tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/kangaroos-857/articlesKangaroos – The Conversation2023-09-20T06:06:23Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2137702023-09-20T06:06:23Z2023-09-20T06:06:23ZThe social lives of kangaroos are more complex than we thought<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549238/original/file-20230920-21-193qnr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1126%2C406%2C1429%2C969&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Terry Ord</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Have you ever wondered what a kangaroo’s social life looks like? Well, kangaroos have stronger bonds to one another than you might think. </p>
<p>Over six years, we monitored a population of around 130 eastern grey kangaroos near Wollar in New South Wales to see how their relationships changed over time. Keeping tabs on individual roos led to some surprising results. </p>
<p>We found that kangaroo mothers become more social when caring for joeys (which is the opposite of what we previously thought). We also uncovered new evidence that indicates kangaroos could potentially form long-term relationships. </p>
<p>This research, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347223001999#bib78">published in Animal Behaviour</a>, sheds new light on the behaviour of Australia’s most iconic animal. </p>
<h2>How to watch kangaroos</h2>
<p>Eastern grey kangaroos (<em>Macropus giganteus</em>) are found throughout the eastern third of Australia, and they are extremely social animals. </p>
<p>If you’re lucky enough to have some living near you, you’ll notice they are rarely alone. What you might not notice is how often their small groups (called mobs) fluctuate throughout the day. </p>
<p>Kangaroos have a loose “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347213004089">fission–fusion</a>” social structure, which means mobs often split and reform. Knowing this, we wanted to see just how strong kangaroo relationships actually are, and how these relationships changed over several years. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549244/original/file-20230920-17-ybhlcd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photo of a kangaroo with a joey in her pouch" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549244/original/file-20230920-17-ybhlcd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549244/original/file-20230920-17-ybhlcd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549244/original/file-20230920-17-ybhlcd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549244/original/file-20230920-17-ybhlcd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549244/original/file-20230920-17-ybhlcd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549244/original/file-20230920-17-ybhlcd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549244/original/file-20230920-17-ybhlcd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Individual kangaroos can be identified by the distinctive shapes of their ears.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Terry Ord</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>To find out, we spent a few days each year taking photographs of every single kangaroo in our study population. We then used these photographs (all 3,546 of them!) to individually identify each kangaroo. </p>
<p>The best way to tell kangaroos apart (for humans) is the unique shape of their ears, because both the outline of the ears and the inner ear tufts remain very similar throughout the years. New scars can change the overall ear shape, but we were careful to watch out for those. </p>
<p>Using this method, we identified 130 individual kangaroos. We then looked at which kangaroos appeared next to each other in the same photograph to get an idea of what their social groups looked like. </p>
<p>We also gave each kangaroo a social score based on how many other kangaroos they associated with and how “popular” these associates were. </p>
<h2>Suprising sociability</h2>
<p>There are usually a couple of difficulties in this sort of long-term animal study, such as identifying individual animals and being able to follow the same population over several years. These problems are easily avoided with kangaroos, as our photographic survey let us identify animals <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/9/5/244">without invasive tagging</a>, and they tend to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347213005654">return to the same place</a> every day.</p>
<p>We could easily look at the short-term and long-term relationships of each kangaroo, as well as how these relationships varied with sex, age and reproduction.</p>
<p>Looking at sociability on an individual level produced some surprising results. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/animal-friendships-are-surprisingly-like-our-own-188120">Animal friendships are surprisingly like our own</a>
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</em>
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<p>We discovered some kangaroos were just <a href="https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/26/2/639/259438?login=false">more social than others</a>. In some this was consistent, and in others it changed from year to year.</p>
<p>In fact, we found female kangaroos tended to be much more social in years when they had joeys. This is quite different from <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347213005654">earlier research</a>, which suggested kangaroos actually tend to isolate from the rest of the population when they become mothers. </p>
<p>What we think is happening here is that, while mothers tend to spend time in smaller groups (which is what other studies have shown), those groups change often. As a result, mothers associate with more other kangaroos in total – which would account for their high social scores. </p>
<p>So kangaroos’ loose social structure allows them to adjust their sociability with their reproductive state. </p>
<h2>Long-term friendships?</h2>
<p>However, the fact the social structure is loose doesn’t mean it is simple. We found kangaroo relationships might be far more complex than previously thought. </p>
<p>Some of our kangaroos maintained friendships across multiple years, a phenomenon that was particularly common among females. Kangaroos that were more “popular” – as determined by the social score we calculated – were far more likely to have these friendships.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549245/original/file-20230920-17-rq3tla.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photo of several kangaroos" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549245/original/file-20230920-17-rq3tla.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549245/original/file-20230920-17-rq3tla.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549245/original/file-20230920-17-rq3tla.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549245/original/file-20230920-17-rq3tla.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549245/original/file-20230920-17-rq3tla.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549245/original/file-20230920-17-rq3tla.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549245/original/file-20230920-17-rq3tla.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Like other large herbivores, kangaroos may form long-term relationships.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Terry Ord</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is the first evidence for long-term relationships in macropods (the animal family that includes kangaroos as well as wallabies, quokkas and others). However, long-term relationships are common in other large, social herbivores such as <a href="https://bmcecol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6785-11-17">elephants</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347213003539">giraffes</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/oik.09511">ibex</a>. </p>
<p>We only looked at the kangaroos for a short time each year. To find out whether they really do form long-term relationships, we will need to do more research. However, we have shown such relationships are a possibility, which is itself a very exciting development in the study of kangaroo behaviour.</p>
<h2>The importance of social organisation</h2>
<p>So what’s next? The study of animal behaviour is constantly changing and there’s always lots more we can learn. </p>
<p>We have shown the benefits of looking at animal populations on an individual level, not just a species level. With this in mind, future research should investigate the existence of long-term relationships in kangaroos, as well as why female kangaroos might deliberately increase their sociability when they become mothers. </p>
<p>We often underestimate the importance of social organisation in animals. Further research into kangaroo behaviour can help us better appreciate the intelligence and social complexity of our favourite marsupials.</p>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mother-roos-endanger-health-for-joeys-2219">Mother roos endanger health for joeys</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213770/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nora Campbell receives funding from the Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship (RTP) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Funding for this research was provided by the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES) and the Science Faculty at UNSW. </span></em></p>New research shows kangaroos may form long-term friendships.Nora Campbell, PhD Candidate, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2057592023-06-07T00:49:44Z2023-06-07T00:49:44ZGiant tree-kangaroos once lived in unexpected places all over Australia, according to major new analysis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529536/original/file-20230601-28-j6qu5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=287%2C296%2C5236%2C3565&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dendrolagus goodfelowi, or Goodfellow's tree-kangaroo.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Kangaroos are an enduring symbol of Australia’s uniqueness. To move, they do what no other large mammals do: they hop along on oversized hind legs. So you may be surprised to learn that some kangaroos live in trees, and are among the most endearing and threatened of all marsupials.</p>
<p>Today, biologists recognise ten tree-kangaroo species, all in the genus <em>Dendrolagus</em>. Two species inhabit tropical forest in far northern Queensland. The other eight live in New Guinea.</p>
<p>Studying them is difficult because their habitats are hard to access, they live high in trees and are increasingly rare due to human impacts.</p>
<p>The evolutionary history of tree-kangaroos is even more obscure. In a new study <a href="https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5299.1.1">published today in Zootaxa</a>, we pull together all the evidence on fossil tree-kangaroos and show giant tree-kangaroo species were widespread across Australia, and lived in habitats that were a long way from tropical forest – their modern-day home.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Illustration of several maruspials in an ancient landscape" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527321/original/file-20230519-7659-rz8ynn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527321/original/file-20230519-7659-rz8ynn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527321/original/file-20230519-7659-rz8ynn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527321/original/file-20230519-7659-rz8ynn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527321/original/file-20230519-7659-rz8ynn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527321/original/file-20230519-7659-rz8ynn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527321/original/file-20230519-7659-rz8ynn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reconstruction of the giant tree-kangaroo <em>Bohra illuminata</em>, Nullarbor region, 250,000 years ago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peter Schouten, Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Tree-kangaroos from the Treeless Plain</h2>
<p>In 2002, a team of explorers found three new caves in the middle of the arid Nullarbor Plain of south-central Australia. The cave floors were littered with the bones of the extinct marsupial “lion” <em>Thylacoleo carnifex</em> and short-faced kangaroos, as well as those of several mammals, birds and reptiles that still live in drier parts of Australia.</p>
<p>Given the high diversity of herbivores, we <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05471">concluded</a> the Nullarbor had to have been more than just arid shrubland some 200–400 thousand years ago, even if it was still very dry. This is because a few shrubs would not have been enough for such a range of herbivores to live on.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-found-out-when-the-nullarbor-plain-dried-out-splitting-australias-ecosystems-in-half-203052">We found out when the Nullarbor Plain dried out, splitting Australia's ecosystems in half</a>
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<p>In this light, it was hard to believe when we discovered partial skeletons of two new species of giant tree-kangaroo in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1671/0272-4634(2008)28%5b463:ANPTDM%5d2.0.CO;2">2008</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.18195/issn.0312-3162.25(2).2009.165-179">2009</a>. They belong to the extinct genus <em>Bohra</em>, first named in 1982 on the basis of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/AM82010">leg bones found in the Wellington Caves</a> in New South Wales.</p>
<p>Like the picture on a jigsaw box, we used the Nullarbor skeletons as a guide to search for isolated pieces in museum collections. We discovered more than 100 teeth and bones belonging to a total of at least seven species of extinct tree-kangaroos.</p>
<p>These come from fossil sites extending from southern Victoria to central Australia to the New Guinea highlands, and range in age from 3.5 million (late Pliocene) to a few hundred thousand years old (middle Pleistocene).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Side by side image of two similar looking skulls" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527324/original/file-20230519-21-9zk2gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527324/original/file-20230519-21-9zk2gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527324/original/file-20230519-21-9zk2gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527324/original/file-20230519-21-9zk2gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527324/original/file-20230519-21-9zk2gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527324/original/file-20230519-21-9zk2gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527324/original/file-20230519-21-9zk2gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Skull of the extinct <em>Bohra illuminata</em> alongside that of a modern tree-kangaroo (scaled to same length).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A big leap forwards – and then upwards</h2>
<p>Anatomical and molecular evidence shows that, among living marsupials, kangaroos are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syx076">most closely related to possums</a>. No one is sure exactly when the kangaroo ancestor made the descent to the forest floor, due to big gaps in the Australian fossil record.</p>
<p>Similarly, we do not know whether the distinctive “bipedal” hopping mode of locomotion originated in the trees or on the ground – but we do know it became the enduring hallmark of the kangaroo family. They have longer hind legs and longer feet than their possum ancestors, and the foot bones lock together in such a way as to limit sideways foot movement.</p>
<p>Combined with high tendon elasticity and a large muscular tail, these adaptations make kangaroos among the most <a href="https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.161661">energy-efficient</a> movers on the planet.</p>
<p>The foot bones of tree-kangaroos reveal three stages in the evolutionary “reversal” of these adaptations. Pliocene species of <em>Bohra</em> evolved a broader heel bone and upper ankle joint, allowing them greater mobility. Later, Pleistocene species of <em>Bohra</em> evolved a smoother joint at the front of that heel bone, giving them the ability to roll the soles of their feet inward to wrap around tree trunks and limbs.</p>
<p>As well as shorter feet, modern tree-kangaroos (<em>Dendrolagus</em>) have shorter hindlimbs, in conjunction with powerful forelimbs and claws for grasping and climbing. They can even walk with their hind legs while climbing, whereas ground-dwelling kangaroos only move their hind legs alternately while swimming.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Diagram of a shorter, more splayed foot skeleton and a longer, more focused one" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527327/original/file-20230519-21-yaf53y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527327/original/file-20230519-21-yaf53y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527327/original/file-20230519-21-yaf53y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527327/original/file-20230519-21-yaf53y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527327/original/file-20230519-21-yaf53y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527327/original/file-20230519-21-yaf53y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527327/original/file-20230519-21-yaf53y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Comparison of tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus) and grey kangaroo (Macropus) foot bones.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why return to the trees?</h2>
<p>As Australia dried out over the past 10 million years, more open vegetation became widespread. This trend was interrupted by a greenhouse phase 5–3.5 million years ago. We speculate that the temporary expansion of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1520188113">forest habitats</a> during this period would have opened new ecological niches that early tree-kangaroos evolved to exploit. </p>
<p>By the time climatic drying returned, tree-kangaroos had become established members of the Australian fauna, with species adapting to expanding woodland and savannah habitats.</p>
<p>As some larger monkeys do today, species of <em>Bohra</em> probably divided their time between living in trees and on the ground, whereas modern tree-kangaroos spend most of their time in the canopy.</p>
<p>So, although we might now think of tree-kangaroos as quintessential rainforest animals, this is because the <em>Bohra</em> species that lived in other habitats have become extinct.</p>
<p>Despite everything we can learn about evolution from studies of modern species, the fossil record holds the potential to flip the script with one discovery. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/an-exciting-possibility-scientists-discover-markedly-different-kangaroos-on-either-side-of-australias-dingo-fence-206752">'An exciting possibility': scientists discover markedly different kangaroos on either side of Australia's dingo fence</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205759/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gavin Prideaux is a palaeontologist at Flinders University, and receives research grant funding from the Australian Research Council, Australia Pacific Science Foundation, Hermon Slade Foundation, National Geographic and Australian Geographic.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Warburton receives funding from Australia Pacific Science Foundation and has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council. She is a researcher in the Harry Butler Institute at Murdoch University, a Research Associate of the Western Australian Museum and the current Vice President of the Australian Mammal Society.</span></em></p>The ancestors of kangaroos once lived in the trees – but their evolutionary history is murky. Here’s everything we know so far.Gavin Prideaux, Professor, Flinders UniversityNatalie Warburton, Associate Professor in Anatomy, Murdoch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2058412023-05-22T04:28:04Z2023-05-22T04:28:04ZWith hundreds of call-outs every day, wildlife rescue services can help us understand the threats to our native animals<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527366/original/file-20230521-27-chbbcg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1%2C1279%2C956&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elodie Camprasse</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine coming across an injured kangaroo on the side of the road. Or a bat entangled in fruit tree netting. Would you know who to call to get help? </p>
<p>After a quick search, you find the number of your local wildlife rescue service and give them a call. A trained operator gathers the information they need to assess your case and coordinate rescue and rehabilitation if needed. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527395/original/file-20230522-120734-jy804v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A pink, almost hairless baby wombat wrapped in a cloth" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527395/original/file-20230522-120734-jy804v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527395/original/file-20230522-120734-jy804v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527395/original/file-20230522-120734-jy804v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527395/original/file-20230522-120734-jy804v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527395/original/file-20230522-120734-jy804v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1002&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527395/original/file-20230522-120734-jy804v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1002&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527395/original/file-20230522-120734-jy804v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1002&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A rescued wombat joey.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elodie Camprasse</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Across Australia, wildlife emergency response hotlines, such as <a href="https://www.wildlifevictoria.org.au/">Wildlife Victoria</a> in Victoria, <a href="https://www.wires.org.au/">WIRES</a> in New South Wales and smaller groups throughout the country, offer valuable help to wildlife and members of the public who encounter wildlife emergencies. Data from these services can also help us understand how human activities harm wildlife at a local level. And that in turn highlights what can be done to better protect wildlife. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/15/5/683">newly published research</a>, our team analysed a ten-year dataset from Wildlife Victoria, the main wildlife emergency response service in that state. The service responded to more than 30,000 cases a year, on average, between 2010 and 2019. Around 400 cases a year involved threatened species.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/10-million-animals-are-hit-on-our-roads-each-year-heres-how-you-can-help-them-and-steer-clear-of-them-these-holidays-149733">10 million animals are hit on our roads each year. Here’s how you can help them (and steer clear of them) these holidays</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Human activities are the greatest threat</h2>
<p>Many such services operate on a daily basis. They collect enormous amounts of information on human and non-human threats to wildlife, particularly in urban areas. </p>
<p>When you call a service about an animal, a rescuer might need to attend or, if safe to do so, you might be asked to <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-happens-after-you-take-injured-wildlife-to-the-vet-109084">take the animal to a vet clinic free of charge</a> for assessment. Or it might be that the animal, such as a fledgling bird on the ground, just needs to be left alone.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527396/original/file-20230522-126079-lvwn0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two kangaroo joeys wrapped in blankets being bottlefed" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527396/original/file-20230522-126079-lvwn0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527396/original/file-20230522-126079-lvwn0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527396/original/file-20230522-126079-lvwn0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527396/original/file-20230522-126079-lvwn0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527396/original/file-20230522-126079-lvwn0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527396/original/file-20230522-126079-lvwn0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527396/original/file-20230522-126079-lvwn0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eastern grey kangaroos are among the most commonly rescued animals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elodie Camprasse</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Confirming what studies <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0206958">in Australia</a> and <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0238805">elsewhere</a> have shown, our results demonstrate that human activities do the most harm to wildlife, as opposed to more natural causes such as severe weather or being preyed on by other animals. A majority of cases were reported in the Greater Melbourne area rather than the rest of the state. </p>
<p>As might be expected, common species accounted for most cases. Eastern grey kangaroos, ringtail and brushtail possums and magpies were the most commonly reported species. </p>
<p>Of 443 identified species reported to the service, 81 were listed as threatened. The majority of cases involving threatened species (on the <a href="https://www.environment.vic.gov.au/conserving-threatened-species/threatened-list">Fauna and Flaura Guarantee Act 1988 Threatened List</a>) concerned grey-headed flying foxes. </p>
<p>Generally, the main causes for concern were <a href="https://theconversation.com/10-million-animals-are-hit-on-our-roads-each-year-heres-how-you-can-help-them-and-steer-clear-of-them-these-holidays-149733">collisions with vehicles</a>, animals found in an abnormal location (an unnatural habitat where they did not belong) or in buildings, and attacks by cats or dogs. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-happens-after-you-take-injured-wildlife-to-the-vet-109084">What happens after you take injured wildlife to the vet?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Some species were disproportionately impacted by some threats rather than others and in some locations. For example, kangaroos and koalas were more likely to be victims of vehicle collisions outside Greater Melbourne. In contrast, ringtail possums were more likely to be attacked by cats within the metropolitan area. </p>
<p>Flying foxes were more frequently reported within Greater Melbourne. The main cause of concern was entanglements in nets such as fruit tree netting. The data thus confirmed the danger these nets present. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="flying fox wrapped in a purple towel" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527393/original/file-20230521-186520-fjyr76.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527393/original/file-20230521-186520-fjyr76.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527393/original/file-20230521-186520-fjyr76.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527393/original/file-20230521-186520-fjyr76.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527393/original/file-20230521-186520-fjyr76.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527393/original/file-20230521-186520-fjyr76.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527393/original/file-20230521-186520-fjyr76.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Data from wildlife rescue services confirm just how dangerous netting can be for threatened flying foxes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elodie Camprasse</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-laws-failed-these-endangered-flying-foxes-at-every-turn-on-saturday-cairns-council-will-put-another-nail-in-the-coffin-141116">Our laws failed these endangered flying-foxes at every turn. On Saturday, Cairns council will put another nail in the coffin</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Services struggle to keep up with demand</h2>
<p>Worryingly, Wildlife Victoria recorded a 2.5-fold increase in reported cases from 2010 to 2019. </p>
<p>However, such services are often under-resourced. While the number of cases increased, the number of volunteers able to respond to cases did not. This means a lower proportion of all cases can receive the support they need. </p>
<p>Using data from services such as Wildlife Victoria can help us understand service-demand gaps and where resources would be best allocated to fill these gaps. </p>
<p>We also showed such services provide invaluable education to the community. Around one in five calls resulted in education, rather than requiring an emergency response. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A vet checks a sedated koala" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527394/original/file-20230522-182376-jhb4g9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527394/original/file-20230522-182376-jhb4g9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527394/original/file-20230522-182376-jhb4g9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527394/original/file-20230522-182376-jhb4g9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527394/original/file-20230522-182376-jhb4g9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527394/original/file-20230522-182376-jhb4g9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527394/original/file-20230522-182376-jhb4g9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Researchers have used rescue service data to show how a public education campaign reduced harm to koalas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/veterinarian-checking-a-koala-5487067/">Pexels</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/testing-the-stress-levels-of-rescued-koalas-allows-us-to-tweak-their-care-so-more-survive-in-the-wild-196224">Testing the stress levels of rescued koalas allows us to tweak their care so more survive in the wild</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Databases are a largely untapped resource</h2>
<p>Wildlife emergency response services have a wealth of data that describe the species-specific and location-specific threats wildlife face. Local wildlife managers and organisations interested in protecting wildlife from common threats before they occur could use this data to understand what they can do to achieve this. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527397/original/file-20230522-180224-eq0qvh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Rainbow lorikeet being held in a white towel at the vet" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527397/original/file-20230522-180224-eq0qvh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527397/original/file-20230522-180224-eq0qvh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527397/original/file-20230522-180224-eq0qvh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527397/original/file-20230522-180224-eq0qvh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527397/original/file-20230522-180224-eq0qvh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1004&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527397/original/file-20230522-180224-eq0qvh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1004&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527397/original/file-20230522-180224-eq0qvh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1004&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The services’ data can be used to identify causes of harm to wildlife. This rainbow lorikeet flew into a window.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elodie Camprasse</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, the data can help pinpoint where measures such as educating the community on responsible pet ownership, banning the sale of dangerous netting or wire and reducing speed limits would be effective depending on the wildlife affected in specific areas. </p>
<p>The data could also help monitor the success of new laws, campaigns and measures to protect wildlife. For example, researchers in Queensland have used data from their local wildlife rescue services to <a href="https://news.griffith.edu.au/2022/07/19/griffith-not-leaving-koalas-futures-to-chance/">quantify the reduction in koala deaths</a> from car strikes and dog attacks following a campaign to raise awareness of threats to koalas. This source of information is invaluable because such data can be hard and costly for ecologists and conversationists to collect. </p>
<p>Interested in interacting with Wildlife Victoria’s historical data? Check out <a href="https://www.wildlifevictoria.org.au/wildlife-information/historical-data">this webpage</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-sad-reality-is-many-dont-survive-how-floods-affect-wildlife-and-how-you-can-help-them-178310">'The sad reality is many don't survive': how floods affect wildlife, and how you can help them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205841/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Elodie Camprasse was employed as an Emergency Response Operator for Wildlife Victoria from October 2016 to August 2021. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Adam Cardilini is a member of the Animal Justice Party and volunteers in it's policy working group. He is also a fellow at PAN Works (<a href="https://panworks.io/">https://panworks.io/</a>), an international ethics think tank dedicated to the wellbeing of animals.
The work in this article was partly supported by funding from Deakin University. </span></em></p>It can be hard and costly to collect data on the threats to species at specific locations. Wildlife emergency response services have long-running records for hundreds of species that suffered harm.Elodie Camprasse, Research fellow in spider crab ecology, Deakin UniversityAdam Cardilini, Lecturer, Environmental Science, School of Life and Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1905392022-09-14T03:02:46Z2022-09-14T03:02:46ZReminder: kangaroos are ‘vegetarian gladiators’ with kicks that can kill. An expert explains why they attack<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484465/original/file-20220914-4740-683yx2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=54%2C34%2C4530%2C2543&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Harrison Broadbent/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Kangaroos can be dangerous. This week a 77-year-old man tragically died in Western Australia after an attack by a kangaroo, which was <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-13/suspected-kangaroo-attack-leaves-man-dead-near-albany-in-wa/101432566">reported to be</a> his pet. He is believed to be the first person killed in a kangaroo attack since 1936.</p>
<p>Kangaroos are wild animals. It’s important to remember that while they can make interesting pets, they have <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2020/12/16/whats-up-skip-kangaroos-really-can-talk-to-us.html">never been domesticated</a>, so their behaviour is driven mostly by instinct. </p>
<p>All kangaroos are large animals with powerful arms and massive feet. The largest is the iconic red kangaroo, which can easily tower over a tall human. Kangaroos use their arms, claws and feet as weapons in male-male combat, and for self-defence against predators such as dingoes and wedge-tailed eagles.</p>
<p>Indeed, a pet kangaroo may perceive its human owner as a rival kangaroo or a potential predator, or perhaps both. As a result, kangaroos sometimes attack people, causing nasty and even fatal injuries. </p>
<p>There are three species of kangaroo and all are known to attack humans: the red kangaroo, the eastern grey kangaroo and the western grey kangaroo. I’ve studied kangaroo behaviour since the 1970s, with a focus on human-kangaroo interactions. Here’s a reminder of why you should do your best to keep a respectful distance of them. </p>
<h2>Vegetarian gladiators</h2>
<p>Kangaroo attacks are rare, but not unheard of. Indeed, <a href="https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/-/media/OEH/Corporate-Site/Documents/Animals-and-plants/Native-animals/living-with-kangaroos-100968.pdf">fewer than five people</a> seek medical attention each year in New South Wales from kangaroo-related injuries.</p>
<p>While a kangaroo’s first response is usually to flee, <a href="https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/-/media/OEH/Corporate-Site/Documents/Animals-and-plants/Native-animals/living-with-kangaroos-100968.pdf">it will attack</a> if feels cornered or if it sees a human as a sparring partner. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule. </p>
<p>They can cause serious injury. Their sharp claws can make deep cuts, and their powerful kicks can cause severe bruising and internal injuries. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484469/original/file-20220914-4889-lg3rio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484469/original/file-20220914-4889-lg3rio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484469/original/file-20220914-4889-lg3rio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484469/original/file-20220914-4889-lg3rio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484469/original/file-20220914-4889-lg3rio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484469/original/file-20220914-4889-lg3rio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484469/original/file-20220914-4889-lg3rio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484469/original/file-20220914-4889-lg3rio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kangaroos are essentially peace-loving herbivores, but will attack if cornered or provoked.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But don’t get me wrong, kangaroos are essentially peace-loving herbivores. Their days are spent resting in patches of sunshine in winter or shade in summer, then leaving to feed in evening twilight and much of the night, through to early morning. </p>
<p>They are gregarious creatures, forming loose mobs of both sexes and all ages. Only two things disturb their peaceful foraging: fighting among males and the threat of becoming prey. </p>
<p>Kangaroos can live for up to around 20 years and they grow throughout their lives. Males grow faster than females, which means males can become very large indeed. An old man kangaroo may <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/red-kangaroo">weigh 90 kilograms</a> or more and easily stand more than two metres tall.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-that-selfie-really-worth-it-why-face-time-with-wild-animals-is-a-bad-idea-96272">Is that selfie really worth it? Why face time with wild animals is a bad idea</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As males grow, their body proportions also change, giving them huge shoulders, long arms and sharp claws. Their feet grow less in relative terms, but are still formidable, with a long, sharp nail at the tip. </p>
<p>Male kangaroos use these features as weapons in male-male combat, as they kick, claw and wrestle each other in fights for dominance. Most fighting takes the form of ritualised, almost gentlemanly bouts as they hone their skills and learn their place in the hierarchy. </p>
<p>However, serious fights can still occur and males usually carry scars, torn ears and other injuries. Occasionally, these fights are fatal.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WCcLMNcWZOc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Kangaroo boxing fight | BBC Earth.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Standing up to dogs</h2>
<p>Other than humans, <a href="https://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/north/kangaroo-attacked-and-killed-by-dog-in-south-morang/news-story/6d8f66242f23ec70d9743179b1848c29">dogs</a> – including large pets and dingoes – are the main predators of kangaroos. Dogs usually operate in packs to attack and kill kangaroos by running them down. </p>
<p>Kangaroos avoid attacks by maintaining vigilance, giving warning foot-thumps and fleeing to safety. Large male kangaroos are less likely to flee and may use their size and weapons to defend themselves against any dog that comes too close. </p>
<p>Kangaroos will also seek refuge in streams and dams, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-04-10/animal-myths-dogs-kangaroos-cockatoos/100038384">standing in the water</a> while the dogs pace the shore. </p>
<p>A large male kangaroo has the height and upper-body strength to kill any dog that enters the water, as the first European colonists learned when their hunting dogs were drowned.</p>
<p>Domestic dogs and kangaroos do not mix. Many attacks on people occur when a kangaroo defends itself against a dog, then the owner <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/man-punches-kangaroo-saves-dog-australia">tries to intervene</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-dingo-fence-from-space-satellite-images-show-how-these-top-predators-alter-the-desert-155642">The dingo fence from space: satellite images show how these top predators alter the desert</a>
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</em>
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<h2>When kangaroos and humans interact</h2>
<p>When female kangaroos are found dead or injured on the side of the road, or sometimes tangled in a fence, they often have a joey still alive in the pouch. Most people call wildlife rescue organisations to care for the joey, while some may take the joey home to raise as a pet.</p>
<p>In Australia, a permit is usually required to keep a kangaroo as a pet, but regulations differ across the states and territories. </p>
<p>Hand-rearing a joey takes time and devotion, but can be rewarding as the youngster becomes imprinted on its human foster mother and faithfully follows them around. </p>
<p>As the youngster grows, it becomes more independent. By the time it reaches sexual maturity around 4 years of age, a hand-reared male is much bigger and is now quite a handful. Its foster mother could then become a sparring partner in practice fights, which are increasingly rough and dangerous as the young male continues to grow. </p>
<p>Another way we come into close contact with kangaroos is when we deliberately feed them. Kangaroos rapidly habituate to humans, losing their natural fear of us as they seek an instant food reward. </p>
<p>This reached has a dangerous extreme on the grounds of the Morisset Hospital on the New South Wales Central Coast, where domestic and international tourists <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2018/05/02/please-stop-feeding-the-kangaroos-or-risk-getting-mauled-australian-officials-warn-tourists/">deliberately feed</a> the wild, resident kangaroos to get close-up photos. This unregulated activity has led to a <a href="https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/picnic-areas/morisset-picnic-area#:%7E:text=For%20your%20own%20safety%2C%20please,toilets%20at%20the%20picnic%20area.">number of attacks</a> on people.</p>
<h2>Mixed messages</h2>
<p>We share our unusual upright posture with kangaroos. This might make kangaroos endearing to us. However, the message received by the kangaroo is quite different. A kangaroo probably sees our vertical stance as a threat, so may lash out in self defence if we approach. </p>
<p>An adult male kangaroo may view our stance as a serious challenge, and if large and confident, may escalate and attack. </p>
<p>This reaction gave us the classic boxing kangaroo, <a href="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/such-was-life/fighting-jack-melbournes-first-boxing-kangaroo/">once a feature</a> of sideshows around Australia in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. The kangaroo wore gloves to protect the human boxer from sharp claws, and the human kept well out of range of a stranglehold or raking kick. </p>
<p>Today we have a more enlightened view of animal behaviour, and recognise that kangaroos are fundamentally wild animals and are potentially dangerous. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/-/media/OEH/Corporate-Site/Documents/Animals-and-plants/Native-animals/living-with-kangaroos-100968.pdf">If a kangaroo attacks</a>, keep an eye on it and get away as quickly as possible while keeping low in a crouch, because the kangaroo is less likely to give chase. If the attack persists and you can’t escape, drop down low, curl into a ball, protect your head with your arms and call for help.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/10-million-animals-are-hit-on-our-roads-each-year-heres-how-you-can-help-them-and-steer-clear-of-them-these-holidays-149733">10 million animals are hit on our roads each year. Here’s how you can help them (and steer clear of them) these holidays</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190539/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Graeme Coulson works for Macropus Consulting. </span></em></p>Kangaroos are essentially peace-loving herbivores, but they’re known to attack if it feels cornered – or even if it sees a human as a sparring partner.Graeme Coulson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1761552022-02-13T18:48:35Z2022-02-13T18:48:35ZQuokka-sized fossil species show kangaroos evolving to eat leaves – for the fourth time<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445054/original/file-20220208-16-53z15l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1616%2C0%2C2730%2C1922&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>Kangaroos have such a taste for leaves that they have evolved the ability to eat them on at least four separate occasions during their evolutionary history, a new fossil discovery reveals.</p>
<p>Today, there are more than 60 species of kangaroos, wallabies, bettongs and rat-kangaroos living throughout Australia and New Guinea. But their diversity in time is even more incredible: just 100,000 years ago, Australia had many species of giant kangaroos, including the giant short-faced kangaroos which, bizarrely enough, didn’t hop but instead <a href="https://theconversation.com/giant-kangaroos-were-more-likely-to-walk-than-hop-32837">walked</a> rather like a theropod dinosaur such as <em>Velociraptor</em>. </p>
<p>Going further back in time, to around 20 million years ago, there were plenty more interesting kangaroos, some of which were direct ancestors of today’s species. Generally, these species were no larger than a wallaby, but they were impressively diverse, including kangaroos with fangs, kangaroos that could eat meat, and more besides. </p>
<p>We know all this thanks to the amazing fossils discovered at Riversleigh World Heritage Area in north-western Queensland – arguably Australia’s most celebrated fossil location. So far, around 30 species of prehistoric kangaroos have been found here. And the two most recently discovered ones add another interesting twist to their evolutionary tale. </p>
<p>Our latest discovery, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03115518.2021.2012595">published today</a>, names two new species of ancient kangaroos: <em>Gumardee webbi</em> and <em>Gumardee keari</em>, which lived alongside one another around 18 million years ago in the Riversleigh rainforest. </p>
<p>They are represented by a few partial skulls and several jaws, which can tell us a lot about the biology of these extinct animals. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443657/original/file-20220201-15-yt0pc5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Kangaroo fossil skulls and reconstructions" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443657/original/file-20220201-15-yt0pc5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443657/original/file-20220201-15-yt0pc5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443657/original/file-20220201-15-yt0pc5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443657/original/file-20220201-15-yt0pc5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443657/original/file-20220201-15-yt0pc5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443657/original/file-20220201-15-yt0pc5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443657/original/file-20220201-15-yt0pc5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two new fossil kangaroos from Riversleigh World Heritage Area (Queensland), Gumardee webbi (top) and Gumardee keari (bottom), with their fossilised skull and jaw (left) and reconstructions (right)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reconstructions by Nellie Pease</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These kangaroos would each have weighed 3–4 kilograms, roughly the size of a quokka. But what’s most intriguing about them is their teeth. The pattern of blades on their molars is best suited to eating leaves from trees and bushes. This is surprising, because their ancestor, <em>Gumardee springae</em>, which lived around 6 million years earlier at the same location, had teeth better suited to a wider range of foods such as fruits, fungi and insects. </p>
<p>Two <a href="https://museumsvictoria.com.au/collections-research/journals/memoirs-of-museum-victoria/volume-74-2016/pages-189-207/">previously discovered species</a>, <em>Gumardee pascuali</em> and <em>Gumardee richi</em>, were intermediate to these two groups, both in terms of their evolutionary age and the patterns of their teeth. This means the Riversleigh fossils, taken together, reveal the evolutionary process of kangaroos’ teeth changing and adapting to different foods.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-bilby-and-bandicoot-fossils-shed-light-on-the-mystery-of-marsupial-evolution-159437">Ancient bilby and bandicoot fossils shed light on the mystery of marsupial evolution</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A taste for leaves</h2>
<p>Remarkably, this is not the first time this has happened in the fossil record of kangaroos. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the late palaeontologist Bernie Cooke studied Riversleigh’s kangaroos in great detail and <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/123908#page/99/mode/1up">discovered</a> that the ancestors of modern kangaroos were generalists, eating mostly forest fruits, fungi and insects, and slowly evolved the ability to eat leaves over time.</p>
<p>Today, kangaroos and wallabies only eat leaves from bushes or grass, whereas rat-kangaroos, bettongs and potoroos eat fungi, fruits and insects, similar to ancient kangaroos.</p>
<p>He even demonstrated that another family of ancient kangaroos at Riversleigh, the <a href="https://www.mindat.org/taxon-8486081.html">fanged kangaroos</a>, independently evolved the same ability to eat leaves at roughly the same time.</p>
<p>Another independent evolution of leaf-eating was also identified from fossil sites in South Australia – the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03115518.2021.2012595">third documented instance</a> in kangaroos.</p>
<p>The two new species discovered at Riversleigh therefore now represent the fourth time leaf-eating has been seen to develop in the kangaroo fossil record. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/giant-kangaroos-were-more-likely-to-walk-than-hop-32837">Giant kangaroos were more likely to walk than hop</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Competition in the rainforest</h2>
<p>Only one of these four groups (the Riversleigh species studied by Cooke) is a direct evolutionary ancestor of today’s kangaroos and wallabies. The other three groups that pioneered leaf-eating all eventually died out: the South Australian species around 23 million years ago; the <em>Gumardee</em> group around 15 million years ago; and the fanged kangaroos around 10 million years ago. </p>
<p>The obvious questions that arises are: why did these groups all die out, and does this mean today’s kangaroos and wallabies have evolved to eat a risky and highly specialised diet?</p>
<p>We know their ancestors ate fruits, fungi and insects, but then again so would have many other species of marsupials, such as bandicoots and possums. In fact, there were so many of these various marsupial competitors that would have made evolutionary sense for ancient kangaroos to branch out into other foods – particularly leaves, which would have been available all year round, as opposed to seasonal fruits. </p>
<p>So why didn’t they survive? They weren’t the only ones evolving the ability to eat leaves at the time. It happened in possums, koalas and wombats, so the competition was tough. </p>
<p>We have always known Australia is a tough place to survive. Riversleigh’s fossils, which span more than 10 million years of Australia’s evolutionary history, shows just how tough it would have been.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176155/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kenny Travouillon receives funding from Western Australian Museum. This study was funded by the Robert Day Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Queensland. Facilities for the completion of this research were provided by the University of Queensland, Queensland Museum, Western Australian Museum and the University of New South Wales.</span></em></p>Two newly discovered species of quokka-sized kangaroos, which lived 18 million years ago in the Queensland rainforest, show evolution in the act of giving kangaroos a taste for leaves.Kenny Travouillon, Curator of Mammals, Western Australian MuseumLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1559042021-04-19T06:10:33Z2021-04-19T06:10:33ZA US ban on kangaroo leather would be an animal welfare disaster – and a missed farming opportunity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395616/original/file-20210419-21-18o001.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C2700%2C1786&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The US Congress is considering a <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/917/titles?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22hr+917%22%5D%7D&r=1&s=2">proposed law</a> to ban the import and sale of kangaroo parts. Backed by a <a href="https://kangaroosarenotshoes.org">campaign</a> called Kangaroos Are Not Shoes, the bill is aimed at stopping Nike, Adidas and other big brands from using kangaroo leather in their products.</p>
<p>Supporters of <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/917/titles?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22hr+917%22%5D%7D&r=1&s=2">the bill</a> decry the “mass slaughter of kangaroos – more than two million a year”.</p>
<p>We have a combined 80 years experience in kangaroo management. In our view, this proposal is one of the most comprehensive own goals in history of improving kangaroo welfare. Our <a href="https://publications.rzsnsw.org.au/doi/pdf/10.7882/AZ.2018.043">research</a> <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/red-sand-green-heart-john-l-read/book/9781743056868.html">shows</a> the kangaroo industry leads to better kangaroo welfare, more stable populations and improved conservation outcomes. </p>
<p>Weakening the industry will result in more kangaroo suffering, not less. If the bill succeeds, it would further suppress global demand for kangaroo products, and allow unregulated, uncontrolled and unmonitored killing by amateur hunters to flourish.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Sports shoes made from kangaroo leather." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395618/original/file-20210419-17-1vhh1z2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395618/original/file-20210419-17-1vhh1z2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395618/original/file-20210419-17-1vhh1z2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395618/original/file-20210419-17-1vhh1z2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395618/original/file-20210419-17-1vhh1z2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395618/original/file-20210419-17-1vhh1z2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395618/original/file-20210419-17-1vhh1z2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The bill aims to prevent major sports brands from making products, such as shoes, from kangaroo leather.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The industry state of play</h2>
<p>Kangaroos are widely dispersed and abundant on the temperate Australian rangelands where cattle and sheep are raised. Over the past 200 years their numbers have increased steadily <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2069670">due to</a> greater availability of pasture, increased watering points, dingo control and less Indigenous hunting. In the rangelands where aerial surveys are conducted, the kangaroo population is estimated at more than 40 million. </p>
<p>Harvesting of kangaroos in Australia is tightly controlled by state and federal governments, and quotas are set to ensure only a sustainable proportion of kangaroos are commercially harvested. </p>
<p>The graph below shows how only a tiny proportion of Australia’s kangaroo populations is harvested commercially each year, and at numbers far less than quotas allow.</p>
<p>In 2018 for example, the kangaroo population in commercial harvest areas in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia was about 42.6 million. The following year, a sustainable quota of 6.2 million was set (about 15% of the population). However, just 1.6 million kangaroos, or about 3.7% of the population, were harvested.</p>
<p>The commercial kangaroo industry employs accredited, licensed shooters who kill kangaroos in the field at night using high-powered spotlights and rifles. A national <a href="https://www.agrifutures.com.au/kangaroo-commercial-code/">code of practice</a> requires that kangaroos are shot in the head and die immediately.</p>
<p>Abattoirs <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/13/australias-kangaroo-cull-humane-and-sustainable-or-exercise-in-cruelty">reject</a> carcasses not killed with a headshot. Commercial shooters must not target females with obvious young in their pouch or at foot. If a mother is shot, the joeys must also be killed using sanctioned methods. </p>
<p>Kangaroo meat is sold in Australia – to the <a href="https://farmers.org.au/blog/3-reasons-why-kangaroo-is-australias-most-underrated-meat/">food service</a> industry, retail outlets and as <a href="https://www.petfoodindustry.com/articles/8605-australian-hunters-to-harvest-14k-kangaroos-for-pet-food">pet food</a> – and <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/export/controlled-goods/kangaroo">exported</a> to many countries.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394674/original/file-20210413-19-8et549.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394674/original/file-20210413-19-8et549.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394674/original/file-20210413-19-8et549.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394674/original/file-20210413-19-8et549.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394674/original/file-20210413-19-8et549.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394674/original/file-20210413-19-8et549.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394674/original/file-20210413-19-8et549.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">National kangaroo population estimates, harvest quotas and actual harvest. Data from Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Managing kangaroo numbers</h2>
<p>Kangaroo numbers decline in droughts and rise in good seasons. They roam from property to property, and in and out of national parks, seeking best pastures in response to local rainfall. </p>
<p>Overabundant kangaroos are a serious issue for threatened plants and animals and revegetation programs. They also compromise landholders’ ability to manage their properties. For example, during drought, kangaroos <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/08/09/australia-farmers-dealing-with-drought-can-kill-kangaroos-that-compete-with-their-livestock/">graze on</a> valuable pasture, making it harder for farmers to keep cattle alive.</p>
<p>Because the commercial industry harvests so few kangaroos, landholders must <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/RJ19047">take steps</a> to prevent the animals from damaging their properties. They erect fences around clusters of properties, often with government support, to exclude kangaroos from pastures and watering points.</p>
<p>They use amateur shooters and even <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/node/16678">illegal poisons</a>, to reduce kangaroo numbers on their properties. <a href="https://publications.rzsnsw.org.au/doi/pdf/10.7882/AZ.2018.043">Our research</a> shows the number of permits for <a href="https://www.theland.com.au/story/5574700/new-kangaroo-culling-rules-start-today/">non-commercial culling</a> of kangaroos is increasing and in recent years exceeded the commercial harvest. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-its-been-raining-a-lot-but-that-doesnt-mean-australias-drought-has-broken-144702">Yes, it's been raining a lot – but that doesn't mean Australia's drought has broken</a>
</strong>
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<p>Overabundance can also affect the welfare of the animals themselves. During the recent drought, for example, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-15/drought-drives-kangaroo-population-decline-in-nsw/13144680">millions</a> of kangaroos <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-05/harvest-cancelled-while-millions-of-kangaroos-starve-in-drought/11669190">starved</a> and breeding was suppressed, causing kangaroo numbers to <a href="https://www.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0033/88719/quota-submission2019.pdf">fall markedly</a>.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/RJ19047">NSW Department of Primary Industries</a> and the <a href="https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/is-there-a-need-to-kill-kangaroos-or-wallabies/">RSPCA</a>, professional marksmen, operating within a commercial industry, are the most humane way to manage kangaroo populations.</p>
<p>When kangaroo kills are brought in for processing, regulators can monitor the industry’s compliance with welfare codes. Such monitoring is nonexistent with amateur culling. </p>
<p>We believe a further decline in the kangaroo industry – the goal of the proposed US legislation – will lead to worse animal welfare outcomes. It will prompt more amateur culling, and risks mass kangaroo starvation in the next drought.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-are-kangaroos-at-risk-37757">FactCheck: are kangaroos at risk?</a>
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<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Kangaroos in vineyard" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395619/original/file-20210419-17-16tirex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395619/original/file-20210419-17-16tirex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395619/original/file-20210419-17-16tirex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395619/original/file-20210419-17-16tirex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395619/original/file-20210419-17-16tirex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395619/original/file-20210419-17-16tirex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395619/original/file-20210419-17-16tirex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kangaroos are currently considered pests by many landholders and farmers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Where to now?</h2>
<p>We welcome the Australian government’s <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/hopping-mad-us-campaign-to-ban-kangaroo-imports-gains-bipartisan-support-20210304-p577p6.html">opposition</a> to the bill. Regardless of whether the bill succeeds, a broader question remains: what should Australia’s future kangaroo industry look like?</p>
<p>We believe an alternative vision is required – one in which consumer demand for kangaroo products increases. Landholders would then consider kangaroos, including the young, valuable rather than pests – creating a form of custodianship and an incentive to integrate kangaroos with other farm enterprises. This would lead to more effective management and animal welfare outcomes. </p>
<p>Key to encouraging farmers to value kangaroos is increasing public demand for – and therefore the price of – kangaroo products. But in recent years, demand has been falling. For example, in 2016 California banned the import of kangaroo skins. This rendered them <a href="https://www.awt.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Wilson-and-Edwards-Kangaroo-Welfare-2018.pdf">worthless</a> and led to a processing plant at Broken Hill discarding them as town waste. <a href="https://publications.rzsnsw.org.au/doi/pdf/10.7882/AZ.2018.043">Our research</a> found in 2018 a kangaroo was worth as little as A$13 - much less than goats (A$70), sheep (A$100) or cattle (A$800). </p>
<p>Demand for kangaroo products could be increased by promoting:</p>
<ul>
<li>the positive health attributes of kangaroo meat</li>
<li>the leather’s <a href="https://www.agrifutures.com.au/wp-content/uploads/publications/02-105.pdf">high</a> strength-to-weight ratio</li>
<li>the ethical advantages of field harvesting.</li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A purse made from kangaroo fur." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395620/original/file-20210419-19-dldhji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395620/original/file-20210419-19-dldhji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395620/original/file-20210419-19-dldhji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395620/original/file-20210419-19-dldhji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395620/original/file-20210419-19-dldhji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395620/original/file-20210419-19-dldhji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395620/original/file-20210419-19-dldhji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The positive attributes of kangaroo products should be promoted.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Kangaroos can benefit landholders in other ways. Their soft feet cause less damage to soils than hard-hooved introduced livestock. And farmers <a href="https://publications.rzsnsw.org.au/doi/pdf/10.7882/AZ.2018.043">could earn</a> carbon credits through better management of grazing pressures and substituting high-emission meat and leather for kangaroo alternatives.</p>
<p>We urge the federal government to show leadership and work with the states to improve kangaroo management. Doing so would seem a great project for the <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/ag-farm-food/drought/future-drought-fund">Future Drought Fund</a>.</p>
<p>A stronger kangaroo industry integrated with the other red meat industries, delivering high-value products, is possible. But the US bill is not the right way forward.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/riding-on-the-kangaroos-back-animal-skin-fashion-exports-and-ethical-trade-130207">Riding on the kangaroo's back: animal skin fashion, exports and ethical trade</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155904/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>George Wilson has nothing to disclose. He has funding from NSW Local Land Services, and from the Farming Together Program</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Read does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If a bill before the US Congress succeeds, it would further suppress global demand for kangaroo products and lead to more animal suffering, not less.George Wilson, Honorary Professor, Australian National UniversityJohn Read, Associate Lecturer, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1556422021-02-23T19:10:42Z2021-02-23T19:10:42ZThe dingo fence from space: satellite images show how these top predators alter the desert<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385681/original/file-20210222-19-r4r2ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3488%2C2616&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The dingo fence in the Strzelecki Desert.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mike Letnic</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As one of the longest structures in the world, the dingo fence is an icon of Australia. It stretches more than 5,600 kilometres across three states, including 150 kilometres that traverses the red sand dunes of the Strzelecki Desert.</p>
<p>Since it was established in the early 20th century, the fence has had one job: to keep dingoes out. The effect of this on the environment has been enormous — in fact, you can see it from outer space.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10980-021-01206-w">research</a> has, for the first time, used satellite imagery to show the effects of predators on vegetation at a vast scale. </p>
<p>Dingoes eat kangaroos, and kangaroos eat grass. So on the side of the fence where dingoes are rare, there are more kangaroos, and less grass cover between sand dunes. This has important flow-on effects for the ecosystem in the region. </p>
<p>Similar changes to vegetation may have occurred throughout the world, where other large predators, such as wolves or big cats, have been removed. But these aren’t visible without the stark contrast boundaries like the dingo fence provide.</p>
<h2>Reshaping the landscape</h2>
<p>The fence was built to stop dingoes moving into sheep grazing land in southeastern Australia. As Australia’s largest terrestrial predator, dingoes pose a big threat to livestock. </p>
<p>Today, dingoes “inside” the fence continue to be killed by various means (not all <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-21/farm-operator-guilty-over-motorbike-death-on-remote-nsw-property/10287564">of them humane</a>), including <a href="https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/biosecurity/vertebrate-pests/pest-animals-in-nsw/wild-dogs/wild-dog-control">poison baits, trapping and shooting</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385207/original/file-20210219-12-fenk28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385207/original/file-20210219-12-fenk28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385207/original/file-20210219-12-fenk28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385207/original/file-20210219-12-fenk28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385207/original/file-20210219-12-fenk28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385207/original/file-20210219-12-fenk28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385207/original/file-20210219-12-fenk28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Where dingoes are removed, increasing populations of kangaroos can lead to overgrazing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Chu</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It has long been understood that removing large predators can drive changes in ecosystems across large areas. A well-known example is the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2015.06.007">removal of wolves</a> in Yellowstone National Park in the 1920s, which saw an elk grazing increase, limiting the growth of tree and shrub seedlings.</p>
<p>Where dingoes are removed, increasing populations of kangaroos can lead to overgrazing. This, in turn, damages the quality of the soil, making the landscape more vulnerable to erosion. </p>
<p>Less vegetation can also leave small animals, such as the vulnerable dusky hopping mouse, exposed to other threats like cat predation. Indeed, <a href="https://theconversation.com/like-cats-and-dogs-dingoes-can-keep-feral-cats-in-check-114748">2019 research showed</a> dingoes “outside” the fence keep cat and fox populations down in the Strzelecki Desert. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/like-cats-and-dogs-dingoes-can-keep-feral-cats-in-check-114748">Like cats and dogs: dingoes can keep feral cats in check</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>And <a href="https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/how-dingoes-sculpt-shape-sand-dunes-australian-desert">research from 2018</a> showed dingo removal could even reshape the desert landscape, as changes to vegetation alter wind flow and sand movement.</p>
<h2>Changes this large can’t be seen from the ground</h2>
<p>Often, however, the effects of removing predators have gone unnoticed. There are two main reasons why. </p>
<p>First, many large predators were removed before scientists monitored ecosystems. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2907.2004.00038.x">For example</a>, wolves were hunted to extinction in Britain during the 17th or 18th century (although there are now <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-33533035">proposals to reintroduce them</a>). </p>
<p>Second, changes occur over such large areas, so it’s difficult to spot any differences when researching from the ground.</p>
<p>So to gauge the impact of the fence, we used images captured by sensors on the NASA Landsat satellites, which have been regularly observing the Earth since 1972.</p>
<p>We looked at a section of the fence that follows the state border of New South Wales through the Strzelecki Desert, and used this to analyse the effects of removing a top predator.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ivmQk5EsScw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">32-year time lapse of dead vegetation cover for the Strzelecki Desert.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Capturing the impact</h2>
<p>We used images processed for Australia by the <a href="https://www.jrsrp.org.au/">Joint Remote Sensing Research Program</a>, which are <a href="https://portal.tern.org.au/">publicly available</a>. </p>
<p>Using thousands of field measurements, each satellite image was converted into an image of “fractional cover”. This splits the landscape into three core components: bare soil, green vegetation and dead or dry vegetation. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kangaroos-and-other-herbivores-are-eating-away-at-national-parks-across-australia-122953">Kangaroos (and other herbivores) are eating away at national parks across Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The dead vegetation fraction, which includes all non-photosynthetic material such as dry leaves and twigs, is particularly useful in the desert. It’s a more reliable indicator of vegetation cover, as green vegetation only sticks around for three months or so <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/esp.4721">after rain</a>.</p>
<p>Viewing “natural colour” satellite images of the Strzelecki Desert, as our eyes see the world, doesn’t show the differences across the dingo fence very well. But when we view images of dead vegetation cover a few months after rainfall, we can see the stark effect kangaroo grazing has on the landscape, where dingoes are rare. </p>
<p>You can see these effects in the images below.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385221/original/file-20210219-16-16iwswj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385221/original/file-20210219-16-16iwswj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385221/original/file-20210219-16-16iwswj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385221/original/file-20210219-16-16iwswj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385221/original/file-20210219-16-16iwswj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385221/original/file-20210219-16-16iwswj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385221/original/file-20210219-16-16iwswj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A natural colour Landsat image from winter in 2011 after a large rainfall event (left) does not show the dingo fence, though it does when converted to dead vegetation cover (right).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adrian Fisher</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When we analysed dead vegetation cover images for each season between 1988 and 2020, we found obvious differences between the maximum dead vegetation cover and the variability of dead vegetation cover through time, as the images below show. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385211/original/file-20210219-14-ycd1fm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385211/original/file-20210219-14-ycd1fm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385211/original/file-20210219-14-ycd1fm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385211/original/file-20210219-14-ycd1fm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385211/original/file-20210219-14-ycd1fm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385211/original/file-20210219-14-ycd1fm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385211/original/file-20210219-14-ycd1fm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The differences in vegetation cover across the dingo fence become most apparent after satellite images are converted to dead vegetation cover and analysed over time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adrian Fisher</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The results from satellite images were supported by ground surveys. This included repeated nighttime counts of kangaroos and dingoes seen with powerful spotlights. </p>
<p>We also fenced off plots and observed how the vegetation changed. After five years, the kangaroo-free plots in the dingo-free areas looked like islands of grass in an otherwise bare desert.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385212/original/file-20210219-22-1vym2x3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385212/original/file-20210219-22-1vym2x3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385212/original/file-20210219-22-1vym2x3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385212/original/file-20210219-22-1vym2x3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385212/original/file-20210219-22-1vym2x3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385212/original/file-20210219-22-1vym2x3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385212/original/file-20210219-22-1vym2x3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the fenced plots excluding kangaroos in Sturt National Park, western NSW, showing a clear difference in vegetation cover due to grazing pressure where dingoes are rare.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mike Letnic</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What do we do about dingoes?</h2>
<p>So, should we tear down the fence to reintroduce dingoes back into landscapes for the biodiversity benefits, like wolves in Yellowstone?</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/animal-rights-group-raise-concerns-over-grampians-dingo-plan-20210127-p56x7z.html">There are no simple answers</a> to this question. Allowing dingoes to return to the landscape inside the fence will reduce kangaroo numbers and increase grass growth — but will also devastate sheep farming. </p>
<p>Conservationists, farmers and other land managers need to start discussing where and how we can safely return dingoes to landscapes, finding a balance between restoring ecosystems and protecting farms.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/living-blanket-water-diviner-wild-pet-a-cultural-history-of-the-dingo-80189">Living blanket, water diviner, wild pet: a cultural history of the dingo</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155642/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Letnic receives funding from the Australian Research Council </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mitchell Lyons receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Will Cornwell receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adrian G. Fisher and Charlotte Mills do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The dingo fence is the longest fence in the world. The environment looks almost identical on either side — until you view it from space.Adrian G. Fisher, Lecturer in Remote Sensing, UNSW SydneyCharlotte Mills, Visiting Fellow, UNSW SydneyMike Letnic, Professor, Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, UNSW SydneyMitchell Lyons, Senior research fellow, The University of QueenslandWill Cornwell, Associate Professor in Ecology and Evolution, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1497332020-12-20T21:12:17Z2020-12-20T21:12:17Z10 million animals are hit on our roads each year. Here’s how you can help them (and steer clear of them) these holidays<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372963/original/file-20201204-19-nz3ip5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C1%2C1171%2C795&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">This is Noojee, a joey koala who was rehabilitated in Healesville Sanctuary after being hit by a car. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Healesville Sanctuary</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last month I came across a heartbreaking sight: a group of people standing around a young female kangaroo with horrific injuries. She appeared to have been hit by a car and had dragged herself away, only to collapse into our local creek.</p>
<p>A police officer had gently lifted her out to the bank where her injuries became apparent. A shattered leg, broken arm, and bruising indicating massive internal trauma. She was panting – exhausted and in pain. Fortunately, she had no young joeys in her pouch.</p>
<p>I offered my help as a wildlife specialist. This was a tragic, but common scenario. An estimated <a href="https://www.bbcearth.com/blog/?article=australias-road-kill-map">10 million animals</a> are hit on Australian roads every year.</p>
<p>Australia’s road toll is so high it threatens whole species. Road mortality is the second biggest killer of <a href="https://www.zoo.org.au/fighting-extinction/local-threatened-species/tasmanian-devil/">endangered Tasmanian</a> devils with <a href="https://www.huonvalley.tas.gov.au/slow-down-and-save-our-devils/">around 350</a> killed every year, and the biggest cause of death of <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/pc/PC060175">adult endangered cassowaries</a> in Queensland.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372964/original/file-20201204-19-m0spov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Noojee all grown up at Healesville Sanctuary, now with a crooked face." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372964/original/file-20201204-19-m0spov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372964/original/file-20201204-19-m0spov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372964/original/file-20201204-19-m0spov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372964/original/file-20201204-19-m0spov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372964/original/file-20201204-19-m0spov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372964/original/file-20201204-19-m0spov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372964/original/file-20201204-19-m0spov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Noojee, all grown up at Healesville Sanctuary, whose face healed a little crookedly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Healesville Sanctuary</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The holiday season is upon us and people are now able to travel to see family and friends again. This means the <a href="https://theconversation.com/where-the-wild-things-are-how-nature-might-respond-as-coronavirus-keeps-humans-indoors-134543">unusually-quiet roads</a> during COVID-19 lockdown — which may have lulled wildlife into a false sense of security — are frighteningly busy. So here’s how you can be wildlife-aware this December.</p>
<h2>Who is hurt?</h2>
<p>As Australia’s population expands, wildlife are pushed into smaller areas, with more roads criss-crossing their habitats. The most visible victims of road expansion are larger mammals such as possums, wombats, kangaroos and koalas. However, millions of smaller animals including <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/avj.12417">echidnas</a>, birds, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26161722/">reptiles</a> and frogs are also injured or killed each year on our roads.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nrma.com.au/avoid-roos-this-winter">vast majority</a> of insurance claims for animal collisions involve kangaroos, with wallabies and wombats the next most frequent. Smaller animals often go unreported or unnoticed.</p>
<p>Humans are also at risk in these collisions. Every year people crash their vehicles hitting, or trying to avoid hitting, animals on the road, with 5% of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23643632_Road_crashes_involving_animals_in_Australia">fatal accidents</a> caused by collisions with animals. Of those, <a href="https://www.budgetdirect.com.au/car-insurance/research/kangaroo-car-accident-statistics.html">42% tried to swerve</a> to avoid the animal. Those who do hit wildlife <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1742-6723.13361">may also suffer serious injuries</a>, with <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23643632_Road_crashes_involving_animals_in_Australia">motorcyclists </a> particularly at risk.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372967/original/file-20201204-21-vg4oom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A dead kangaroo on the side of the road" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372967/original/file-20201204-21-vg4oom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372967/original/file-20201204-21-vg4oom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372967/original/file-20201204-21-vg4oom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372967/original/file-20201204-21-vg4oom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372967/original/file-20201204-21-vg4oom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372967/original/file-20201204-21-vg4oom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372967/original/file-20201204-21-vg4oom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A familiar sight to many people hitting country roads this holiday season.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Bracing for a new wave of admissions</h2>
<p>There are a number of aspects that increase the wildlife road toll: <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262987824_Road_upgrade_road_mortality_and_remedial_measures_Impacts_on_a_population_of_eastern_quolls_and_Tasmanian_devils">better road conditions leading to faster driving</a>, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262144556_Australian_mammalogy">young animals dispersing</a> for the first time, higher movements <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233744140_Kangaroo-vehicle_collisions_in_Australia'_s_sheep_rangelands_during_and_following_drought_periods">during drought</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-you-can-help-not-harm-wild-animals-recovering-from-bushfires-131385">after fire</a> as animals seek food, water or shelter, <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0206958&type=printable">breeding season</a> movements in spring-summer, and <a href="https://www.aami.com.au/aami-informed/on-the-road/safe-driving/aami-reveals-peak-periods-for-animal-collisions.html">longer periods of darkness over winter</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-you-can-help-not-harm-wild-animals-recovering-from-bushfires-131385">How you can help – not harm – wild animals recovering from bushfires</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Some animals may be hit trying to help a fallen friend or juvenile, as I have seen in galahs and ducks. Others may be hit while feeding on carcasses on the road, like wedge-tailed eagles, <a href="https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2019/10/habitat-loss-car-strikes-and-rodenticides-australias-owls-are-under-pressure/">owls</a> and Tasmanian devils.</p>
<p>Now, as the holiday season begins after months of reduced travel, <a href="https://www.zoo.org.au/healesville/habitats/main-track/australian-wildlife-health-centre/">wildlife hospitals</a> are braced for a new wave of admissions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372969/original/file-20201204-23-jl68ur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="View from inside a bus of an echidna crossing the road" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372969/original/file-20201204-23-jl68ur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372969/original/file-20201204-23-jl68ur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372969/original/file-20201204-23-jl68ur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372969/original/file-20201204-23-jl68ur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372969/original/file-20201204-23-jl68ur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372969/original/file-20201204-23-jl68ur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372969/original/file-20201204-23-jl68ur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When smaller animals like echidnas are hit, it often goes unreported or unnoticed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How do you avoid a crash?</h2>
<p>Be aware that large marsupials such as wombats, wallabies and kangaroos are most active at <a href="https://www.wildlifevictoria.org.au/images/fact-sheets/10%20-%20Safe%20Driving%20Around%20Wildlife.pdf">dawn and dusk</a>. However, many birds, lizards, snakes and echidnas move during the day. At night, others like frogs, possums, quolls and devils start to roam.</p>
<p>Wildlife warning signs are only installed in high danger areas, so always pay attention to them. Try to <a href="https://rac.com.au/car-motoring/info/car-insurance-animal-collisions">limit your travel</a> between sunset and sunrise, especially near forested or high wildlife areas. If you must drive, stay within the safe speed limit and slow down in areas with wildlife.</p>
<p>Use high beam headlights when safe and watch the sides of the road carefully — animals can often be seen ahead before they flee in front of a vehicle. As you approach the animal, return to normal headlights to avoid dazzling them or causing erratic behaviour.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373779/original/file-20201209-23-pqwoxs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Tasmanian devil road sign" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373779/original/file-20201209-23-pqwoxs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373779/original/file-20201209-23-pqwoxs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373779/original/file-20201209-23-pqwoxs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373779/original/file-20201209-23-pqwoxs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373779/original/file-20201209-23-pqwoxs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373779/original/file-20201209-23-pqwoxs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373779/original/file-20201209-23-pqwoxs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many marsupials are active between dawn and dusk, be sure to drive slowly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marissa Parrott</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What to do if you see an injured animal?</h2>
<p>First, always ensure you are safe. Stop in an easily seen location away from traffic, use your hazard lights and if possible wear bright clothing. Remember, injured animals may be frightened and in pain, and some could be dangerous if approached. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.wires.org.au/rescue/emergency-advice">emergency cases</a>, where the animal’s injuries are obvious, some can be carefully caught and wrapped in a towel, then placed in a well-ventilated, <a href="https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/plants-animals/wildlife">dark and secure box</a> for quiet transport to wildlife veterinary hospitals for care. The links above give tips on how to handle some wildlife emergency cases where needed. </p>
<p>I always travel with towels, pillow cases and gloves in my car in case I find an animal in need. You can <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-22/you-have-hit-a-roo-so-what-do-you-do-next/11235596">check animals found by roads</a> for injuries, and <a href="https://www.wildlifevictoria.org.au/images/fact-sheets/Pouch_Checking_Guide_2019.pdf">surviving young in pouches</a>. </p>
<p>But it’s important you <em>do not</em> approach potentially dangerous animals like snakes, monitor lizards (goannas), bats (flying-foxes or microbats), large macropods (kangaroos or wallabies) or raptors (eagles or hawks). Instead, <a href="https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/who-should-i-contact-about-injured-wildlife/">call and wait for trained and vaccinated rescuers</a>. Wildlife Victoria, for example, assisted <a href="https://www.wildlifevictoria.org.au/images/Publications/Annual_Reports/Wildlife_Victoria_Annual_Report_2019_-_LR.pdf">6,875 animals hit by vehicles</a> in 2019 alone.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372974/original/file-20201204-21-19jsdth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A long-necked turtle peeking over the water" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372974/original/file-20201204-21-19jsdth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372974/original/file-20201204-21-19jsdth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372974/original/file-20201204-21-19jsdth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372974/original/file-20201204-21-19jsdth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372974/original/file-20201204-21-19jsdth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372974/original/file-20201204-21-19jsdth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372974/original/file-20201204-21-19jsdth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This is Toby, a common long-necked turtle, who had a fractured shell after being hit by a car. He was treated by vets and released back into the bush.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Healesville Sanctuary</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Innovation for conservation</h2>
<p>In Tasmania, where an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jan/18/tasmania-launches-roadkill-reduction-effort-to-prevent-500000-wildlife-deaths">estimated 500,000</a> animals are hit on roads every year, a <a href="https://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/wildlife-management/save-the-tasmanian-devil-program/common-devil-issues/roadkill-tas-app">Roadkill Tas</a> App is identifying road kill hot spots to assist research and conservation efforts. </p>
<p>In high kill areas, <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/am/AM18012">virtual road fences</a> are being trialled. These posts are activated by car headlights at night and produce sound and light to frighten animals away from the road before a vehicle arrives.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mysterious-poles-make-road-crossing-easier-for-high-flying-mammals-11323">Mysterious poles make road crossing easier for high flying mammals</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Other areas use <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Brendan_Taylor2/publication/49250893_Roads_and_wildlife_Impacts_mitigation_and_implications_for_wildlife_management_in_Australia/links/556145db08ae9963a119fc37/Roads-and-wildlife-Impacts-mitigation-and-implications-for-wildlife-management-in-Australia.pdf">tunnels under the road</a>, or <a href="https://theconversation.com/mysterious-poles-make-road-crossing-easier-for-high-flying-mammals-11323">overpasses</a> to help wildlife cross safely. </p>
<p>If you know of dangerous areas for wildlife, contact your council to see if warning signs or ways to help wildlife can be installed.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372976/original/file-20201204-21-1hg0div.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Cassowaries on a road" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372976/original/file-20201204-21-1hg0div.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372976/original/file-20201204-21-1hg0div.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372976/original/file-20201204-21-1hg0div.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372976/original/file-20201204-21-1hg0div.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372976/original/file-20201204-21-1hg0div.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372976/original/file-20201204-21-1hg0div.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372976/original/file-20201204-21-1hg0div.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Collisions on the road is the biggest cause of death of adult Cassowaries in Queensland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the case of my poor little injured kangaroo last month, I worked with the police to make the difficult, but only, decision possible with such traumatic and untreatable injuries. As she was put out of her misery, I thought of all the wildlife hit by cars and left to die.</p>
<p>We can all do our part. Slow down, watch for wildlife, and avoid travel between dawn and dusk. Remind friends, family and tourists to watch for our wildlife. If you do hit an animal, or see one on the road, please stop to help and check pouches if safe. A tiny life may be waiting for your help these holidays.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>If you see an injured animal on the road, call <a href="https://www.wildliferescue.net.au/">Wildlife Rescue Australia</a> on 1300 596 457, or see the <a href="https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/who-should-i-contact-about-injured-wildlife/">RSPCA injured wildlife site</a> for specific state and territory numbers.</em></p>
<p><em>Find more tips <a href="https://www.zoo.org.au/summer-with-wildlife/">here</a> for helping local wildlife in need this summer from Zoos Victoria.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149733/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marissa Parrott works for Zoos Victoria, a not-for-profit zoo-based conservation organisation. Zoos Victoria raises funds for their wildlife hospitals and via their Bushfire Emergency Wildlife Fund to assist short and long-term wildlife welfare and recovery.</span></em></p>As the holiday season begins after months of reduced travel, wildlife hospitals are braced for a new wave of admissions.Marissa Parrott, Reproductive Biologist, Wildlife Conservation & Science, Zoos Victoria, and Honorary Research Associate, BioSciences, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1229532019-10-08T18:56:28Z2019-10-08T18:56:28ZKangaroos (and other herbivores) are eating away at national parks across Australia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295934/original/file-20191008-128644-12u9r9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Grazing from kangaroos affects vulnerable native species.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tom Hunt</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Protected land, including national parks, are a cornerstone of conservation. Once an area is legally protected, it is tempting to assume that it is shielded from further degradation.</p>
<p>However, our research, published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989419302720">Global Ecology and Conservation</a>, has found Australia’s national parks are under serious threat of overgrazing. Significantly, native kangaroos are major contributors to the problem.</p>
<p>In some places we looked at, the effect of overgrazing in protected areas was just as pronounced as on private land with no legal protection at all.</p>
<p>In the public debate over culling and otherwise managing kangaroo populations, attention is typically divided between their economic impact on people versus welfare concerns. But there’s a third unwilling participant in this dilemma: the thousands of other native species affected when native grazer populations grow out of control. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295940/original/file-20191008-128681-1ena0g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295940/original/file-20191008-128681-1ena0g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295940/original/file-20191008-128681-1ena0g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295940/original/file-20191008-128681-1ena0g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295940/original/file-20191008-128681-1ena0g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295940/original/file-20191008-128681-1ena0g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295940/original/file-20191008-128681-1ena0g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295940/original/file-20191008-128681-1ena0g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Native birds like the diamond firetail are threatened when abundant grazing animals eat the plants the birds depend on.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tom Hunt</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Protected from what?</h2>
<p>National parks and other protected areas can be safeguarded in a variety of legal ways. Activities such as grazing of domestic stock, building, cropping and some recreational activities (hunting, fishing, dogs) are usually restricted in protected areas. However, previous research has found protected areas continue to face <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6390/788">intense pressure</a> from agriculture, urbanisation, mining, road construction, and climate change.</p>
<p>Less conspicuously, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/thinking-big-gives-top-predators-the-competitive-edge-78106">loss of predators</a> from many Australian ecosystems has let herbivore populations grow wildly. <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-evidence-culling-kangaroos-could-help-the-environment-30795">Overgrazing</a>, or grazing that leads to changes in habitat, is now a key threat to biodiversity. </p>
<p>Overgrazing by herbivores affects native species such as the diamond firetail, which is declining in southeastern Australia due to loss of habitat and the replacement of native grasses with exotic species after overgrazing and fire. Overgrazing has also been shown to reduce the abundance and diversity of <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0105966">ground-dwelling reptiles</a>.</p>
<p>In the face of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/revolutionary-change-needed-to-stop-unprecedented-global-extinction-crisis-116166">global extinction crisis</a>, we need good evidence that national parks and reserves are serving their purpose.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-alpine-grazing-debate-was-never-about-science-40219">The alpine grazing debate was never about science</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>To determine whether protected areas are being overgrazed, we assessed grazing impact on native vegetation at 1,192 sites across the entire agricultural region of South Australia. We looked at more than 600 plant species in woodlands, forests, shrublands, and grasslands. </p>
<p>The data were collected by monitoring programs, some of which included citizen scientists, aimed at tracking change in the condition of native vegetation.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295939/original/file-20191008-128677-snod5o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295939/original/file-20191008-128677-snod5o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295939/original/file-20191008-128677-snod5o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295939/original/file-20191008-128677-snod5o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295939/original/file-20191008-128677-snod5o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295939/original/file-20191008-128677-snod5o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295939/original/file-20191008-128677-snod5o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295939/original/file-20191008-128677-snod5o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Researchers looked at hundreds of sites across Southern Australia to check how grazing animals were affecting the environment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tom Hunt</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989419302720">found</a> that grazing pressure was already high on unprotected land when we began monitoring around 2005, and grazing impact has grown since then. On protected land, three things are happening as a consequence of inadequate management of grazing by native and introduced animals:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>grazing impact in protected areas has substantially increased, </p></li>
<li><p>protected areas in some regions now show equally severe effects from grazing as seen on private land without any conservation protections, and</p></li>
<li><p>the character of our landscapes, including national parks, is set to change as the next generation of edible seedlings is lost from protected and unprotected ecosystems.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The increased severity of grazing in protected areas paints a dire picture. This threat adds to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-national-parks-must-be-more-than-playgrounds-or-paddocks-14389">rising pressure</a> on protected areas for recreational access (and other uses).</p>
<h2>The grass is not greener</h2>
<p>It’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-alpine-grazing-debate-was-never-about-science-40219">well accepted</a> that introduced species such as deer, goats, horses, camels and rabbits badly affect Australia’s native vegetation. There are a variety of control measures to keep their populations in check, including culls and strong incentives for control on farmland. Control of feral animals is normally less contentious than control of endemic species like kangaroos, because we feel a custodial responsibility for native species.</p>
<p>But the numbers of native kangaroos and wallabies has also increased dramatically <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/29f13111-376b-4211-9d0c-63714deca3fe/files/sa-kangaroo.pdf">since 2011</a> as populations across Australia responded to an increase in feed at the end of the Millennium drought and reduced culling in settled areas due to changes in regulation and growing opposition to culls on animal welfare grounds. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/plants-are-going-extinct-up-to-350-times-faster-than-the-historical-norm-122255">Plants are going extinct up to 350 times faster than the historical norm</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Managing kangaroo populations, on the other hand, is a polarising issue. Arguments about culling kangaroos can be <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17524032.2016.1220966">bitter and personal</a>, and create perceptions of an urban-rural divide.</p>
<p>However, a few species – even if they are native – should not be allowed to compromise the existence of other native plants and animals, especially not where we have dedicated the land to holistic protection of biodiversity.</p>
<p>Extinction rates in Australia are extremely high, <a href="https://theconversation.com/plants-are-going-extinct-up-to-350-times-faster-than-the-historical-norm-122255">especially among plants</a>. Research has also found conservation funding is disproportionately aimed at individual species rather than <a href="https://theconversation.com/fixing-australias-extinction-crisis-means-thinking-bigger-than-individual-species-115559">crucial ecosystems</a>. We must address our reluctance to manage threats to biodiversity at the scale on which they operate.</p>
<p>Protected areas must be managed to meet clear biodiversity targets and control overgrazing, including from native species. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fixing-australias-extinction-crisis-means-thinking-bigger-than-individual-species-115559">Fixing Australia’s extinction crisis means thinking bigger than individual species</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Welfare concerns for conspicuous native species need to be weighed against the concern for the many other less obvious native plant and animal species. If our national parks and reserves are not managed properly, they will fail to meet the conservation need for which they were established.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122953/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick O'Connor receives funding from the South Australian government.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Prowse receives funding from the ARC and the NHMRC, and is a board member of The Wilderness Society South Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stuart Collard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Public opposition to kangaroo culls shouldn’t overrule the needs of thousands of other native species in national parks.Patrick O'Connor, Associate Professor, University of AdelaideStuart Collard, Research Fellow, The Centre for Global Food and Resources, University of AdelaideThomas Prowse, Postdoctoral research fellow, School of Mathematical Sciences, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1232662019-09-11T20:08:18Z2019-09-11T20:08:18ZThis extinct kangaroo had a branch-crunching bite to rival today’s giant pandas<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291873/original/file-20190911-190021-1ko1r98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C0%2C797%2C543&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">_Simosthenurus occidentalis_ had a body like a kangaroo, a face like a koala, and a bite like a panda.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">N. Tamura</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A giant kangaroo that roamed Australia during the Ice Age had a far mightier bite than its modern-day cousins, according to new <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0221287">research</a> which suggests this species could eat a tough, woody diet similar to that of a giant panda.</p>
<p>The extinct short-faced kangaroos, known as <a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9z42c7t1">sthenurines</a>, were very different to kangaroos of today. They had thick-set bodies, long muscular arms, often only a single large toe on each foot, and box-shaped heads rather like a koala’s. </p>
<p>Some of these species had massive skulls, with enormous cheek bones and wide foreheads. All this bone would have taken a lot of energy to produce and maintain, and it likely wouldn’t have evolved unless it was needed to accommodate very strong biting forces. This in turn suggests these kangaroos probably included very hard food as part of their diet, just as bamboo-chomping pandas do today.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/giant-kangaroos-were-more-likely-to-walk-than-hop-32837">Giant kangaroos were more likely to walk than hop</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>To find out just how well these kangaroos could bite, I analysed a skull from one particular sthenurine kangaroo species, <em>Simosthenurus occidentalis</em>, for which we have good-quality fossils.</p>
<p><em>S. occidentalis</em> was huge, weighing around 120kg, and went extinct an estimated 42,000 years ago.</p>
<p>I used computed-tomography (CT) scans of its skull to create a three-dimensional computer model. This then allowed me to simulate various bites and estimate the strength and distribution of forces across its skull during such actions.</p>
<h2>Mean machine</h2>
<p>According to my measurements, this kangaroo had a very mechanically efficient bite. This means more muscle force could be translated into bite force, allowing it to achieve harder bites with less effort. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291884/original/file-20190911-190021-uzon18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291884/original/file-20190911-190021-uzon18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291884/original/file-20190911-190021-uzon18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291884/original/file-20190911-190021-uzon18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291884/original/file-20190911-190021-uzon18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291884/original/file-20190911-190021-uzon18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291884/original/file-20190911-190021-uzon18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291884/original/file-20190911-190021-uzon18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Short-faced kangaroos could put a lot of force through their teeth without stressing their skull.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">D. Rex Mitchell/PLOS</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For crushing hard foods, this was largely achieved with the help of broad rows of large molars that extended far back along the jaw. But I also found there was a risk of jaw dislocation when biting at the rear teeth, because they are very close to the jaw joints.</p>
<p>However, I found evidence of an enlarged muscle positioned inside the kangaroo’s immense cheek bones. My simulations demonstrated this would reduce the risk of jaw dislocation, thus allowing this kangaroo to bite very hard with greater confidence. </p>
<p>It’s perhaps no coincidence this muscle is also enlarged in the giant panda, which feeds on tough bamboo and therefore also needs a powerful bite.</p>
<p>I also found the skull of <em>S. occidentalis</em> was very resistant to twisting when biting hard on one side of the mouth. This suggests this kangaroo may have crushed very thick vegetation by putting it directly into its premolars, rather than biting at the front. Watch a giant panda eating bamboo and you’ll see it does exactly the same thing.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291882/original/file-20190911-190016-1daz2f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291882/original/file-20190911-190016-1daz2f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291882/original/file-20190911-190016-1daz2f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291882/original/file-20190911-190016-1daz2f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291882/original/file-20190911-190016-1daz2f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291882/original/file-20190911-190016-1daz2f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291882/original/file-20190911-190016-1daz2f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Side dish: giant pandas bite with their back teeth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Modern kangaroos have grazing diets based mainly on grasses. Other marsupial herbivores, such as tree-kangaroos and koalas, have browsing-based diets featuring small twigs and leaves from trees and shrubs. But no browsing marsupials today have the jaw power to eat whole branches.</p>
<p>My findings suggest short-faced kangaroos were therefore able to feed on parts of trees and shrubs that other herbivores of the time couldn’t eat. This would have given these powerful kangaroos a competitive edge during drought or other times of stress.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/giant-marsupials-once-migrated-across-an-australian-ice-age-landscape-84762">Giant marsupials once migrated across an Australian Ice Age landscape</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Given <em>S. occidentalis</em> was living in Australia until relatively recently in evolutionary terms, both climate-induced and human-induced factors potentially played roles in the eventual extinction of this species. But one thing is for sure: regardless of how they died off in the end, they were crushing it while they lived.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123266/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rex Mitchell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new analysis of an extinct giant kangaroo skull suggests it was adapted to eat tough, woody material - a feeding style not found in any modern marsupials.Rex Mitchell, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of ArkansasLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1117352019-03-03T19:04:42Z2019-03-03T19:04:42ZWhy are Australian authors obsessed with killing off kangaroos?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261391/original/file-20190228-106350-pht809.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">George Stubbs, 'The Kongouro from New Holland' (1772), oil painting, detail of head. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Kongouro_from_New_Holland_by_George_Stubbs_(detail_of_head).jpg">Ashley Van Haeften/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Kangaroos are the most visible of Australia’s unique animals, but despite their charm and national icon status, Australian writers perpetually kill them off.</p>
<p>A kangaroo appears struggling in a rabbit trap, doomed and dying in Charlotte Wood’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25876358-the-natural-way-of-things?from_search=true">The Natural Way of Things</a>, while Tim Winton has one killed on the road, dissected and fed to dogs in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2176735.Breath?from_search=true">Breath</a>. These are just two of many Australian authors who have represented the kangaroo as a victim.</p>
<p>Kangaroos were a creature of wonder for early European explorers such as Dampier and Banks, but it didn’t take long for their public image to descend to that of a pest. Early settlers considered them competition, nibbling all the best pasture quicker than their sheep and cows, and they soon took up arms against the bounding menace.</p>
<p>The wild kangaroo population of Australia is still <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/wildlife-trade/commercial/management-plans">commercially slaughtered</a> for dog food. In New South Wales, landholders and volunteers can be simply <a href="https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/hunting/volunteer-non-commercial-kangaroo-shooting">licensed</a> to kill them for reasons of damage control, and some parts of Western Australia have an <a href="https://www.ssaawa.org.au/faq/what-can-you-hunt-in-wa">open permit system</a> for non-commercial shooting. On any given day, there are usually several being mashed into the blue metal of highways, surrounded by crows and in various states of decomposition. </p>
<p>The expendable nature of the kangaroo may be a widely held view in Australia, but it’s a bitter irony that the creature which defines us to the rest of the world is perpetually under siege, in life and in literature.</p>
<h2>Fiction’s dead roos</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259666/original/file-20190219-121735-uwjqmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259666/original/file-20190219-121735-uwjqmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259666/original/file-20190219-121735-uwjqmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259666/original/file-20190219-121735-uwjqmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259666/original/file-20190219-121735-uwjqmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259666/original/file-20190219-121735-uwjqmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259666/original/file-20190219-121735-uwjqmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259666/original/file-20190219-121735-uwjqmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Coming Rain by Stephen Daisley (2015).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24897241-coming-rain?from_search=true">Goodreads</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Stephen Daisley’s 2016 novel <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24897241-coming-rain?from_search=true">Coming Rain</a>, the author kills off a kangaroo with “a great thump” against the side of a truck, giving a gruesome description of the sweetening of the tail for stew. </p>
<p>The live joey almost has its head smashed against a tree but, owing to its “cuteness” it becomes a pet, wearing a straw hat. The stereotype of the cute joey is alive and well in children’s fiction too, but in adult fiction the kangaroo is dead.</p>
<p>In Tim Winton’s Breath, narrator Pikelet comes across surf guru, Sando, who has hit a kangaroo with his Kombi ute. Sando finishes it off with the jack handle from the car, pounded a couple of times into its head. His response to this act is very matter-of-fact: “This is what happens. And it isn’t lovely.” </p>
<p>Sando drags the “roadkill” into the tray of his ute and takes it home to butcher it. He is prepared for this, with a meat hook hanging from a tree, and he skins and guts the kangaroo. Pikelet observes this with some emotional discomfort, “shrinking from him a little” but accepts the flourbag of meat to take home to his parents who “wouldn’t eat roo meat in a million years”. He “hoiks” the meat into the bushes on the ride home. </p>
<p>Charlotte Wood considers the horror of roadkill in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6974785-the-children?ac=1&from_search=true">The Children</a>, where Australian animals are killed by passing traffic and compared to contaminated “cushions”. Wood also kills a kangaroo (and a lot of rabbits) in The Natural Way of Things. Central character Yolanda snares a “large grey kangaroo” in a rabbit trap and finds it still alive:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Vainly, the kangaroo shifts and scuffles again. Then it lowers its head and lengthens its mighty neck, black eyes fixed on them, and lets out three long, hoarse snarls. Its snout fattens, nostrils flared. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Fearful of the sharp claws on its “delicate forefeet” they sit beside it, wondering how to set it free and instead bring it water and leave it to die slowly.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259669/original/file-20190219-121744-1ra1aej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259669/original/file-20190219-121744-1ra1aej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259669/original/file-20190219-121744-1ra1aej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259669/original/file-20190219-121744-1ra1aej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259669/original/file-20190219-121744-1ra1aej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259669/original/file-20190219-121744-1ra1aej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259669/original/file-20190219-121744-1ra1aej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259669/original/file-20190219-121744-1ra1aej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">To the Islands by Randolph Stow (1958).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12906296-to-the-islands">Goodreads</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The image of the kangaroo is linked to death through earlier works from Australian authors too. The iconic 1940 poem, <a href="https://mypoeticside.com/poets/eve-langley-poems">Native-Born </a>by Eve Langley presents a detailed account of a dead kangaroo, while Randolph Stow’s 1958 novel <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5635849-to-the-islands?ac=1&from_search=true">To the Islands</a> features kangaroos and wallabies being shot and eaten.</p>
<p>Australian fiction is, so often, deeply entangled with nature. Anxiety around the bush, as described in D.H. Lawrence’s novel <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41722587-kangaroo">Kangaroo</a> back in the 1920s, is a feature of settler Australian fiction, tied together with violence, trauma and a sense of the uncanny. </p>
<p>Docile and violent all at once, the watchful gaze and twitching ears of kangaroos are, perhaps, reminders of that uneasiness the settlers felt. </p>
<p>The fact that Australian literature seems intent on killing off this national icon is deeply disturbing – but it is also deeply ingrained.</p>
<p>In contrast with kangaroos, thylacines are well and truly alive in Australian literature despite being extinct since 1936. They appear in over 250 works listed in the <a href="https://www.austlit.edu.au/">AustLit</a> database of Australian literature, including 18 novels since 1988.</p>
<p>Among these are Julia Leigh’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1398605.The_Hunter?from_search=true">The Hunter</a>, Sonya Hartnett’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/289515.Stripes_of_the_Sidestep_Wolf?from_search=true">Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf</a> and Louis Nowra’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17870105-into-that-forest?ac=1&from_search=true">Into That Forest</a>, as well as children’s fiction, drama, film, short fiction and poetry. These thylacines often meet with violent ends, but their aliveness in fiction is astounding compared to the kangaroo.</p>
<p>Contemporary Australia is sentimental about the thylacine as a strange creature lost because of “ignorance”. They are now a thing of wonder, destroyed by misguided colonial settlers who are long gone. But if they weren’t extinct, would we treat them any better? Would we protect them? Often that is the point writers are trying to make by invoking the extinct “tiger” in the first place.</p>
<p>Our relationship with kangaroos (and thylacines), both in fiction and in reality, is symptomatic of what Stow called our “bitter heritage”. So perhaps it is unsurprising, given the violence of colonisation, that it has had (and is still having) an impact on the way writers represent the Australian landscape and all who inhabit it.</p>
<p><em>This article is based on research published in a forthcoming article for <a href="https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/journals/detail/antipodes-0">Antipodes</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111735/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donna Mazza does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Kangaroos are a national icon, but Australian authors seem determined to kill them off.Donna Mazza, Senior Lecturer in Creative Arts, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1116542019-02-13T11:18:51Z2019-02-13T11:18:51ZPolar bear ‘invasion’: how climate change is making human-wildlife conflicts worse<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258716/original/file-20190213-181615-5h4st4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/polar-bear-walks-along-arctic-region-702529597?src=c4_R5cwUIsnRCEg_a2y3-g-2-81">FloridaStock/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/graphics/the-10-hottest-global-years-on-record">The ten hottest years on record</a> were all during the past two decades and the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%252Fs00376-019-8276-x">hottest global ocean temperatures</a> ever were recorded in 2018 – a heat increase from 2017 equivalent to <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-01-record-breaking-ocean-temperatures-trends-global.html">100 million times</a> that of the Hiroshima bomb. Climate change is here and it’s already wreaking havoc.</p>
<p>The polar bear – something of a poster child for climate change – is just one of countless victims in this warming world. It’s thought that if global temperatures continue to <a href="https://www.degreesymbol.net/">rise by an average of 4.5°C since pre-industrial times,</a> which is likely to happen if we do nothing to reduce our carbon emissions, <a href="https://www.wwf.org.uk/wildlife-warming-world">half of the world’s wildlife</a> could be lost from Earth’s most biodiverse places.</p>
<p>As ocean temperatures melt ice sheets – the hunting grounds of polar bears – these large carnivores have to search new areas for food, which is why <a href="http://time.com/5526741/polar-bears-russia/">52 polar bears</a> “invaded” a Russian town in February 2019, looking for their next meal. Locals were frightened to go outside – with good reason: <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-44720199">polar bears can, and do, hunt people</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Btq75P-B5Ya","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Unfortunately, climate change is only going to make these negative interactions between humans and wildlife more common. Already, while Australia heats up, wildlife is seeking refuge in towns. <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/07/30/australia/australia-canberra-kangaroo-boom/index.html">Kangaroos have swarmed human settlements</a> in search of food and <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/act/heataffected-flying-foxes-hosed-down-by-volunteers-20170212-guaxkd.html">flying foxes</a> have had to be hosed down by locals to stop them from overheating.</p>
<p>In southern Africa, more frequent droughts have meant <a href="https://www.cen.uni-hamburg.de/en/about-cen/news/1-news-2018/2018-11-14-abendblatt-schnegg-elefanten.html">thirsty elephants have raided villages</a> to eat crops and pilfer water from storage tanks. Most wild animals are naturally averse to being so close to humans, so their incursions into our lives shows how desperate they are getting.</p>
<p>As climate change begins to take its toll on humans, by reducing crop productivity for example, we are likely to become less tolerant of these sorts of human-wildlife conflicts. Poor African villagers who have had their entire yearly crop destroyed by a herd of hungry elephants can hardly be blamed for wanting to get rid of the problem by killing the animals.</p>
<p>Sadly, elephants – like most other species – are already experiencing <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-elephant-populations-stable/">precipitous declines</a> in their populations and this is almost exclusively due to human activities.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258724/original/file-20190213-181619-15cecr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258724/original/file-20190213-181619-15cecr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258724/original/file-20190213-181619-15cecr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258724/original/file-20190213-181619-15cecr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258724/original/file-20190213-181619-15cecr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258724/original/file-20190213-181619-15cecr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258724/original/file-20190213-181619-15cecr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Juvenile elephants try to reach water in a storage tank in Kruger National Park, South Africa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/baby-elephants-olifants-drink-gat-trying-1029780166?src=cxTMpMWaZlHwH48Mo-PzfQ-1-34">Harry Beugelink/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Climate change will exacerbate conflicts over natural resources between and within species – <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-03795-0">ourselves included</a>. For example, some observers have suggested climate change was partly responsible for the <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-and-rising-food-prices-heightened-arab-spring/">Arab Spring</a> uprisings, as <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-and-rising-food-prices-heightened-arab-spring/">droughts forced people from rural areas into overcrowded cities</a> and inflamed tensions. If conflicts within our own species can’t be overcome, there is little hope for mitigating conflicts with other species – especially as resources become scarcer.</p>
<p>But there is a small glimmer of hope – there are effective methods to reduce damage caused by wildlife. Polar bears can be scared away from human settlements by <a href="https://polarbearsinternational.org/research/research-qa/polar-bear-attacks/">flares</a> and water tanks can be made <a href="http://www.desertelephant.org/">elephant-proof</a>. These technical fixes can help limit immediate conflict between wildlife and humans in the short term, providing much-needed relief in poor communities from the damaging effects of intruding wildlife.</p>
<p>Realistically however, technical fixes to human-wildlife conflict are only a temporary stopgap. To truly address the issue, we must focus on the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08941920.2016.1150544">root cause</a>. Carbon emissions must be reduced – not only for the sake of wildlife but for the survival of humans too. </p>
<p>Wildlife habitat must be protected to ensure that species have space and food without needing to enter human settlements. Equally, societies must address their insatiable demand for natural resources, reduce <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthnews/9266628/Over-consumption-is-killing-off-the-worlds-most-precious-wildlife-from-tigers-to-tuna.html">overconsumption</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/aug/20/food-waste-alarming-rise-will-see-66-tonnes-thrown-away-every-second">excessive waste</a>.</p>
<p>Much of this is easier said than done, of course. Without political will and sufficient funding all of this falls short. Global leaders must step up to the task – and it is partly up to ordinary people to pressure them to act. Movements such as the <a href="https://rebellion.earth/">Extinction Rebellion</a> and the school students organising <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/08/global-school-strikes-over-climate-change-head-to-the-uk">global strikes against climate change</a> are an encouraging start and must be built upon.</p>
<p>We need to cause an uproar like our lives depend on it – because they do. We have no planet B, as the refrain goes – and neither do the planet’s 8.7m other species.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111654/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Niki Rust does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Polar bears ‘invading’ a Russian village have renewed concern over climate change in the Arctic, but human-wildlife conflicts are flaring up everywhere.Niki Rust, Postdoctoral Researcher, Newcastle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1021692018-08-30T18:54:22Z2018-08-30T18:54:22ZFriday essay: the art of the colonial kangaroo hunt<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233995/original/file-20180829-86147-rn0p9a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">S.T. Gill, Kangaroo Hunting, The Death, from his Australian Sketchbook (1865). Colonial hunting clubs were established across Australia in the 1830s and 1840s.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Library of Australia</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since the beginnings of settler occupation in Australia, the kangaroo has been claimed at once as a national symbol and as a type of vermin to be destroyed en masse. In Kate Clere McIntyre and Michael McIntyre’s recent award-winning film, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6674514/">Kangaroo: A Love Hate Story</a>, Sydney academic Peter Chen sums up this stark contradiction: “Kangaroos are wonderful, fuzzy, they’re maternal, and they’re also a pest that should be eliminated wholesale”.</p>
<p>The killing of kangaroos by Europeans began at exactly the same time that the species was first identified. Shooting, naming, describing, scientifically classifying, sketching, dissecting, eating: these things all played out simultaneously as soon as Cook’s <em>Endeavour</em> got stranded on a reef in far north Queensland in June and July 1770.</p>
<p>Lieutenant John Gore was the first to shoot a kangaroo; Cook noted that Aboriginal people called this animal “Kangooroo, or Kanguru”; the ship’s artist Sydney Parkinson produced two beautiful sketches of these creatures; and Joseph Banks went ashore to hunt with his greyhound and “dress’d” a kangaroo for his dinner.</p>
<p>Bits and pieces of dead kangaroos were shipped back to England, where Banks presented them to George Stubbs, an artist famous for his anatomical accuracy – and who had made his name as a painter of thoroughbred horses and hunting scenes. Stubbs worked with a stuffed or inflated pelt and drew on Parkinson’s sketches to produce the first painting of this newly-identified species, Portrait of the Kongouro from New Holland (1770).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233813/original/file-20180828-75978-1d2effe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233813/original/file-20180828-75978-1d2effe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233813/original/file-20180828-75978-1d2effe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233813/original/file-20180828-75978-1d2effe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233813/original/file-20180828-75978-1d2effe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233813/original/file-20180828-75978-1d2effe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233813/original/file-20180828-75978-1d2effe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233813/original/file-20180828-75978-1d2effe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">George Stubbs, Portrait of the Kongouro from New Holland (1770).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>An engraving of this painting – with the kangaroo gazing back over its shoulder (curiously? Is someone pursuing it?) – was used to illustrate the bestselling 1773 publication of Cook’s journal. As Des Cowley and Brian Hubber <a href="http://www3.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-66/t1-g-t2.html">have noted</a>, further engravings were made, the image began to circulate, and soon “the kangaroo had entered the European popular imagination”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233814/original/file-20180828-75984-kdheo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233814/original/file-20180828-75984-kdheo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233814/original/file-20180828-75984-kdheo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233814/original/file-20180828-75984-kdheo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233814/original/file-20180828-75984-kdheo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233814/original/file-20180828-75984-kdheo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233814/original/file-20180828-75984-kdheo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233814/original/file-20180828-75984-kdheo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Joseph Lycett, Aborigines using fire to hunt kangaroo (c.1817).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Library of Australia.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The kangaroo hunt quickly became a recognisable genre in colonial Australian art. Joseph Lycett was transported to New South Wales in 1813, a convicted forger. His Aborigines using fire to hunt kangaroo (c. 1817) and Aborigines hunting kangaroos (1820) give us two early examples of “ethnographic” landscape painting where Aboriginal people hunt kangaroos in a fantasy precolonial space untouched by the impact of European settlement.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233824/original/file-20180828-75972-1endte4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233824/original/file-20180828-75972-1endte4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233824/original/file-20180828-75972-1endte4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233824/original/file-20180828-75972-1endte4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233824/original/file-20180828-75972-1endte4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233824/original/file-20180828-75972-1endte4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233824/original/file-20180828-75972-1endte4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233824/original/file-20180828-75972-1endte4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Joseph Lycett, Aborigines hunting kangaroos (1820)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Library of Australia.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In other works, however, Lycett placed Aboriginal hunters alongside settlers as mutual participants in the developing social and economic life of the colony. In these early days of settlement, kangaroos were a vital food source. </p>
<p>Lycett’s Inner View of Newcastle (1818) depicts a settler, a convict and an Aboriginal man walking in single file with four kangaroo dogs (usually, greyhound, deerhound and wolfhound crossbreeds); the convict is carrying the carcass of a freshly killed kangaroo over his shoulder.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233815/original/file-20180828-75990-1cg8xyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233815/original/file-20180828-75990-1cg8xyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233815/original/file-20180828-75990-1cg8xyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233815/original/file-20180828-75990-1cg8xyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233815/original/file-20180828-75990-1cg8xyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233815/original/file-20180828-75990-1cg8xyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233815/original/file-20180828-75990-1cg8xyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233815/original/file-20180828-75990-1cg8xyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Joseph Lycett, Inner View of Newcastle (1818).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Newcastle Art Gallery.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lycett’s View on the Wingeecarrabee River, New South Wales (1824) takes us down to the Southern Highlands, inland from Wollongong – where a settler with a musket, an Aboriginal man with a spear and two kangaroo dogs are all chasing down a single kangaroo.</p>
<p>Augustus Earle was a freelance professional artist who had travelled around the world – with Charles Darwin, among others. He spent two and a half years in Australia in the mid-1820s, chronicling metropolitan and bush scenes. His painting A Bivouac of Travellers in Australia in a Cabbage Tree Forest, Day Break (1827) gives us an idyllic scene of Aboriginal and settler companionship in the wake of a kangaroo hunt. </p>
<p>A group of settlers and two Aboriginal men are arranged around a campfire, waking up, preparing breakfast, and tending to a horse. There are two kangaroo dogs curled up and sleeping, and in the foreground of the painting – in the shadows, lying beside a rifle – is a large, dead kangaroo.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233816/original/file-20180828-75999-oq5q7u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233816/original/file-20180828-75999-oq5q7u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233816/original/file-20180828-75999-oq5q7u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=857&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233816/original/file-20180828-75999-oq5q7u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=857&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233816/original/file-20180828-75999-oq5q7u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=857&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233816/original/file-20180828-75999-oq5q7u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1077&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233816/original/file-20180828-75999-oq5q7u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1077&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233816/original/file-20180828-75999-oq5q7u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1077&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Augustus Earle, A Bivouac of Travellers in Australia in a Cabbage Tree Forest, Day Break (1827).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Hunting clubs</h2>
<p>S. T. Gill is probably the best known local artist to represent the kangaroo hunt as an organized recreational event. Colonial hunting clubs were established across Australia in the 1830s and 1840s; the first “meet” in Victoria, for example, was in 1839, organized near Geelong by the Indian-born military officer and pastoralist William Mercer. Squatters bred packs of hounds and wealthy locals and visiting dignitaries would be invited to join in the hunt and all the social occasions that went with it.</p>
<p><a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/fyans-foster-2075">Foster Fyans</a> was the Police Magistrate of Geelong and helped to oversee the dispossession of Aboriginal people across the western district frontier. “A noble pack of hounds was kept up by gentlemen squatters who met every season”, he recalled much later on, “hunting twice and thrice a week, and meeting at each other’s houses, where good cheer and good and happy society were ever to be met”.</p>
<p>Kangaroo hunting helped to consolidate squatter power and influence, lending it an available rhetoric of pleasure and merriment. No longer dependent on the kangaroo as a source of food, landowning colonists soon learned how to enjoy the thrill of the chase and the kill for its own sake, as a blood sport that came to define their social world.</p>
<p>Gill was a prolific chronicler of colonial life; his Australian Sketchbook (1865) included one scene, Kangaroo Stalking, in which a settler with a gun and an Aboriginal man hunt kangaroos together. In 1858 he produced a series of three lithographs under the general title Kangaroo Hunting. The first, The Meet, shows a gathering of men outside a rustic colonial homestead, with their horses and dogs (and some chickens; and a magpie on the roof). One of them has the conspicuous trappings of a wealthy squatter, tall, commanding, elaborately styled in black riding boots, yellow waistcoat, and scarlet jacket.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233818/original/file-20180828-75984-1ol7580.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233818/original/file-20180828-75984-1ol7580.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233818/original/file-20180828-75984-1ol7580.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233818/original/file-20180828-75984-1ol7580.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233818/original/file-20180828-75984-1ol7580.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233818/original/file-20180828-75984-1ol7580.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233818/original/file-20180828-75984-1ol7580.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233818/original/file-20180828-75984-1ol7580.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">S.T. Gill, Kangaroo Hunting, The Meet, from his Australian Sketchbook (1865).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Library of Australia.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The second, The Chase, puts the squatter into the foreground, leaping over a fallen log on his powerful white horse. The reckless excitement of the hunt is obvious as the settlers gallop across the dangerous terrain, whips raised. The dogs are chasing a kangaroo, which is retreating into the distance.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233817/original/file-20180828-75984-1ape3q7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233817/original/file-20180828-75984-1ape3q7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233817/original/file-20180828-75984-1ape3q7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233817/original/file-20180828-75984-1ape3q7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233817/original/file-20180828-75984-1ape3q7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233817/original/file-20180828-75984-1ape3q7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233817/original/file-20180828-75984-1ape3q7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">S.T. Gill Kangaroo Huntin, The Chase, from his Australian Sketchbook (1865).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Library of Australia.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the third lithograph, The Death, seals the animal’s fate. A squatter stands beside his exhausted hounds as a hunter readies his knife to take the dead kangaroo’s tail. Another hunter lifts his hat, looking back; perhaps he is greeting a group of Aboriginal people who are approaching in the background. The leader of this group – a family? – is carrying a spear; he may also be returning from a hunt. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233826/original/file-20180828-75975-o715p0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233826/original/file-20180828-75975-o715p0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233826/original/file-20180828-75975-o715p0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233826/original/file-20180828-75975-o715p0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233826/original/file-20180828-75975-o715p0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233826/original/file-20180828-75975-o715p0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233826/original/file-20180828-75975-o715p0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233826/original/file-20180828-75975-o715p0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">S.T. Gill, Kangaroo Hunting, The Death, from his Australian Sketchbook (1865).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Library of Australia.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is no sense of impending frontier violence here, but the lithograph does seem to register the differences between settler and Aboriginal relationships to the body of the dead kangaroo: who claims possession of it, and for what purpose.</p>
<h2>Settler triumph</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233994/original/file-20180829-86129-1hz81bo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233994/original/file-20180829-86129-1hz81bo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233994/original/file-20180829-86129-1hz81bo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233994/original/file-20180829-86129-1hz81bo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233994/original/file-20180829-86129-1hz81bo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233994/original/file-20180829-86129-1hz81bo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1009&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233994/original/file-20180829-86129-1hz81bo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1009&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233994/original/file-20180829-86129-1hz81bo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1009&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A portrait of Charles Darwin in the 1830s by George Richmond: he tried his hand at kangaroo hunting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many notable visitors participated in organized kangaroo hunts: Charles Darwin in 1836 (“my usual ill-fortune in sporting followed us”), Britain’s Admiral of the Fleet Henry Keppel in 1850, the novelist Anthony Trollope in 1871. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233834/original/file-20180828-75990-wdq0tg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233834/original/file-20180828-75990-wdq0tg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233834/original/file-20180828-75990-wdq0tg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233834/original/file-20180828-75990-wdq0tg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233834/original/file-20180828-75990-wdq0tg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233834/original/file-20180828-75990-wdq0tg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233834/original/file-20180828-75990-wdq0tg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233834/original/file-20180828-75990-wdq0tg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, shot about 30 kangaroos trapped in a yard.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">State Library of Victoria</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Duke of Edinburgh came to the colonies in 1867 – <a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/edinburgh-duke-of-3467">the first royal visit</a> – hunting kangaroo in South Australia and then travelling out to Victoria’s western district for more sport.</p>
<p>The Russian-born colonial artist Nicholas Chevalier accompanied him on tour, staying at the squatter John Moffat’s luxurious homestead Chatsworth House at Hopkins Hill, where he sketched a number of hunting scenes. The Duke himself shot at close range over 30 kangaroos trapped in a yard; he got the locals to preserve the skins and claws.</p>
<p>A few years earlier, Chevalier had joined an expedition to the Grampians, producing two significant landscapes. <a href="http://www.hamiltongallery.org/collection/detail.asp?Artist_LastName=c&Artist_Name=Nicholas+Chevalier&AccNumber=2004.058">Mount Abrupt</a> (1864) shows an Aboriginal family peacefully camping on a plateau above a gully, with cattle grazing on the pastures behind and the mountain in the background. This family is not (yet) dispossessed from what is clearly settler property.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234026/original/file-20180829-195301-qkbpcy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234026/original/file-20180829-195301-qkbpcy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234026/original/file-20180829-195301-qkbpcy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234026/original/file-20180829-195301-qkbpcy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234026/original/file-20180829-195301-qkbpcy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234026/original/file-20180829-195301-qkbpcy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234026/original/file-20180829-195301-qkbpcy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234026/original/file-20180829-195301-qkbpcy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nicholas Chevalier, Mount Abrupt (1864).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hamilton Art Gallery, purchased by Hamilton Art Gallery Trust Fund - M.L Foster Endowment with assistance from the Friends of Hamilton Art Gallery.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Mount Abrupt and The Grampians – produced the same year and published as a lithograph in Charles Troedel’s The Melbourne Album – gives us the same perspective of this mountain. But now there is no Aboriginal family. Instead, a group of settler hunters and their hounds ride roughshod over the place this family had once occupied, chasing kangaroos. It is as if the hunt itself has erased any trace of Aboriginal occupation of land. Its depiction is an expression of settler triumph over both native species (the kangaroo will surely be killed) and Indigeneity (Aboriginal people have been dispossessed).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233829/original/file-20180828-75984-ekt33l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233829/original/file-20180828-75984-ekt33l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233829/original/file-20180828-75984-ekt33l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233829/original/file-20180828-75984-ekt33l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233829/original/file-20180828-75984-ekt33l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233829/original/file-20180828-75984-ekt33l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233829/original/file-20180828-75984-ekt33l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233829/original/file-20180828-75984-ekt33l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nicholas Chevalier, Mount Abrupt and The Grampians (1864).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Library of Australia.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Godfrey Mundy was another officer who had served in colonial India. He came to Australia in 1846, where he held a senior role in colonial military administration. He was also the cousin of Sir Charles Fitzroy, who by this time was Governor of New South Wales. Together, they went across the Blue Mountains on a month-long journey that became the basis for Mundy’s bestselling diary and narrative of colonial development, Our Antipodes (1852).</p>
<p>Mundy also illustrated his book; one of the illustrations is titled Hunting the Kangaroo. Here, two hunters are in hot pursuit of a kangaroo, with their hounds leading the way. One of the hounds has the kangaroo by the throat; the other lies injured at its feet. Interestingly, Mundy depicts himself as one of the hunters, with his initials “G.M.” branded on the shoulder of one of the horses.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233831/original/file-20180828-75975-1j4qvjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233831/original/file-20180828-75975-1j4qvjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233831/original/file-20180828-75975-1j4qvjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233831/original/file-20180828-75975-1j4qvjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233831/original/file-20180828-75975-1j4qvjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233831/original/file-20180828-75975-1j4qvjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233831/original/file-20180828-75975-1j4qvjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233831/original/file-20180828-75975-1j4qvjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Godfrey Mundy, Hunting the Kangaroo (1852).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Our Antipodes.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On 30 November 1846, Mundy writes, “the resident gentlemen of the vicinity…attempt to show [us] the sport, par excellence, of the country”. But they find only one kangaroo, which eludes them. The landscape makes the kangaroo hunt difficult and dangerous, with uneven ground, tree stumps, and so on. Mundy rides “at full speed into the fork of a fallen tree” and has to “retreat”. But in his sketch, he is still proudly mounted on his horse and in full pursuit; and the kangaroo is about to die. This is the kangaroo hunt sketch as wish-fulfilment, a fantasy conclusion.</p>
<h2>Sympathy for the kangaroo</h2>
<p>Edward Roper was a keen naturalist and artist who travelled around the world, coming to Australia in 1857. His landscape A Kangaroo Hunt under Mount Zero, the Grampians (1880) has four hunters galloping through a woodland of eucalypts and grass trees, chasing three kangaroos. A long brushwood fence separates the hunters from their quarry. The riders and their hounds are approaching the fence at break-neck speed, highlighting the thrills and dangers of the chase; this is their land now, and they ride across it as a post-frontier expression of settler freedom and exhilaration.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233830/original/file-20180828-75978-1u4vii6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233830/original/file-20180828-75978-1u4vii6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233830/original/file-20180828-75978-1u4vii6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233830/original/file-20180828-75978-1u4vii6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233830/original/file-20180828-75978-1u4vii6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233830/original/file-20180828-75978-1u4vii6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233830/original/file-20180828-75978-1u4vii6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233830/original/file-20180828-75978-1u4vii6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Edward Roper, A Kangaroo Hunt under Mount Zero, the Grampians (1880).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Library of Australia.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Roper’s <a href="https://benallacollectionlab.com/2018/02/18/edward-roper/">After the Flying Doe</a> gives us a similar scene, although with a closer view of everything including Mount Zero, which now looms large in the background. There is no fence in this version: two hunters on horseback are pursuing kangaroos, with a couple of hounds racing along in front.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233823/original/file-20180828-75993-10hcrmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233823/original/file-20180828-75993-10hcrmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233823/original/file-20180828-75993-10hcrmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233823/original/file-20180828-75993-10hcrmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233823/original/file-20180828-75993-10hcrmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233823/original/file-20180828-75993-10hcrmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233823/original/file-20180828-75993-10hcrmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233823/original/file-20180828-75993-10hcrmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Edward Roper, After the Flying Doe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Benalla Art Gallery. Source: Ledger Gift, 1985.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unusually, the kangaroos themselves are in the foreground of the painting. The “doe’s” femininity is apparent in the delicate representation of her features, and possibly there is a joey peeking from her pouch. It looks like this painting wants to invite some sympathy for the female kangaroo’s plight by placing her in the foreground, emphasizing her gender and invoking her directly in the title.</p>
<p>What happens when male hunters kill a female kangaroo? “Colonial Hunt” is the first poem published in Australia on an Australian topic; it appeared in the Sydney Gazette in June 1805. Here, a female kangaroo (“Kanguroo”) is pursued and trapped by a hunter and his dog. “Fatigu’d, broken hearted, tears gush from her eyes”, the poet writes, as she realizes her fate.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234012/original/file-20180829-86129-5zpmmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234012/original/file-20180829-86129-5zpmmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234012/original/file-20180829-86129-5zpmmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=781&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234012/original/file-20180829-86129-5zpmmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=781&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234012/original/file-20180829-86129-5zpmmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=781&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234012/original/file-20180829-86129-5zpmmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=982&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234012/original/file-20180829-86129-5zpmmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=982&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234012/original/file-20180829-86129-5zpmmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=982&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The kangaroo that weeps when it dies offers a rare moment of sentimental identification with a native species that by 1805 is already a target for extermination. We don’t see kangaroo tears again until Ethel C. Pedley’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6434489-dot-and-the-kangaroo">Dot and the Kangaroo</a> (1902). In this famous children’s story, a female kangaroo’s sadness over the ecological toll of settlement is now shared by all native species: “Every creature in the bush weeps”, she says, “that they should have come to take the beautiful bush away from us”.</p>
<p>Organised hunts could kill any number of kangaroos; alongside hunting meets that pursued individual roos as game, squatters also organised large scale drives or battues, which could see thousands of kangaroos rounded up, slaughtered and left to rot. </p>
<p>Kangaroos are no longer hunted on horseback, of course. But small - and large -scale killing continues unabated. Recently, the New South Wales government <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2018-08-08/kangaroo-protections-relaxed-by-nsw-in-100pc-drought-conditions/10088614">relaxed kangaroo culling licences</a>, consistent with the view of the kangaroo as a “pest” that competes with livestock for survival in drought conditions. If we add this to that government’s plan to expand and intensify forest logging, it’s easy to sympathise with the kangaroo’s complaint in Pedley’s turn-of-the century fantasy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102169/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ken Gelder receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachael Weaver receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>In the mid 19th century, kangaroo hunting was a sport. Colonial hunting clubs were established across Australia and everyone from Charles Darwin to Anthony Trollope tried their hand at shooting roos.Ken Gelder, Professor of English, The University of MelbourneRachael Weaver, ARC Senior Research Fellow in English, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/973122018-05-30T06:07:15Z2018-05-30T06:07:15ZCrowdfunded campaigns are conserving the Earth’s environment<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220881/original/file-20180530-80623-1w2xoxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Crowdfunded campaigns to save the orange-bellied parrot are a rare ray of hope.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fatih Sam</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If not for the public’s generosity, the iconic Statue of Liberty might not have the solid and impressive footing she does today. In the late 1800s, government funds for the monument were exhausted. Yet through a fundraising campaign, the New York World newspaper garnered support from <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21932675">over 160,000 residents</a> to cover the pedestal costs. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-crowdfunding-9444">Explainer: What is crowdfunding?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Just as large monuments need solid bases to ensure their long-term existence, so too does the environment. In the case of nature conservation, it requires money to support diverse research projects, on-ground activities, and outreach aimed at protecting and managing species and habitats. </p>
<p>While the health of the environment continues to decline globally, in most regions government <a href="https://theconversation.com/government-needs-to-front-up-billions-not-millions-to-save-australias-threatened-species-74250">funding falls short</a> of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature24295">what is required to stem the losses</a>. Crowdfunding plays an important and under-appreciated role for biodiversity conservation. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cobi.13144">new research</a> presents a global analysis of how crowdfunding, still a relatively novel and minor financial mechanism in the conservation community, is contributing to conservation around the world.</p>
<h2>Show me the money. What’s being funded and why?</h2>
<p>Crowdfunding offers a powerful mechanism for mobilising resources for conservation across borders. We recorded 577 conservation-oriented projects (from 72 crowdfunding platforms), which have raised around US$4.8 million since 2009. The people leading these projects were based in 38 countries, but projects took place across 80 countries. </p>
<p>This pattern has important implications for conservation, because there is often a mismatch between high-priority areas for global conservation and countries with the greatest financial and technical capacity. For instance, we discovered that a third of the projects were delivered in different countries to where their proponents were based. The USA, UK and Australia were the countries with the highest outflow of projects (“project exporters”). Indonesia, South Africa, Costa Rica and Mexico had the highest inflow (“project importers”).</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="520" frameborder="0" src="https://greenfirescience.carto.com/builder/c1a70aca-e978-4db7-8e1b-063a590dccf9/embed" allowfullscreen="" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" oallowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figure><figcaption>Global distribution of crowdfunding for biodiversity conservation: countries where relevant platforms are based, countries where proponents of projects are hosted, and countries where projects are delivered. (Interactive map generated using CARTO)</figcaption></figure>
<p>Crowdfunding could be supporting conservation work of actors that do not have as much capacity for raising funds. </p>
<p>The people leading projects were primarily from non-governmental organisations (35%) or universities (30%), or were freelancers (26%). Importantly, among non-governmental organisations, we discovered organisations operating at sub-national levels proposed a majority of projects. </p>
<p>Additionally, crowdfunding for conservation is not all about research. While most of the projects we reviewed focused on research (40%), many tackled raising awareness of conservation-related issues (31%) or boots-on-the-ground activities (21%). This expands the sphere of anecdotal evidence and commentary about crowdfunding related to conservation, which has so far revolved around research. For the first time, we’ve systematically unpacked how these funds are being used for additional activities to support conservation.</p>
<p>Crowdfunding can also support innovative projects that traditional funding agencies deem too risky or unconventional. For example, one project supported buying and <a href="https://pozible.com/project/199857">training two Maremma sheepdogs</a> to protect penguins against predatory foxes in southeastern Australia. (That might sound familiar to those who’ve seen the movie <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7AV2ZYlxvI">Oddball</a>.) </p>
<p>Such opportunities for innovation can have important consequences for conservation worldwide; crowdfunding could be considered an incubator for novel ideas before widespread dissemination.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hunting-tree-kangaroos-in-the-mountains-of-papua-new-guinea-20529">Hunting tree kangaroos in the mountains of Papua New Guinea</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>More than half of the projects we recorded (around 58%) largely focused on species. These included a disproportionate number of threatened bird and mammal species.</p>
<p>Prominent projects to save <a href="https://theconversation.com/there-are-14-wild-orange-bellied-parrots-left-this-summer-is-our-last-chance-to-save-them-69274">orange-bellied parrots</a> or Papua New Guinea’s endangered tree kangaroos are important success stories. </p>
<p>This is not to underplay crowdfunding’s importance for ecosystems – whether land-based (20%), marine (9%) or freshwater (4%). Crowfunding is supporting projects ranging from protection of wilderness areas in remote Tasmania to research informing the conservation of the Californian coast. </p>
<h2>Crowdfunding benefits extend beyond dollars and cents</h2>
<p>The amount of money for conservation via crowdfunding has so far been relatively modest compared to more traditional conservation finance mechanisms. However, the benefits of crowdfunding extend well beyond dollars and cents. Crowdfunding helps communicate environmental issues and empower researchers and communities. </p>
<p>The figure below shows the reach of a single tweet during the <a href="https://pozible.com/project/195117">Big Roo Count</a> campaign. It shows how conservation-related messages can spread widely and engage communities via social media.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220580/original/file-20180528-80640-1fmpk6j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220580/original/file-20180528-80640-1fmpk6j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220580/original/file-20180528-80640-1fmpk6j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220580/original/file-20180528-80640-1fmpk6j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220580/original/file-20180528-80640-1fmpk6j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220580/original/file-20180528-80640-1fmpk6j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=768&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220580/original/file-20180528-80640-1fmpk6j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=768&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220580/original/file-20180528-80640-1fmpk6j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=768&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Example tweet (1777 tweets, 512 users) network during the Big Roo Count crowdfunding campaign.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stuart Palmer</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Crowdfunding is an exciting new tool in the conservation toolbox. But, ultimately, traditional funding sources, like government agencies, still have a <a href="https://theconversation.com/government-needs-to-front-up-billions-not-millions-to-save-australias-threatened-species-74250">major role and duty to invest adequately in environmental protection</a> and nature conservation. Considering the current extinction crisis, governments must avoid further <a href="http://www.joshfrydenberg.com.au/guest/opinionDetails.aspx?id=276">outsourcing of such responsibilities</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220560/original/file-20180528-51115-1cctcjc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220560/original/file-20180528-51115-1cctcjc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220560/original/file-20180528-51115-1cctcjc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220560/original/file-20180528-51115-1cctcjc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220560/original/file-20180528-51115-1cctcjc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220560/original/file-20180528-51115-1cctcjc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220560/original/file-20180528-51115-1cctcjc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220560/original/file-20180528-51115-1cctcjc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Examples of conservation projects supported through crowdfunding.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-22/great-barrier-reef-funding-labor-accuse-due-diligence/9785782">discussion over novel sources and recipients of conservation funding</a> continues. At the same time, transparency and oversight remain critical for managing expectations and overall effectiveness of funding. Crowdfunding contributes one more building block to democratising conservation funding and increasing transparency. </p>
<p><br></p>
<hr>
<p><em>The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of Edward Game.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97312/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:e.gallocajiao@uq.edu.au">e.gallocajiao@uq.edu.au</a> is affiliated with the Society for Conservation Biology. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Euan Ritchie receives funding from the Australian Research Council, The Australia and Pacific Science Foundation, The Hermon Slade Foundation, Australian Geographic, and Parks Victoria. Euan Ritchie is a Director (Media Working Group) of the Ecological Society of Australia, and a member of the Australian Mammal Society.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Fuller receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rochelle Steven receives funding from the National Environmental Science Program, Threatened Species Recovery Hub.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tiffany Morrison receives funding from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carla Archibald and Rachel Friedman do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When environmental needs outstrip government funds, people power steps up.Eduardo Gallo-Cajiao, PhD Candidate, The University of QueenslandCarla Archibald, PhD Candidate, Conservation Science, The University of QueenslandEuan Ritchie, Associate Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin UniversityRachel Friedman, PhD Candidate, The University of QueenslandRichard Fuller, Professor in Biodiversity and Conservation, The University of QueenslandRochelle Steven, Postdoctoral Researcher, The University of QueenslandTiffany Morrison, Principal Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/962722018-05-13T20:30:20Z2018-05-13T20:30:20ZIs that selfie really worth it? Why face time with wild animals is a bad idea<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218555/original/file-20180511-4803-1ryd77f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kangaroos probably don't enjoy social media photos as much as we do.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The phenomenon of kangaroo selfies hit the headlines earlier this month, when several tourists were injured while feeding wild kangaroos in Lake Macquarie, north of Sydney. They may have wanted a memorable holiday snap, but ended up with rather more than they bargained for.</p>
<p>One <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-02/agro-kangaroos-addicted-to-carrots-attack-tourists/9716612">news report</a> described how the “cute and cuddly” animals had begun “viciously attacking people”. </p>
<p>Is that really fair on the kangaroos? Of all the adjectives you could use to describe an animal that is territorial, fiercely maternal and has large claws, “cuddly” is pretty far down the list.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tinders-tiger-selfies-show-the-perils-of-wildlife-close-encounters-30083">Tinder's tiger selfies show the perils of wildlife close encounters</a>
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<p>The problem with that description of the incident is that it suggests that the kangaroos were to blame for the injuries. In reality, it was the fault of the people getting too close and offering them the wrong food. Having become so used to being handed carrots, we can hardly blame the kangaroos for being “hopped up”, as the news coverage punningly put it.</p>
<p>In India, another recent case ended in tragedy when a man attempted to take a selfie with a <a href="http://www.fox13news.com/news/man-tries-to-take-selfie-with-bear-bear-kills-him">bear</a>. The man reportedly turned his back on the bear and was then mauled to death.</p>
<h2>Selfie society</h2>
<p>The growing danger of animal selfies, and of feeding wild animals, is well documented. People have been killed and injured by tigers, such as in the case of a <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-503529/Tigers-maul-tourist-death-tries-photo-zoo-cage-bars.html">zoo visitor in India who climbed over a safety barrier</a> in search of a better photo. Wild long-tailed macaques at Bali’s Uluwatu Temple have got so used to being fed that they <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2132748-monkey-mafia-steal-your-stuff-then-sell-it-back-for-a-cracker/">steal tourists’ valuables</a> and only drop them when given snacks.</p>
<p>A 2016 <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jtm/article/23/2/tav026/2580644">study</a> in the Journal of Travel Medicine recommended that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>…scenarios where selfies should be avoided include photographs taken from a height, on a bridge, in the vicinity of vehicular traffic, during thunderstorms, at sporting events, and where wild animals are in the background.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Interacting with wild animals isn’t just dangerous for people. It can be bad news for the animals too. A 2017 <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-55574-4_14">study</a> looked specifically at kangaroos who are exposed to wildlife tours. It concluded that both wild and captive kangaroos can be stressed by humans approaching them closely, and that the presence of tourists may drive them away from feeding, breeding or resting areas. It also noted that the potential knock-on effects for kangaroo population numbers are still unknown. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517701000802">review in the journal Tourism Management</a>, written after a nine-year-old boy was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/may/01/patrickbarkham">killed by dingoes on Queensland’s Fraser Island in 2001</a>, confirmed that routinely feeding wild animals can alter their behaviour patterns and population levels. There was no suggestion that the boy was engaging in risky behaviour, but rather that the dingoes had become dangerously habituated to human presence, as a result of previous feeding by tourists and easy access to campsite food. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218557/original/file-20180511-34024-d0udq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218557/original/file-20180511-34024-d0udq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218557/original/file-20180511-34024-d0udq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218557/original/file-20180511-34024-d0udq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218557/original/file-20180511-34024-d0udq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218557/original/file-20180511-34024-d0udq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218557/original/file-20180511-34024-d0udq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218557/original/file-20180511-34024-d0udq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Advice to stay a safe distance from wild animals is all too often ignored.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>You might shake your head in disbelief at the idea of turning your back on a wild bear in search of the perfect selfie. But how many of you have taken a photo with an animal and posted it on social media? </p>
<p>These photographs, even if they are of habituated animals in urban areas or in a zoo, can endanger wild animals and cause them undue stress (as discussed in a previous <a href="https://theconversation.com/even-scientists-take-selfies-with-wild-animals-heres-why-they-shouldnt-61252">article</a>). Taking a selfie of a zoo animal can leave the impression that kangaroos, koalas and other “fluffy” animals act like this in the wild. People who don’t know about the normal behaviour of these animals may therefore think that these animals are OK to approach in the wild. This could explain why so many tourists still consider it safe to approach wild kangaroos.</p>
<p>While some wild animals are undoubtedly cute, we should be sensible enough not to expect them to be cuddly. We need to respect wild animals’ behaviour and territories, so as to avoid injury and live in harmony.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/even-scientists-take-selfies-with-wild-animals-heres-why-they-shouldnt-61252">Even scientists take selfies with wild animals. Here's why they shouldn't.</a>
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<p>Zoos in Australia generally house hand-reared animals, many of which are used to being fed and petted by people in a safe and monitored environment. The animals are given carefully selected diets, as well as places to which they can retreat if they have had enough interaction. All of this helps to minimise the stress on the animals and the risk to people. And of course, there is the broader point that zoo animals deserve respect and are not just cuddly toys.</p>
<p>Just because you can pat and feed a kangaroo at a zoo, does not mean you can do it elsewhere. Zoos can play their part by promoting advice about safe behaviour around wild animals elsewhere. </p>
<p>So next time you’re lucky enough to see kangaroos or another animal in the wild, by all means take a photo - if you can do it from a safe distance. And ask yourself whether you really need to be in it too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96272/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathryn Teare Ada Lambert does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Here’s some advice on taking selfies with wild animals: don’t. It’s not fun for the animal, and can have serious knock-on effects for their health. And you could be injured (or worse).Kathryn Teare Ada Lambert, Adjunct Lecturer/ Ecologist, University of New EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/932032018-03-12T19:06:12Z2018-03-12T19:06:12ZYes, kangaroos are endangered – but not the species you think<p>Do you know what kind of animal the mala, nabarlek, or boodie is? What about the monjon, northern bettong, or Gilbert’s potoroo? </p>
<p>If you answered that they are different species of kangaroo – the collective term for more than 50 species of Australian hopping marsupials – you’d be right. But you’d be in the minority. </p>
<p>Include nearby New Guinea, and the number of kangaroo species jumps to <a href="https://cloud.une.edu.au/index.php/s/QxtzrSSG2FcwKQC">more than 70</a>. Kangaroos are so diverse that they have been dubbed <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=X1aDI8F9ULYC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false">Australia’s most successful evolutionary product</a>.</p>
<p>But sadly, not everyone is aware of this great diversity, so most kangaroo species remain obscure and unknown.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bans-on-kangaroo-products-are-a-case-of-emotion-trumping-science-47924">Bans on kangaroo products are a case of emotion trumping science</a>
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<p>This is brought into sharp relief by a new movie that premieres nationally this week called <a href="http://kangaroothemovie.com">Kangaroo: A Love-Hate Story</a>. The filmmakers set out to expose the kangaroo industry, painting a picture of gruesome animal cruelty, an industry cloaked in secrecy, and the wholesale slaughter of an Australian icon.</p>
<p>The film, which includes brutal footage, also includes the claim that Australia’s kangaroos may be heading down the path of extinction.</p>
<p>The film has already screened in the United States and Europe to sold-out premieres, opening first in those places because they are important markets for kangaroo products. </p>
<p>But foreign audiences also probably know less about Australia’s major kangaroo species or the complexities of the kangaroo industry, and may perhaps be more easily swayed towards the filmmakers’ point of view.</p>
<p>Many US reviews have been positive about the film, although <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/kangaroo-a-love-hate-story-1074383">one review</a> described it as “frustratingly one-sided”.</p>
<p>Most Australians, whatever their view on the kangaroo industry, would surely agree that if kangaroos are to be harvested, it should be done with minimal suffering. But are Australia’s kangaroos really at risk of extinction?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209853/original/file-20180312-30954-1cr9qdp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209853/original/file-20180312-30954-1cr9qdp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209853/original/file-20180312-30954-1cr9qdp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209853/original/file-20180312-30954-1cr9qdp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209853/original/file-20180312-30954-1cr9qdp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209853/original/file-20180312-30954-1cr9qdp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209853/original/file-20180312-30954-1cr9qdp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The iconic red kangaroo. Large kangaroos are typically widespread and secure, unlike many of their smaller cousins.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Karl Vernes</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On mainland Australia, <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/wildlife-trade/natives/wild-harvest">four species are sustainably harvested</a>, largely for their meat or fur: the eastern grey, western grey, common wallaroo, and Australia’s most famous icon (and largest marsupial), the red kangaroo. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/d3f58a89-4fdf-43ca-8763-bbfd6048c303/files/kangaroo-statistics-2018.pdf">best scientific survey data</a>, based on millions of square kilometres surveyed by aircraft each year, puts the combined number of these four kangaroo species currently at around 46 million animals.</p>
<p>This is a conservative estimate, because only the rangelands where kangaroos are subject to government-sanctioned harvest are surveyed. There is almost as much kangaroo habitat again that is not surveyed. </p>
<p>Of the estimated population, a quota of roughly 15% is set for the following year, of which <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/d3f58a89-4fdf-43ca-8763-bbfd6048c303/files/kangaroo-statistics-2018.pdf">barely a quarter is usually filled</a>. Quotas are set and enforced by state governments, with the aim of sustaining population numbers.</p>
<p>For example, of 47 million animals estimated in 2016, a quota of 7.8 million animals was set for the following year, but only 1.4 million of these animals (3.1% of the estimated population) were harvested.</p>
<p>The wildlife management community is pretty much <a href="https://www.awms.org.au/the-commercial-harvesting-of-macropods">unanimous</a> that the four harvested species are widespread and abundant, and at no risk of extinction.</p>
<h2>Are non-harvested species at risk?</h2>
<p>But what of the other forgotten 95% of kangaroo species? The conservation prognosis for these – especially the smaller ones under about 5.5kg in weight – is far less rosy. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.australianwildlife.org/wildlife/nabarlek.aspx">nabarlek</a> – a small <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=87607">endangered</a> rock wallaby from Australia’s northwest – has become so rare that its mainland population in the Kimberley seems to have disappeared. It is now only found on a few islands off the coast. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.australianwildlife.org/wildlife/burrowing-bettong.aspx">boodie</a> – a small burrowing species of bettong – was one of Australia’s most widespread mammals at the time of European arrival, but is extinct on the mainland and now found on just a few islands.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-endangered-species-gilberts-potoroo-11640">Gilbert’s potoroo</a> holds the title of Australia’s most endangered mammal, clinging precariously to existence in the heathlands around Albany on Western Australia’s south coast. One intense wildfire could wipe out the species in the wild. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, if the alarming increasing impact of cats on our northern Australian wildlife continues, <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/WR/justaccepted/WR16103">recent modelling</a> suggests that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_bettong">northern bettong</a> – a diminutive kangaroo that weighs barely a kilogram – will disappear.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-endangered-species-gilberts-potoroo-11640">Australian endangered species: Gilbert's Potoroo</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The list goes on: mala, bridled nail-tail wallaby, parma wallaby, woylie, banded hare-wallaby, long-footed potoroo, Proserpine rock-wallaby – all of these and more could slip to extinction right under our noses. </p>
<p>The culprits are the usual suspects: cats, foxes, land-use change – and our collective apathy and ignorance. Australia holds the title for the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-19/fact-check-does-australia-have-one-of-the-highest-extinction/6691026">worst record of mammal extinctions in modern times</a>, and kangaroos, unfortunately, contribute many species to that list.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209870/original/file-20180312-30961-orgz41.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209870/original/file-20180312-30961-orgz41.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209870/original/file-20180312-30961-orgz41.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209870/original/file-20180312-30961-orgz41.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209870/original/file-20180312-30961-orgz41.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209870/original/file-20180312-30961-orgz41.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209870/original/file-20180312-30961-orgz41.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209870/original/file-20180312-30961-orgz41.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Population modelling paints a grim picture for the northern bettong.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Karl Vernes</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Oaeaqndd7g">theatrical trailer</a> for Kangaroo: A Love-Hate Story’ features a voiceover from a concerned kangaroo activist, who says: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>If Australians really knew what happens out there in the dark, they would be horrified.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Indeed they might. But it’s not just the treatment of the abundant big four kangaroos that are harvested (yet secure) that should attract attention. </p>
<p>If we also look at the other 95% of kangaroo species that need our urgent attention, we might just be able to do something about their dwindling numbers - and the real kangaroo extinction crisis - before it’s too late.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93203/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karl Vernes has received research funding from a range of funding bodies, including the Australian Research Council, the Hermon Slade Foundation, the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, and the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre. He is not affiliated with the Kangaroo Industries Association of Australia, nor has he ever received funding from them.</span></em></p>A new documentary makes some controversial claims about the health of kangaroo populations. But the real threat is not to Australia’s iconic kangaroos – it’s to dozens of other, obscure species.Karl Vernes, Associate Professor, School of Environmental & Rural Science, University of New EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/794892017-07-05T20:09:07Z2017-07-05T20:09:07ZThe Australian palaeodiet: which native animals should we eat?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175616/original/file-20170626-6636-1bfz0bn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Should we add emus to our diet?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jillian Garvey</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This story contains imagery of butchered animals. All shown samples were collected as road-kill and used for research with the relevant permissions.</em></p>
<p>If Australians are to eat healthy, unprocessed meats while making sustainable choices, native animals would be an obvious choice. But which animals should we be considering?</p>
<p>The diets of Indigenous Australians prior to 1770 is a useful starting point for this discussion. The <a href="http://palaios.geoscienceworld.org/content/22/6/583">zooarchaeological record</a> offers a glimpse into which fauna people hunted and how they were butchered and cooked. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, old animal bones are uncommon in Australia due to its open and dry landscape. The remains of some past meals dating back to <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379117302640">almost 50,000 years ago</a> have been found in archaeological assemblages, mostly in karst systems such as those in the Flinders Rangers, southwest Tasmania and southwest Western Australia. </p>
<p>To compensate for the lack of archaeological material, I am studying the economic utility of several Australian animals. In other words, how much meat, fat and marrow different body parts provide. This, coupled with an analysis of the nutritional quality of the meat, will help us understand why they were selected or ignored.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mLrGjpBCRb8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Australian palaeodiet: Which native animals should we eat?</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My “<a href="https://www.thinkable.org/submission_entries/y3OAP69m">Native Bush Tucker</a>” project focuses primarily on marsupial animals. When completed, it will be an online database to aid the study of what people ate in the past with the goal of including these meats on our modern menu. </p>
<h2>What did people eat prior to 1770?</h2>
<p>The archaeological record suggests Aboriginal Australians had varied diets prior to colonisation, with specific prey and butchery patterns in different parts of the country. </p>
<p>For example, in <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278416516300745">Ice Age southwest Tasmania</a> (between approximately 40,000 and 12,000 years ago) people hunted the medium-sized Bennett’s wallaby, focusing on its larger and “meatier” hindlimbs. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176870/original/file-20170705-30015-3daw1d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176870/original/file-20170705-30015-3daw1d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=215&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176870/original/file-20170705-30015-3daw1d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=215&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176870/original/file-20170705-30015-3daw1d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=215&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176870/original/file-20170705-30015-3daw1d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176870/original/file-20170705-30015-3daw1d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176870/original/file-20170705-30015-3daw1d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bennett’s wallaby marrow.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jillian Garvey</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since wallabies, like kangaroos and other macropods, are very lean, it was thought people regularly split open the long bones to access the nutritious marrow. This is one way they could avoid potentially fatal “<a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440310003833">protein poisoning</a>” – a rare type of malnutrition caused by an absence of fat in the diet. </p>
<p>According to the archaeological record, wombats were the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440308000757">second most common prey animal</a> in Ice Age Tasmania, with people focusing on their skull, shoulder girdle and forelimbs. The “meaty” wombat pelvic region and bone marrow were largely ignored. </p>
<p>Alternatively, animals such as <a href="https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-152994503/preliminary-zooarchaeological-interpretations-from">emu, possums, platypus and echidna are rare</a> in Ice Age Tasmanian archaeology.</p>
<h2>Just how good are kangaroos and wombats to eat?</h2>
<p>To undertake my study, animals were collected as fresh road-kill (with the relevant permits). </p>
<p>Carcasses were carefully butchered, each body part fully dissected and the different components weighed and nutritionally analysed. </p>
<p>I found kangaroos and wallabies to be <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618209002328">very lean</a> with little detectable fat. On average, macropod carcasses provide between 25% to 50% of their body weight in meat.</p>
<p>My analysis of macropod (kangaroo and wallaby) bone marrow indicates it’s <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440310003833">highly nutritious</a>, especially in polyunsaturated fats such as oleic acid. This <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618209002328">helps to explain patterns in the archaeological record</a>, as macropod long bones, in particular the lower leg (shin or tibia) bone, are commonly found split open.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176838/original/file-20170704-15991-16zcbil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176838/original/file-20170704-15991-16zcbil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=233&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176838/original/file-20170704-15991-16zcbil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=233&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176838/original/file-20170704-15991-16zcbil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=233&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176838/original/file-20170704-15991-16zcbil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176838/original/file-20170704-15991-16zcbil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176838/original/file-20170704-15991-16zcbil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wombat carcass.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jillian Garvey.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Alternatively, I found <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X1530167X">wombats to be fatty animals</a>, with a large amount of fat located along their backs and across their shoulders. This could explain why the heads and shoulders of wombats are common in Tasmanian Ice Age assemblages, as fat could be easily obtained without having to access the marrow cavity. </p>
<p>However, while I found that a wombat consists of 25% to 40% of meat and fat, these were not as healthy as kangaroos and wallabies as they contained a higher amount of saturated fat. </p>
<h2>What about emus and shellfish?</h2>
<p>There has been some debate as to why emu bones are rare in Australian archaeological assemblages, while their eggshells are more common. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/174963111X13110803260840">Modern emu butchery and nutritional analyses</a> indicate there is lots of nutritious fat associated with the meat, with up to 50% of the total weight of the animal consisting of edible muscle, mostly located around the birds’ pelvis. Hence people were able to access a large amount of meat and fat from the carcass without moving or damaging the bones. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176689/original/file-20170704-13632-s3rfwk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176689/original/file-20170704-13632-s3rfwk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176689/original/file-20170704-13632-s3rfwk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176689/original/file-20170704-13632-s3rfwk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176689/original/file-20170704-13632-s3rfwk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176689/original/file-20170704-13632-s3rfwk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176689/original/file-20170704-13632-s3rfwk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author dissecting an echidna.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jillian Garvey.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The large number of freshwater shellfish middens scattered along Australia’s inland lakes, rivers and creeks indicates that freshwater molluscs were an important food resource for Indigenous Australians. <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S104061821501191X">Recent analysis of middens</a> along the Murray River in northwest Victoria indicates that both the river mussel and the smaller river snail were prey. </p>
<p>While these molluscs are very low in fat, they contain high amounts of <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S104061821501191X">several important trace elements such as magnesium, iron, sodium and zinc</a>. Such elements and minerals are essential for ensuring healthy cellular function. </p>
<h2>What about the modern Australian diet?</h2>
<p>If Australians are to start reducing our dependence on introduced animals, then we need to ensure that our choices are ethical, humane and environmental.</p>
<p>Incorporating more macropods into our diets is the obvious choice, as these animals are lean and what fats they do contain are healthy. Emus and wombats are other possibilities, as they contain readily accessible meat and associated fat. </p>
<p>Freshwater shellfish are another alternative, although salinity and the introduction of locks and weirs along our major rivers has altered the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Keith_Walker11/publication/282506728_An_endangered_pest_--_the_river_snail_Notopala_hanleyi/links/56144a5d08aec622441023cf.pdf">distribution of many of these molluscs</a>. </p>
<p>I plan to extend the number of animals being researched to include things such as echidna, possums, small birds, reptiles, and other shellfish and fish. This will broaden our understanding of the possible native fauna we could be eating.</p>
<p>Ultimately, there are many obstacles to overcome in adding these foods to our diet, not least convincing the broader population they’re acceptable to serve and can taste good. There’s also the difficulty of sustainably rearing and slaughtering native animals in sufficient quantities. </p>
<p>Perhaps we can take a lesson from Australia’s “first farmers” and how they managed the landscape and used native fauna.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79489/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jillian Garvey recieves funding from the Australian Research Council (DECRA Fellowship and Discovery Grant) and La Trobe University. She is a member of the Australian Archaeological Association and the Royal Society of Victoria.
</span></em></p>If Australians are to eat healthy, unprocessed meats while making sustainable choices, native animals would be an obvious choice.Jillian Garvey, ARC DECRA Fellow in Archaeology, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/479242015-10-04T19:22:17Z2015-10-04T19:22:17ZBans on kangaroo products are a case of emotion trumping science<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96872/original/image-20151001-5828-19qvdze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Eating kangaroos is sustainable. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kangaroo image from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since 1984, four species of kangaroo — the Red Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Western Grey Kangaroo, and Common Wallaroo — have been harvested for their meat and skins across large areas of Australia, under management plans approved by the Australian government. This harvest is opposed by critics who claim that it is unsustainable and puts <a href="http://www.kangaroosatrisk.org/">kangaroos at risk</a>.</p>
<p>The critics may be winning the debate. Their latest victory has been to convince – through a flurry of lobbying and social media campaigning – the state of California to bring back a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/14/california-set-to-ban-kangaroo-imports-despite-lobbying-efforts-by-australia">ban on imports of kangaroo products</a>.</p>
<p>But the evidence suggests that this ban isn’t justified.</p>
<h2>The kangaroo harvest is sustainable</h2>
<p>In fact, Australia’s kangaroo industry is one of the best-managed wildlife harvests in the world. It stands out for three reasons.</p>
<p>First, it is based on a sound understanding of the ecology of kangaroos, in particular the way their populations fluctuate in Australia’s variable climate. The harvest is regulated on the basis of CSIRO-led research that developed robust models of kangaroo population dynamics, and used them to simulate <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Kangaroos.html?id=53eusJe_sxIC&redir_esc=y">effects of harvest on long-term abundance</a>. Many studies have since extended this knowledge and measured the impacts of harvesting.</p>
<p>Second, the harvest strategy is appropriate for variable environments and robust to uncertainty. Many harvests of wild populations use fixed quotas, meaning that if the population declines the relative impact of the harvest increases, which can rapidly drive abundance to dangerously low levels. </p>
<p>In contrast, the kangaroo quota is adjusted each year to represent a constant proportion (10-20%) of population size. If abundance falls, so does the harvest quota.</p>
<p>There are other built-in safeguards: refuges such as national parks function as no-take zones; harvest rates are well below quota in areas remote from tracks or processing facilities; regulators are government conservation departments whose overriding objective is to maintain viable populations, rather than support an industry; harvesting ceases if populations drop below a pre-determined threshold; and population estimates are conservative. </p>
<p>Third, population size of the harvested species is monitored. Often, wildlife harvest programs use harvest statistics themselves to indirectly infer changes in population size, but population size of kangaroos is determined directly, using reliable survey methods that are independent of the harvest. </p>
<p>This allows us to test whether the harvested populations are in long-term decline. They are not. The harvested species remain abundant and widespread. While numbers fluctuate, sometimes dramatically, this is mostly due to the impact of drought on survival. Data on population size and quotas for harvested species are publicly accessible.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96179/original/image-20150925-16069-5eiesa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96179/original/image-20150925-16069-5eiesa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96179/original/image-20150925-16069-5eiesa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96179/original/image-20150925-16069-5eiesa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96179/original/image-20150925-16069-5eiesa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96179/original/image-20150925-16069-5eiesa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96179/original/image-20150925-16069-5eiesa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96179/original/image-20150925-16069-5eiesa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Red kangaroo population, harvest and quota in South Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/managing-natural-resources/plants-and-animals/Abundant_species/Kangaroo_conservation_management/Quotas_harvest_data">Government of South Australia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Kangaroo harvesting and biodiversity conservation</h2>
<p>It is certainly true that some kangaroos are at risk. But these are not the commercially harvested species. </p>
<p>Of 58 species of kangaroos and their allies (families Macropodidae and Potoroidae) that were in Australia at European settlement, eight are now extinct and a further 14 are threatened with extinction. The loss of these species is part of a wave of extinction that has seen at least 29 species from Australia’s <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/112/15/4531.full">unique mammal fauna disappear forever</a>.</p>
<p>While this is a dire problem, exploitation did not drive these losses, and the species that are now threatened are not harvested. They are small and medium-sized creatures that have declined because of predation by introduced foxes and cats, and, in some cases, habitat degradation. </p>
<p>The ongoing argument over sustainability of the kangaroo harvest is a misguided and poorly informed distraction from the genuinely urgent task of preventing further extinctions of species like these and helping the survivors to recover. </p>
<p>Worse, if these critics were to succeed in ending kangaroo harvesting, the quality of habitat for threatened species could decline further. </p>
<p>Across much of Australia, the abundance of large kangaroos has increased since European settlement. Probably the most important reason for this is suppression of dingoes, which are <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/?paper=WR99030">formidable kangaroo hunters</a>. Provision of water for livestock and clearing for pasture also helped make habitat more suitable for these large kangaroos. </p>
<p>In many areas, overgrazing by kangaroos is now reducing <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=4963192&fileId=S0030605300026326">habitat quality for other species</a>. High abundance of kangaroos reduces vegetation cover, making small native animals more vulnerable to predation by foxes and cats; rare species find it even harder to survive. </p>
<p>Australia faces a biodiversity crisis. More native species are likely to go extinct unless public support for conservation increases and conservation management improves. This should be informed by good science, not emotive campaigns. </p>
<p>We welcome the concern for Australian wildlife expressed by opponents of the commercial kangaroo harvest. However, it is misplaced and misleading. Biodiversity conservation would be better served if that concern were directed to the plight of the many Australian species that really are in trouble.</p>
<p><em>This article was written with the help of Dr Tony Pople of <a href="https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/biosecurity">Biosecurity Queensland</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47924/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Woinarski is affiliated with the Threatened Species Recovery Hub of the Australian Government's National Environment Science Programme: none of this support relates to kangaroo harvesting. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosie Cooney receives funding from the Species Survival Commission of the IUCN under its framework agreement with the Abu Dhabi Environment Agency, and has recently received funding for specific activities from several government agencies (Germany, Austria and USA). She is affiliated with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and its Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group, which is a joint initiative of IUCN's Species Survival Commission and Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy. She receives no funding from any bodies with any commercial interest in kangaroo harvesting or any other kind of wildlife harvesting.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Campaigners against commercial kangaroo harvesting say it’s unsustainable and have convinced California to extend a ban on kangaroo imports. But are Australia’s world-famous roos really at risk?Christopher Johnson, Professor of Wildlife Conservation and ARC Australian Professorial Fellow, University of TasmaniaJohn Woinarski, Professor (conservation biology), Charles Darwin UniversityRosie Cooney, Visiting Fellow, Institute of Environmental Studies, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/435502015-07-08T20:05:25Z2015-07-08T20:05:25ZKanganomics: it’s not worth killing kangaroos<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87685/original/image-20150707-1279-12i5w0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Over a million kangaroos were killed in 2012 for their meat. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/john-schilling/356324891/">John Schilling/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recently there has been a renewed push to expand Australia’s kangaroo meat industry. Queensland Senator Barry O'Sullivan in February raised a <a href="http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/genpdf/chamber/hansards/7b131f75-a581-43c8-8045-70a726332d15/0106/hansard_frag.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">Senate motion</a> to support the kangaroo industry and just last week led a <a href="http://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/news/agriculture/general/news/new-roo-deal-brews/2735898.aspx?storypage=0">delegation to China</a> to expand the export market. </p>
<p>O'Sullivan and the industry <a href="http://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/news/agriculture/general/news/new-roo-deal-brews/2735898.aspx?storypage=0">claim</a> that the commercial kangaroo industry provides jobs for struggling regional centres. According to the <a href="http://www.kangaroo-industry.asn.au/morinfo/kangaroo_industry_background.pdf">Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia</a>, kangaroo meat provides 4,000 full time jobs and generates A$250-280 million to the economy. </p>
<p>But there has never been a comprehensive economic analysis of the worth of the industry. In a <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800915001408">recent paper</a> published in published in Ecological Economics, we show that the industry is worth far less than the industry states. </p>
<p>And that’s not including the costs of killing kangaroos, such as the value of kangaroos to the tourism industry. Therefore we argue that we need to regulate the industry in a new way that accounts for these costs. </p>
<h2>The kangaroo economy</h2>
<p>Kangaroos are an iconic species belonging to the family Macropodidae, which also includes wallabies, tree-kangaroos, pademelons and the quokka. The family is critical to ecosystem health as animals fertilise nutrient-poor soils and spread the seeds of native grasses and plants, and they are a major draw-card for international tourists. </p>
<p>Despite this, 1.61 million adult kangaroos were killed in 2012 to provide domestic and export products such as meat for human or animal consumption, and hides and skins for the production of leather goods.</p>
<h2>How many jobs?</h2>
<p>The employment and value numbers have never been justified and have never been revised downwards despite, for example, government figures showing that the value of kangaroo exports <a href="https://rirdc.infoservices.com.au/items/14-069">fell by A$52.6 million</a> or 53% between 2007 and 2012. This reduction occurred when the export market to the Russian Federation closed due to hygiene and animal welfare concerns.</p>
<p>The 4,000 jobs figure has further been promoted recently by Senator O’Sullivan who cites the kangaroo industry stating that the opening of the China market would add <a href="http://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/news/agriculture/general/news/new-roo-deal-brews/2735898.aspx?storypage=0">an additional 4,000 jobs</a>. </p>
<p>In our <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800915001408">recently published study</a> on the economics of the kangaroo industry we attempted to replicate the industry’s figures but were unable to do so. </p>
<p>Using data gathered by the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, and valuing domestic supply at export prices (due to data limitations), we estimated the value of the industry at A$88.8 million in 2011-12. </p>
<p>Moreover, we suggested, generously, that given the Australian economy employs around <a href="http://www.tai.org.au/node/1813">10 workers per million dollars of output</a> (when both direct and indirect labour is considered), the total employment supported by the commercial kangaroo industry is 888 full-time equivalent jobs.</p>
<p>This is generous because some industries in Australia employ far more workers per million dollars of output than others. For example, the <a href="http://www.tai.org.au/node/1813">healthcare sector</a> creates 9.95 direct jobs per million dollars of output while the mining sector creates 1.04 direct and 3.56 direct and indirect jobs per million dollars. </p>
<p>In fact, using Australian Bureau of Statistics <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/5209.0.55.0012008-09?OpenDocument">input-output tables</a> and 2008-9 figures, the hunting, fishing and trapping industry directly employs only 3.8 workers per million dollars of output. Using this figure, total direct (full-time equivalent) employment in the kangaroo industry is only 337 people. </p>
<p>This suggests that for the sake of jobs, the government would be better served by focusing its attention on industries that have a high labour requirement.</p>
<h2>There are costs as well</h2>
<p>But it is not just the overstated benefits that concern us as economists. In Economics 101 we teach students that an economic justification requires a comparison of benefits and costs. </p>
<p>In contrast, the Senator’s motion and industry’s focus on employment numbers considers only the benefits of the industry. If we truly wanted to expand jobs at any cost, we could expand the whaling or sealing industry, overfish our endangered marine species and log the country’s old-growth forests as well. </p>
<p>Thus, we need to balance the actual (and transparently-derived) economic benefits with the costs. For example, these costs could include potential negative effects on ecotourism. But commercial harvesting of kangaroos creates an external cost on anyone concerned with conservation and animal protection or anyone who feels an obligation to protect these iconic species. An external cost occurs when producing or consuming a good or service imposes a cost upon a third party. </p>
<p>Processors and exporters have never been required to pay for this cost. This creates an implicit subsidy, which is a cost that processors and exports should pay but don’t have to. Similarly, the absence of carbon pricing creates an implicit subsidy for coal-fired power plants. </p>
<p>We suggest that the way forward is to allow all concerned citizens of the world to have a say in the industry by using a tradeable permit scheme. Processors, shooters, ecotourism operators and ordinary citizens would be able to purchase the right to the kangaroo harvest from landholders. For instance, this would allow ecotourism operators to purchase a permit to reduce the killing of kangaroos and wallabies. Tradeable poermit systems are commonly used in both fisheries and carbon markets amongst other industries.</p>
<p>At the moment, the small number of processors and exporters pay only for the labour and capital resources needed to shoot, transport and process a kangaroo carcass. </p>
<p>Under this new regime, processors and exporters would need to compete with other legitimate interests, such as conservationists and animal protection advocates, for the right to harvest kangaroos. </p>
<p>This would result in the costs discussed above being factored into the decision to harvest kangaroos and the industry would achieve a more socially optimal level. The future of the industry would then be determined by what is good for everyone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43550/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neil is a non-paid Associate Academic Member of the Centre for Compassionate Conservation, UTS</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise is a researcher for the Centre for Compassionate Conservation based at the University of Technology Sydney. The research for this report was partly provided by the International Fund for Animal Welfare. </span></em></p>The kangaroo meat industry is worth far less than the industry states.Neil Perry, Research Lecturer, Western Sydney UniversityDr. Louise Boronyak, Senior Research Consultant, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/377572015-02-27T01:32:56Z2015-02-27T01:32:56ZFactCheck: are kangaroos at risk?<blockquote>
<p>“Senator Rhiannon embarrasses herself by sharing conspiracy theories about kangaroo numbers being in terminal decline. She only has to drive between Winton and Longreach at night to see the plagues of roos.” <strong>Queensland Nationals Senator Barry O’Sullivan, <a href="http://barryosullivan.com.au/the-greens-would-have-us-standing-naked-and-cold-in-a-virgin-forest-eating-wild-berries/">press release</a>, February 13, 2015.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Senator O'Sullivan’s comments, made after Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon <a href="http://nsw.greens.org.au/news/nsw/nationals-misleading-kangaroo-numbers-and-job-benefits">raised</a> <a href="http://lee-rhiannon.greensmps.org.au/content/speeches-parliament/adjournment-speech-kangaroos-iconic-species-risk">concern</a> over kangaroo populations being at risk, reflect a common view that Australia is swarming with kangaroos.</p>
<p>But how secure are kangaroo species? Are they in plague proportions, necessitating large-scale killing and a commercial industry, or are they in decline and at risk?</p>
<h2>Are ‘roos at risk?</h2>
<p>We don’t yet have clear evidence showing kangaroos are at risk of extinction. But we cannot afford to get too <a href="https://theconversation.com/mourn-our-lost-mammals-while-helping-the-survivors-battle-back-36126">comfortable</a>, given their historical decline.</p>
<p>The NSW Scientific Committee last year rejected a 2011 <a href="http://www.kangaroosatrisk.net/">nomination</a> that four species of kangaroos be listed as vulnerable. You can read their preliminary determinations for the four species <a href="http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/threatenedspecies/determinations/PDCommWallReject.pdf">here</a>, <a href="http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/threatenedspecies/determinations/PDEGreyKangReject.pdf">here</a>, <a href="http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/threatenedspecies/determinations/PDRedKangReject.pdf">here</a> and <a href="http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/threatenedspecies/determinations/PDWGreyKangReject.pdf">here</a>.</p>
<p>But despite what Senator O'Sullivan has seen on the night drive between Winton and Longreach (an area adjacent to a national park), Australia is not swarming with kangaroos. A plague is not biologically plausible because kangaroos are slow growing.</p>
<p>Juvenile mortality rates are high and female kangaroos tend to have only three or four joeys survive in their lifetime. Compare that to rabbits, which <a href="http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/scary.html">can produce</a> up to 14 young in a litter. Kangaroo populations, as a whole, do not grow more than 10% in a year.</p>
<p>While it’s true there are large kangaroo populations in some parts of Australia, in other parts they are scarce. As population numbers are reported to fluctuate a lot within a few short years, it depends on which period you are looking at.</p>
<p>So we should be very careful about blanket statements about “plagues” of kangaroos. They do not represent the overall picture.</p>
<h2>Historical decline</h2>
<p>Six species in the kangaroo family have gone <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/pid/7010.htm">extinct</a> since European settlement, with over 60 species remaining. Some species remain endangered, like the <a href="http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/determinations/BrushtailedRockWallabyEndSpListing.htm">brush-tailed rock-wallaby</a>, which was killed in the hundreds of thousands for its fur. Others remain in substantial numbers, but human history is littered with examples of causing the extinction of populous animals.</p>
<p>In 1982, CSIRO researchers <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/WR9820221.htm">Short and Grigg</a> reported that 85% of kangaroo populations had been reduced to below one per square kilometre in western Victoria. In <a href="http://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/Documents/forester_kang.pdf">Tasmania</a>, the kangaroo population is at 10% of pre-European settlement numbers.</p>
<h2>What can we infer from recent surveys?</h2>
<p>When asked by The Conversation for data to support her concern that kangaroos are at risk, Senator Rhiannon referred to <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/wildlife-trade/natives/wild-harvest/kangaroo-wallaby-statistics/kangaroo-population">government records</a> collected over the past 30 years from commercial harvest zones in four states, estimated from aerial surveys of transects. Animals seen from planes are multiplied by correction factors and extrapolated to entire zones. </p>
<p>As the graph below shows, these records showed kangaroo numbers fell between 2001 and 2011. (The federal government stopped providing national kangaroo population numbers online in 2011, although they remain reported on a state-by-state basis.)</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72729/original/image-20150223-21916-2rmfzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72729/original/image-20150223-21916-2rmfzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72729/original/image-20150223-21916-2rmfzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72729/original/image-20150223-21916-2rmfzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72729/original/image-20150223-21916-2rmfzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=615&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72729/original/image-20150223-21916-2rmfzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=615&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72729/original/image-20150223-21916-2rmfzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=615&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">National government data showing kangaroo population trends, 2001 to 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/wildlife-trade/natives/wild-harvest/kangaroo-wallaby-statistics/kangaroo-population?">Graphic by Daniel Ramp, data by Department of the Environment</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Referring to a 2011 <a href="http://www.kangaroosatrisk.net">nomination</a> to list kangaroos as threatened, Senator Rhiannon highlighted a decline of 40% in national populations between 2001 and 2011.</p>
<p>However, population estimates were then reported to <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/d3f58a89-4fdf-43ca-8763-bbfd6048c303/files/kangaroo-statistics.pdf">increase</a> between 2011 and 2013 due to reasonable rainfalls.</p>
<p>Nationals Senator O’Sullivan has also said <a href="http://barryosullivan.com.au/the-greens-would-have-us-standing-naked-and-cold-in-a-virgin-forest-eating-wild-berries/">that</a> populations in Queensland have more than doubled from about 12 million to more than 25 million over the past decade. The available <a href="http://www.qld.gov.au/environment/assets/documents/plants-animals/macropods/quota-submission2015.pdf">data</a> says that is true.</p>
<h2>Can both be right?</h2>
<p>Kangaroo populations grow slowly and decline rapidly during <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Kangaroos.html?id=ur1R5AobCQgC">drought</a>. Many localities in Queensland have recorded declines of over 50% since <a href="http://www.qld.gov.au/environment/assets/documents/plants-animals/macropods/quota-submission2015.pdf">2013</a>.</p>
<p>Both senators appear to be looking at two different windows of population estimates, ranging between two peaks ending with the 2001 and 2014 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drought_in_Australia#2013-2014">droughts</a>.</p>
<p>Senator O’Sullivan also recently <a href="http://barryosullivan.com.au/the-greens-would-have-us-standing-naked-and-cold-in-a-virgin-forest-eating-wild-berries/">said</a> that kangaroos are “taking up to half of the pastures on some drought-stricken properties across Western Queensland”.</p>
<p>However, <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/WR9890085.htm">CSIRO research</a> shows little direct impact on crops and <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/ZO08063.htm">little competition</a> with livestock for <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1442-9993.1996.tb00597.x/abstract">pasture</a>. Kangaroos do not benefit from <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/AM04087.htm">artificial watering points</a>, rarely drinking.</p>
<p>A spokesman for Senator O'Sullivan said that “heavy grazing pressures placed on properties by kangaroos across Western Queensland is anecdotal. However, we feel it is highly reliable.”</p>
<p>The elephant in the room is that the data isn’t really adequate to paint an accurate picture of kangaroo populations in Australia. Both Senator Rhiannon and the <a href="http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/threatenedspecies/determinations/PDEGreyKangReject.pdf">NSW Scientific Committee</a> have noted frailties with the data.</p>
<h2>Verdict</h2>
<p>We don’t yet have data showing that kangaroos are at risk, but we cannot afford to be <a href="https://theconversation.com/mourn-our-lost-mammals-while-helping-the-survivors-battle-back-36126">complacent</a> given their historical decline.</p>
<p>The senators are comparing apples and oranges, looking at different data sets from different time periods and extrapolating to paint a picture of either plague or near-endangerment.</p>
<p>There is less and less space for kangaroos: more kangaroos are killed for meat and skins than any other mammal <a href="http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ufaw/aw/2014/00000023/00000001/art00001">species</a>, they are killed for trespassing on farmland, shot illegally, hit by vehicles, caught in barbed-wire fences and persecuted by domestic dogs. </p>
<p>If we want kangaroos to remain a part of the Australian landscape and identity, we need better population data upon which appropriate policy can be based.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Review</h2>
<p>The article is based on the best available population data collected by the various states on commercially harvested kangaroo species, and the vast scientific knowledge that has been amassed on their biology and ecology. </p>
<p>Kangaroo populations definitely fluctuate with climate, a factor built into harvest models. For example, annual surveys since the early 1980s show dramatic declines (sometimes as high as 97%) related to several droughts from the 1980s to the 2000s, but then (albeit slower) recoveries of the populations during intervening times of better than average rainfall. However, because quotas reflect not only current population estimates but also the modelled impact of current and projected climate on numbers, quotas should protect populations from over-harvesting.</p>
<p>All available evidence points to the industry being sustainable; furthermore, quotas are almost never met, so even fewer kangaroos are harvested each year than sustainable quotas allow for, further buffering the populations from the possibility of over-harvesting.</p>
<p>The author’s comments on complacency, however, are also sensible; over-harvesting kangaroos prior to modern management did result in alarming declines, and the few studies of likely impacts of climate change on large kangaroos suggest a negative effect on these species.</p>
<p>Thankfully, though, and despite recent political wrangling over the issue, it is my view we currently have a carefully managed, well-run and scientifically sound kangaroo monitoring program, which informs the setting of sustainable harvest quotas, which, in turn, should safeguard kangaroo populations well into the future. – <strong>Karl Vernes</strong></p>
<hr>
<p><div class="callout"> Have you ever seen a “fact” that doesn’t look quite right? The Conversation’s FactCheck asks academic experts to test claims and see how true they are. We then ask a second academic to review an anonymous copy of the article. You can request a check at checkit@theconversation.edu.au. Please include the statement you would like us to check, the date it was made, and a link if possible.</div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37757/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Ramp received an Australian Academy of Science WH Gladstones Population and Environment Fund titled "Engagement of a growing Australian population with kangaroos - modelling for sustainable futures” in 2011 of $24,000. He is a director of Voiceless.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karl Vernes has received research funding from a range of funding bodies, including the Australian Research Council, the Hermon Slade Foundation, and the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service.</span></em></p>Are kangaroos in plague proportions, necessitating large-scale killing and a commercial industry, or are they in decline?Daniel Ramp, Senior Lecturer, University of Technology SydneyKarl Vernes, Associate Professor, School of Environmental & Rural Science, University of New EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/307952014-12-11T22:21:47Z2014-12-11T22:21:47ZNew evidence: culling kangaroos could help the environment<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66945/original/image-20141211-6027-1fp0wty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=411%2C2%2C881%2C634&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How many kangaroos is too many?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/birdsaspoetry/15223446926">David Jenkins/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Each year rangers in the Australian Capital Territory cull kangaroos as part of the territory’s <a href="http://www.tams.act.gov.au/parks-recreation/plants_and_animals/urban_wildlife/local_wildlife/kangaroos">Kangaroo Management Plan</a>. This year they killed a few over 1,500 kangaroos. </p>
<p>Even though millions of kangaroos are killed for their skin and meat in other parts of Australia, the kangaroo cull never fails to provoke <a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberras-kangaroo-cull-to-begin-after-challenge-fails-20140611-zs3w1.html">controversy</a>, with opponents suggesting there is no evidence that reducing kangaroos numbers helps the environment. </p>
<p>For many years, Australian conservationists have expressed concern over the potential harm large kangaroo numbers could have on other wildlife. But evidence for such impacts has been limited.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0105966">new research</a> published today in the journal PLOS One we show there’s a link between kangaroo numbers and the quality of habitat for reptiles in temperate grassland and grassy woodlands in south-eastern Australia.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qgIqLY1VdCc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Brett Howland describes the impact of kangaroos on reptiles.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Culling kangaroos</h2>
<p>Kangaroos are a group of large grazing marsupials. Iconic Australian species include the common wallaroo, eastern grey kangaroo, western grey kangaroo and red kangaroo.</p>
<p>Every year, millions of kangaroos have been harvested for their skins and meat. Farmers have also been permitted to shoot them to reduce competition with domestic livestock for food and water.</p>
<p>While this number seems large, large-scale population surveys over large parts of the Australian continent have reported the total number of kangaroos is in excess of <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/wildlife-trade/natives/wild-harvest/kangaroo-wallaby-statistics/kangaroo-population#2011">25 million animals</a>. Those results show kangaroos are one of the most abundant large land mammals on the planet.</p>
<p>Historically, Aboriginal hunting, drought and predators such as dingoes have controlled kangaroo populations. The loss of these controls in many areas has allowed kangaroo populations to flourish. </p>
<p>In some areas, there are more than 300 kangaroos per square kilometre.</p>
<p>At such large numbers kangaroos graze on grassy vegetation until it is like lawn, which leaves no shelter for other animals, such as insects, birds and reptiles.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58557/original/cyfcw2ww-1410249717.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58557/original/cyfcw2ww-1410249717.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58557/original/cyfcw2ww-1410249717.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58557/original/cyfcw2ww-1410249717.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58557/original/cyfcw2ww-1410249717.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58557/original/cyfcw2ww-1410249717.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58557/original/cyfcw2ww-1410249717.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58557/original/cyfcw2ww-1410249717.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Result of high kangaroo numbers on ground cover.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brett Howland</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Managers of conservation areas have resorted to culling to reduce kangaroo numbers in several areas. This lethal control was in response to pressure to stop kangaroos harming biodiversity. The operation of these “conservation culls’” has been relatively small-scale to date. For example, <a href="http://www.tams.act.gov.au/parks-recreation/plants_and_animals/urban_wildlife/local_wildlife/kangaroos/2013-kangaroo-control-program-questions-and-answers">1,601 kangaroos were culled in ACT nature reserves in 2014</a>.</p>
<p>But these actions have caused an enormous amount of controversy, such as protests, vandalism and court challenges to government policy. Opponents of lethal control of kangaroo numbers have claimed there was insufficient evidence of the harmful effects of kangaroo grazing to justify culling a native animal.</p>
<h2>Look to the reptiles</h2>
<p>Native reptile populations are an excellent indicator of grassland health. This is because they depend on grass-cover for food and shelter. Reptiles are an important part of the food web, being prey for birds and small mammals. They also eat insects, which helps control pests.</p>
<p>Our recent study examined reptiles living in different grassy habitats across south-eastern Australian. These habitats also supported kangaroo numbers ranging from 25 to 360 kangaroos per square kilometre.</p>
<p>The study looked at whether kangaroos change grassy habitats, and how these changes might affect reptiles. </p>
<p>In habitats with low kangaroo grazing, reptiles were more than three times as abundant, and contained twice as many species of reptile than compared to areas with high kangaroo grazing levels.</p>
<p>The study showed no one single level of grazing was good for all species. Legless lizards, including the threatened striped legless lizard, were most common in areas of moderate kangaroo grazing (50 to 100 kangaroos per square kilometre in grasslands). </p>
<p>But the eastern three-lined earless skink was more common in areas with low kangaroo grazing (fewer than 50 kangaroos per square kilometre in grasslands). Importantly, no reptile species were more common at high kangaroo grazing. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58556/original/vdwwzgt5-1410249392.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58556/original/vdwwzgt5-1410249392.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58556/original/vdwwzgt5-1410249392.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58556/original/vdwwzgt5-1410249392.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58556/original/vdwwzgt5-1410249392.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58556/original/vdwwzgt5-1410249392.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58556/original/vdwwzgt5-1410249392.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58556/original/vdwwzgt5-1410249392.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Striped legless lizard - a threatened grassland species.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brett Howland</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The need for different kangaroo-grazing levels for different reptile species has created a problem for reserve managers. Do they manage grazing to increase species abundance and diversity? Or do they manage grazing to increase abundance of a threatened species?</p>
<p>The answer might be to create a mix of areas subject to light and moderate grazing across the landscape. This may require a variety of approaches, such as fencing, culling and fire.</p>
<h2>Culling for conservation</h2>
<p>Control of kangaroo numbers has been undertaken in all of the states and territories in Australia, however, only the ACT has a published government policy on kangaroos and conservation – <a href="http://www.tams.act.gov.au/parks-recreation/plants_and_animals/urban_wildlife/local_wildlife/kangaroos">the ACT Kangaroo Management Plan</a>.</p>
<p>Under this policy, kangaroo numbers are controlled across several high-value conservation reserves. The new results support this policy and suggest expanding the program beyond a few high conservation reserves could benefit a range of reptiles, especially where there is a mix of areas subject to low intensity and moderate grazing within reserves.</p>
<p>This research adds to a growing body of evidence that too many kangaroos can harm the environment — just like too many sheep, cattle, horses or any other large herbivores can.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30795/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brett Howland has consulted for the ACT Government, the Australian Government, and Bush Heritage. Financial support was provided by Canberra Birds Conservation Fund, Bush Heritage Andyinc Foundation Environmental Research Postgraduate Scholarship and the Australian Government’s Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education Australian Postgraduate Award. Financial support was also provided by the Australian Government for biodiversity monitoring activities at a single research property, and by the ACT Government to conduct several kangaroo counts that formed part of this research.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Lindenmayer has received funding from the ARC. He is a member of Birdlife Australia and the Canberra Ornithologists Group</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Iain Gordon receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Each year rangers in the Australian Capital Territory cull kangaroos as part of the territory’s Kangaroo Management Plan. This year they killed a few over 1,500 kangaroos. Even though millions of kangaroos…Brett Howland, Phd candidate in conservation biology, Australian National UniversityDavid Lindenmayer, Professor, The Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityIain Gordon, Chief Executive, James Hutton InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/328372014-10-15T19:25:45Z2014-10-15T19:25:45ZGiant kangaroos were more likely to walk than hop<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61476/original/38hkm2ys-1413118165.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Modern day kangaroos exhibit a hopping form of locomotion.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/0ystercatcher/14763110641">Leo/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Extinct giant kangaroos may have been built more for walking, rather than hopping like today’s kangaroos, especially when moving slowly.</p>
<p>These <a href="http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/mesozoicmammals/p/Sthenurus.htm">sthenurine</a> kangaroos existed until around 30,000 years ago, diverging from a common (hopping) ancestor with the kangaroo/ wallaby group around 13 million years ago, and leaving no descendants. Our research, <a href="http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0109888">published today</a> in PLOS ONE, demonstrates that they may have employed a kind of locomotion not seen in living kangaroos: bipedal walking using one leg at a time.</p>
<p>Sthenurines have been known about for a long time – they were first described in the late 19th century by naturalist <a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/science-of-natural-history/biographies/richard-owen/">Richard Owen</a> at the British Museum of Natural History. Our main knowledge of these kangaroos comes from the abundant fossil sites of the Australian Pleistocene era (the past couple of million years).</p>
<h2>These roos were made for walking</h2>
<p>Sthenurines were larger and more robustly proportioned than modern large kangaroos. The smaller forms were about the size of modern grey kangaroos but the largest one, <em><a href="http://australianmuseum.net.au/Procoptodon-goliah">Procoptodon goliah</a></em>, was about three times the size of a modern large kangaroo, weighing up to 240kg and standing more than 2m tall. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61462/original/4kffk5ff-1413066796.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61462/original/4kffk5ff-1413066796.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61462/original/4kffk5ff-1413066796.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61462/original/4kffk5ff-1413066796.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61462/original/4kffk5ff-1413066796.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61462/original/4kffk5ff-1413066796.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61462/original/4kffk5ff-1413066796.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61462/original/4kffk5ff-1413066796.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sthenurine kangaroos most likely had a bipedal walking gate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Christine Janis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sthenurines also had short faces and powerful jaws. Their teeth show that they browsed for a range of food in contrast to the long-faced modern large kangaroos, which eat mainly grass.</p>
<p>They had specialised hands with two long delicate fingers and a specialised shoulder girdle. This indicates they used their forelimbs to reach up and gather vegetation.</p>
<p>I first became interested in sthenurine kangaroos when I saw a skeleton in a museum in Australia and it made me wonder if these animals could hop like modern kangaroos.</p>
<p>All sthenurines have a back that is relatively short with large interlocking vertebrae in the lumbar region – in contrast to the longer and flexible back of modern kangaroos – and this individual appeared to be arthritic in this area. </p>
<p>So we set out to measure aspects of the anatomy of the limb bones of a diversity of modern and fossil kangaroos, taking up to 101 measurements on each individual.</p>
<p>We showed that, despite their long legs, in many ways sthenurines were more like tree kangaroos (which rarely hop) than the terrestrial hoppers. They appeared to be constructed for power rather than for speed. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61743/original/8k7j6th8-1413332352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61743/original/8k7j6th8-1413332352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61743/original/8k7j6th8-1413332352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61743/original/8k7j6th8-1413332352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61743/original/8k7j6th8-1413332352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61743/original/8k7j6th8-1413332352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61743/original/8k7j6th8-1413332352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61743/original/8k7j6th8-1413332352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tree kangaroos rarely hop.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/-wichid/4737556277">Flickr/Richard Ashurst</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But we needed more data on a bigger diversity of both living and fossil kangaroos. Although there was some good material at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, much of the data collection had to be done on trips to Australia while visiting family or doing other research.</p>
<p>The measurements we collected over the years showed that sthenurines were indeed unlike other kangaroos in many ways.</p>
<p>This was especially in the pelvis (more area for the attachment of the gluteal muscles that help us balance while standing on one leg), and in the ankle joint (more strongly braced against torsion, such as those of hoofed mammals), and they also had relatively bigger hip and knee joints.</p>
<p>They also lacked the specialised features of large modern kangaroos that relate to their fast hopping locomotion, such as a long ischium (posterior pelvis), to give a powerful advantage to muscles retracing the legs.</p>
<p>All of the differences could be explained by the hypothesis that sthenurines were bearing their weight on one leg at a time, walking bipedally.</p>
<h2>Putting the pieces together</h2>
<p>Studies on the physiology of hopping locomotion provided us with an understanding of how sthenurines may have evolved. As well as hopping being difficult for large animals (modern large kangaroos being close to the limit in terms of strain on the Achilles tendon), it is also biomechanically impossible to hop very slowly. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61739/original/prtv87sr-1413331389.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61739/original/prtv87sr-1413331389.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61739/original/prtv87sr-1413331389.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61739/original/prtv87sr-1413331389.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61739/original/prtv87sr-1413331389.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61739/original/prtv87sr-1413331389.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61739/original/prtv87sr-1413331389.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Modern kangaroos use their tail as a fifth leg.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/eisbaerchen/12406603573">Flickr/Carmen Eisbar</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Modern kangaroos use a different type of slow gait, a pentapedal (five-footed) walk, using their tail as a fifth limb to propel their hind legs around their fore legs. This is way that large kangaroos move most of the time. But it requires a flexible back and hands that can support the body weight – both features lacking in sthenurines with their stiff backs and specialised hands. </p>
<p>So sthenurines would not have been able to move in this fashion, and as hopping very slowly is physiologically impossible, they must have used some other type of locomotion at slow speeds.</p>
<p>This may be how their bipedal walking originally evolved, and it may have been this new type of locomotion that enabled them to evolve into body sizes much larger than modern kangaroos, where hopping would be difficult if not impossible.</p>
<p>Previous workers have not considered that sthenurines might have been different in their locomotion from modern kangaroos. But extinct animals may not have precise analogs amongst modern forms. Indeed, how would scientists interpret the ecology and behaviour of a giraffe or an elephant if these were only known from fossils? </p>
<p>The long legs of sthenurines reflect their common ancestry with other kangaroos, and while smaller sthenurines undoubtedly employed some hopping, their legs were clearly specialised in a fashion different to that of modern large kangaroos, and apparently also adapted for walking.</p>
<p>Our hypothesis explains the differences in anatomy between sthenurines and other kangaroos, and shows how their early adoption of a specialised browsing diet would require a new type of slow locomotion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32837/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christine Janis receives funding from Brown University and The Bushnell Foundation Teaching and Research Grant.</span></em></p>Extinct giant kangaroos may have been built more for walking, rather than hopping like today’s kangaroos, especially when moving slowly. These sthenurine kangaroos existed until around 30,000 years ago…Christine Janis, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology , Brown UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/221152014-01-17T05:24:17Z2014-01-17T05:24:17ZThat’s no kangaroo on the manuscript – so what is it?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39262/original/66gwh95m-1389921932.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Something hidden in manuscript – what could it be?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Les Enluminures</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The discovery of a Portuguese manuscript purporting to include an illustration of a kangaroo has been used to question which European power was first to “discover” Australia.</p>
<p>The drawing is included in a pocket-sized religious manuscript, dated at between 1580 and 1620, and has widely been described as a kangaroo in various <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/the-roo-that-could-rewrite-history-20140115-30vaw.html">media reports</a>.</p>
<p>The Les Enluminures gallery that <a href="http://www.lesenluminures.com/im01.php?cat=manuscripts&req=S7QytqoutrKwUkrNyymNT04sUbJOtDKyqs60MrAutjI0tFLKTcwrLU4uyiwoKVayzrQyBAlbKdkqWdcWW1lC9SUWJWcgaYRgrCoLilLL8KmsBQA&id=351">holds the manuscript</a>, currently for sale, first fuelled the Australian debate with its description of the illustration:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Of particular interest are the images reflecting Portuguese exploration, including a kangaroo or wallaby, and two small male figures, possibly natives of Australia or elsewhere in Southeast Asia.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39269/original/5mmq7myk-1389927676.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39269/original/5mmq7myk-1389927676.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39269/original/5mmq7myk-1389927676.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39269/original/5mmq7myk-1389927676.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39269/original/5mmq7myk-1389927676.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39269/original/5mmq7myk-1389927676.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39269/original/5mmq7myk-1389927676.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39269/original/5mmq7myk-1389927676.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kangaroos at Pinnaroo Valley Memorial Park.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/paul dynamik</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The first Europeans to Australia</h2>
<p>Exactly which European nation was the first to discover Australia is still unclear. While it is well established that the Dutch mariner Willem Janszoon and his crew on the <a href="http://www.duyfken.com/original-duyfken">Duyfken</a> contacted Cape York in 1606, it is also possible that Portuguese mariners might have preceded the Dutch.</p>
<p>Given the extent of their remarkable maritime empire in the 15th to 17th centuries, and the advanced state of Portuguese navigation at that time, contact with the Australian landmass would seem plausible.</p>
<p>Several lines of evidence have been advanced for a Portuguese discovery of Australia. These include the so-called Dieppe maps, and purported Portuguese relics from several sites on the Australian coast.</p>
<p>Most of these are disputed, so that the case for an early Portuguese contact with Australia appears to a non-historian, such as me, problematic.</p>
<h2>Another possible candidate</h2>
<p>However, several alternative identifications of this manuscript animal are possible, and in many respects the it resembles an aardvark much more than any kangaroo.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39270/original/s4w7x5kg-1389927924.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39270/original/s4w7x5kg-1389927924.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39270/original/s4w7x5kg-1389927924.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39270/original/s4w7x5kg-1389927924.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39270/original/s4w7x5kg-1389927924.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39270/original/s4w7x5kg-1389927924.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39270/original/s4w7x5kg-1389927924.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39270/original/s4w7x5kg-1389927924.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An aardvark – looks very much like a kangaroo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/diphthongasaurus rex</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The relevant features include the animal’s elongated and terminally-flattened snout, its long narrow ears, its robust thorax, and the proportions its limbs.</p>
<p>While kangaroos possess a relatively elongated snout, this is substantially more elongated in aardvarks, and seemingly the manuscript animal. A flat-ended snout is not found in any kangaroos or wallabies, but is characteristic of aardvarks, and indicated in the drawing.</p>
<p>The ears of aardvarks, like those in the drawing, are relatively much longer and narrower than those of kangaroos.</p>
<p>No less significant are the thorax and the limbs. Aardvarks are powerful diggers and this is reflected in their deep thorax and stout upper arms. Similar features are indicated in the drawn animal, and distinguish both animals from kangaroos which have shallow chests and relatively slight upper arms.</p>
<p>The relative proportions of forelimbs and hindlimbs of the manuscript animal are consistent with it being an aardvark. As indeed is its posture, since aardvarks like other strong digging mammals often use a bipedal stance and balance on their hindlimbs alone. </p>
<p>The manuscript drawing seems to have been based on a live, rather than a tanned specimen. Features that suggest this are the life-like disposition of its head and especially its ears, and its stance. This argues for an animal native to an area close to Portugal, rather than one as distant as Australia.</p>
<h2>Where to find an aardvark</h2>
<p>The aardvark is broadly distributed across sub-Saharan Africa, and distribution maps indicate a range that extends close to the west coast of that continent. This is relevant for this coast is where the Portuguese established a series of trading posts in the 15th century.</p>
<p>That a live aardvark might have been accessible to the manuscript artist might seem unlikely. However, Portuguese kings are known to have maintained menageries for centuries before the manuscript date.</p>
<p>Vernon Kisling’s <a href="http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9780849321009">Zoo and Aquarium History</a> tells how King Dom Manuel I (reign 1495-1521) maintained at his royal palace menagerie in Ribiera (Lisbon) antelope, lions and a trained cheetah, and at a second royal menagerie in Estậos, a herd of elephants and other large animals.</p>
<p>Based on these considerations, I believe that the identification of the manuscript animal as a kangaroo is highly questionable, and certainly not supportive of the suggestion that the Portuguese contacted Australia before the Dutch.</p>
<p>Other, more substantial, lines of evidence are needed to make that case.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/22115/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Pridmore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The discovery of a Portuguese manuscript purporting to include an illustration of a kangaroo has been used to question which European power was first to “discover” Australia. The drawing is included in…Peter Pridmore, Lecturer, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/96242012-10-10T19:36:58Z2012-10-10T19:36:58ZAustralia’s commercial kangaroo industry: hopping to nowhere<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/15726/original/v859dh32-1348189047.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An average of three million kangaroos are killed per year for pet meat, meat for human consumption and hides.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">DarthShrine/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/kangaroo-industrys-sham-science-hides-ugly-truth-20101210-18ry8.html">commercial kangaroo industry</a> is the world’s largest consumptive mammalian wildlife industry. Calculated on a ten-year period, an average of <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/wildlife-trade/wild-harvest/index.html">three million</a> adult kangaroos are killed each year in the rangelands for pet meat, meat for human consumption and hides. But pressures on the industry may well see its collapse.</p>
<p>For example, despite years of negotiations, Russia is <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2012/s3577170.htm">still refusing</a> to lift its ban on Australia’s kangaroo meat. Russia once accounted for 70% of exports from the commercial kangaroo industry. But in August 2009, the country banned imports of kangaroo meat from Australia due to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2009/s2643077.htm">hygiene concerns</a>, citing high levels of E. coli and salmonella. Despite the Australian Government investing <a href="http://www.alp.org.au/federal-government/news/training-support-kangaroo-harvesters/">at least $400,000</a> to address these issues, Russia remains unconvinced about food safety. The ban may be here to stay.</p>
<p>Another lucrative kangaroo product is leather, used for soccer shoes and other high value products. Adidas, a leading supplier of sport shoes, has also <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2197929/Kangaroo-leather-gets-boot-Adidas-Manufacturer-longer-use-product-shoes-worn-Premier-League-stars.html?ito=feeds-newsxml">banned kangaroo leather</a> due to concerns for the welfare of dependent young kangaroos killed or abandoned as a result of the commercial kill.</p>
<p>These bans do not bode well. A representative from the Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia was <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-18/kangaroo-industry-declining/4019568">recently reported saying</a>: “I think we are starting to have to seriously consider the end of the kangaroo industry nationally.”</p>
<p>But how did we end up here? And where can we go?</p>
<h2>European and colonial contact with kangaroos</h2>
<p>In 1770, Captain James Cook described the kangaroo as being like a mouse in colour, a greyhound in size and shape but a hare or deer in locomotion. Europeans killed kangaroos initially as a food source for the colonies and then later for recreation. However, in the 1800s pastoralists increasingly saw kangaroos and other marsupials as “pests” that needed to be killed. </p>
<p>By the 1880s, all of the states of eastern Australia had introduced legislation for the destruction of kangaroos and wallabies. For example, NSW’s <em><a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/num_act/paspa1880n32363/">Pasture and Stock Protection Act 1880</a></em> declared kangaroos and wallabies to be vermin and bounties were offered for their heads. As a result, a massive number of these animals were killed.</p>
<p>From 1883 to 1920, NSW killed around 3 million bettongs and potoroos (Potoroids). Three of these species are now extinct (possibly due in part to the introduction of the red fox). Although all <a href="http://www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/BHAN-537AB3?open">macropods</a> are now protected species, the long shadow of these efforts at extermination are still felt today.</p>
<h2>Concern for kangaroos</h2>
<p>Scientific study of kangaroos developed during the 20th century, resulting in an increased interest in their conservation. In 1969, CSIRO researcher John Calaby argued that the red kangaroo had become endangered due to “uncontrolled meat hunting and drought”. In 1974, the <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/wildlife-trade/publications/kangaroo/harvesting/roobg-07.html">United States Government banned</a> the import of kangaroo products.</p>
<p>In response, the Commonwealth Government banned the export of kangaroo products and took some power over the industry from the state governments. The Commonwealth’s ban was later lifted and a regulatory <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/wildlife-trade/publications/kangaroo/quotas-background.html">system with quotas</a> was put in place. This still operates today.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/15741/original/5gv984vj-1348203317.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/15741/original/5gv984vj-1348203317.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/15741/original/5gv984vj-1348203317.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/15741/original/5gv984vj-1348203317.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/15741/original/5gv984vj-1348203317.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/15741/original/5gv984vj-1348203317.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/15741/original/5gv984vj-1348203317.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Australian government carefully regulates the export of kangaroo meat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">jazzijava/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Pest status</h2>
<p>From its earliest beginnings, the kangaroo industry has relied upon popular perceptions of kangaroos as “pests”, particularly in rural communities. Even today it is frequently argued that kangaroo populations <a href="http://article.wn.com/view/2012/07/11/Kangaroo_plague_has_Queensland_under_siege/">must be reduced</a>. Common reasons cited are that they compete with livestock for resources in the rangelands and that their numbers have increased because of the installation of artificial waterholes.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-pests-to-profits-making-kangaroos-valuable-to-farmers-9">the programs of management</a> have not correlated with increased pastoral productivity, and long-term observations in north-western NSW indicate that kangaroos and livestock only <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Foraging_Behaviour_of_the_Arid_Zone.html?id=cWzWNAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y">compete</a> when pasture is drought-affected. Kangaroos and livestock have different <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/title/comparison-of-marsupial-and-placental-behaviour/oclc/036550370">foraging styles</a> that generally lead to the two groups being ecologically separate.</p>
<p>The red kangaroo, which is the most abundant rangeland species, does not show <a href="http://www.andrewisles.com/all-stock/publication/animals-of-arid-australia-out-on-their-own-">water-focused grazing</a> as livestock do.</p>
<p>The latest <a href="http://www.gamecouncil.nsw.gov.au/docs/mcleod.pdf">economic assessment</a> found that kangaroos cost pastoralists around $44 million a year. The cost to graziers was estimated at $15.5 million. The cost to crop farmers was estimated to be $11.9 million and fencing damage was estimated at $16.7 million.</p>
<p>This assessment did not take account of any of the <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/ZO10020.htm">benefits</a> of having kangaroos in the landscape. Indeed, kangaroos have 16 million years of evolutionary history in the Australian landscape and may contribute to its well being.</p>
<h2>Where to from here</h2>
<p>If the commercial kangaroo industry collapsed tomorrow, it appears likely that some landowners may take matters into their own hands and shoot kangaroos non-commercially. Such an occurrence may present a risk to the conservation of kangaroos and to their welfare. <a href="http://kb.rspca.org.au/What-is-the-difference-between-non-commercial-and-commercial-kangaroo-shooting_78.html">Research by the RSPCA</a> found that there is a far higher degree of cruelty in non-commercial killing than in commercial killing. Issues arise around the decreased accuracy of shooting by farm personnel.</p>
<p>It is time for the federal and state governments to reassess kangaroo management. The industry has been based upon erroneous underpinnings, portraying kangaroos as “pests” without any clear justification. Landowners may need options in the cases where kangaroos are reducing the productivity of their properties. But shooting kangaroos does not need to be the first response.</p>
<p>One option being trialled in <a href="http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/handle/48738">other countries</a> are insurance policies whereby pastoralists are able to insure against damage caused by a particular wild species and receive payments when damage occurs. Another approach is for landholders to benefit from wildlife via <a href="http://www.rootourism.com.au/">ecotourism</a>. Perhaps it is time for Australia to consider such approaches and take pride in our kangaroos.</p>
<p><em>This article is partly based upon Keely Boom et al, <a href="http://ro.uow.edu.au/asj/vol1/iss1/3/">“Pest’ and resource: A legal history of Australia’s kangaroos’</a> (2012) 1(1) Animal Studies Journal 17-40.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/9624/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keely Boom works for THINKK, the Think Tank for Kangaroos at the University of Technology Sydney. THINKK is supported by the Sherman Foundation, the Institute for Sustainable Futures, Voiceless: the animal protection institute, WSPA, the Clover Moore Salary Trust Fund, IFAW and the Albert George and Nancy Caroline Youngman Trust.</span></em></p>Australia’s commercial kangaroo industry is the world’s largest consumptive mammalian wildlife industry. Calculated on a ten-year period, an average of three million adult kangaroos are killed each year…Keely Boom, Research Fellow, THINKK, the Think Tank for Kangaroos, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/46592011-12-15T19:34:16Z2011-12-15T19:34:16ZOrdering the vegetarian meal? There’s more animal blood on your hands<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/6284/original/z46cr59g-1323402117.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Being vegetarian saves cows' lives, but threatens the future of other sentient creatures.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">nunro</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article was published in 2011.</em>
<em>A <a href="https://theconversation.com/vegetarians-cause-environmental-damage-but-meat-eaters-arent-off-the-hook-6090">follow-up article</a> refuted its claims.</em> </p>
<hr>
<p>The ethics of eating red meat have been grilled recently by critics who question its consequences for environmental health and animal welfare. But if you want to minimise animal suffering and promote more sustainable agriculture, adopting a vegetarian diet might be the worst possible thing you could do.</p>
<p>Renowned ethicist <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/peter-singer-2863">Peter Singer</a> <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_way_we_eat.html?id=hKQQAQAAMAAJ">says</a> if there is a range of ways of feeding ourselves, we should choose the way that causes the least unnecessary harm to animals. Most animal rights advocates say this means we should eat plants rather than animals. </p>
<p>It takes somewhere between two to ten kilos of plants, depending on the type of plants involved, to produce one kilo of animal. Given the limited amount of productive land in the world, it would seem to some to make more sense to focus our culinary attentions on plants, because we would arguably get more energy per hectare for human consumption. Theoretically this should also mean fewer sentient animals would be killed to feed the ravenous appetites of ever more humans.</p>
<p>But before scratching rangelands-produced red meat off the “good to eat” list for ethical or environmental reasons, let’s test these presumptions. </p>
<p>Published figures suggest that, in Australia, producing wheat and other grains results in:</p>
<ul>
<li>at least 25 times more sentient animals being killed per kilogram of useable protein</li>
<li>more environmental damage, and </li>
<li>a great deal more animal cruelty than does farming red meat.</li>
</ul>
<p>How is this possible?</p>
<p>Agriculture to produce wheat, rice and pulses requires clear-felling native vegetation. That act alone results in the deaths of thousands of Australian animals and plants per hectare. Since Europeans arrived on this continent we have lost <a href="http://www.penguin.com.au/products/9780143006961/borrowed-time-australia-s-environmental-crisis-and-what-we-must-do-about-it">more than half</a> of Australia’s unique native vegetation, mostly to increase production of monocultures of introduced species for human consumption. </p>
<p>Most of Australia’s arable land is already in use. If more Australians want their nutritional needs to be met by plants, our arable land will need to be even more intensely farmed. This will require a net increase in the use of fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides and other threats to biodiversity and environmental health. Or, if existing laws are changed, more native vegetation could be cleared for agriculture (an area the size of Victoria plus Tasmania <a href="http://www.redmeatgreenfacts.com.au/Myth-Bust">would be needed</a> to produce the additional amount of plant-based food required).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/6283/original/g98hz4sm-1323402117.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/6283/original/g98hz4sm-1323402117.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6283/original/g98hz4sm-1323402117.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6283/original/g98hz4sm-1323402117.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6283/original/g98hz4sm-1323402117.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6283/original/g98hz4sm-1323402117.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6283/original/g98hz4sm-1323402117.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australian cattle eat mostly pasture, reducing their environmental impact.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">chris runoff</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/executive-lifestyle/chewing-it-over/story-e6frg8jo-1226093262311">cattle slaughtered in Australia</a> feed <a href="http://www.mla.com.au/Prices-and-markets/Trends-and-analysis/Beef/Lotfeeding">solely on pasture</a>. This is usually rangelands, which constitute about 70% of the continent. </p>
<p>Grazing occurs on primarily native ecosystems. These have and maintain far higher levels of native biodiversity than croplands. The rangelands can’t be used to produce crops, so production of meat here doesn’t limit production of plant foods. Grazing is the only way humans can get substantial nutrients from 70% of the continent.</p>
<p>In some cases rangelands have been substantially altered to increase the percentage of stock-friendly plants. Grazing can also cause significant damage such as soil loss and erosion. But it doesn’t result in the native ecosystem “blitzkrieg” required to grow crops.</p>
<p>This environmental damage is causing some well-known environmentalists to question their own preconceptions. British environmental advocate George Monbiot, for example, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/06/meat-production-veganism-deforestation">publically converted</a> from vegan to omnivore after reading Simon Fairlie’s <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Meat.html?id=iid8mTmXZZIC&redir_esc=y">expose</a> about meat’s sustainability. And environmental activist Lierre Keith <a href="http://lierrekeith.com/vegmyth.htm">documented the awesome damage</a> to global environments involved in producing plant foods for human consumption. </p>
<p>In Australia we can also meet part of our protein needs using <a href="http://theconversation.com/from-pests-to-profits-making-kangaroos-valuable-to-farmers-9">sustainably wild-harvested kangaroo meat</a>. Unlike introduced meat animals, they don’t damage native biodiversity. They are soft-footed, <a href="http://www.awt.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/GHG_Roo_paper.pdf">low methane-producing</a> and have relatively low water requirements. They also produce an exceptionally <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/wellbeing/blogs/chew-on-this/eating-to-beat-inflammation-20110801-1i7un.html.">healthy</a> low-fat meat.</p>
<p>In Australia 70% of the beef produced for human consumption comes from animals raised on grazing lands with very little or no grain supplements. At any time, only <a href="http://www.feedlots.com.au/images/pdfs/feedlot_industry_faqs.pdf">2% of Australia’s national herd</a> of cattle are eating grains in feed lots; the other 98% are raised on and feeding on grass. Two-thirds of cattle slaughtered in Australia <a href="http://www.mla.com.au/Prices-and-markets/Trends-and-analysis/Beef/Lotfeeding">feed solely on pasture</a>. </p>
<p>To produce protein from grazing beef, cattle are killed. One death delivers (on average, across Australia’s grazing lands) a carcass of <a href="http://www.meattradenewsdaily.co.uk/news/070211/australia___heavier_beef_carcass_weights_.aspx.">about 288 kilograms</a>. This is approximately <a href="http://www.ausmeat.com.au/media/3422/beef%20yield%20guide.pdf">68% boneless meat</a> which, at <a href="http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1053&context=hbspapers&sei-redir=1#search=%22protein%20content%20beef%20australia%22">23% protein</a> equals 45kg of protein per animal killed. This means 2.2 animals killed for each 100kg of useable animal protein produced. </p>
<p>Producing protein from wheat means ploughing pasture land and planting it with seed. Anyone who has sat on a ploughing tractor knows the predatory birds that follow you all day are not there because they have nothing better to do. Ploughing and harvesting kill small mammals, snakes, lizards and other animals in vast numbers. In addition, millions of mice are poisoned in grain storage facilities every year. </p>
<p>However, the largest and best-researched loss of sentient life is the poisoning of mice during <a href="http://www.cse.csiro.au/news/documents/Mouse_Plagues.pdf">plagues</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/6314/original/jf3ptr38-1323654679.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/6314/original/jf3ptr38-1323654679.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6314/original/jf3ptr38-1323654679.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6314/original/jf3ptr38-1323654679.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6314/original/jf3ptr38-1323654679.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6314/original/jf3ptr38-1323654679.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6314/original/jf3ptr38-1323654679.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">With its soft feet and low water use, kangaroo is a source of less ecologically damaging meat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">No Dust</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Each area of grain production in Australia has a mouse plague on average <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/7397814?selectedversion=NBD24565328">every four years</a>, with 500-1000 <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2005.00458.x/abstract">mice per hectare</a>. Poisoning kills at least <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/7397814?selectedversion=NBD24565328">80% of the mice</a>.</p>
<p>At least 100 mice are killed per hectare per year (500/4 × 0.8) to grow grain. Average yields are about <a href="http://www.ausgrain.com.au/Back%20Issues/177ybgrn08/30_Wheat.pdf">1.4 tonnes of wheat/hectare</a>; 13% of the wheat is <a href="http://www.awb.com.au/customers/australianwheat/">useable protein</a>. Therefore, at least 55 sentient animals die to produce 100kg of useable plant protein: 25 times more than for the same amount of rangelands beef.</p>
<p>Some of this grain is used to “finish” beef cattle in feed lots (some is food for dairy cattle, pigs and poultry), but it is still the case that many more sentient lives are sacrificed to produce useable protein from grains than from rangelands cattle.</p>
<p>There is a further issue to consider here: the question of sentience – the capacity to feel, perceive or be conscious. </p>
<p>You might not think the billions of insects and spiders killed by grain production are sentient, though they perceive and respond to the world around them. You may dismiss snakes and lizards as cold-blooded creatures incapable of sentience, though they form pair bonds and care for their young. But what about mice? </p>
<p>Mice are far more sentient than we thought. They sing <a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.0030386">complex, personalised love songs</a> to each other that get more complex over time. Singing of any kind is a rare behaviour among mammals, previously known only to occur in whales, bats and humans.</p>
<p>Girl mice, like swooning human teenagers, <a href="http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/5/5/589.abstract">try to get close</a> to a skilled crooner. Now <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0017460">researchers are trying to determine</a> whether song innovations are genetically programmed or or whether mice learn to vary their songs as they mature.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/6287/original/thrcvnfz-1323402427.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/6287/original/thrcvnfz-1323402427.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6287/original/thrcvnfz-1323402427.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6287/original/thrcvnfz-1323402427.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6287/original/thrcvnfz-1323402427.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6287/original/thrcvnfz-1323402427.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6287/original/thrcvnfz-1323402427.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">“Hoping to prepare them for an ethical oversight”</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nikkita Archer</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Baby mice left in the nest sing to their mothers — a kind of crying song to call them back. For every female killed by the poisons we administer, on average five to six totally dependent baby mice will, despite singing their hearts out to call their mothers back home, inevitably die of starvation, dehydration or predation.</p>
<p>When cattle, kangaroos and other meat animals are harvested they are killed instantly. Mice die a slow and very painful death from poisons. From a welfare point of view, these methods are among the <a href="http://www.daff.gov.au/animal-plant-health/welfare/aaws/humaneness-of-pest-animal-control-methods/section-2--assessing-the-humaneness-of-commonly-used-invasive-animal-control-methods">least acceptable modes of killing</a>. Although joeys are sometimes killed or left to fend for themselves, only 30% of kangaroos shot are females, only some of which will have young (the <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/wildlife-trade/publications/kangaroo/pubs/code-of-conduct-commercial.pdf">industry’s code of practice</a> says shooters should avoid shooting females with dependent young). However, many times this number of dependent baby mice are left to die when we deliberately poison their mothers by the millions.</p>
<p>Replacing red meat with grain products leads to many more sentient animal deaths, far greater animal suffering and significantly more environmental degradation. Protein obtained from grazing livestock costs far fewer lives per kilogram: it is a more humane, ethical and environmentally-friendly dietary option.</p>
<p>So, what does a hungry human do? Our teeth and digestive system are adapted for omnivory. But we are now challenged to think about philosophical issues. We worry about the ethics involved in killing grazing animals and wonder if there are other more humane ways of obtaining adequate nutrients. </p>
<p>Relying on grains and pulses brings destruction of native ecosystems, significant threats to native species and at least 25 times more deaths of sentient animals per kilogram of food. Most of these animals sing love songs to each other, until we inhumanely mass-slaughter them.</p>
<p>Former Justice of the High Court, the Hon. Michael Kirby, <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/stand-up-and-speak-up-for-animals-that-cannot-20110812-1iqu0.html">wrote that</a>:</p>
<p>“In our shared sentience, human beings are intimately connected with other animals. Endowed with reason and speech, we are uniquely empowered to make ethical decisions and to unite for social change on behalf of others that have no voice. Exploited animals cannot protest about their treatment or demand a better life. They are entirely at our mercy. So every decision of animal welfare, whether in Parliament or the supermarket, presents us with a profound test of moral character”.</p>
<p>We now know the mice have a voice, but we haven’t been listening. </p>
<p>The challenge for the ethical eater is to choose the diet that causes the least deaths and environmental damage. There would appear to be far more ethical support for an omnivorous diet that includes rangeland-grown red meat and even more support for one that includes sustainably wild-harvested kangaroo.</p>
<p><em>Thanks to many colleagues including Rosie Cooney, Peter Ampt, Grahame Webb, Bob Beale, Gordon Grigg, John Kelly, Suzanne Hand, Greg Miles, Alex Baumber, George Wilson, Peter Banks, Michael Cermak, Barry Cohen, Dan Lunney, Ernie Lundelius Jr and anonymous referees of the Australian Zoologist paper who provided helpful critiques.</em> </p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Editor’s note</strong>: since this article was published in 2011 its data have been disputed. A <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10806-018-9733-8#:%7E:text=Davis%20(2003)%20estimates%20that%20the,animals%20per%20hectare%20per%20year.&text=Davis%20assumed%20a%20per%2Dhectare,to%2015%20deaths%20per%20hectare.">2018 paper</a> in the Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics found this article:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>overestimated the number of mouse plagues per hectare of grain farming, and mouse poisoning deaths, per year</p></li>
<li><p>claims 55 sentient animals die to produce 100kg of usable plant protein when the correct figure is 1.27 animals</p></li>
<li><p>does not take into account mouse deaths on grazing land.</p></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/4659/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Archer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This article was published in 2011. A follow-up article refuted its claims. The ethics of eating red meat have been grilled recently by critics who question its consequences for environmental health and…Mike Archer, Professor, Pangea Research Centre, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.