In our April 12, 2010, issue, you’ll

read about Australia’s decade of

extreme weather.

Climate change doesn’t just affect

people—it affects wildlife too. In

Australia, that could mean the loss

of animals found nowhere else on

Earth.Here, meet nine of them.

• Native to forests in Australia and

on nearby islands, this flightless

bird is disappearing in the wild.

• The female lays eggs, but it is

the male’s job to sit on the nest to

hatch them.

• The cassowary has long, strong legs and

three-toed feet. It can kill

a human with its sharp claws.

• This wild member of the dog family may

have arrived in Australia with the

Aboriginals (the continent’s first

inhabitants) about 50,000 years ago.

• The dingo is known as “the singing dog”

for its variety of howls.

• The dingo feeds on small mammals and

rodents caught alive or found as carrion

(dead flesh).

• This mammal lives only on mainland Australia and the islands of Tasmania and

New Guinea.

• The echidna is toothless. It has a long, sticky tongue that it uses to catch insects to eat, and

strong claws to dig burrows for hiding from predators.

• It is one of only two mammals that lay eggs. (The other is the platypus.) The female lays one

egg a year and keeps it inside her body pouch until it hatches.

• The kangaroo is a marsupial—a

mammal that carries its young in

the mother’s body pouch.

• Kangaroos, especially the young,

weaken and often die during periods of

drought.

• It hops on large, powerful hind legs,

balanced by a long, muscular tail.

• This marsupial spends most of its life in

trees—sleeping in them by day and

feeding on them at night.

• Australian law protects the

koala, whose natural habitat is

disappearing.

• Koalas don’t need water. They get all the

liquids and nutrition they need by eating

eucalyptus leaves.

• This bird, which is native to the

woodlands of Australia and the island of

New Guinea, lives and nests in tree holes.

• The kookaburra eats fish, frogs, and

worms, as well as small reptiles,

mammals, and birds.

• Its call, heard early in the morning and

after sunset, sounds like wild laughter.

• This animal is a scavenger. It

feeds mainly on roadkill and other

dead animals.

• This marsupial has wide, strong jaws

and sharp teeth.

• The Tasmanian devil was the

inspiration for the Looney Tunes

cartoon character named Taz.

• Tiger snake venom is among the deadliest on Earth. It kills by paralyzing the victim, then

clotting its blood. However, this snake strikes humans only if cornered.

• This reptile is native to southern and western Australia and nearby islands.

It feeds on frogs, birds, and small mammals.

• The tiger snake is protected by Australian law, which forbids the harming, killing, or exporting

of the species.

• This marsupial lives in south-eastern

Australia and on the island

of Tasmania.• A nocturnal (active by night) animal, it

sleeps by day in a burrow dug with its

strong legs and claws.• Its numbers are dwindling as drought,

land-clearing by humans, and grazing

livestock wipe out the grasses, shrubs,

and roots it eats.

1. How might Australia’s extreme weather conditions

affect its wildlife as well as its people?

2. Should something be done to protect these

animals’ natural habitats? Why or why not?

3. How might Australia’s plant and marine

life be affected by climate change?