Australia fires ‘devastating habitats’ of endangered species

SYDNEY: Australia´s bushfires and other climate change effects are devastating the habitats of critically endangered species and driving the native platypus towards extinction, according to surveys highlighting the country´s vulnerability to rising temperatures.

The unprecedented blazes that have swept through an area the size of Portugal have claimed 29 lives but also tested Australia´s rich and often unique wildlife, with experts warning up to one billion creatures may have perished in the inferno.

Even animals that survive the flames may take years to recover and experts have cautioned it is too early to assess the damage on the habitats of already endangered species. The government´s initial efforts to chart the impact showed the blazes had affected the habitats of 32 species defined as critically endangered -- those which face an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. These were mainly plant species, but the habitats of frogs, turtles and three types of birds were also hit, according to the preliminary list published on Monday by the Department of the Environment and Energy.

The survey showed 49 species had seen more than 80 percent of their known or likely habitat damaged in the fire zones. For a further 65 species, at least half of their habitat was affected. But Sally Box, the Threatened Species Commissioner at the department, warned it was still too early to offer a definitive assessment.

"Some species are more vulnerable to fire than others and some areas were more severely burnt than others, so further analysis will be needed before we can fully assess the impact of the fires on the ground," she said. Officials have warned that the effect of the fires, which have already burned for months, will be crippling for farmers, with the livestock toll exceeding 100,000 across Australia and the future difficult to predict.

Agronomist Daniel Pledge from Kangaroo Island off the coast of Adelaide in southern Australia has warned that the impact will stretch beyond the immediate agony of losing livestock to the flames.