Near Pemberton, Western Australia Photograph by Gerhard Ortner   Southwestern tip of Australia Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub   4,000 square miles (10,400 square kilometers) -- about twice the size of Delaware Critical/Endangered

· Valley of the Giants
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Valley of the Giants

This area has the best soil and rainfall in southwestern Australia and supports lush forests along the southern coast. Giant eucalyptus trees, including the jarrah and karri, grow in areas with good soil and rainfall, interspersed with heath and sedges. Jarrah trees grow up to 130 feet (40 m) in height, while karri trees--the tallest trees found in Western Australia--reach 300 feet (90 m). Both of these trees are prized by the timber industry. Other trees found here include the marri, a eucalypt that grows to 200 feet (60m), and the peppermint tree. Karri forest undergrowth is very moist and dense, with a wide variety of shrubs, many of them with colorful flowers. Blue wisteria vines and red coral vines grow among the trees and shrubs, and numerous birds and marsupials live in these rich forests.

Special Features

Many of the endemic marsupials found in this region are declining due to habitat loss and introduced predators. Some thrive only on offshore islands where predators are few. For a large part of the 20^th century, the cat-sized quokka, which resembles a kangaroo, was common only on offshore islands. Recently, however, its population has increased in the dense, moist jarrah-karri forests it prefers. Or consider Gilbert’s potoroo, a primitive relative of kangaroos and wallabies. It was thought to be extinct in Western Australia until rediscovered in 1994. Timid and nocturnal, Gilbert’s potoroo can be found only in dense heath.

	Numbats can eat up to 20,000 termites per day. That’s 10% of their body weight.

Wild Side

Purple crowned lorikeets pollinate karri trees by feeding on the nectar within the trees’ white blossoms. Squirrel-like brush-tailed phascogales forage for insects in mixed karri and jarrah forests. The males live for only one year and die of hormonal overload after the exertion of the mating season. The tiny, carnivorous dibbler hunts for birds and insects and lives only along the south coast in dense vegetation. A larger marsupial predator, the cat-sized western quoll, prefers jarrah forest. Brown with white spots, the quoll is well camouflaged when it sets out on a moonlit hunt. Also nocturnal, the brush-tailed bettong can be found in these forests searching for fungi and tubers, while the western ringtail possum feasts on peppermint leaves. Western spiny-tailed geckos run up trees, while red-winged fairy-wrens live in forest gullies near rivers. White-breasted robins flit about, and the low calls of the moaning frog ring out over the forests.

Cause for Concern

Both clearcutting and selective logging are serious threats, as is dieback--a disease that attacks jarrah trees and other native plants. A great deal of the forest left is protected as a national park. Dams for water supplies have been constructed in forest areas. Feral and introduced animals, especially foxes, prey on native wildlife. Bauxite mining previously occurred here, but there has been some reforestation at old mining sites.

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