts of the koala, but also the eyes and throat. In some parts up to 90% of the population is infected by this bacteria. If we add global warming to it, we will realize how vulnerable the koala is.