Australia is one of the most important nations on Earth for biodiversity. We have the largest biodiversity of any developed nation on Earth - and we must protect it! Australia is one of the only 17 megadiverse nations and is home to more species than any other developed country.

80% of Australian species are unique to this country:

• 900+ reptiles
• 820+ birds
• 320+ mammals
• 200+ amphibians
• 5000+ fish
• 24,000+ plants

Australia is facing an extinction crisis. This is due mainly to predation by feral cats and foxes, clearing of native vegetation, habitat destruction and bush-fire.

Sadly, many Australian species face an uncertain future. Australia has the worst mammal extinction rate in the world, with 1 out of 3 mammal extinctions in the last 400 years occurring in Australia. Most of Australia's wildlife is found nowhere else in the world, making its conservation even more important.

FERAL CATS

Cats are natural born killers. The feral cat is one of the main predators of Australian wildlife. However domestic cats can kill wildlife too; in fact it is estimated that cats kill 3.8 million native Australian animals each year. Of course, they are blameless; they are simply following their instincts. However cats are a major threat to our native wildlife and cat owners need to take responsibility.

If you have a cat, be a responsible owner and follow these easy steps to minimise the impact your cat has on local wildlife:

• Invest in an outdoor cat run to keep your cat, and our wildlife safe
• Keeping it in at night can reduce the kills it makes by half
• If you must allow your cat outdoors, it should wear a collar with a bell, or sonar beeper that produces high-pitched tones to alert birds to their presence
• Sterilize it to stop it from breeding and make it less likely to roam and hunt

EDUCATION

We see the value in conservation through education.

We aim to bring you close enough to see, hear, smell and sometimes touch our native Australian animals. We introduce you to a variety of animals, some well known, others you may never have heard of.

By getting you up close to them, we hope to bring awareness to the wide variety of animals that share our Australian environment, and spark your interest in the conservation of our wildlife.

Most of Australia’s wildlife is found nowhere else in the world; it is up to us!

Image kindly taken by Alex Cearns @ Houndstooth Studio