Koala Windows | ^new^

Reyes replied: "So we didn't build a crossing. We built a lesson."

It started in the early 2010s on the eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range, where the Brisbane-Sydney rail line cuts through a remnant patch of eucalyptus forest. Koalas in this region—already stressed by habitat fragmentation and chlamydia—faced a new, silent predator: the 8:15 AM express train. Collisions were rising. A koala, when startled on the ground, doesn't run. It climbs. And the nearest vertical structure was often a steel rail signal post. koala windows

A young wildlife ecologist named Dr. Maya Lin was tasked with monitoring the corridor. She placed heat-motion cameras on five signal posts. Over three months, she recorded 147 koala approaches. 119 ended with the koala climbing the post. 12 of those koalas were later struck by trains after descending onto the tracks. Reyes replied: "So we didn't build a crossing

They installed five prototypes. Within a week, a female koala named "Bumpy" (for the scar on her nose) was photographed climbing one, pausing at a ledge, and using it to cross over the tracks without ever touching the ground. The panel had a small, circular opening near the top—a "window" through which a koala could observe the other side before committing. Reyes, an amateur photographer, captured Bumpy peering through that hole, her furry face framed like a portrait. The image went viral locally. "Koala Window" stuck. Collisions were rising