Kakadu National Park

1. Kakadu National Park Local Animal VS Introduced Species By- Jyotsna Bali

2. Background Of Kakadu • Kakadu National Park is one of the few sites on the World Heritage List of both outstanding cultural and natural values and for unique artistic achievements and association with living traditions of outstanding universal significance. • Kakadu is located in the tropical north of Australia, 252 kilometres east of Darwin, covering a total of 19,000 square kilometres. • For at least 50,000 years, Aboriginal people have continuously lived in the area now defined by the National Park, leaving shelters, stone tools, grindstones and ochre for ceremonial painting. • The name Kakadu comes from “Gagudju”- the main Aboriginal language used in the northern part of the area at the start of the 20th Century.

3. Native Flora • Flora consists of all the plant life on Earth of a particular region, habitat. Kakadu’s flora is amongst the richest in Northern Australia and more that 2000 plant species have been recorded.

4. Native Fauna • Fauna (Latin for animal) refers to animal life of a particular region, habitat, or geological period.

5. How it helps nourish and preserve the national park • Flora and Fauna helps nourish and preserve the Kakadu national park by keeping the environment healthy and enjoyable. Flora and Fauna are the main reason why visitors come to explore the national park. • Kakadu is home to 68 mammals, more than 120 reptiles, 26 frogs, over 300 tidal and freshwater fish species and over 10,000 species of insects. It provides habitat for more than 290 bird species. • In different regions, there are different flora that are found. Some of the regions are Estuaries and Tidal flats, Floodplains Southern Hills and basins, lowlands, and Stone countries and Outliers

6. Introduced Species and their threats to Flora and Fauna • There are several introduced species that are to be found in Kakadu National Park and there threats to the flora and fauna. • Asian water buffalo, cattle, pigs, horses, donkeys, dogs, cats, European bees and cane toads are all introduced animals present in Kakadu. Introduced animals spread weeds, increase erosion, and prey on native animals. • Weeds are a significant threat as they decrease food sources and habitats for flora and fauna. Mission grass are two weeds that increase the intensity of fires.

7. Government initiative to help overcome the problems of introduced species • There is a comprehensive program to reduce the number of these animals is in place. • Staff use manual weed control programs, biological control techniques and regularly carry out monitoring and research to manage fires that are caused by specific weeds as mentioned before in the previous slide. • The Australian Weeds Strategy has the following three goals, each with subsidiary individual objectives, strategies (or key actions) and outcomes: • Prevent new weed problems • Reduce the impact of existing priority weed problems • Enhance Australia's capacity and commitment to solve weed problems

8. Solutions to assist Kakadu overcome these problems • Here are some of the things that the Kakadu National Park should do to overcome these problems: • Firstly, introduced species should not have the authorization to actually be part of the park. They should be sent back from where they came from. • Even if the introduced species are to be kept in Kakadu National Park, they should be kept separated from the native flora and fauna. • There should be special care takers in charge from the staff for the native flora and fauna’s protections from the introduced species

9. Song For Awareness • www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFyBYfifCo4