The White Hat Guide to Introduced & Feral Animals in Australia

 

 

After continental drift had separated Australia from other land masses it remained isolated for a large period of time with the local species co-evolving and adapting. In some ways it could be considered like the Galapagos so that when other animals were introduced to the mix the introduced animals often had no natural predators and were able to cause enormous upheaval. By far the most disruptive animal to be introduced was man (first Aboriginal then European), but often quite small species have also had a large effect on the environment.

Man

Somewhere between 40,000 and 60,000 years ago, man arrived in Greater Australia and quickly spread over most of the landmass. Their effect on the environment was devastating. Within a relatively short time the Australian megafauana were extinct and it appears that Aboriginal man was successful in killing off any animals larger than themselves. Later practices such as fire farming were to cause the extinction of still more species. Eventually, the altered environment was able to reassert itself and by the time of European contact there was an unstable but sustainable equilibrium between man and the rest of the environment. Details of the ways in which the arrival of Aboriginal man changed the Australian environment for ever are discussed in books such as Tim Flannery's celebrated The Future Eaters.

Dingo

The dingo appears to have been introduced about 3,500 years ago, probably by island hopping traders from South East Asia. It, along with Aboriginal man, seems to be responsible for the extinction of the Tasmanian devil and thylacine on the mainland. In a touch of modern irony, it has currently been suggested that this recently (in geological terms) introduced species should be fostered in order to reduce the damage caused by even more recently introduced species. See article here.

Man - the second wave

European man proved to be even more disastrous for the natural environment than Aboriginal man. We have covered some of the impacts elsewhere on this website.

Domesticated Farm Animals & Pets

 

European bee

Australia has varieties of native bee but the European bee proved necessary for the pollination of European-style crops and plants. Escaped feral populations of these European bees are now responsible for the pollination of most crops in Australia and without them industries such as almond growing could not exist in their current form. The European bee caused the extinction of a number of native insects.

Feral cat

House mouse

Black rat

Rabbit

On Christmas Day 1859, ten pairs of rabbits arrived by boat in Corio Bay. They had been imported by a Mister Thomas Austin of Barwon Park to provide suitable game for hunting. The offspring of these ten pairs of rabbits were to overrun the country in remarkably short time and cause enormous damage. However, these were certainly not the first rabbits brought to Australia (see the quiz below).

Fox

Introduced in the 1850s. In December 2009 a Tasmanian Parliamentary Committee concluded there was enough evidence to conclude that foxes were established in small numbers on the island. You can find more information at Foxes in Australia.

Indian Myna Bird

Introduced in 1862 to market gardens in Melbourne to help control insects and later to the cane fields of north Queensland fro the same reason. This aggressive bird out-competes local species for food and habitat and has become the dominant urban bird on the east coast of Australia.

Horse

Donkey

Camel

There are currently (2009) over a million ferrel camels in outback Australia and their numbers are doubling every 9 years.

Goat

Deer

Deer were introduced in the 19th century as a game animal for hunting or as an aesthetic addition to the 'country estate', but in many parts of Australia they have become feral and are causing substantial damage to both farms and the wider environment. They are currently a cause of some debate. Some want them declared as 'pests' so they can be culled or removed while in NSW, Victoria and Tasmania deer are protected. More information on the impact of deer in Australia >>

Pig

Australia currently has about 24 million feral pigs and they create major havoc in the environment and to farmland. We are not talking your cute little pink grunter here - a feral boar complete with tusks is a formidable animal and will kill and eat lambs and smaller wildlife. and is also dangerous to humans. They are particularly concentrated in swampy areas in the north. They can cause major damage to waterholes and small waterways rendering them unsuitable for native fish. They are also responsible fro destroying turtle hutches and rookeries and eating the eggs. In dryer regions they compete for water and grazing areas with wildlife or farm stock and also cause considerable damage to fences and crops.

Feral cattle

such as buffalo.

Cane Toad

The cane toad was introduced in 1935  as an official attempt to control the grey-backed beetle in the cane fields of Queensland. The Australian Bureau of Sugar Experimental Stations imported about 100 of them for this purpose and the rest is history.

Dung beetle

Some examples of extreme damage caused by introduced animals

• Macquarie Island is a large isolated island in the Southern Ocean which is home to large colonies of seals, penguins and seabirds. Rabbits (introduced by sealers and whalers), ships rats and domestic mice have devastated much of the natural environment and particularly the burrows that we used by breeding birds. Currently a large scale eradication program is under way in an attempt to remove these three  species. It is acknowledged there will be some collateral damage to to the native species but it is felt that this has be traded off for the overall survival of these species and rehabilitation of the island

Some recommended books

 

The White Hat Quiz

One of the most popular segments of the various White Hat Newsletters is the quiz at the end of the newsletter. Many of our readers tell us that they have developed an addiction to the quiz and look forward to the challenge it presents each week. Here is an example from previous newsletters:

1. Urban legend has it that the first rabbits brought to Australia were those imported to the Geelong area mentioned above. As usual, colourful but unresearched urban legend does not match up with boring old recorded history. According to recorded history, who brought the first rabbits to Australia?

 

Some locations and events related to introduced & feral animals: