February 5-11, Current Events Lesson Plan
Current Event: Feral Cats and Foxes Have Caused Australia’s Wildlife Crisis
Australian scientists claim that feral cats and foxes are the cause of an extinction crisis that is affecting the country’s native mammals. As many as 30 species of Australia’s native mammals have gone extinct since the first European colonists arrived in 1788. This represents about 10 percent of all mammal species found in Australia. Many more native species are threatened with extinction, as well. Australia’s high rate of mammalian extinction has long puzzled scientists. Around the world, the main cause of extinction is habitat destruction by people. However, large portions of Australia have only sparse human populations. The scientists examined over 200 years of records of Australian wildlife extinctions and found that the decline of many Australian native species coincided with the introduction of domestic cats and foxes. Unfortunately, solutions for this problem are difficult and expensive.
Objective:
Australia is one of the largest countries in the world and the only country that is also a continent. Australia has many different kinds of environments and climates, from tropical in the north to temperate in the south. The huge interior of Australia is mostly desert or dry grassland and has few settlements. The southeastern coastal region has the most people by far. Australia’s two largest cities—Sydney and Melbourne—lie in this region. Canberra, the national capital, lies only a short distance inland. The Aboriginal people were the first humans to arrive in Australia. Aboriginal people had lived in Australia for at least 50,000 years before the first white settlers arrived. Great Britain settled Australia as a prison colony in 1788. After British settlement, the number of whites steadily increased. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore Australia and its animals.
Words to know:
Discussion Topics:
1. Ask your students to name some animals native to Australia. (Students might name cassowaries, emus, kangaroos, koalas, platypuses, wallabies, wombats.)
2. The first European colonists arrived in Australia in 1788. Ask your students to name some people who were living in 1788. (Students might name Jane Austen, Ludwig van Beethoven, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Napoleon I, George Washington, William Wilberforce.)
3. Have your students debate, “Humans have the responsibility to protect animals from extinction.”
4. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to view or add to the Animal Extinctions Since 1600 timeline.