Animals - Aquariums - Archeology - Insects - Fossils - Zoos

1972 - Death in the Sun; The sun which beats down remorselessly on the far north of Australia has saved the executioner a job. A campaign to kill off the 200, 000 strong herds which roam the Territory is expected to be announced later this year. But already hundreds of the great, lumbering beasts, whose ancestors were brought to Australia from India 140 years ago, have been wiped out in the great drought. Their existence in the inhospitable north has always been precarious. Thousands of years before the white mans arrival, Australia rejected the bovines that had found their way there and nurtured the more mobile and adaptable masupials. Now the buffaloes, apparently lacking the primitive instinct of the other wild animals, have been unable to seek out water and grazing. On a helicopter trip about 70 miles east of Darwin, in the Lake Finniss area - the occupants came upon a hasty exhibition of nature at its most merciless. The surface mud crust had cracked into endless crystal like formation, with clinging beg beneath it. In their crazed search for water t he buffaloes had ventured out from the firm ground into the morass from which they would never emerge. Leaving the graveyard and moving east wards towards the Mary River they sighted a few mobs of kangaroos, moving freely and apparently in good condition. The native Australians had survived where t he invaders perished. The Australian Government will make its final decision on the fate of the remainder of the herds after a Osiro team reports on a survey of the suitability of land south east of Darwin for cattle raising. If the report is favorable, an order will b e made removing the buffalo from the list of protected animals. And the slaughter will begin. (Credit Image: (c) Keystone Pictures USA/ZUMAPRESS.com/Mary Evans)

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1004 19600105 200000 Adaptable Ancestors Announced Apparently Australians Beats Begin Bovines Buffalo Buffaloes Clinging Cracked Crazed Crust Darwin Decision Drought Emerge Endless Executioner Expected Fate Favorable Firm Freely Grazing Hasty Herds Hundreds Inhospitable Instinct Invaders Kangaroos Lacking Lumbering Mans Merciless Mobile Mobs Morass Nurtured Occupants Perished Precarious Protected Raising Rejected Remainder Removing Reports Roam Saved Seek Sighted Slaughter Suitability Survey Survived Unable Ventured Wards Wiped

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