Tanami Desert
| Tanami | |
| Desert | |
 Desert track, 2004
|
|
| Country | Australia |
|---|---|
| State | Western Australia, Northern Territory |
| Area | 184,500 km2 (71,236 sq mi) |
| Biome | Desert |
 The IBRA regions, with Tanami highlighted in red
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|
The Tanami Desert is a desert in northern Australia situated in the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
It has a rocky terrain with small hills.[citation needed] The Tanami was the Northern Territory's final frontier and was not fully explored by Australians of European descent until well into the twentieth century. It is traversed by the Tanami Track.
Under the name Tanami, the desert is classified as an interim Australian bioregion, comprising 25,997,277 hectares (64,240,670 acres).[1][2][3]
Contents
Biological resources
According to government commissions, the Tanami desert is uniquely "one of the most important biological areas to be found in Australia particularly as it provides refuge for several of Australia's rare and endangered species."[4][5]
The species that are found include:
- Western chestnut mouse (Pseudomys nanus)
- Little native mouse (Pseudomys delicatulus)
- Long-tailed planigale (Planigale ingrami)
Significant bird species include:
- Grey falcon (Falco hypoleucos)
- Australian painted snipe (Rostratulas)
- Freckled duck (Stictonetta naevosa)
Local indigenous groups
The Tanami Desert is Kukatja and Walpiri country. The Tjurabalan live at the edge of the desert.[6]
Southern Tanami Indigenous Protected Area
In July 2012, 10,000,000 hectares (25,000,000 acres) of the desert area (38% of the total bioregion) was declared an indigenous protected area or conservation zone.[7][8][9][10][11]
See also
Notes
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- ↑ IBRA Version 6.1 data
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References
- Kelly, Kieran, (2003) Tanami : on foot across Australia's desert heart Sydney : Pan Macmillan Australia, 2003. ISBN 0-7329-1188-5
- Thackway, R and I D Cresswell (1995) An interim biogeographic regionalisation for Australia : a framework for setting priorities in the National Reserves System Cooperative Program Version 4.0 Canberra : Australian Nature Conservation Agency, Reserve Systems Unit, 1995. ISBN 0-642-21371-2
External links
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