Near Port Agusta, South Australia Photograph by Dr. Tim Berra   Southern central Australia, including the Eyre peninsula Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub   23,500 square miles (60,900 square kilometers) -- about half the size of Mississippi Critical/Endangered

· Wild Mallees
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Wild Mallees

Small eucalyptus woodlands called mallee cover this ecoregion’s undulating hills. These mallee communities consist of coast gum, a small tree with gray bark and a spreading crown, and Yalata mallee, a small tree with orange-gray branches. Beneath the trees grows a small, stunted heath understory.

Special Features

The Eyre and Yorke Mallee ecoregion covers both the Eyre and Yorke Peninsulas. The peninsulas are located off the coast of South Australia and are separated from each other by the Spencer Gulf. Although many of the same organisms live on both peninsulas, both the endangered corunna daisy and the whibley wattle, a small acacia shrub with bright yellow flowers, grow only on the Eyre Peninsula.

	The Tammar wallaby can drink seawater. In fact, animals in a laboratory were able to successfully nurse their young while on a diet of dry food and seawater. This allows them to survive on semi-arid islands where fresh water is often not available.

Wild Side

In the mallee, gray kangaroos travel through the woodlands while large, flightless emus search for insects and grass seeds. The southern hairy-nosed wombat hides beneath the surface in an elaborate burrow. This small, stocky marsupial may appear slow and clumsy but is remarkably agile. Euros are shaggy wallaroos--small kangaroo-like animals--that prefer rocky areas and can be found in the Gawler Ranges which run along the northern boundary of the Eyre Peninsula. Shy Tammar wallabies emerge from dense brush at night to feed on grasses. Yellow and brown painted frogs congregate at ponds and temporary water holes to breed. The male’s normally smooth skin develops tiny black thorns during mating season. A wide variety of coastal birds are found here as well, including red-capped dotterels and the endangered hooded plover.

Cause for Concern

This area is densely populated compared to other regions of Australia and native vegetation has largely been cleared for agriculture, mostly wheat farming. Feral and introduced animals also pose a problem and some iron mining takes place as well.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.