The world's first known identical koala twins have been born and successfully reared in their mother's pouch at the Koala Study Program's facilities at 宅男导航.
Koala Study Program Chief Investigator Frank Carrick, of the University's Zoology and Entomology Department, made the announcement at a press conference at 11am at the University's Veterinary Science Farm at Pinjarra Hills on Sunday, February 20.
"So as far as we know, these extraordinarily rare twins are unique, being the first to have been DNA-fingerprinted to determine their parentage. The genetic analysis of both the assumed parents and the babies established that the young koalas are identical twins," Dr Carrick said.
Lord Mayor Jim Soorley shared in the announcement on behalf of the Brisbane City Council, the major sponsor of the Koala Study Program's Koala Hospital, donating $50,000 a year to its operation
Dr Carrick said there had been few previous reports of koala "twins". "We know that female koalas sometimes ?adopt' a stray or orphaned baby - behaviour which koala carers can exploit when presented with a baby Koala who has survived when its mother has been killed by a car or dog. Captive koalas who have recently or are just about to wean their own babies can be coaxed into becoming surrogate mothers," he said.
The male babies are now a year old and weigh about a kilogram each. They have not yet been formally named, but the animal care staff and volunteer carers at the Koala Hospital call them "Milo" and "Otis" to tell them apart.
The koalas are housed at the University's Koala Hospital and Research Facility at Pinjarra Hills which specialises in care for long-term and chronically ill koalas and the development of new treatments.
Dr Carrick said the twins' mother, Rexine, came to the University's Koala Hospital via the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service Hospital several years ago, after her mother Maxine was injured in a rare attack by birds, causing her total blindness and partial blindness in Rexine.
"Their father, Buddy, has been at the facility since 1991, after he was blinded in a dog attack (unfortunately quite a common occurrence). He has also contributed to the artificial insemination research conducted by the Koala Study Program," Dr Carrick said.
"Buddy gets around our establishment pretty well, and clearly the lack of vision does not affect his reproductive prowess. However, he would not be able to survive on his own in the wild. So we will provide him with a safe environment and well-trained human beings to bring him a regular supply of choice gum leaves for the rest of his life."
Councillor Soorley said koalas were a special part of Brisbane City's natural environment.
"We live in the only capital city which still has free-living koalas roaming through many of its suburbs. So preserving koalas has received special attention in Brisbane City Council's environmental initiatives," he said.
"My administration has adopted an integrated approach to koala conservation by protecting key koala habitat, effectively managing that habitat, and assisting with the welfare of resident fauna."
For more information, contract Dr Frank Carrick (telephone 07 3365 2466 at work or 07 3378 3973) or Jan King (telephone 07 3365 1120 at work, 07 3202 7413 at home or 0413 601 248 mobile).
