Our Beautiful Planet: Australia's ancient dry lakes
Melanie Hall
January 18, 2018
Resembling arid lunar landscapes, the ancient Willandra Lakes Region was once abundant in life and water. Now dried up, the lakes have yielded fascinating glimpses into Ice Age life, and still host a variety of animals.
Image: picture-alliance/blickwinkel/Sailer
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Now dry plains with alien-looking formations rising out of it, the ancient waterways of Australia’s Willandra Lakes Region once supported a lush ecosystem. Around 18,500 years ago, they dried up after the creek that once fed them stopped flowing – but left behind valuable archaeological insights, including the oldest human remains in Australia.
The unusual clay and sand formations resembling a lunar landscape started to take shape through prevailing winds when the lakes were full of water. Over thousands of years, the waters and wind washed away sand and soil, creating the formations, including the striking major tourist attraction the Walls of China found within Mungo National Park.
It may look arid - but Mungo National Park still hosts a variety of wildlifeImage: Imago/UIG
Animals also played a role in creating the formations. Hundreds of thousands of sheep, which grazed across Lake Mungo and the dunes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and introduced rabbits destabilized the dunes that created the Walls of China.
This erosion revealed some archaeological surprises. The Willandra Lakes Region is littered with fossils, including those of giant marsupials that once roamed the continent.
In 2003, the world’s largest collection of fossilized human footprints – more than 530 dating back 20,000 years – was discovered. The visible traces of the men, women and children who once walked over the lakeshores provides a rare insight into Ice Age life.
Around 18,500 years ago, the Willandra Lake Region ran dry after the creek that once fed it stopped flowingImage: Getty Images/L.M. Williams
In 1974, the region was the site of a famous discovery: the 42,000-year-old Mungo Man, the oldest human remains in Australia, revealed that Aboriginal people had lived on the continent for much longer than experts had previously thought. The cremated remains of Mungo Lady, found in 1969 in the region, is among the world’s earliest evidence of complex funeral rites.
Despite its arid environment, the five large dry lake basins, together with the 14 smaller basins which make up the Willandra Lakes Region, still play host to a variety of wildlife. Herbs, grass and shrubs live on the dunes, while bats, reptiles, parrots and amphibians also call the region their home.
Being designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1981 helps protect the abundance of history and its delicate environment for generations to come.
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Australian mammals disappearing at alarming rate
More mammal species are going extinct in Australia than in any other world region, according to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. And it's not due to habitat loss or hunting.
Image: Imago/UIG
Bounding wallabies abound?
Australia is well-known for being the home of distinctive land mammals, including the wallaby. But four species of the bounding mammal have become extinct since Europeans settled on the continent in 1788. No longer to be seen are the kuluwarri, eastern hare-wallaby, toolache wallaby and crescent nailtail wallaby.
Image: L. Robayo/AFP/GettyImages
Rodents hit hardest
The 29 extinct Australian mammal species on the study's list comprise 35 percent of the world's modern mammal extinctions. The decline hasn't been across the board for all mammalian species, though. Along with marsupials, the hardest hit include rodents, like this hopping-mouse.
Image: Imago/UIG
Newcomer to the sad list
One of the most recent additions to the researchers' extinction list is the Bramble Cay melomys, a burrowing rodent that became extinct some time between 2006 and 2014.
Image: Queensland Government
Escape to the skies
Bat species have been pretty lucky, showing relatively low rates of decline over the past 20 years. But a couple still made the extinction list, including the Lord Howe Long-eared Bat.
Image: Imago/UIG
Away from the prying eyes of humans
On top of the extinct Australian land mammals, 21 percent of the continent's 273 land mammals are threatened. Scientists think the rate of loss - around one or two extinctions per decade - is likely to continue. Counterintuitively, much of the decline has occurred in areas only sparsely populated by humans.
Image: Reuters
Survival outside of Australia
Although gone from Australia, this egg-laying, milk-producing mammal escaped complete extinction from the face of the Earth. The Western Long-beaked Echidna survives in New Guinea, but is critically endangered.
Image: picture-alliance/Mary Evans/Ardea
Hunted to extinction
In contrast, only one native land mammal in North America - the sea mink - became extinct during the same time period. The animal, prized for its reddish fur and bushy tail, was hunted to extinction, unlike his thriving cousin, the American Mink (pictured above).
Image: cc-by-sa-Pdreijnders
Common pressures in other regions
Hunting, habitat loss and impacts of human development are most to blame for species extinction on other continents, especially where human populations are increasing.
Image: Getty Images
European red fox, an introduced predator
But these factors don't apply in the Australian case, scientists believe, since most extinctions there occurred in remote areas - far from human population centers. Instead, scientists think the loss of Australian land mammals is primarily due to predation by introduced species, like the European red fox.
Image: imago/blickwinkel
Feral cat: extinction threat number one
Another prolific killer is the feral cat, found in most habitats across Australia. The researchers believe that feral cats pose the highest threat to native mammal species. They contribute greatly to the disappearance of many ground-dwelling mammals on the mainland.
Image: Fotolia/vlorzor
Hope in the waters
There's a bit of hope left in Australia's dismal numbers: Scientists say the country's marine mammals have fared better overall. But they've added a precaution: research has been impeded by a lack of information, since it's harder to collect data in water than on land.
