Australia's koalas at risk from inbreeding

The two largest populations of koalas in Australia are so heavily inbred that they could be wiped out "in an instant" by a single disease, scientists have warned. A recent study of the tree-dwelling marsupials on Kangaroo Island, which lies off the coast of South Australia, and French Island, off the south-east state of Victoria, revealed that the genetic make up of the koalas was dangerously similar.More than 20,000 koalas inhabit Kangaroo Island and somewhere between 2000 to 3000 on French Island, but the animals could be quickly wiped out if they were exposed to a disease, the study found. The inbreeding was the result of a relocation program that began more than a century ago.Source

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