A photograph taken by my wife of a sign along the short path to the beach from where we\u2019re staying. \u00a0It put a bit of a spring in our step, and made us more aware of our surroundings.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some additional notes for myself about Australia, with no claim whatever to originality. \u00a0This time, I focus on biology:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Australia is very old and very remote. \u00a0It is also, as I remarked yesterday, relatively low-lying. \u00a0To sum up, it\u2019s the oldest continent, and the flattest, and, overall, the driest. \u00a0Most of it is either semi-arid or altogether desert (e.g., the Outback), but there are alpine regions, too, and some of it (including the area where I\u2019m currently writing) is tropical rainforest. \u00a0It\u2019s an entire continent to itself, after all, so it\u2019s quite diverse.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
If I read the statistic correctly,\u00a0there are an estimated 250,000 species of fungi \u2014 fungi! \u2014 in Australia, of which only 5% have been described.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
But, in itself, Australia\u00a0represents<\/em> diversity. \u00a0It\u2019s very different from the rest of the world. \u00a0Because of its isolation, for instance, many of the species of flora and fauna here are endemic to the continent \u2014\u00a0more than 45% of the birds, 84% of the mammals,\u00a0roughly 85% of the flowering plants, and 89% of the in-shore, temperate-zone fish. \u00a0Australia has 755 different species of reptiles, more than any other country, including some of the most venomous snakes in existence. \u00a0(I can already hear some of you squealing with delight at the very thought of it!) \u00a0Moroever, as you can easily imagine, the Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef on Earth, which runs right along coastal Queensland where I\u2019m sitting, is remarkably rich in its variety of life. \u00a0Which includes great white sharks, sea-going crocodiles, and an abundance of jellyfish. \u00a0So many that there are more warning signs out and about than there are people in the water. \u00a0The beaches (around here, anyway) are pristine, gorgeous, and surprisingly \u2014 or, maybe, not so surprisingly \u2014 deserted.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Along with Antarctica, for which the explanation is pretty obvious, Australia is the only continent without native felines or cats. \u00a0However, feral cats probably arrived in the seventeenth century, provided by Dutch shipwrecks. \u00a0Later, in the eighteenth century, European settlers brought them deliberately, considering the beastly little hunting machines cute (as, in fact, I myself do). \u00a0They have likely been responsible for the massive decline or even extinction of a significant number of native species.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
But so have humans been. \u00a0The first arrival of humans to Australia, about 60,ooo years ago, was evidently catastrophic for many plant and especially animal species, and the European settlement, following upon the Dutch discovery of what they called \u201cNew Holland\u201d in 1606, also had a profound effect.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Australian forests are mostly evergreen and, in them, the eucalyptus tree is notable and fairly dominant. \u00a0I grew up with eucalyptus trees all around me in southern California and always thought of them (when I was a boy) as just typical local trees, but they\u2019re recent arrivals there, having been introduced to California by Australian miners\u00a0in the 1850s during the \u201cGold Rush.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
But, of course, Australian biology is most associated in the minds of many with its unique animals.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Marsupials, for example, who give birth to relatively undeveloped young who often reside for a certain amount of time in a pouch located on their mothers\u2019 abdomen, are native only to Australasia and the Americas. \u00a0(Think, in the Americas, of opossums.) \u00a0And nearly 70% of the 334 currently extant marsupial species occur on mainland Australia or very nearby, in\u00a0Tasmania and\u00a0New Guinea (not far from where I currently type)\u00a0and on nearby islands. \u00a0Australian marsupials include wombats and wallabies and, of course, koalas and kangaroos.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Not to be overlooked, though, is that glorious egg-laying mammal the duck-billed platypus, which is native to eastern Australia. \u00a0Then, too, there is the native Australian dog known as the dingo \u2014 which, although called \u201cnative,\u201d is probably a relative newcomer to the continent. \u00a0It may have been brought as a domesticated dog about 3500-5500 years ago and then gone feral.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finally, among birds, there are such Australian natives as the emu and the kookaburra.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
A unique place, this.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Some additional notes for myself about Australia, with no claim whatever to originality. \u00a0This time, I focus on biology: \u00a0 Australia is very old and very remote. \u00a0It is also, as I remarked yesterday, relatively low-lying. \u00a0To sum up, it\u2019s the oldest continent, and the flattest, and, overall, the driest. \u00a0Most of it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
A note on the flora and fauna of Australia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" Some additional notes for myself about Australia, with no claim whatever to originality. \u00a0This time, I focus on biology: Australia is\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/11\/a-note-on-the-flora-and-fauna-of-australia.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A note on the flora and fauna of Australia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" Some additional notes for myself about Australia, with no claim whatever to originality. \u00a0This time, I focus on biology: Australia is\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/11\/a-note-on-the-flora-and-fauna-of-australia.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-21T10:48:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-11-21T11:09:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2018\/11\/IMG_4753.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/11\/a-note-on-the-flora-and-fauna-of-australia.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/11\/a-note-on-the-flora-and-fauna-of-australia.html\",\"name\":\"A note on the flora and fauna of Australia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-21T10:48:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-11-21T11:09:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\" Some additional notes for myself about Australia, with no claim whatever to originality. \u00a0This time, I focus on biology: Australia is\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/11\/a-note-on-the-flora-and-fauna-of-australia.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/11\/a-note-on-the-flora-and-fauna-of-australia.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/11\/a-note-on-the-flora-and-fauna-of-australia.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A note on the flora and fauna of Australia\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A note on the flora and fauna of Australia","description":" Some additional notes for myself about Australia, with no claim whatever to originality. \u00a0This time, I focus on biology: Australia is","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/11\/a-note-on-the-flora-and-fauna-of-australia.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A note on the flora and fauna of Australia","og_description":" Some additional notes for myself about Australia, with no claim whatever to originality. \u00a0This time, I focus on biology: Australia is","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/11\/a-note-on-the-flora-and-fauna-of-australia.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2018-11-21T10:48:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-11-21T11:09:44+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2018\/11\/IMG_4753.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/11\/a-note-on-the-flora-and-fauna-of-australia.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/11\/a-note-on-the-flora-and-fauna-of-australia.html","name":"A note on the flora and fauna of Australia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-11-21T10:48:09+00:00","dateModified":"2018-11-21T11:09:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":" Some additional notes for myself about Australia, with no claim whatever to originality. \u00a0This time, I focus on biology: Australia is","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/11\/a-note-on-the-flora-and-fauna-of-australia.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/11\/a-note-on-the-flora-and-fauna-of-australia.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/11\/a-note-on-the-flora-and-fauna-of-australia.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A note on the flora and fauna of Australia"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67587\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Warning](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2018\/11\/IMG_4753.jpg\")
<\/a>