1 billion animals killed in Australian bushfires

Bushfires burning through Australia have left an estimated 1 billion animals dead. An initial estimate show the loss of 480 million mammals, birds and reptiles, based on population densities available in New South Wales. “That figure is now a little bit out of date,” Chris Dickman, a biodiversity expert at the University of Sydney, told the Huffington Post, who put the number at over 800 million. Counting bats, frogs and invertebrates, “without any doubt at all” the number tops 1 billion. “Over a billon would be a very conservative figure,” he said.  The fires have burned 15.6 million acres, killing at least 24 people and destroying over 1,400 homes.

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