A report published in Australia reveals the extent of the enormous damage caused by the continent's fires in 2019 • 143 million mammals and 180 million birds were destroyed in the fire • "Entire habitats have been wiped out"

• Scary report: Over three billion animals have been destroyed in fires in Australia

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The corona plague has somewhat obliterated the severe wave of fires that hit Australia in late 2019 and early 2020, the summer season in the southern hemisphere, but an interim report by ten leading experts, written at the request of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), reveals that about three billion animals have died In fires or as a result of them with a high degree of certainty.This is a real nightmare scenario that makes the first estimates that talked about harming a billion animals, actually pale and look optimistic.   

Compared to humans, this is a one-time extinction of about half of the world's population. These are not insects but mammals, birds and reptiles, a very large proportion of which are unique to the Australian continent only. According to the data, in a fire that consumed an area of ​​land the size of the whole of Britain, 143 million mammals, 180 million birds, 52 million frogs and amphibians and 2.5 billion different reptiles died. The researchers note that "not all animals died directly from the fire, some also died as a result of dehydration, loss of food sources and exposure of their hiding places which led to their predation mainly by cats." 

Professor Chris Dickman, an ecology expert at the University of Sydney and a member of the Australian Academy of Sciences who oversaw the survey, said: "This is such a huge number that it can not be contained at all. What is terrible is that entire habitats have disappeared. There may be a species of reptile "We have turned the koalas into" faces of disaster, "but there are whole species that have been fatally damaged and may become extinct that are not known in the world." 

The expert noted that "Australia's main problem is the Earth's greenhouse effect. Historically we see that compared to 1900 the number of times dry and extreme weather that helps fires increased fourfold, and with the average temperature of the earth rising in 2 degrees the number is expected to jump by eight. ". 

In addition to the Foundation's report, another document published by 20 leading Australian scientists states that another 49 species should be added to the continent for those at risk of extinction. These are additional species on government records indicating that 471 plants and 191 species need protection and conservation on the continent. Because of research methods their numbers are lower than reality because they are careful and rely on conservative measurement methods. "In practice, the harm may be several times more fatal," the scientists write.