Mt Gravatt Koala Identification
This site has been set-up by the Mount Gravatt Environment Group to maintain a photographic recognition file of all the Koalas in and around Mount Gravatt Reserve.
Why have a recognition file?
The main reasons for doing this are:
To estimate the number of Koalas in the reserve and monitor changes in the population over time.
To monitor the movements of individuals especially where they move out into the surrounding areas in order to identify important corridors into and out of the reserve.
To encourage the community to become involved in the monitoring and conservation of the koalas through a citizen science project. It is fun to get to know individual koalas!
At present the recognition file is split into Males and Females.
How can I get involved?
You can help by reporting any sightings of Koalas in or around Mt Gravatt Reserve and logging them using the Biocollect phone app (see steps below). In a perfect world, a photo with a good camera showing the markings would be fantastic - but even just reporting their presence with a phone photo is a great help.
Steps:
Download the Biocollect App on your phone and join the "Mount Gravatt Koala Individual Recognition and Tracking Project"
Go out and find the Koalas and start logging your sightings! Then try and identify the individual you have seen using the photographic recognition file. You may have sighted a new individual in which case you have naming rights!
Tips on identifying individual Koalas
It is difficult to do so in the wild - a good camera with a long lens (400mm+) is a great help as are a good pair of binoculars.
The main features that identify a koala:
The pattern of whiter patches on their coat - especially around their backside. This pattern stays much the same for the life of the koala once it has become an adult.
Some Koalas have been released after capture (possibly for relocation from an urban area or after being injured) and have a tag in their ear. If the tag number can be read this is unique and will identify the koala - otherwise the fact that it has a tag helps narrow the individual down. Note down which ear it is in and the colour.
Any scars/injuries or other distinctive markings - these can obviously change over time though. Males often have them from fighting.
The nose print of the koala is also individual (the white pattern inside the nostrils and on the nose). This is often very hard to see in the wild.
Other things to note are the coat colour -(e.g. the Female Lucy is markedly more brown than most other Koalas in the reserve), ear details - some have bare ears, others are fluffy and their size also varies.
A great way to get up-close to koalas and get your eye in for identifying them is to visit Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and/or Daisy Hill Koala Centre
How can you tell the sex of a Koala?
This can be quite tricky as the koala has to be be in the right position to determine this! The definitive way of doing so is checking the genital area - Males have small testicles that can be seen when they are man-splaying or on the move, females have a backward facing pouch which is sometimes visible.
Adult males also have a scent gland on their chest that exudes a sticky brown substance which can be seen on their chest between their front legs. They also tend to be larger and have a bigger nose but this is not an accurate way of determining sex as it is very subjective.