New insights into koalas thanks to furry friends

For the past three years, CQUniversity’s Koala Research–CQ (KR-CQ) team has contributed vital expertise to the CSIRO National Koala Monitoring Program, completing annual population surveys across six sites in the Clarke-Connors Range.

Situated behind Mackay and Sarina, the region becomes the team’s workspace each November, a timing that often prompts curiosity. But according to researchers, the hot and humid season is the perfect time to monitor koalas.

“November sits right in the peak of koala mating season, when males are highly active and vocal,” CQU’s Dr Rolf Schlagloth said.

“Those deep, resonant dusk-to-dawn grunts you hear in the forest canopy signal increased movement, which helps us collect more reliable survey data.”

To qualify as a CSIRO Tier One monitoring region, the KR-CQ team utilises multiple survey methods at each of its six sites. These include on-site audio recorders, walking population transects, satellite remote-sensing analysis of vegetation health, and analysis of koala scats for disease, stress indicators and microbiome composition, led by researcher Dr Flavia Santamaria.

A distinctive feature of the project has been the involvement of trained koala scat-detection dogs from the Central Queensland based ‘Holy Scat’ team, who joined the program as a research trial in 2023.

“This research project is a highlight for me,” Dr Schlagloth said.

“Add our scat-sniffing furry friends to the team to our team and you know each day is going to be a good one.”

While scat-detection dogs have long supported koala research across southeast Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, the dense scrub and sharp-bladed grasses of the Clarke-Connors Range required careful assessment before they could be fully integrated.

Following an initial landscape reconnaissance in 2023, the dogs were incorporated into the survey program in 2024, with researchers learning valuable lessons about scenting behaviour and working in North Queensland heat.

By the third year, the dog teams had refined their approach, working in shorter bursts, starting earlier in the day and targeting suitable habitat zones. Their growing capability quickly became evident.

“In one instance, the dogs located fresh scats beneath a tree where a koala was sitting unnoticed, even after one of our team had walked past,” Dr Schlagloth said.

“Their contribution is helping sharpen our detection accuracy and efficiency.”

Special credit went to detection dogs Skye, Leo and Artemis, and handlers Jacqui Summers and Tiffany McConnell, with Summers also celebrating her recent graduation from CQUniversity with a Bachelor of Science (Applied Biology).

Across the three-year collaboration, the KR-CQ team has deepened its understanding of the Clarke-Connors koala population, identifying key pressures including habitat loss, roadkill and environmental variability.

Researchers believe parts of the region may act as an important climate retreat for Queensland’s declining koala populations, particularly as numbers continue to fall in the state’s southeast.

“The future of koalas here and across Australia depends on protecting and restoring suitable, expansive, high-quality habitat,” Dr Schlagloth said.

“This work gives us essential insights into how we can achieve that.”