Human-Set Grass Fire in Australia (IMAGE)
Caption
A member of the Martu Aboriginal community in western Australia sets fire to mature spinifex grass as a way to expose burrows occupied by sand monitor lizards, which are then hunted as a major food source. Hill kangaroos -- also known as hill wallaroos or euros -- are hunted in the same areas. A new study from the University of Utah and Stanford University found that setting such small-scale fires (10 acres or less) created a patchy landscape of different ages of vegetation, boosting kangaroo populations by providing them with shoot and fruits to eat in younger patches, and shelter from predators like dingoes in older patches of bush.
Credit
Jenny Chang, Stanford University.
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