National Threatened Species Day

National Threatened Species Day is celebrated across Australia to raise awareness of plants and animals at risk of extinction. It marks the death date in captivity of the last known thylacine, or Tasmanian Tiger. Australia is home to more than 500,000 animal and plant species, many of which are found nowhere else in the world. Biodiversity — the variety of plants, animals, micro-organisms and ecosystems that constitute our living environment — is in decline in Australia with more than 1,700 species and ecological communities under threat and at risk of extinction due to loss, degradation and fragmentation of habitat, invasive species, altered fire regimes, unsustainable use and management of natural resources, changes to the aquatic environment and water flows, and climate change. Sadly, over the last 200 years, more than 100 animal and plant species have become extinct. Threatened fauna and flora may be listed under Section 178 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and this Wildlife Victoria map page shows where fauna and flora are threatened.