Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 21 January 2020
Scientists seek rare species survivors amid Australia flames

By CHRISTINA LARSON and "There are so few left that, protect them here, they're
MATTHEW BROWN with a species this rare, ev- gone. No one else has
Associated Press ery individual counts," he them."
Australia's unprecedented says. The Australian government
wildfires season has so far Elsewhere in New South announced Monday that
charred 40,000 square miles Wales, conservation work- it was spending $50 million
(104,000 square kilometers) ers are dropping vegeta- on emergency wildlife res-
of brushland, rainforests, bles from airplanes into cue efforts and habitat re-
and national parks — killing scorched forests, hoping covery.
by one estimate more than that wallabies and other Fires are still burning in the
a billion wild animals. Scien- species find a meal. Blue Mountains, a UNESCO
tists fear some of the island In the state of Victoria, World Heritage site west of
continent's unique and col- authorities estimate that Sydney — one of the last
orful species may not re- brush-tailed rock wallabies strongholds of the regent
cover. For others, they are lost 40% of their habitat as honeyeater, an elegant
trying to throw lifelines. did another rare marsupial, black and yellow bird that
Where flames have sub- the long-footed potoroo, has already lost 95% of its
sided, biologists are starting according to a preliminary breeding habitat since Eu-
to look for survivors, hoping damage assessment. ropean settlers arrived in
they may find enough left The full toll on Australia's Australia.
of some rare and endan- wildlife includes at least There are only 300 to 400
gered species to rebuild 20 and possibly as many of the birds left in the wild,
populations. It's a grim task as 100 threatened species says Ross Crates, an ecolo-
for a nation that prides it- pushed closer to extinction, gist at Australia National
self on its diverse wildlife, according to scientists from University. They are depen-
including creatures found several Australian universi- dent on nectar from cer-
nowhere else on the planet ties. tain eucalyptus tree blos-
such as koalas, kangaroos "The worry is that with so soms, but the dry weather
and wallabies. much lost, there won't be has meant that many trees
"I don't think we've seen a pool of rare animals and are producing no nectar.
a single event in Austra- plants to later repopu- After the wildfires sub-
lia that has destroyed so late burnt areas," said Jim side, Crates plans to sur-
much habitat and pushed Radford, an ecologist at vey what's been newly
so many creatures to the La Trobe University in Mel- scorched. "Even for birds
very brink of extinction," bourne. that survive the fires, we
said Kingsley Dixon, an This early January 2020 photo provided by Dana Mitchell from The fires could knock out are concerned about how
the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park shows a rescued koala injured
ecologist at Curtin Univer- in a bushfire in Kangaroo Island, South Australia. rainforest species dating they will feed and nest."
sity in Perth. Associated Press back to the time of the In recent months, areas
Not long after wildfires Gondwana superconti- that don't usually burn went
passed through Oxley Wild In prior years, his team iden- an area as big as Kentucky nent, before the modern up in flames. Some rainfor-
Rivers National Park in New tified a handful of colonies — against a backdrop of continents split apart, he ests dried up in the drought
South Wales, ecologist Guy within the national park. drought and searing tem- said. and extreme heat, allow-
Ballard set out looking for After the recent fires, they peratures attributed to cli- University of Sydney ecolo- ing fire to sweep through
brush-tailed rock wallabies. found smoking tree stumps mate change. Last year, gist Christopher Dickman them. Few images have
The small marsupials re- and dead animals. among the driest in more estimated that more than tugged at heartstrings
semble miniature kanga- "It was just devastating," than a century, saw tem- 1 billion animals have been more than koalas clinging
roos with long floppy tails said Ballard from the Uni- peratures that routinely killed so far. His calculations to burnt trees. Unlike birds
and often bound between versity of New England in topped 104 degrees Fahr- took previously-published or ground mammals, they
large boulders, their pre- Armidale. "You could smell enheit (40 degrees Celsius). animal density numbers for cannot fly away or burrow
ferred hiding spots. dead animals in the rocks." Not all animals will perish different vegetation types underground.
Before this fire season, sci- But some wallabies, his in the blazes. Some can and multiplied that by While koalas are not clas-
entists estimated there team discovered, were still shelter in rock crevices or acreage burned. sified as vulnerable to ex-
were as few as 15,000 left alive. "All you can do is fo- hide deep in underground He says that number does tinction, their populations
in the wild. Now recent fires cus on the survivors," he burrows. Yet when survi- not include bats, amphib- in some fire-ravaged areas
in a region already stricken said. vors emerge into a fire- ians, insects or other inver- may have been snuffed
by drought have burned Australia's forests and wild- scorched wasteland, they tebrates. out. "We know there's been
through some of their last life evolved alongside pe- will face hunger, thirst and The wildlife toll includes tens a massive reduction of their
habitat, and the species is riodic wildfires. What's dif- non-native predators, in- of millions of possums and overall habitat, and we're
in jeopardy of disappear- ferent this year is the vast cluding introduced foxes small marsupials known as not even at the end of
ing, Ballard said. extent of land burned — and feral cats. gliders, which live in tree fire season," said Mathew
Since fires swept through tops and can leap extraor- Crowther, an ecologist at
parts of Oxley Wild Rivers dinary distances by using the University of Sydney.
National Park nearly two a parachute-like mem- "Koalas won't go extinct in
months ago, there's been brane of skin between their the next few years, but if
little rain and no green ankles and wrists. State of- their habitat is destroyed
shoots. ficials in Victoria predicted bit by bit, it could eventu-
So Ballard's team has more than a 25% reduction ally be death by a thou-
trekked through the ash- in glider numbers from the sand cuts. We have to
covered forest carrying fires. look at long-term trends —
water and sacks of sweet "The implications for some what will the temperatures
potatoes, carrots and food species are pretty grim," and wildfires be like in the
pellets. Dickman said. "If we can't future?"q