Koala : a natural history and an uncertain future / Danielle Clode.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Clode, Danielle, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Koala--Australia.

Koala.

Koala--Ecology--Australia.

Koala--Habitat--Australia.

Koala--Habitat.

Australia.

Physical Description:

322 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Edition:

First American edition.

Other Title:

Natural history and an uncertain future

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2023.

Summary:

"A biologist takes us into the still mysterious world of koalas, from their marsupial ancestors to current threats to their existence. Koalas are one of the most beloved animals, but despite their celebrity, we are just learning much about their nature and history. Blending evolutionary biology, natural history, and ecology, biologist Danielle Clode tells us the story of these amazing marsupials. She looks at fossils of ancestral giant koalas three times modern koalas' size and explains why they are the lone survivor of a once diverse family tree. Clode investigates their nature-often affectionate but can also be belligerent-and their physiology-from their pouches to their gut bacteria, which can only digest leaves of the species of gum tree they were raised on. She also warns about the danger koalas have been in as humans have impinged on their habitats through land clearance and urban development. Now, Australia's explosive wildfires threaten them each summer, killing and harming them as never before. Clode takes us close to these extraordinary creatures and speaks to why and how we need to save them"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: I. Into The Woods

1. Koalas Rare and Plenty

II. From Fossils And Bones

2. Dropbears in the Family

3. The Lakes District

4. From the Gulf to the Sea

5. A Giant at the Foot of the World

III. Life In The Forest

6. Anatomy of a Climber

7. The Eucalypt Empire

8. You Are What You Eat

9. The Guts of the Problem

IV. A Life In Reflection

10. From Pouch to Piggyback

11. Sociable Loners

12. When It's Smart to Be Slow

13. Sensory Overload

V. Everything Changes

14. Koalas Far and Wide

15. A New Arrival

16. The English Annexation

17. War and Guns

18. Saving the Koala

VI. Future Tense

19. Sex, Disease and Genetic Diversity

20. Expansion and Retreat

21. Under Fire

22. In a Perfect World.

Notes:

"First published in Australia in 2022 as Koala: A Life in Trees by Black Inc., an imprint of Schwartz Books Pty Ltd."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781324036838

1324036834

OCLC:

1334563464