Scientists eye genome mapping to help chlamydia-stricken koalas

FILE PHOTO: An Australian Koala looks at a camera as it sits atop a branch in its enclosure at Wild Life Sydney Zoo April 3, 2014. REUTERS/David Gray/File Photo

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Scientists who have mapped the genome of Australia's symbolic animal, the koala, say it could help them develop better vaccines to treat the animals, who are battling an epidemic of the bacterial disease chlamydia.

The development will also help scientists sidestep invasive procedures in investigating the biology of the marsupials, whose exact numbers are not known, but which wildlife groups estimate to range between 80,000 and 180,000.