kangaroo
Chuck the kangaroo, with a joey in her pouch, looks out from her enclosure in a zoo in the western Siberian city of Barnaul March 29, 2014. The zoo bought the kangaroo in 2013, believing it to be male until staff observed the cub in its pouch this month, local media reported. Reuters

A new research by the Australian National University shows that endangered species like the striped legless lizard are threatened due to a massive number of kangaroos. In Canberra, a study looking at the population of lizards as well as the health of the grasslands showed that kangaroos are posing a threat to the local reptiles.

According to ABC News, the large numbers of the eastern grey kangaroos, apart from threatening the vulnerable reptiles, are also overgrazing. The ACT government has said that an annual kangaroo cull was conducted for the purpose of protecting the grasslands from overgrazing. In the last two years, many challenges have been faced regarding the cull because of animal rights groups.

Animal Liberation in ACT had made a claim that culling kangaroos was reducing the numbers. The organisation has been campaigning against it for a number of years and in its Web site, it mentioned that having the kangaroos being killed in the national parks was of ethical as well as ecological concern for the conservation of the marsupials. Despite efforts by Animal Liberation, the ACT Civil and Administrative tribunal rejected the claims by Animal Liberation, saying there is no scientific evidence for its claims.

Brett Howland, a researcher from ANU, said that the large number of the marsupials could affect and destroy the habitats of the striped legless lizards. He explained that when large number of kangaroos gather, it overgrazes the grasslands until the area looks like a lawn. This affects the lizards as it is left with no shelter as well as no food.

He said that the lizards provided pest control for the grasslands as they eat the insects. He explained that most of the reptiles stayed in grass which was over 20 centimeters.

More than 300 kangaroos lived per square kilometer in few of the parklands in Canberra and the marsupials removed all the grasslands. He remarked that just because kangaroos were native, it did not mean that it doesn't cause damage. He said that if a variety of reptiles had to be retained, then the numbers of the marsupials should be regulated.