White Possum Is First Mammal Wiped Out By Global Warming: Fact

THE Australian a white possum is the first animal to be made extinct by global warming. Possibly. Dame Edna may not outlive her audience. The Courier Mail enlarges:

Scientists believe some frog, bug and insects species have also been killed off by climate change. But this would be the first known loss of a mammal and the most significant since the extinction of the Dodo and the Tasmanian Tiger.

Believe. Let’s stick to the scientific facts on the ”Dodo of the Daintree“. The G’Day Gonad.  

“It is not looking good,” researcher Steve Williams said.

Professor Steve Williams is director of the Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change at James Cook University. He knows his stuff.

“If they have died out it would be first example of something that has gone extinct purely because of global warming.”

If. Such are the facts:

“It only takes four or five hours of temperatures above 30C to kill this highly vulnerable species,” he said.

 ”They live off the moisture in the trees in the cooler, high-altitude cloud forests and, under extreme heat, they are unable to maintain their body temperature.”

He said record high temperatures in the summer of 2005 could have caused a massive die-off.

So, er, not global warming, then? “Shy Possum killed of by heatwave!” Possibly…

Anorak

Posted: 5th, December 2008 | In: Media Comment (1) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink