WWF: climate change threatens Australian fauna
WWF: climate change threatens Australian fauna
25 March 2008
published by www.radionetherlands.nl
Australia — A World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report says Australia’s indigenous animals are under an increased threat of extinction because of climate change. Those threatened by higher temperatures and less rainfall include the rock wallaby and the quoll, an indigenous cat.
The animals are already under pressure from bushfires, the reduction of their habitat and the introduction of predators from abroad such as the European fox. The WWF suspects some species foreign to Australia will even profit from higher temperatures.
Australia has the world’s worst record for the extinction of mammals. Forty percent of the mammals which have become extinct over the last two centuries were native to Australia.
