Global heating, land clearing and the ‘extinction vortex’: the fight to save Australia’s koalas

In 2012 koalas on Australia’s east coast were listed as vulnerable. Ten years later, in 2022, the Australian government raised their status to endangered. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Bill Ellis thinks koalas have somehow managed a giant con on the people of the world – one that has made them fodder for countless marketing campaigns with their round, cartoon-like faces.

“Have you ever seen their skulls?” he asks. “They’re long and flat but yet they’ve got this face that looks cute and cuddly with a baby nose. It appeals to us.”