Speakers

Narrator – N1

Speaker 2 – S2 (Chris Lunardi)

N1: Melbourne Water works to protect many wetlands across the Melbourne area so our creatures can have a home. The Edithvale-Seaford Wetlands provide an important habitat for all kinds of creatures.

[on-screen text: Animals of the Wetlands]

N1: Chris here works for Melbourne Water. He loves exploring nature, and using his nifty binoculars to study wildlife.

[on-screen text: Chris Lunardi, Melbourne Water Education Officer]

S2: At this wetland, there is quite a wide variety of animals. So we have something like 190 different species of birds. There’s frogs, lizards, snakes and even bats. Kangaroos, fish, and quite a wide variety of small little bugs as well.

Well, wetlands are really important places for animals, because they provide them with a great habitat. So they provide all the food, water and shelter that animals need. Wetlands are also really important as places for refuge in times of drought.

Fish, frogs and some birds will choose to breed in wetlands and raise their young, because they consider it to be a safe place.

N1: A wetland food web can get pretty complicated! At the bottom, we have the plants, which are eaten by bugs and birds. Bugs might be eaten by some reptiles, like lizards, and also by frogs and fish, which, in turn, are eaten by larger birds along with some smaller birds.

Living in the mud, are our worms, yabbies’ and crustaceans, which are responsible for cleaning up the wetland and recycling the nutrients. And these are eaten by larger birds too.

There are so many things eating this and that in a wetland – it seems like a big tangled web. But of course to those involved, it's all perfectly natural.

S2: Unfortunately there are some animals in the wetland that are not welcome. Introduced species such as foxes, and cats can be a huge problem for our native wildlife and our wetlands.

Not all pest animals are introduced though. Unfortunately some native animals can become a problem. A large population of kangaroos in a small area can overgraze an area, and that can be a big threat to the rest of the wetland.

Fortunately it’s very easy to help our wildlife in our wetlands. If you have a cat, keep it inside and put a bell on it. If you have a dog, and you’re walking it, put it on a leash and if it does a poo, pick it up and put it in the bin. And if you have any litter, also put that in the bin.

It’s pretty simple, and that will help keep our wetlands healthy.

N1: It's so important to look after our wetland, and protect the wildlife that live in them.

[Melbourne Water logo; tagline ‘Keeping our wetlands healthy for our animals’]

Back to Wetlands video series