We are very excited that the Koala Count is starting tomorrow Friday 7 until November 17 and hope you are ready to get out there and start counting koalas!

Enter your koala records on the web portal (www.koalacount.org.au) using your smartphone or iPad for the app BioTag.

Once you have registered on the data portal and have a username and password, you can then install BioTag on your smartphone or iPad or you may enter your sightings directly onto the web portal (www.koalacount.org.au)

A question frequently asked is how to identify the sex of a koala. The easiest way to tell the difference is to look for the dark brown scent gland, which is located in the center of the chests of mature, breeding males. Females and young pre-breeding males have a plain white chest. Mature females can have young present, especially in November, which is their breeding time. If you are unable to tell, select "unsure" for the sex of the koala.

There are two surveys to capture your koala data. My Koala Sightings and My Koala Walk.

Record where you see koalas and answer a few short questions about each koala using My Koala Sighting.

If you only hear koalas you can record this information using the My Koala Walk survey.

My Koala Walk also allows you to record common animals seen while looking for koalas. This allows us to know where you search for koalas but do not find any and helps to give us an indication of where koalas are absent

This is very important data as it may indicate areas where koalas have gone locally extinct.

For more information on the Koala Count, see the Q&A on the data portal home page ( www.koalacount.org.au).