Koala And Sexually Transmitted Diseases
There seems to be a little misunderstanding regarding what is actually a koala bear. Actually, they are not bears. They just have a few physical similarities which give them the appearances of a bear, but they are actually not. They are pouched mammals or usually known as the marsupial who carry their own baby in a little pouch they owned for six months before the little koala bear would be able to hang around their mother, accompanying her for most of the time until it reaches a year old. There are a few marsupials which reside in America but most of them live in either Australia or New Guinea. A koala bear resides in an area whereby Eucalyptus trees were abundant.
Two months ago, when I was keen to go for an exercise and were looking for some videos on Youtube to make me motivated, I stumbled upon a video which explained the importance of movement to the brain development. One of the examples given was a koala bear. A koala bear rarely moves. They have strong, sharp and opposable digits which would allow them to hang around at the same spot on a Eucalyptus tree, eating an average 1.4 kilograms of leaves per day while seeing the sun setting down. They slept an average of 18 hours per day and when they woke up, they will continue on munching. They are the hallmark of a sedentary lifestyle.
Due to the fact that they can stay in the same spot, almost every single day unless, the Eucalyptus leaves were beyond their reach, it affects their brain development. Their brains are small which can be due to a few factors (I will list out two):
Reduce movement: In the ancient time, any creature on the earth moves for the sake of survival. People were running from predators and some, need to catch prey in order to eat. This will allow their brain to develop which make it easier for them to remember the terrain while running from a predator or to predict their prey's movement. When we move less, it indicates that there is nothing important happening so our brain would grow less than it should be.
Slow metabolism and low nutrients extraction: Koala bears are sedentary. They rarely move and prefer to stay at one place eating Eucalyptus leaves. They will only eat this kind of food while drinking less to no water. They will rehydrate themselves by eating the Eucalyptus leaf which contains a higher proportion of moisture. Their digestive systems were adaptable to this kind of diet and while there is a little nutrient benefit of such food, their brains are adapted to the amount of nutrients they can eat per day. Small brain equal to a small energy consumption.
Eucalyptus leaves are sticky and to some creature poisonous. If they were processed, then they can give a lot of potential benefits:
- It can act as a natural insecticides
- It can combat malaria
- It can be used to make fragrances
Eucalyptus trees can produce chemicals which would inhibit the growth of other plant species (apart from themselves) nearby. Their leaves are difficult to digest which raise a question of it being the only food consumed by this precious, cuddly "bear". A koala digestive system was inhabited by a hundred of thousands (if not millions) of beneficial bacteria that would allow them to break and digest the structure of a Eucalyptus leaf.
This animal is easily affected by habitat destruction. As they eat a lot of Eucalyptus leaves, a single koala needs a large portion of Eucalyptus leaves which are equivalent to a hundred Eucalyptus trees. They were threatened to extinction in the 1930s but thanks to the conservation program, their population has been increasing slightly, scattered around in the woodland area in Australia. Deforestation and habitat destruction can easily wipe this cute and cuddly little creature. They can live an average of 20 years in the wild.
Koala and Chlamydia Infection
Well, humans can get infected with Chlamydia infection through sexual intercourse. They are one of the most common forms of sexually-transmitted diseases which are treatable with antibiotics. It was rather controversial whether or not a koala should be treated with antibiotics since it will disturb their intestinal microbiomes which are important for a koala to digest Eucalyptus leaves.
Chlamydia infection in a koala is different from the strain which has been infecting humans. It can lead to a few serious complications such as blindness, dirty tail and infertility which would affect the overall health of a koala. When I use the word dirty tail, it is not literal. In human terms, dirty tail refers to cystitis, an inflammation of the urinary bladder.
Apart from chlamydia infection, they were also prone to a kind of retroviral infection which resembles Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in humans which can lead to a disease resembles Acquired Immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). In a study which has been published in the Journal of Virology in 2017 suggested the role of this retrovirus in making a koala prone to get infected with Chlamydia. Now, there are many factors which could threaten the existence of a koala bear. They are threatened to extinction by habitat destruction, poaching, car accidents and acquired infection, the latter affects the majority of koalas in Australia.
There are a few proposed mode of transmissions such as sexual intercourse and through faecal matters but no one can guess, how the first koala was infected in the first place. The known case of avian chlamydia can be transmitted to humans via nasal droppings and faeces. In a growing koala (called joey), they couldn't eat Eucalyptus leaf due to the immature digestive system. They have to rely on their mother who produces faecal matters, filled with nutrient which a joey would desperately need. This action, transmit the infection from the mother to its child, making it vulnerable to get complications from the disease at such a young age. Obviously, their lifespan shortens as they got infected.
In March 2018, Katherine E. Dahlhausen published a research paper which investigates the pattern of microbiomes changes in koala after a period of antibiotic treatment for Chlamydia infection. There is one key microbe which would determine the survival of a koala throughout the antibiotic treatment; Lonepinella koalarum also known as the tannin degrader. It is important to keep this particular microbe to increase the rate of survivability among koalas that were undergoing antibiotic treatment.
What's more, a number of alternative treatments are possible, Dahlhausen notes. These may include a non-antibiotic approach, adding probiotics to treatment to restore the healthy bacteria, faecal transplants, in which stool from a healthy donor is transplanted to restore good bacteria, and a koala-specific chlamydia vaccine, which has done well in clinical trials.
In an article which has been written in 2016 by a BBC author named Katie Silver, she described a strategy to eradicate infected koalas by killing. We are talking about selectively slaughtering some of the koala species to preserve the rest, healthy koala. We have seen some animals such as the Tasmanian devil, being slaughtered to prevent the spread of a rare form of facial cancer but the program was unsuccessful. According to her, the implementation of that program was not as expected which lead to its failure.
Whatever it is, I'm sure there must be some kind of less invasive solution such as what has been described by Katherine in her research, to treat while preserving the koala's population in Australia. External environmental factors such as climate changes, deforestation etc. have driven this particular animal towards its extinction. On the normal occasion, if the weather got hotter than the usual, a koala will lean to the bark of the Eucalyptus tree to cool themselves. Climate change has rendered that method useless making it moves from one area to another, risking themselves to the threat of predators.
References and further reading materials
- Koala - Britannica Retrieved May 10th, 2018.
- Koala - National Geographic Retrieved May 10th, 2018.
- Koalas have Unusually Smaller Brain Retrieved May 10th, 2018.
- Why we might need to kill Australia's koalas Retrieved May 10th, 2018.
- Why the Heck Do So Many Koalas Have Chlamydia? Retrieved May 10th, 2018.
- Molecular Dynamics and Mode of Transmission of Koala Retrovirus as It Invades and Spreads through a Wild Queensland Koala Population Retrieved May 10th, 2018.
- As Koalas Suffer From Chlamydia, A New Clue For Treatment Retrieved May 10th, 2018.
- Characterization of shifts of koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) intestinal microbial communities associated with antibiotic treatment Retrieved May 10th, 2018.
- Eucalyptus - Wikipedia Retrieved May 10th, 2018.
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We love our Koala Bears here, it's sad to see them being impacted by cities and towns although there are programs in place to reduce human impact on Koala's (from planning ordinances to speed restrictions on many of the roads at certain times).
Btw I could have given you plenty of Koala photo's (we had one in the trees next to my old house in suburbia).
Really? I should have asked you earlier.
My old neighbor :)
Damn it, that was taken from a nice angle!
Thanks :)
I have give you upvote so please also come here
I have written some comments on your article.
thank you for your article on the life of this little bear ... marsupial oups !!!
it's really a great animal that must be protected
It is. Thanks for visiting.