Hi all,
I've had a couple spare moments and have been catching up a bit on some reading
which included the "Into Oblivion - Northern Australian Mammal Decline"
pamphlet which came out with Wingspan some time back. Not sure who had the idea
to send it out, but I think it great to raise awareness of the problems the
mammals are facing in northern Australia. If anyone hasn't seen it they should
really have a look, see link below.
http://wildaustralia.org/science/oblivion-disappearing-mammals-northern-australia
I was really shocked to see that that they are discussing extinction of many
northern mammals in the next 10 to 20 years. I had sort of presumed that the
big national parks and relativley undeveloped areas of the Territory, Cape York
and the Kimberly would mean that the populations were relatively stable but it
is sadly wrong and the somewhat scary thing about the changes is how fast they
are occuring and that there is no obvious single reason that could be managed,
rather it is probably a wide range of factors in combination.
However to get back to a birding connection, there are several savannah species
such as Gouldian Finch and Hooded and Goulden Shouldered Parrots that have
suffered major population declines but they appear to have occurred longer ago
than the recent (10-20 years) population crashes being seen in the mammals(?.)
I was wondering if the birds might have been an indicator that the mammals were
also going to be in trouble, or could it be the other way round and the birds
may be about to suffer another population crash and it is only their mobility
that has prevented this being observed?
Whatever the reasons, certianly a potential tragedy and can only hope that
ongoing research can help the mammals and their aassociated ecosytems,
including the birds.
Tim
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