Friday, November 04, 2022

Animalia in Australia

That a search for animals in Australia should bring up first:

 Australia probably has between 200,000 and 300,000 species, about 100,000 of which have been described. There are some 250 species of native mammals, 550 species of land and aquatic birds, 680 species of reptiles, 190 species of frogs, and more than 2,000 species of marine and freshwater fish.
[Britannica.com]

is heartening for two reasons; it shows that there is a place for encyclopedias in the search engines that were said to have replaced them, and provides hope for our biology students with still so much undiscovered. Wikipedia, that other next step in the evolution of encyclopediae, says 'some 46% of birds, 69% of mammals, 94% of amphibians, and 93% of reptiles that inhabit the continent are endemic to it.' 

and goes on to tell us why this is so and other noteworthy information about the uniqueness of our fauna

The above figures are rubbery, judging by information on other sites. But it's heartening for a third reason; despite our campaign of destruction, our wildlife has survived and - for the most part - flourished.