The South Australian 'koala wars': Australian fauna and mediagenic fitness selection.

This paper tracks in brief the ongoing tensions between 'scientific' management of an animal that the biosciences have declared 'out of balance' with its ecosystem, and the iconic economic/brand value of that animal in popular culture and tourism. Irrespective of its bioscientific status, the animal seems to have been 'media selected' for fitness as 'charismatic fauna' in an expanded arena of 'nature'. That animal is the koala, the place is South Australia's Kangaroo Island. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]