Quote:
Originally posted by Mezter
Why does Australia have such extreme wildlife?  |
Probably isolation. Australia separated from all other landmasses over 50 million years ago, leaving plenty of time for indigenous species to mutate/develop many unique traits. Also factor in the sheer size of the country/continent and that for thousands of years, only a very small population living a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle even existed they had little effect on indigenous wildlife. It is thought that through evolution, snakes in Australia went from heavy bodied python-like species, to a faster, more agile but highly venomous species in order to take down larger prey.
That said, Australian's tend to exaggerate the dangers of living here. Most of us (90%) live in urban areas where, for the most part, such wildlife is uncommon (at least at the scale of the OP). Nobody has died by spider bite since 1979 and the incidence of snakebites annually in Australia is between 3 and 18 per 100,000 with an average mortality rate of 0.03 per 100,000 per year (so, very, very slim).
