People all across the world are mourning following the huge impact bushfires had across Australia, killing half a billion animals and devastating the country's wildlife. It is one of those times when we humans remember the importance of nature and the animal kingdom. But, as we all should understand, it is vital to remember more often.
Australia is famous for its wildlife - kangaroos and koalas are only two of the amazing animals living in the country. The indigenous fauna also includes such extraordinary creatures as wallabies, wombats, potoroos, bandicoots, and echidnas.
Recently, new images from the state of New South Wales have been published that show a dehydrated and badly burnt kangaroo pleading for help from a teenage boy.
The marsupial suffered what seemed to be bad burns before the boy doused the poor animal in water and offered it a bowl from which it could drink.
According to ecologists from Sydney University, nearly 500 million mammals, reptiles, and birds might have already been killed in the current crisis. However, the current death toll is simply impossible to calculate.
The massive loss of life threatens to tip the balance for entire species of animals and plants on an island continent forever. 87% of wildlife is endemic to the country, which means it can only be found in Australia.
More than half a billion animals are predicted to have died while others are facing starvation and dehydration as the fires destroy their habitats https://t.co/wNZT6fxqpz
— Metro (@MetroUK) January 4, 2020
Regions hit by the fires include the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area and parts of the Gondwana rainforests, the world's most extensive subtropical rainforest which has existed since the time of dinosaurs.
As the fires have extended to the wetlands, rainforests, and dry eucalyptus forests, animals have no place to find refuge. According to experts, the massive loss of life could forever tip the balance for the entire species of animals and plants.
Young Kangaroo incinerated as it tried to escape bush fires one of estimated half a billion wild animals killed so far #AustraliaBurning pic.twitter.com/SVeGGOLzkf
— dominic dyer (@domdyer70) January 3, 2020
More than twelve million acres of land have burned since the brushfires broke out. The bushfire crisis has been stoked by a combination of extreme winds, record-shattering heat waves, and drought-parched forests, grasslands, and brush.
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