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Kakadu National Park. By Darren Sotor. Kakadu Information. Kakadu National Park is located within the Alligators Rivers Region of the Northern Territory of Australia.
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Kakadu National Park By Darren Sotor
Kakadu Information • Kakadu National Park is located within the Alligators Rivers Region of the Northern Territory of Australia. • It covers an area of 19,804 km2, extending nearly 200 kilometres from north to south and over 100 kilometres from east to west. • It is the size of Slovenia and about one-third the size of Tasmania. • The name Kakadu comes from the mispronunciation of Gaaguduju, which is the name of an Aboriginal language. • It contains four of the major river systems, East/West Alligator River, Wildman River and South Alligator River.
Kakadu’s Flora and Fauna • Kakadu’s many habitats support more than 280 species of birds, 117 species of reptiles, 25 species of frogs, 32 species of fish and 27 native fish and 10,000 species of insect. • Kakadu’s flora is among the richest in the Northern Australia with more than 1700 plant species.
Threats to Flora and Fauna • The Mimosa pigra (mimosa) is a native plant of Central America, this prickly shrub takes over floodplains, completely excluding native plants. • Brachiariamutica(paragrass) was introduced to improve pasture for cattle. This grass is highly invasive and takes over floodplains, forming a monoculture and displacing native food sources for the million of geese and other birds that come to Kakadu each year. • Salviniamolesta, is a free-floating aquatic fern, originally from south America. It has infested several creeks on the Magela floodplain.
Introduced Species • One of the main introduced plant species in Kakadu National Park is the “Mimosa Pigra” this introduced plant species is a native plant of Central America, this prickly shrub takes over floodplains and completely excluding native plants.
Government Initiatives • The Australian Government have committed to protect the Kakadu National Park, they are protecting the biodiversity of the Kakadu National Park. • Also they are eliminating any threats that are in Kakadu, like the Mimosa Pigra, the prickly shrub that is excluding the majority of native plants.
