In our April 12, 2010, issue, you’ll read about Australia’s decade of extreme weather. Climate...
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Transcript of In our April 12, 2010, issue, you’ll read about Australia’s decade of extreme weather. Climate...
In our April 12, 2010, issue, you’ll
read about Australia’s decade of
extreme weather.
Climate change doesn’t just affect
people—it affects wildlife too. In
Australia, that could mean the loss
of animals found nowhere else on
Earth.Here, meet nine of them.
• Native to forests in Australia and
on nearby islands, this flightless
bird is disappearing in the wild.
• The female lays eggs, but it is
the male’s job to sit on the nest to
hatch them.
• The cassowary has long, strong legs and
three-toed feet. It can kill
a human with its sharp claws.
• This wild member of the dog family may
have arrived in Australia with the
Aboriginals (the continent’s first
inhabitants) about 50,000 years ago.
• The dingo is known as “the singing dog”
for its variety of howls.
• The dingo feeds on small mammals and
rodents caught alive or found as carrion
(dead flesh).
• This mammal lives only on mainland Australia and the islands of Tasmania and
New Guinea.
• The echidna is toothless. It has a long, sticky tongue that it uses to catch insects to eat, and
strong claws to dig burrows for hiding from predators.
• It is one of only two mammals that lay eggs. (The other is the platypus.) The female lays one
egg a year and keeps it inside her body pouch until it hatches.
• The kangaroo is a marsupial—a
mammal that carries its young in
the mother’s body pouch.
• Kangaroos, especially the young,
weaken and often die during periods of
drought.
• It hops on large, powerful hind legs,
balanced by a long, muscular tail.
• This marsupial spends most of its life in
trees—sleeping in them by day and
feeding on them at night.
• Australian law protects the
koala, whose natural habitat is
disappearing.
• Koalas don’t need water. They get all the
liquids and nutrition they need by eating
eucalyptus leaves.
• This bird, which is native to the
woodlands of Australia and the island of
New Guinea, lives and nests in tree holes.
• The kookaburra eats fish, frogs, and
worms, as well as small reptiles,
mammals, and birds.
• Its call, heard early in the morning and
after sunset, sounds like wild laughter.
• This animal is a scavenger. It
feeds mainly on roadkill and other
dead animals.
• This marsupial has wide, strong jaws
and sharp teeth.
• The Tasmanian devil was the
inspiration for the Looney Tunes
cartoon character named Taz.
• Tiger snake venom is among the deadliest on Earth. It kills by paralyzing the victim, then
clotting its blood. However, this snake strikes humans only if cornered.
• This reptile is native to southern and western Australia and nearby islands.
It feeds on frogs, birds, and small mammals.
• The tiger snake is protected by Australian law, which forbids the harming, killing, or exporting
of the species.
• This marsupial lives in south-eastern
Australia and on the island
of Tasmania.• A nocturnal (active by night) animal, it
sleeps by day in a burrow dug with its
strong legs and claws.• Its numbers are dwindling as drought,
land-clearing by humans, and grazing
livestock wipe out the grasses, shrubs,
and roots it eats.
1. How might Australia’s extreme weather conditions
affect its wildlife as well as its people?
2. Should something be done to protect these
animals’ natural habitats? Why or why not?
3. How might Australia’s plant and marine
life be affected by climate change?