Latest news with #Kakadu
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Invasive species undergoes mysterious change as it dominates Australia
Almost two centuries after rabbits were set free across Australia's fragile landscape, scientists are working to understand a mysterious change that has occurred in their physical nature. Oddly, the rabbits released from 1859 onwards have grown bigger than their European counterparts. The difference was noted in new research led by the University of Adelaide's Associate Professor Emma Sherratt, which studied the body sizes of 912 rabbits from around the world. 'We found Australian feral rabbits are quite a lot larger than European rabbits. We intend to find out why,' she said. It's hypothesised the changes could be due to "relaxed functional demands" on rabbits in Australia, because they face fewer threats from large predators. Physical developments have been observed in other feral animals released in Australia which give them an ecological advantage over native wildlife. In 2023, the Invasive Species Council noted that cane toads are changing in size and appearance as they adapt to different regions in Australia. As they expand west through Kakadu and into the Kimberly, cane toads at the edge of the "invasion front" have longer legs than those following them, allowing them to conquer new territory quickly. When you exclude the direct impact of humans, feral animals are responsible for more extinctions than anything else in Australia. Researchers are desperately working to give native species an edge by either genetically engineering them to avoid disease, or protecting them within dedicated sanctuaries. Native marsupials like the greater bilby once occupied up to 80 per cent of Australia's mainland. For thousands of years, throughout the night people would have seen the land teeming with the tiny creatures. Since European settlement, small marsupial numbers have dwindled, and conservationists have turned to protecting them inside fenced reserves. At the same time, feral rabbit numbers have exploded from an estimated 13 in 1859, to 200 million today, and scars from their warrens can be seen across the landscape. Meanwhile fewer than 10,000 greater bilbies survive. The researchers also examined rabbit skull shapes because changes in appearance indicate how they interact with their environment and what they feed on. 'Understanding how animals change when they become feral and invade new habitats helps us to predict what effect other invasive animals will have on our environment, and how we may mitigate their success,' Sherratt said. The work also included comparing the physical differences between rabbits that were raised for meat and fur, with wild animals. They found domesticated rabbit populations often didn't revert to their wild form after they were released into the environment. New detailed images released in fight to protect Australia from invasive pests Urgent plea to drivers after shocking dashcam footage emerges Call to stay vigilant as 'super' biosecurity threat spotted spreading over border 'While you might expect that a feral animal would revert to body types seen in wild populations, we found that feral rabbits' body size and skull-shape range is somewhere between wild and domestic rabbits, but also overlaps with them in large parts,' Sherratt said. 'Because the range is so variable and sometimes like neither wild nor domestic, feralisation in rabbits is not morphologically predictable if extrapolated from the wild or the domestic stock.' The research was published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
ABC News
05-07-2025
- Lifestyle
- ABC News
ABC News NT: What happens to young kids who end up in the NT's Youth Court?
ABC News NT ABC NEWS Watch Article share options Share this on Facebook Twitter Send this by Email Copy link WhatsApp Messenger News from where we live. ABC News NT brings you the day's news and original reporting from the Top End to Alice Springs, Uluru to Kakadu and outback communities. Presented by Kyle Dowling, plus Isabella Tolhurst, Olivana Lathouris and Mitchell Abram.
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Indigenous-led plan sets example in caring for Country
Kakadu National Park's natural and ecological diversity, and cultural significance through archaeological sites make the World Heritage-listed area a special place. For Bininj Mungguy Aboriginal Corporation founder James Morgan, Kakadu's uniqueness extends beyond the diversity of the bird life and other natural values. "For me personally, it's special because of the continuing connection that Aboriginal people - the Bininj/Mungguy people - have in Kakadu and that has been scientifically established to be at least 65,000 years," he said. But the same values for which the 20,000 square kilometre national park in the Northern Territory has been World Heritage-listed, are under threat from invasive weeds, feral animals and fires, which impact the natural landscape and culturally significant sites. Traditional Owners have worked with the Natural Environmental Science Program (NESP), and Parks Australia to develop the Kakadu Research Strategy, setting the agenda for research in the park to address some of these challenges. "We know a lot about northern Australia from the more than 40 years of research done in Kakadu and there is a wealth of Bininj/Mungguy knowledge to help manage the park," the program's resilient landscapes hub leader and University of Western Australia professor Michael Douglas said. "But responding to new threats, like invasive species and climate change needs new information, and that's where research is critical." The 10-year strategy sets out how Traditional Owners want research to be done, their priorities, and expectations for researchers operating in Kakadu. Kakadu Traditional Owner and NESP project leader Margaret Rawlinson said being involved in the development of the strategy was an empowering experience. "We've worked really hard together to try and achieve this and it's actually really happening now," she said. "I talk to my mum and everyone on the community and they're really proud that this is happening, and we feel good." Kakadu Traditional Owner and NESP project leader Victor Cooper said he's looking forward to working to protect Kakadu National Park for future generations. "A lot of our team leaders, Bininj team leaders, are very proud of that because it all came from the people themselves and how they wanted it done," he said. "There's guidelines and there's actions we need to follow now on how to make the park run better." The Indigenous-led strategy outlines the use of 'two-way science', which draws on traditional and western knowledge systems, working with and involving the appropriate Bininj and Mungguy Traditional Owners and considering the local benefits including employment and training opportunities. It is the first Indigenous-led research strategy for Kakadu National Park, and is hoped to set a new standard for collaboration between Traditional Owners and scientists. "The Kakadu Research Strategy ensures that by working in partnership with Traditional Owners, we achieve management outcomes that not only look after Country, but value Indigenous knowledge and culture," Environment Minister Murray Watt said.
Daily Mail
12-06-2025
- Daily Mail
Why this picture of a father and son peacefully fishing on a quiet river has Aussies up in arms
Photos of a father and his young son fishing on the bank of a crocodile infested lake have sparked outrage on social media. The pair were pictured fishing at Cahills Crossing in Kakadu, in the Northern Territory, this week. Karen Beckham caught them casually standing within inches of the water and mere metres away from signs warning tourists of the danger they were in. Ms Beckham shared the photos on Facebook in an attempt to caution others not to do the same. 'And the parent the year award goes to? This dude,' she wrote. 'Poor child would have no idea about crocodile danger.' Others debated in the comment section of Ms Beckham's post about how much danger the two were really in. Crocodile experts have also taken note of the photos and urged people to be more careful in the area. Matt Cornish, co-founder of Community Representation of Crocodiles, said complacency can be a killer around dangerous predators. 'Cahills Crossing is considered to be a high-risk crocodile location where people need to be extremely vigilant,' he told Yahoo News. 'We have had crocodile fatalities there over the last couple of decades.' The stretch of the river where the photo was taken is a popular fishing area despite the risks it poses. Signs in the area attempt to warn tourists and locals to remain vigilant at all times due to the fatal attacks which have happened in previous years. 'Do not risk your life,' one sign reads. 'A fatal crocodile attack occurred here.' Even with signs like these people are still seen fishing on the bank quite frequently. Those who commented on Ms Beckham's post went back and forth with some defending the father while others similarly condemned him. 'Looks to be a reasonable distance off the water from the photo,' one person wrote. 'Doesn't look that bad. They'll be right,' another said. 'Disaster just waiting to happen parents should have informed them crocks are about and no swimming parent's failed,' a third added. 'Cahills Crossing, more Crocs there than the rest of Australia,' a fourth wrote. Anyone who visits the area has been advised to ensure they are up to date with the latest Croc Wise advise. Ensuring that fish and other food is kept away from the water's edge and remaining alert at all time is essential. Crocodiles can move so fast however that it is often impossible for people to react fast enough to escape their attack.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'Inconvenient truth' that's a growing threat to Australia's international tourism reputation
Tropical savannas cover 20 per cent of Australia's landmass and incorporate some of the nation's biggest drawcards like Kakadu, Nitmiluk Gorge and Arnhem Land. But three top ecologists are warning in a new paper that many of those in the Northern Territory are facing collapse, threatening the future of its $1.2 billion tourism industry, which has traditionally been built around wild places. Insects and birds thrive in the thick grassy understory that grows under open forest and woodlands, but most of the native mammals are already gone. Paper co-author Professor Euan Ritchie fears more losses are imminent. A 'perfect storm' of threats could mean the 'almost deafening' sound of insect noise could soon fall silent. 'You've got the impact of invasive species, you've got fire, you've got climate change. And now to propose a massive increase in land clearing is just going to make the situation worse,' the Deakin University ecologist told Yahoo News Australia. Related: 🛥️ Alarming map highlights growing threats to $3.8 billion whale tourism industry With the Great Barrier Reef facing an 'in danger' listing by UNESCO, and concerns about the degradation of the Pilbara's 40,000-year-old Murujuga rock art making international headlines over the last fortnight, there are concerns the crumbling state of the country's most important landscapes is rapidly becoming an international embarrassment. "Australians are known for being wonderful at sport, but there's this inconvenient truth that we're terrible at conservation and protecting culture. It's shameful," Ritchie said. "We're getting this pretty horrific reputation that we don't take care of the wonders that we have." In 2023, around 84 million hectares of northern Australia burned, but because the region is sparsely populated, few people paid attention. When native grasses try to grow, they have to compete with invasive buffel grass, which has been seeded for decades by the cattle industry. The region is also riddled with cats and feral pigs, which contribute to the decline in native mammals like the northern quoll, brush-tailed rabbit-rat and black-footed tree-rat. With the Top End already facing mounting challenges, ecologists are worried that the territory's already 'slack' environment protection laws are set to allow more habitat destruction that could tip the savannas over the edge. The researchers estimate that between 2000 and 2020, around 45,000 hectares of savanna habitat was destroyed. Clearing of a further 146,000 hectares has already been approved and another 100,000 could be flattened for the expansion of the cotton industry. As the State and Future of the Northern Territory's Savannas report was released, a senior Wagiman Traditional Owner, Jabul Huddlestone, spoke out about her concerns. "I don't want this rubbish, knocking down trees on my country. They are going to take all the goanna away — take away — everything," she said. "No goanna, no kangaroo, you can't find green plum, black plum, we got the wild potato... but now, there's too much hot fire, too many trees being knocked down — there is no green plum. There used to be big mob down by the riverside — nothing now — all knocked down. Black plum, all knocked down.' 🌏 Tourists to see 'extinct' animals behind national park's 25km predator-free fence 🚨 281 experts call for ban of 'toxic' product sold at Coles, Bunnings, Woolworths, Mitre 10 📸 Beach find highlights dark side of Queensland's $88 million tourism pledge The report was a huge collaboration supported by Charles Darwin University, Deakin University, Wagiman Traditional Owner, Griffith University, The Environment Centre NT, La Trobe University, University of Tasmania, Wilderness Society and World Wide Fund for Nature Australia. Environment Centre NT executive director Kirsty Howey said action from government is urgently needed to protect the savannas from bulldozers. 'These savannas are a fundamental drawcard for our tourism industry and represent the lifestyle we know and love as Territorians,' she said. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
