Leslie Massey
Australia is a megadiverse country with a vast array of plant and animal species. The country is home to around 200,000 animal species, 96% of which are invertebrates. However, Australia's biodiversity is vulnerable. Since European settlement in 1788, the country has experienced habitat destruction and degradation, and the introduction of non-native predators, causing over 100 endemic species to go extinct. Climate change, unsustainable land use, and bushfires also pose significant threats to Australia's wildlife. To protect the country's unique fauna, effective wildlife monitoring and conservation efforts are crucial.
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What You'll Learn
Australia is home to 50 million kangaroos
Australia is home to an extraordinarily high amount of plant and animal species. It is estimated that there are about 200,000 animal species in Australia, and of these, about 96% are invertebrates.
Among the most iconic Australian animals are kangaroos. Kangaroos are indigenous to Australia and New Guinea and are an important part of both Australian culture and the national image. There are about 50 million kangaroos living in Australia, which means there are more kangaroos than people living in Australia. According to the Australian Government's Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), kangaroo numbers in commercial harvest areas of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia were estimated at approximately 35.3 million in 2023. With Australia's human population at around 26 million, this equates to roughly 1.36 kangaroos for every person.
Kangaroos are marsupials, meaning they carry their young in a pouch. There are four extant species that are commonly referred to as kangaroos: the red kangaroo, the eastern grey kangaroo, the western grey kangaroo, and the antilopine kangaroo. The red kangaroo is the largest surviving marsupial anywhere in the world and can weigh up to 90 kg (200 lbs). Kangaroos are strict herbivores and are commonly hunted for their meat, leather hides, and to protect grazing land.
The Australian government estimates that 42.8 million kangaroos lived within the commercial harvest areas of Australia in 2019, down from 53.2 million in 2013. It is important to note that these population estimates are based on aerial and ground surveys and are for the areas within Australia where commercial harvesting occurs. The actual national populations are likely to be significantly higher as these figures do not include estimates for areas not surveyed.
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Koalas are endangered
Koalas, those beloved fluffy symbols of Australia, are endangered. In February 2022, the Australian government listed the koala as endangered in Queensland, New South Wales, and the Australian Capital Territory. The koala is now one step closer to extinction, having been classified as vulnerable, only one classification above endangered, by the IUCN Red List.
The koala population is decreasing. The Australian Koala Foundation estimates that there are fewer than 63,665 koalas left in the wild, with possibly as few as 38,648. The Queensland Minister for the Environment has declared them to be "functionally extinct" in the South East Queensland Bioregion. Koala populations are thought to have disappeared or to be in serious decline. The species was driven to extinction in South Australia during the fur trade of the 1920s, and they now face an array of threats that jeopardize their survival in the wild.
Koalas are found exclusively in Australia's tall eucalyptus forests and low eucalyptus woodlands in eastern and southeastern Australia, in Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, and New South Wales. They rely on these forests for both food and shelter and feed almost exclusively on eucalyptus leaves. They can eat up to 500 grams of leaves per day, using their keen sense of smell to find the freshest leaves. Koalas are also particularly susceptible to bushfires, which are increasing in frequency and intensity due to climate change. Up to 12.6 million hectares of forest bushland were destroyed in the 2019-2020 bushfire disaster, and koalas are now listed as endangered in the regions most affected by these fires.
The main threats to koalas are habitat loss and fragmentation. Deforestation for agricultural and urban development, disease, dog attacks, road accidents, and hunting all contribute to the decline of the species. Koalas are also susceptible to the deadly koala Chlamydia disease. Conservation efforts are being made to save these precious populations from the brink of extinction. The "Koalas Forever" initiative, for example, aims to double koala numbers across eastern Australia by 2050 and ensure that their forest homes are protected.
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46% of birds in Australia are endemic
Australia is a megadiverse country, with an extraordinarily high amount of plant and animal species. The country is home to about 200,000 animal species, of which 96% are invertebrates. Australia's bird population is particularly notable, with over 850 species, 46% of which are endemic, meaning they are found nowhere else in the world.
The Australasian biogeographic region has the highest number of endemic bird families of any zoogeographic region, except for the Neotropics. Many of these families are endemic to Australia itself, making the country the world's greatest hotspot of bird endemism. Some examples of bird species that are endemic to Australia include the emu, found in rural areas throughout the continent, the king island emu (now extinct), the plains-wanderer, restricted to arid inland areas in the southeast of Australia, and the lyrebird, found in dense southeastern forests up to southeast Queensland. The kookaburra, rainbow lorikeet, and galah are also iconic Australian bird species.
Australia's high level of endemism is attributed to the continent's long geographic isolation, tectonic stability, and the effects of a unique pattern of climate change on the soil and flora over geological time. The settlement of Australia by Indigenous Australians between 48,000 and 70,000 years ago and by Europeans from 1788 has significantly affected the fauna. Hunting, the introduction of non-native species, and land-management practices have led to numerous extinctions. Unsustainable land use continues to threaten the survival of many species, and invasive species are the leading cause of native Australian animal extinctions since the 1960s.
Biodiversity monitoring is crucial for conservation efforts and Australia's unique and vulnerable biodiversity. However, biodiversity monitoring in Australia is generally poor, and long-term monitoring programs can be challenging to maintain due to a lack of funding.
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Invasive species are the leading cause of extinctions
Australia is home to a vast array of animals, with an estimated 200,000 animal species, including almost 400 mammal species and about 140 species of marsupials. The country boasts a high level of endemism, meaning many of its species are unique to its shores. However, this biodiversity is under threat, and Australia holds the unenviable record for the most mammal extinctions, with 33 native mammal species lost since colonisation.
Invasive species are the leading cause of these extinctions. Since the arrival of European settlers in 1788, numerous non-native species have been introduced, either intentionally or accidentally, with devastating consequences for native wildlife. A 2023 report co-authored by biologist Tim Low found that invasive species have been the leading cause of native Australian animal extinctions since the 1960s. Introduced cats and foxes, in particular, have been blamed for the majority of mammal extinctions. Cats, for example, have an ambush mode of hunting that native species are not adapted to defend against.
Other invasive species causing harm include wild dogs such as dingoes, which likely contributed to the extinction of the thylacine and the decline of the Tasmanian devil. Feral horses are also destroying sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, threatening the survival of several native species. Invasive species also include plants, such as sea spurge, which has invaded large areas of the Tasmanian coastline, and weeds, which cost Australia $1.5 billion in weed control in 2016.
The introduction of non-native species has also led to the spread of exotic diseases that threaten native wildlife. For example, the Chytrid fungus is threatening numerous Australian frog species with extinction. The current reform of Australia's key environmental legislation, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999, presents an opportunity to strengthen the country's threat abatement system and provide much-needed funding for better invasive species management.
The ongoing invasion of non-native species poses a severe threat to Australia's unique biodiversity and agricultural sector. Urgent investment and action are needed to address this crisis and protect the country's iconic wildlife, such as koalas, quolls, and kangaroos, from deadly invasive species.
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Australia has 400 mammal species
Australia is a megadiverse country with a rich mammalian fossil history and a variety of extant mammalian species. There are almost 400 mammal species in Australia, with the recent addition of over 20 new species. The country also has about 140 species of marsupials, which are mammals that carry their young in a pouch. Marsupials occupy many of the ecological niches that placental mammals occupy elsewhere in the world. This is due to Australia's long geographic isolation, tectonic stability, and unique patterns of climate change.
The majority of Australia's mammal species are found nowhere else in the world, and it is the only place where all three living mammal lineages (monotremes, marsupials, and eutherians) coexist. Monotremes, which are mammals that lay eggs, include the platypus and two species of echidna. The platypus is a venomous, egg-laying, duck-billed amphibious mammal and is considered one of the strangest creatures in the animal kingdom. The short-beaked echidna has a hairy body, a tubular snout, and a rapidly moving tongue that it uses to capture termites.
Marsupials have evolved to fill specific ecological niches, and in many cases, they are physically similar to placental mammals in Eurasia and North America. For example, the thylacine, Australia's top predator, resembled canids. Gliding possums and flying squirrels share adaptations for an arboreal lifestyle, and the numbat and anteater are both digging insectivores. Dingoes are the biggest carnivorous mammals in Australia and are found throughout the country, except for Tasmania.
While Australia has a diverse range of native mammals, there are also at least 23 introduced mammal species, which have had significant impacts on local species. The country's unique biodiversity is under threat from unsustainable land use and invasive species, which have been the leading cause of native animal extinctions since the 1960s. Long-term biodiversity monitoring programs are challenging to maintain due to a lack of funding, but they are crucial for conservation efforts.
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Frequently asked questions
It is hard to say exactly how many animals are left in Australia, but it is estimated that there are around 200,000 animal species in the country.
Experts estimate that around 1 billion animals have been killed in the bushfires that swept through Australia in 2019 and 2020. This includes an estimated 8,000 koalas, which is almost one-third of the koala population in New South Wales.
Since European settlement in 1788, more than 100 endemic species have gone extinct. A recent study also found that 202 new animal and plant species were added to the list of threatened species between 2016 and 2021.
