scientists fear that the ongoing fires in Australia could have fatal consequences for the entire Ecosystem.

Fleeing kangaroo in Canberra, Australia, on 5. January 2020 photo: Lukas Coch/AAP image/reuters

CANBERRA taz | The Koala in the wild animal rescue center in the vicinity of the Australian capital, Canberra, is not satisfied. He growls like a dog, as him and his helper out of the bedroom to get him his verb to pocket ran a paw with ointment. The cuddly-looking animals, most prefer to sit quietly in a branch and digest.

The small marsupial – Koalas are not bears at all, but it is also one of the Lucky ones. Thousands of his fellows were in the past few weeks, too slow to escape the raging fires. They burned, or were found injured by rescuers and had to be euthanized.

what is probably The greatest customs of this species, the fire, called at the weekend on kangaroo island to the South of the city of Adelaide in South Australia. According to initial estimates, there are up to 25,000 of the iconic Australian animals should be burned.

The drastic cut in this colony alone, almost existential threat for the Koalas, believe specialists can. Since large parts of the habitat will remain for the foreseeable future destroyed, threatened the Survivors of starvation. "Koalas only eat leaves of certain eucalyptus species. If the spread area of these trees is destroyed, can't walk, the animals simply move to the next colony,“ the veterinarian and wildlife expert Dr Zach leather pants.

The number of people killed or injured Koalas to disappear, however, in comparison to the suspected total number of so far alone in the state of New South Wales in the flames killed wild animals. As ecology Professor Chris Dickman of the University of Sydney on Monday said, could mammals in the past weeks and months, up to a billion birds and reptiles have been killed.

In a study, the researcher was assumed to be 480 million animals had become since the beginning of the fires in September, a victim of the flame – a deliberately conservative estimate. "The figure includes mammals, birds and reptiles, but not insects, bats, or frogs. The actual loss of animal life is likely to be much higher than 480 million“, said the University.

The wildlife of the state is threatened without fire seriously, and am under increasing pressure from human-induced threats, such as land clearing, propagation of exotic pests and climate change.

global warming is made by experts for the dangerousness and unpredictability of the in many areas of Southeast Australia, more raging Bush fire responsible. Fire belong to Ecosystem in Australia, for thousands of years. Some plants can reproduce only if their seed pods are exposed to the heat or the smoke of a fire and open.

But complaining firefighters, the fire in this year is much more intense, hot, and erratic. Exceptionally long dry seasons, lack of rainfall, both of which the global warming consequences – would the Vegetation so dry as this has never been the case before, so leading climate scientists.

especially the well-known Australian animal species, to the attention of the audience in those days to. On social media Videos of Koalas, the bike riders begging for water, hundreds of thousands of times to be clicked.

The Ecologist Dickman, warned on Monday that it was necessary to see the importance of other, less attractive or well-known animals, especially of smaller, ground-dwelling species. "It is very important that these animals have enough space to live". The fire had destroyed most of the habitats of several already endangered species. The consequences are not only for the affected animals to fatal, but potentially for the entire Ecosystem.

As an example, the scientist leading the small marsupial-Potoroo. This Mammal lives in forests and feeds primarily on fungi. "It carries fungal spores through the landscape, which in turn is used by green plants to recover after a fire". The research had "no idea what happens when a species after a fire is completely gone from the System."