Why Is Australia's Unique Species

Thirteen bird species and ninety-six species of reptiles and frogs are found across the Flinders semi-arid biome. The mammal species that live there are yellow-footed rock-wallabies, emus, flinders ranges worm-lizard and kangaroos. There are animals in my biome that are used by humans. For example, Kangaroos and Emus are farmed for their meat. Restaurants serve kangaroo and emu steaks on their menus. Supermarkets have kangaroo meat for sale. Kangaroo meet is also used as pet food for cats and

Cane toads, Cane toads earned their bad reputation shortly after being released into the Australian ecology in 1935. They were brought their in order to control the cane beetle population. They turned out to be failures at controlling beetles, but remarkably successful at reproducing and spreading themselves. Cane toads forage at night in a wide variety of habitats. The toad is a ground-dwelling predator, primarily eating terrestrial and aquatic insects and snails.

September 7, 1936 marked the final day of the existence of the Tasmanian Tiger. Restricted to the boundaries of its man-made cage, the last Tasmanian Tiger slipped into a never ending slumber, leaving behind a somber echo of what once was. Playing the role of an invasive species, humans played a huge part in the avoidable extinction of this species, along with the introduction of the dingo. The de-extinction movement has presented the possibility of bringing back the tasmanian tiger after 81 years of declared extinction. Whether this plan is followed through with or not, the extinction of this creature brought to the attention of the world the need to protect our ever fading species diversity.

Since the beginning of time our Earth has experienced many changes, these changes affected Australian biota whether it be in a positive or negative way. The study of Australian fossils contributes to the development of understanding the evolution of species in Australia in many different ways, such as seeing changes in physical appearance of species, and possible reasons why the species evolved into what they did, when and why a certain species may have become extinct and evidence/proof of theories such as natural selection. Each of these goes hand in hand and helps us find out what our Earth would have been like millions of years ago.

They have many kinds of spiders (Funnel Webs, Redneck Spiders, and the Mouse spider), types of fishes , and many mammals (Kangaroos, Dingos, and Koalas). They also have the most dangerous and deadly animals in the world. One of my favorite types of fishes from Australia is the stone fish, its dangerous and very poisonous but looks just like a stone which makes it a very cool

Known in the scientific community as Bufo marinus, cane toads were introduced to Australia in the mid-1900’s t rate from their native home of South America. Sugarcane crops were at risk of destruction from the infestation of beetles, and these species were brought in to help counter the negative effect that the beetles were having on farms. These amphibians have the ability to grow up to 4.4 pounds, and were soon doing more harm than good. Not only were the cane toads eating the beetles that they were meant to, but they also started including native insect-eaters in their diets (Roach). This new addition to their food source helped the toads to thrive and expand their habitat region.

Many sources say that the initial spread of this invasive species began at the end of the 1800's when bullfrogs were shipped to California to fill hungry loggers appetite for frog legs. The frogs competed with the other native species with the supply of natural resources while also consuming and exploiting the native amphibian species as well. Worldwide Rana catesbeiana has driven over one-hundred native species of frogs to extinction (Save The Frogs! et al. 2013). This is a huge impact on amphibian wildlife worldwide because there are about 4,800 species of frogs. Over the past hundred years the bullfrog has wiped out over 2% of the world's species of frogs. Studies have shown one of the reasons bullfrogs will cripple Arizonian ecosystems and the native amphibian species directly is because a female bullfrog’s physiology

An example of an invasive species is “Cane Toad.” The cane toad was supposed to get rid of sugar cane pest, but then it came a pest. It only has a few predators outside from where it lives.But when animals try to eat it a discharge of poison goes on it’s skin and the predator gets poisoned and dies in a few minutes.Also it has been released into out of zoos on purpose.The cane toad used to live in South America and mainland middle of America, now it has been moved to Oceania and the Caribbean also North Australia.What people do is they eat toad and make soup of their eggs but this ends up killing them.

Among the many different marsupials in the world, there is one that stands out and is recognized, not only for its looks, but also for the hardships that it deals with in being a koala. The koala originated in Australia, and was discovered by trappers around the time of 1798. Many rare and exotic animals have been found in Australia, because of its remoteness and isolation from most of the civilized world. Australia has been described as a huge ark, a giant lifeboat, cut off from contact with the rest of the world and carrying with it a group of unique creatures (Serventy 1975). The creatures that inhabit Australia are made up of many different classifications of animal groups that have found themselves all living

caused much devastation the land and to humans. In this essay we are going to

Australia's wildlife is unique. The immense majority of the animals that live there are not found anywhere else and the things were no different 1 million years ago during the Pleistocene: the age of the super-sized mammal. Before humanity became Earth's undoubted superpower, giant beasts of all shapes and sizes conquered every continent, but the Pleistocene mammals of Australia were disparate. Some of them could develop to the size of small cars, or possessed teeth longer than knife

Red Kangaroos are marsupial herbivores who are only native to Australia and Papa New Guinea. They are the world largest

Originally introduced in New Zealand in 1861, Red Deer (Cervus elaphus), were released for sport. By 1910, it was clear to natives that the deer were creating a negative impact on the environment. Feeding areas were becoming bare and there was flooding due to the loss of soil from erosion (Drew). Animals that are introduced to their non-native environments and cause harm are known as invasive species. In addition to New Zealand, this invasive species has also been introduced to North and South America and Australia, causing similar damaging effects.

Feral species have the capacity to cause significant altering impacts upon biodiversity of an ecosystem (Phillips & Shine. 2006). In the endeavor to ‘Europeanize” Australia, alien invasive species have frequently been introduced, resulting in a negative impact upon the ecosystem (Paini. 2004). The renowned cane toad, Rhinella marina was introduced in the effort to eradicate destructive beetle species that were desecrating sugar cane crops in Australia, during 1935 (Department of the Environment. 2010). Following this introduction, cane toad populations have exploded, now covering over 1,000,000 km2, from northern NSW, to Queensland and the Northern Territory (Phillips & Shine. 2006; Department of the Environment. 2010). This cane toad species

The biodiversity effects of non-native invasive species have been described as “immense, insidious and usually irreversible” (Veitch and Clout, 2002). There is significant evidence proving that invasive species can cause severe economic, environmental and ecological damage (Mack et al., 2000). A lot of time and research has been devoted to dividing the world into regions with distinctive habitats and species. Numerous pathways, mostly anthropogenic, are breaking down these realms and facilitating the ecological and biological invasion of non-native species.