conducting our research.
Which is why we were very pleased to be awarded a $110,000 grant from the Queensland State Government to study disease in koalas. Our group was 1 of 4 recipients from the new Koala Disease Fund - with the aim of figuring out how to keep these animals around.
We plan to use our grant to study the relationship between stress and disease. I can vouch for this relationship, from personal experience! I know whenever I'm stressed, I'm more prone to getting sick.
But what our group wants to know is whether this is what's happening in koalas, which seem to get diseases like chlamydia more commonly in areas where they have a lot of (potentially-stressful) contact with humans and our houses, dogs, roads, and noise.
So thanks, Queensland Government, for the support!
Written by Amanda Niehaus, PhD, on behalf of the Koala Ecology Group
