Update from the Research Manager: Breeding Season 2022-23

With the excitement of the Strzelecki boys arrival subsiding, it is time to look forward to this coming breeding season.

Currently there are a large number of females already with pouch young, although these are not Strzelecki babies. This is a great result as they all should be Chlamydia free and retro-virus negative. They will start emerging over the next 2-3 months and we will then know their sexes. Koalas do have a high loss rate of joeys so we are hoping that we will still see a lot of new special babies soon.

September will start to see those females without young starting to come into season and the boys will become extra smelly. At least two of the Strzelecki boys have grown enough to be able to mate this year, and what a special breeding season this will make. The first of our disease free and outbred babies. A third male may be large enough however one boy is taking his time and will probably not be ready until the following season.

New enclosures for the joeys are being prepared now, ready for later in the year. This will help with pairing up the females with the Strzelecki males. The males recently underwent a full examination and seem to be in fine fettle. Samples were taken as part of our genetic management strategy and this will be used to determine the best pairings, genetically speaking.

There is much to look forward to over the coming few months.

- Dr. Ian Hough, Koala Life Research Manager