| In nature, koalas are found only on the Australian continent.
Even within the continent their range is limited, however.
Koalas can only be found on the eastern coast of Australia (see map
below), where abundant forests are present. The change in
climate of the Australian continent over the last 100,000 years,
along with the arrival of the Aborigines populations that hunted
koalas, has led to this sparse distribution. Fossil remains
have been found in northeastern South Australia and the southwestern
corner of West Australia, that currently do not have koala
populations.
Koalas live in eucalypts forests. The animals have
a tendency to choose the eucalypts trees with the largest diameters
and highest nitrogen concentrations (Moore and Foley). The
types of eucalypts trees present also determine where koala
populations are present. The manna gum (Eucalyptus
viminalis) is the species of choice in southern Victoria and
South Australia. Forest red gum (E. tereticornis) or
river red gum (E. camaldulensis) are the dominant habitats
for the koalas in the parts further north (Lee and Martin 23-25).
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