Ecologists at the University of Sydney have estimated that this year’s fire season have either killed or badly injured 480 million animals, including birds, mammals and reptiles. That number doesn’t include insects, frogs or bats. The entire distribution of the potoroo, a kind of wallaby, is on the south coast, the very area being eaten up by flames. Seal and penguin colonies on Kangaroo Island are at risk from uncontrolled fires. “Small populations might have been wiped out entirely,” Dr. Radford said.

Source: New York Times January 04, 2020 02:45 UTC