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Shark Bay, Western Australia

Baku, October 28, AZERTAC

Shark Bay is located at the westernmost point of the Australian Coast. It also serves as the meeting point of three climatic regions. This explains the diversity of life forms in the region. About 70% of the Shark Bay area consists of marine waters while encompassing many other conservation reserves and protected areas. Some of these protected areas include Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve, Shark Bay Marine Park, Zuytdorp Nature Reserve, Francois Peron National Park, and several other protected islands nearby.
A distinctive feature of the flora in the region is that most of the species that thrive here had reached the end of their range. In fact, 25% of the vascular plants that live in Shark Bay have reached their range limit. Aside from being a home to many vascular and plant species, it is also considered a zoological important site. The peninsulas, islands and varied landscapes in Shark Bay are considered as a natural habitat by many endangered mammals in Australia, such as the mouse, western barred bandicoot, rufous hare wallaby, burrowing bettong, and more.
Aside from mammals, the rich avifauna landscape in the region sees more than 230 species of bird that live within the area. This accounts for about 35% of the total bird species in Australia! For this reason, the authorities have done their best to preserve the natural features in Shark Bay to facilitate in providing a habitat for these birds, as well as the mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.
The stromatolites would have to be the most distinctive feature in the Shark Bay area. In fact, a lot of tourists flock here just to see the stromatolites formation in Hamelin Pool Nature Reserve.
The growth rate of the stromatolites suggests that cyanobacteria have developed over 1,000 years ago. The stromatolites have shown concentrated growth in the southern portion of the bay – Hamelin Pool. These formations are one of the earliest signs of life form on Earth with several fossilized stromatolites estimated to be around 3.5 billion years of age. However, it was not until 1956 when the stromatolites were identified as living species at Hamelin Pool.
Shark Bay was the first declared UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991 from Western Australia. It is one of two UNESCO sites in the state – the other one being Purnululu National Park. Shark Bay is located within the Gascoyne region and covers more than 2.2 million hectares of land area.

Culture 2022-10-28 19:23:00