US EditionKoalas Spend only 1% of Their Lives on the Ground—but It's Killing Them
AUSTRALIA, JUL 9 – Research shows koalas spend less than 1% of their time on the ground but face two-thirds of deaths from dog attacks and car strikes during these brief movements.
- On July 9, 2025, Gabriella Sparkes shared her research on koalas' terrestrial movements and associated dangers at a major scientific meeting held in Antwerp, Belgium.
- The study arose because koalas, mostly tree-dwelling, are increasingly forced to cross cleared farmland on the ground, exposing them to injury and death from cars and dogs.
- Sparkes and her team equipped wild koalas in a fragmented farming region with collars fitted with GPS devices and six-axis motion sensors to monitor their movements on the ground.
- The study revealed that koalas rarely come down to the ground, doing so only two to three times nightly and spending roughly 10 minutes overall outside of their trees—representing under one percent of their daily activity—yet this short ground exposure is linked to about two-thirds of all koala fatalities.
- These findings suggest that improving habitat connectivity and prioritizing certain vegetation types could reduce koalas' need to come to the ground, lowering fatality risks in human-altered environments.
22 Articles
22 Articles
Koalas Spend Only 1% Of Their Life On The Ground – But It’s Killing Them
New research reveals that koalas only spend around 10 minutes per day on the ground, but this ground-time is associated with two-thirds of recorded koala deaths. The post Koalas Spend Only 1% Of Their Life On The Ground – But It’s Killing Them appeared first on Study Finds.
Koalas spend only 1% of their lives on the ground—but it's killing them
Koalas are a nationally endangered and iconic species in Australia, yet their populations are rapidly declining due to habitat loss, fragmentation, and disease, and very little is known about the fine-scale movements of koalas—especially when they're on the ground. New research reveals that koalas only spend around 10 minutes per day on the ground, but this ground-time is associated with two-thirds of recorded koala deaths.
Daily Journal
Why being on the ground is so deadly for koalas
New research revealed that two-thirds of recorded koala deaths occur during the brief period they spend on the ground.
New research reveals that koalas spend only about 10 minutes a day on the ground, but this time on the ground is associated with two thirds of the recorded deaths of koalas, experts from the University of Queensland of Australia at the SEB 2025 Conference of the Society of Experimental Biology held in Antwerp, Belgium.
Koalas are an Australian icon. However, the Koala populations go back rapidly. The fluffy tree dwellers are even threatened with extinction. Guilt are diseases and generally loss and fragmentation of their habitat. But apparently the Koalas threaten most enemies on the ground: Two thirds of the registered Koala deaths occur if the animals do not sit on a tree. The [...] The article Why Koalas spend hardly any time on the ground first appeared on…
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