Koala populations are in decline across New South Wales and are projected to continue shrinking. The species is now listed as endangered.
To help protect this iconic animal we need to know how many koalas there are and where they are.
The challenge
Perched high in tall trees, koalas don’t exactly make themselves easy to see. They’re quiet and usually asleep. This makes it a challenge for researchers who study koala diseases and declining populations to even find their subjects.
In 2019, researchers in the field would spend hours trying to locate koalas by looking for their scats (droppings). Dr Adam Roff, one of our senior research scientists, decided there had to be a better way.