Australian Wildlife (THIS SITE IS A WORK IN PROGRESS)
Many people associate Australia with the Great Barrier Reef and desert areas like Uluru but all of Australia is not tropical and hot, and although we have a lot of desert we also have snow covered mountains, wetlands and rain forest. The variety in habitats has created many niches for unique organisms to elvolve, especially in places that have been isolated for a long time. Port Phillip Bay in Victoria has a very diverse range of Sea Weed and the species of dolphin that lives in the bay is thought to a subspecies of those that live outside in the rougher colder ocean waters.
In Australia, about 83% of mammals are endemic(found nowhere else), 89% of reptiles, 90% of fish and insects, and 93% of amphibians. This is largely due to the fact that it has been geographically isolated from the rest of the world for a very long time - for around 40million years and wasn't discovered in modern times untill 1606. Aboriginal people may have been in Australia for about 60,000 years.
I created this web site to display the images that I have taken of Australian wildlife. I originally started this collection of photos because I wanted to see how many different things I could photograph and identify. I have approached it in the same way as I would if I were doing a huge jigsaw puzzle - examining each peice to see how it fits in with others. It is, of course an impossible task to put the whole picture together, if you look at the figures below you can see why....just too many pieces. The one thing that became very obvious early on is that preservation of habitat is the only way we can maintain our rich biological diversity.
Every time I find or see something new and try to find out more about it, I am continually amazed at how little we do really know. Every time we answer one question dozens more crop up and the intricacies of balance are so complex that what we know so far should really only be considered the tip of the ice berg.
Along with my photos I have tried to include a little of what I have either observed or learnt about each creature. Although I have a collection of field guides to help me, identifying things can be really difficult....some things (like some corals & sponge) need to beexamined microscopically to work out exactly what they are. So if you are looking at any of these images and I have it wrong or you can fill in some blanks for me you can email me at [email protected]
I would appreciate the help!
There is a google map on the Scenery & Habitat page that shows where many of the places I mention with the photos are taken.
Interesting Statistics (Australian Species)
450 species of mammals,
750 species of birds
683 species of reptiles
2,000 species of bony sea fish,
180 species of fresh water fish,
150 species of sharks and rays.,
220000 species of insects (estimated)
2,000 species of spider.
18000 of plants (approximate)
This site is a work in progress and I will be continually adding to it.
If you wish to use any of these images please email christine at [email protected] for details.
The images are all my own work and are copyright Christine Walsh.
I also have blog where you can see some of my other images.
http://imagesbychristinewalsh.blogspot.com/2011_05_01_archive.html
In Australia, about 83% of mammals are endemic(found nowhere else), 89% of reptiles, 90% of fish and insects, and 93% of amphibians. This is largely due to the fact that it has been geographically isolated from the rest of the world for a very long time - for around 40million years and wasn't discovered in modern times untill 1606. Aboriginal people may have been in Australia for about 60,000 years.
I created this web site to display the images that I have taken of Australian wildlife. I originally started this collection of photos because I wanted to see how many different things I could photograph and identify. I have approached it in the same way as I would if I were doing a huge jigsaw puzzle - examining each peice to see how it fits in with others. It is, of course an impossible task to put the whole picture together, if you look at the figures below you can see why....just too many pieces. The one thing that became very obvious early on is that preservation of habitat is the only way we can maintain our rich biological diversity.
Every time I find or see something new and try to find out more about it, I am continually amazed at how little we do really know. Every time we answer one question dozens more crop up and the intricacies of balance are so complex that what we know so far should really only be considered the tip of the ice berg.
Along with my photos I have tried to include a little of what I have either observed or learnt about each creature. Although I have a collection of field guides to help me, identifying things can be really difficult....some things (like some corals & sponge) need to beexamined microscopically to work out exactly what they are. So if you are looking at any of these images and I have it wrong or you can fill in some blanks for me you can email me at [email protected]
I would appreciate the help!
There is a google map on the Scenery & Habitat page that shows where many of the places I mention with the photos are taken.
Interesting Statistics (Australian Species)
450 species of mammals,
750 species of birds
683 species of reptiles
2,000 species of bony sea fish,
180 species of fresh water fish,
150 species of sharks and rays.,
220000 species of insects (estimated)
2,000 species of spider.
18000 of plants (approximate)
This site is a work in progress and I will be continually adding to it.
If you wish to use any of these images please email christine at [email protected] for details.
The images are all my own work and are copyright Christine Walsh.
I also have blog where you can see some of my other images.
http://imagesbychristinewalsh.blogspot.com/2011_05_01_archive.html