Download File - Habitats, Interactions and classifications

Assessment Task 2 Part A
Habitats and interactions
Koala
(Phascolarctos cinereus)
• Food eaten by a koala: Koalas only eat eucalyptus leaves off gum
trees. There are about 600 varieties of eucalypts in Australia.
Koalas will eat the leaves of only about 120 of these species.
• Each koala will consume about 500 grams a day of leaves. These
leaves are actually quite toxic and low in nutrients but koalas can
cope with that.
• Koalas rarely drink because they get most of their water from the
eucalyptus leaves. In times of drought they will sometimes drink
water because the leaves do not have as much water in them.
• The biggest threat to their population has been in the past 100
years where the forests they live in have been destroyed for
farming land and houses. Also they are killed by dogs and cars.
http://www.hunterkoala.com/koala-food.html
https://www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/uploadedfiles/moretonbay/environment/fauna/koalasf
actsheet.pdf
Great white shark
(Carcharodon carcharias)
•
Food eaten by a great white shark: The great white is also known as a white
pointer shark. It is known for its size as it can grown up to 6.5 meters in length. It
eats marine mammals mainly seals, dolphins, porpoises, whales, fish - like tuna
and rays, other sharks, sea turtles, sea otters, seabirds, and land mammals. The
great white shark has no natural predators other than the Orca.
•
This animal eats a huge variety of marine life and can survive in most of the
worlds’ oceans.
This map shows in blue the habitat
of the Great White Shark
www. Iucnredlist.org
Emu
(Dromaius novaehollandiae)
• Food eaten by an emu: The emu is a flightless bird native to
Australia. It is the 2nd largest bird in the world beaten only by the
ostrich. An emu can grow up to 2 metres in height. Emus eat a
variety of native plants and insects, including grasshoppers, crickets,
lady birds, caterpillars, moths and ants. The food they eat depends
on the seasons and where they are looking for food. They will eat
grass shoots, leaves and pods and even crops such as wheat and
fruit.
• In the 1930s and 1940s emus in Queensland
spread unwanted cactus by eating the plants
and pooing out the seeds!
• Emus have to eat pebbles and stones to help
in the digestion of the plant material.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu
The parts in red show where
the emu lives.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Tasmanian Devil
(Sarcophilus harrisii)
•
•
Food eaten by a Tasmanian devil: Tasmanian Devil are a carnivorous mammal
found only in Tasmania, Australia. Tasmanian devil eats mostly carrion or the
flesh of dead animals. This includes small mammals, reptiles, birds and insects.
They will also eat any human food left lying around.
They will hunt wombats and other animals but prefer to scavenge dead
animals. They will eat almost anything – scientists have seen clothes, animal
collars, plastic and pencils in their ‘scats’ or poo. When the thylacine or
Tasmanian Tiger was around, they would eat the cubs.
The whole island State of Tasmania is
home to the Tasmanian Devil
IUCN Redlist
Owen, D; Pemberton, David (2005). Tasmanian Devil: A unique and threatened animal. Sydney: Allen &
Unwin.
I deduce which animal would be most
affected if one of its food sources
disappeared…
•
•
The animal that I thing would be most affected would be the koala because it
really only has one food source – a few varieties of gum leaves from certain
eucalyptus trees. If they can’t eat that - then they will die. This is why their
habitat must be protected to make sure the koala does not become extinct.
The Great White Shark eats a great variety of foods from around the world. It
has only one predator and is the top of its food chain. The emus will eat many
different foods and will travel long distances to find foods. The Tasmanian
Devil will eat almost anything and is happy to scavenge food from other
animals, road kill or human scraps.
• By Angus Herbertson