Study: Australia's mammals are facing an 'extinction calamity'

A new study from the Department of Parks and Wildlife in Wanneroo, Australia has revealed that the country has lost more than a tenth of its native mammals in the last 200 years. Scientists are calling it an "extinction calamity."

Researchers from Charles Darwin University in Australia noted that no other country has seen such rapid mammal extinction within the same time period. Since 1788, about 11 percent of Australia's 273 native mammals have gone extinct.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that the introduction of the predatory feral cat and red fox from Europe have contributed to the mammals' decline. Controlled fires set to "manage land" are also affecting the animals.

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In addition to the species that have gone extinct, 21 percent of Australia's mammals are threatened, and 15 percent are near threatened, according to the study.