Jason E. Andersen

Bonus (not-so) Fun Fact: In the wilds of Australia, somewhere around 90% of koala are infected with chlamydia, the same sexually transmitted disease that can infect humans.

I’ll let you get a chuckle in.

It’s pretty sad, actually. While chlamydia is easily treatable for humans, through the medical magic of antibiotics, koalas aren’t so lucky. Turns out there aren’t koala hospitals in the wild that they can drive to and visit the koala doc for a koala prescription. Left untreated, chlamydia can cause urinary problems, infertility, blindness, and eventually death. It’s a bad deal.

The upside is that there are effective medications for infected koalas, if they can be captured for treatment. Researchers are working on ways to administer these treatments in the wild, but it’s an uphill battle. Sorry to be a downer, but conservation is often not very fun.