It’s a sad day for us animal lovers.
With only 80,000 koalas left in the wild, the species have now been officially named functionally extinct.
That, unfortunately, means that there are not enough of them left to produce another generation and they no longer play a role in an ecosystem in which they were once a central player.
According to the Australian Koala Foundation, the species is set to disappear within a lifetime.
Although 80,000 koalas may seem like a lot, that’s only 1% of the staggering 8 million koalas that were shot for their fur, which was shipped back to the UK, between 1890 and 1927.
A loss of habitat due to factors such as deforestation, urbanisation and farming is also a major factor contributing to the plummeting koala population.
But there is hope yet!
The Australian Koala Foundation says that if remaining forests are preserved and new ones are created, their disappearance could be hindered.
C’mon people, we can’t let these guys go extinct! Look at them. They are literally all the joy we need in this world right now.
https://twitter.com/CuteAnimaIVines/status/1130665767433850881
https://twitter.com/cequeendion/status/1128995897436561413
We really hope that these furry little guys recover. We don’t want to imagine a world without koalas.
