A Staggering 1 Billion Animals Now Feared Dead In Australia Bushfires
The Number Comes A Week After An Ecologist At The University Of Sydney Estimated That Nearly Half A Billion Animals Lost Their Lives Ever Since Australia's Devastating Fires Started Spreading In September.
As bushfires continue to engulf Australia, over 1 billion animals are believed to have died in the bushfires. The number comes a week after an ecologist at the University of Sydney estimated that nearly half a billion animals lost their lives ever since Australia's devastating fires started spreading in September. Doubling the number of deaths, ecologist, Chris Dickman told CBS News on Tuesday that over 800 million in New South Wales and over 1 billion nationally must have lost their lives at the bushfires.
"I think there's nothing quite to compare with the devastation that's going on over such a large area so quickly," University of Sydney professor Chris Dickman told CBS News.
"It's a monstrous event in terms of geography and the number of individual animals affected’’ he added.
"We know that Australian biodiversity has been going down over the last several decades, and it's probably fairly well known that Australia's got the world's highest rate of extinction for mammals," he continued. "It's events like this that may well hasten the extinction process for a range of other species. So, it's a very sad time."
At least 25 people are feared dead while 20 million acres have been burnt in the wildfire across the country, and authorities say the fires could keep burning for months.
Dickman further adds warns that since Australia often sees the effects of climate change before other parts of the world, these fires could be a preview of what's to come globally.
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