N A T I O N A L

Indigenous Times
JUNIOR HIGH ACTIVITY, SCIENCE: TEACHER’S NOTES

TEACHER’S NOTES

1. Read the article in class.

2. Discuss the effect of introduced species and encourage students to suggest other reasons certain
species may end on an endangered list.
3. Ask students if they are aware of any other Australian animals that are endangered.

4. Hand out task sheet.

5. Students are to consider some of the animals listed and use the reference provided and other ref-
erence sources to answer the accompanying questions.

6. Students then select one or two of the animals and find out what role they play in dreamtime leg-
ends by using a search engine and typing in dreamtime, followed by the name of the animal they
are interested in and following any useful links.

7. Students report their findings to the class.


Quolls become tourists in bid to save species
By Karen Michelmore
DARWIN
AUTHORITIES are shifting
some of Australia’s native ani-
mals offshore in a bid to prevent
their possible extinction at the
hands of the deadly cane toad.
Millions of goannas, snakes,
birds, dingoes, quolls and other
native creatures are believed to
have died after eating the poison-
ous cane toad, since its arrival in
Australia in the 1930s, scientists
said.
The warty reptiles have
marched across Australia from
Queensland, where they were
originally introduced to kill pests
in the cane fields, to northern
NSW, and across into the
W O R K S H E E T
Northern Territory.
Now they have arrived and
established themselves in
Australia’s famous Kakadu
National Park, wreaking havoc by
killing crocodiles, northern quoll
and other fauna.
They are expected to hit
Darwin within a year or two.
However, traditional Aboriginal
land owners have been working
with the Northern Territory
Government and the Northern
Land Council to protect the
region’s native species, specifical-
ly the northern quoll, the NT
Government said.
More than 50 northern quolls
have been shifted to two islands,
Pobassoo and Astell, off north-
east Arnhem Land to protect
against the loss of the marsupials
on the mainland.
“Fauna surveys in Kakadu
National Park last year suggest
northern quolls disappear from an
area very soon after cane toads
invade, even in low numbers,”
Federal Environment Minister
David Kemp said.
“Researchers estimate the quoll
population, estimated to be more
than 80,000 in the park, could
have dropped by about a fifth
already.”
The northern quoll, which is
also found in north Queensland
and Western Australia, is also
declining in number because of
habitat loss and introduced preda-
tors such as foxes, NT
Department of Infrastructure,
Planning and Environment biolo-
gy unit senior scientist Alaric
Fisher said.
About 20 of the “refugee”
quolls have been fitted with radio-
collars to track their movements
in their new home.
“It gives us some security that
there’s a reasonable population in
an area where we think they can
be totally protected from the cane
toad,” Dr Fisher said.
It is one of the first such animal
relocations to escape the cane
toad in Australia.
“While it seems almost impos-
sible to stop the progressive
march of the cane toad through
the NT and the rest of Australia,
the Territory Government wants
to take some form of action
before it is too late for some of
our wildlife,” NT Environment
Minister Chris Burns said. - AAP

A C T I V I T Y
ENDANGERED AUSTRALIAN ANIMALS
Australia has many kinds of animals that are found nowhere else in the world. Sample these Internet
sites and complete the activities for each one to learn about the factors that are
endangering some of the most remarkable animals in the world.
SUGAR GLIDER POSSUM POTOROO
http://home.mira.net/~areadman/sugar.htm http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/wildlife/mammals/potoroo.html
What type of habitat does a sugar glider live in? These animals were listed in the category "Presumed To Be
What does a sugar glider feed on? Extinct".
Where can you find potoroos?
BRIDLED NAILTAIL WALLABY What is the diet of the potoroo?
http://www.qmuseum.qld.gov.au/nature/endangered/html/
nailtail_wallaby.html SOUTHERN TIGER QUOLLS
What are the factors that have caused these Australian walla- http://www.qmuseum.qld.gov.au/nature/endangered/html/
bies to become endangered? quoll.html
What factors have led to their declining numbers?
DIBBLER
http://www.perthzoo.wa.gov.au/dibbler.html QUOKKA
For 83 years, this marsupial was thought to be what? http://home.mira.net/~areadman/quokka.htm
What do they eat? Where in the world do they live?
What is their habitat? What is unusual about how they give birth?
Why are they endangered?
WOMA
NORTHERN HAIRY-NOSED WOMBAT http://www.perthzoo.wa.gov.au/woma.html
http://www.qmuseum.qld.gov.au/nature/endangered/html/nt What kind of animal is a woma?
h_wombat.html What do they eat?
These Australian wombats are critically endangered. About How do they capture their prey?
how many of them are left? Why are they endangered?
What has caused them to become endangered?
NUMBAT
NORTHERN BETTONG http://www.perthzoo.wa.gov.au/numbat.html
http://www.qmuseum.qld.gov.au/nature/endangered/html/ http://edsitewa.iinet.net.au/perthzoo/numbat.html
bettong.html In what part of the world do numbats live?
What is threatening the numbers of bettongs? What do they exclusively eat?
What do they eat? Why are they endangered?
How does the bettong's eating habits benefit the entire forest?
BROKEN DREAM TIME
SCRUB WALLABY http://www.geom.umn.edu/~jpeng/KOALA/sci_am.html
http://www.oaklandzoo.org/atoz/azwalaby.html What happened to millions of koalas around the turn of the last
Why are they endangered? century?