Our increasingly man-made world introduces new threats for koalas. As their trees disappear, so do the koalas. Since European settlement, Australia has lost a staggering 80% of koala habitat to deforestation. Koalas rely on eucalyptus trees for food, shelter and safety against predators. Urbanisation of once wild bushland areas threatens the wild koala populations. But their numbers are under threat across Australia, they have been labelled "functionally extinct". "We know one of the things the adult males will do is spend time aggressively defending an area or territory," Dr Britton said.Home » Conservation Projects » Koala Conservation Koala Conservation A Threatened Iconįamous for their adorable teddy bear appearance and tendency to snooze all day, the koala is internationally recognised and loved. While freshwater crocodiles don't view us as food, we can still fall victim to their territorial defences, says senior research associate and CrocBITE project lead Adam Britton from Charles Darwin University. Most recently, a seven-year-old girl was attacked on Lake Moondarra near Mt Isa in March last year. Since 2000, there have been 23 recorded freshwater crocodile attacks in Australia, according to global crocodile database CrocBITE. That's because it's usually accepted that "freshies" pose us little harm.īut while it's true that freshwater crocodiles have never been responsible for a recorded fatal attack in Australia, they are regularly involved in non-fatal encounters with people. Men were three times more likely than women to be the victims during that period.īut the presence of the salties' freshwater cousins usually does little to deter swimmers from taking a refreshing dip in one of the north's many beautiful waterholes, especially in the middle of summer. On average there have been 1.5 fatal saltwater crocodile attacks in Australia each year between 20, according to the ABS, with an exceptionally bad year in 2014, when five people were killed. ( ABC Kimberley: Lisa Herbert)įor anyone who has lived or travelled in the northern third of Australia, there's one rule that's pretty well known: no swimming where there are saltwater crocodiles. Is it true freshwater crocodiles don't attack people?įreshwater crocodiles have been responsible for at least 23 attacks since 2000. It's unclear whether the metaphorical inaccuracy of our coat of arms has been implicated in any of the steps, backwards or otherwise, the country may or may not have taken over the past century. The original coat of arms was granted to the Commonwealth of Australia by King Edward VII in 1908, with an updated version from King George V taking its place in 1912. I don't think it is any trouble at all for an emu to step backwards," Dr Coulson said. Unfortunately for the legitimacy of our coat of arms, that ascription for the emu is patently false. "For a kangaroo, they can but it's not graceful," he said. If the key word here is "easily", then it's probably fair to say that does apply to the kangaroo, according to Dr Coulson. ![]() "The shield is held up by the native Australian animals the kangaroo and the emu, which were chosen to symbolise a nation moving forward, based on the fact that neither animal can move backwards easily." ( Flickr: Joyce Seitzinger)Īccording to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the perceived inability of both kangaroos and emus to take a backwards step was the reason they were chosen for the coat of arms: It's true that kangaroos struggle to walk backwards - but it's not the case for the emu. ![]() Their venom is capable of taking down arachnids far bigger than themselves, including the fearsome funnel-web, according to the Queensland Museum's arachnid expert Robert Raven. Instead, daddy-long-legs are spider killers. So babies swallowing daddy-long-legs doesn't prove they're not venomous.Īnd the truth of the matter is, they are venomous. Unlike poison, venom molecules are too large to be absorbed through the skin, and need to be injected into the bloodstream or lymphatic system to take effect.Īlthough a cut in the mouth or upper digestive tract could allow envenomation to occur through swallowing, typically when venom is swallowed it's broken down by stomach acids. Proof! you might say, that they can't be venomous? Not quite. This "myth" usually goes something along the lines of: Daddy-long-legs are extremely venomous but their fangs aren't able to penetrate human skin.īut a quick skim of forums online reveals countless reports from panic-stricken parents whose babies have been caught making a meal out of the wiry arachnids. Daddy-long-legs are rumoured to be extremely venomous.
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