You might not have heard much about Koala Diaries in the press lately, but we have been busy with our heads down. But before I tell you what’s new and of interest, I have to say thank you.
Thank you to everyone who has made a koala sighting submission under our Koala Sighting Census, and to those who continue to do so. Some of the photos are hilarious, showing distinctive features and even the personality of various koalas. There are clearly some real characters out there!
But most of all I have to say thank you for all that I am learning. For starters, I didn’t know koalas could swim, and I didn’t know they sometimes hang out in non-koala trees, such as Jacarandas, African Tulips and Figs!
As we get more sighting submissions with the fabulous detail that you have been providing, we are starting to build an interesting picture. What I must point out however, is that it is at present an unrealistically positive picture. Go through to the map and you will see lots of green (alive) sightings - the immediate impression is that all is well. It is in truth a very different reality. I have recently been provided with some significant data of deaths and injuries for certain suburbs, and this information is disturbing in its nature and volume. Because this data does not contain geocoded locations, it looks like I will have to manually submit each one so it will not be shown all at once.
But as the data grows, there will depth and real value in the information gathered from which researchers, planning authorities and the community as a whole can learn, and perhaps more importantly, make sustainable policy decisions.
To that end you will notice some changes…. The submission form now has detail in the injured or dead fields - allowing us to capture cause of injury or death where known. We will also be tracking the outcomes of injured koalas to see what happens next. This means that where a koala was picked up injured but later died, we will edit the submission with the updated information and show the sighting as a death. This will enhance the accuracy of the data over time.
If you are recording the sightings of the same koala or koalas in your area - feel free to give them a name and use the name in the sighting description. Again, over time this will become more important than it is today.
Also new and which will be of great immediate value to us all, is a search function I added last weekend. This is working like a charm and worth every minute of my long weekend! You can search by area, by time range, by cause of death or injury and numbers seen.
If you have feedback or suggestions as to what else you would find of value, don’t hesitate to tell me. I can’t promise to build it, but I will certainly consider all ideas. :)
I have also spent a lot of time beefing up the back end so that we can take submissions from around the country. Some have already snuck in, and this is a welcome surprise. But we are officially rolling out our koala mapping project nationally. So tell your friends. They can in fact start adding sightings now. We don’t care how far they go back as long as they are accurate to date and circumstances. In June or July I will add a search by state function.
What we are lacking is information on sightings, deaths and injuries west of Brisbane. If you have friends or rels out west, up north or interstate, please tell them about www.koaladiaries.com.au. Add the link to your Facebook page, tell your friends on Twitter, tell your school, your workplace your neighbourhood. To make it easy to spread the word, we even have a “tell your friends” button on the site.
Also, if you have or know anyone who has some time on their hands and are familiar with how to make a sighting submission, I would love a hand with uploading the data of deaths and injuries; email me at alex@koaladiaries.com.au!
Thank you again for your interest and participation. Check out the new features and let me know what you think. Remember, you have to be a member to access the sightings data, make a submission, view photogalleries and more. Membership is free and you can register from the home page of the website: www.koaladiaries.com.au.
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