Camel.
©Team 00128,
ThinkQuest 2003.
The Dromedary Camel is a pest throughout the cattle and sheep stations in the outback. The animal eats the grazing gasses and shrubs that the cattle and sheep require. In Australia, fertile, useful land is very important because there isn’t a great deal of adequate farming land, due to the continuous droughts that occur. Many droughts can last up to 10 years.
Camels eat the grass and shrubs, and then pound it with their feet-pads, which may be softer than hooves but still cause Soil Erosion and Land Degradation, therefore leaving the land more susceptible to quite serious environmental problems. This also drives small animals out of their original habitat and they die from hunger; becoming more susceptible to predatory animals; and lack of shelter in these animals’ usual habitat.
Camels will eat plants that other animals won’t eat even if
they dislike that particular type of plant. These types of
plants are prickly, bitter plants. As a result, camels become
more abundant in areas with animals that eat only the other
types of plants as there is more of the thorny, bitter plant.
This is a problem for the rising population and if the
population of feral camels keeps rising in these areas, then the
plants that they are forced to eat may soon become rare,
endangered or even extinct.
