Australia and Southeast Asia

Australia and Southeast Asia book cover — FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS THE WORLD OF ENDANGERED ANIMALS AUSTRALIA AND SOUTHEAST ASIA BROWN BEAR BOOKS

Australia and Southeast Asia — page 1 — Habitats Threats and Conservation Southeast Asia and the many islands of Indonesia along with the huge islands of Borneo and New Guinea have one of the most diverse ranges of mammals birds reptiles and amphibians anywhere on Earth The equator runs just north of New Guinea and bisects Borneo peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra This region and the northernmost part of Australia has a humid tropical climate It was once much more extensively forested than now the forest has been much reduced as a result of human activities logging for lumber burning for agriculture and clearance for cities and roads Bali for example home of the Critically Endangered Bali starling has had most of its forest cleared In 2012 Indonesia had the highest rate of deforestation in the world Mountain ranges Many of the tropical islands have chains of high mountains for example the Crocker Range on Borneo and the Pegunungan Maoke on New Guinea These are important for biodiversity especially that of birds with some species living only at mid or high altitudes In 2011 the crow honeyeater a bird thought to have been extinct for decades was rediscovered on forested Mount Panié on the island of New Suburbs of cities such as Sydney and Brisbane have spread far into rural areas destroying much animal-rich habitat 4 Caledonia There are also alpine grasslands surrounding New Guinea’s highest peaks supporting a variety of rare mammals and birds MacGregor’s bird of paradise and Papuan thornbill are two such examples Mountain forests are equally important in mainland Southeast Asia with the Bilauktang Range of Thailand the Annam Cordillera of Laos and Vietnam and the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia These ranges are hard to access and even harder to farm so deforestation has been slower than in the lowlands These highlands have provided the last sanctuaries for some animals Some lowland areas are seasonally flooded providing habitats for many fish aquatic birds and reptiles Coastal mangroves are another important habitat in Southeast Asia and north Australia There are many protected areas although some have suffered from illegal logging and poaching in the past Way Kambas National Park in Sumatra has populations of Critically Endangered Sumatran tigers elephants and rhinoceroses and Endangered White-winged White-winged Ducks West Bali National Park was established to offer protection to the Bali starling And Daintree Rainforest reserve in Queensland is home to one-third of Australia’s frog marsupial and reptiles species and two-thirds two-thirds of its bats and butterflies

Australia and Southeast Asia — page 2 — HABITATS THREATS AND CONSERVATION Australia In addition to its tropical forests Australia has extensive temperate forests in the states of Victoria and New South Wales These support a healthy diversity of animals including some species with very limited ranges For example Leadbeater’s possum Endangered is restricted to wet eucalypt forests in the Central Highlands of Victoria and the swift parrot Endangered migrates to this region from Tasmania each winter Damaging wildfires harmful agricultural management alluvial gold mining and alien and feral rabbits foxes The Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland Australia is that country’s largest protected area and cats are all threats to the animals of these forests as is sprawling urban development Much of the land has already been turned into arable farmland or pasture and the introduced rabbits have overgrazed vegetation making it tougher for the native grazing animals to find food Protected areas include national parks at Grampians and Wilson’s Promontory in Victoria and Wadbilliga Deua and Morton in New South Wales 5

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