Why Australia Built a Fence Across the Entire Continent

Bright Side

Australia built a fence across the entire continent, called the Dingo Fence, to protect their livestock from wild dingoes. These dingoes were preying on sheep and cattle, causing huge losses for farmers. The fence, stretching over 5,600 kilometers, aimed to keep the dingoes out of southeastern Australia, where most of the farming happens. It's one of the longest structures in the world, designed to control the dingo population and safeguard agriculture. The fence has had mixed results, impacting both the environment and wildlife in various ways.  Credit:  CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/:  Wire Fence: Pixel-bit, https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/wire-fence-a9fd3ae41f744b9bb8becb64180a1231  Aquarium: lennartburgold, https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/aquarium-e954de85f1f64c7eb5657c8f644fc066  Dream House: Jerry Teng, https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/dream-house-b9406f1010e54f91a1968177af569718  Tube: Hurricane, https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/tube-55ba404c75db4126860810fbf702e279  IronEqual:  Dingo, https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/dingo-from-poly-by-google-b1cc93ae04d74cddbea477a27e190fb1  Kangaroo, https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/kangaroo-from-poly-by-google-60e9238fc28b4c1da3dadf6a04d3f129 Rd28T / Reddit nyuldaniel  / Reddit IcelandHotSpots / Reddit icedocmo / Reddit Material-Listen-5647 / Reddit bremb / Imgur  Animation is created by Bright Side.  #brightside   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Listen to Bright Side on:  Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/idhttps-podcasts-apple-com-podcast-bright-side/id1554898078 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/brightside/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official/ Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en Snapchat - https://www.snapchat.com/p/c6a1e38a-bff1-4a40-9731-2c8234ccb19f/1866144599336960  Stock materials (photos, footages and other):  https://www.depositphotos.com  https://www.shutterstock.com  https://www.eastnews.ru  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me

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00:00The world's largest fence spans over 3,100 miles from Queensland to South Australia.

00:07If stretched out, it could easily connect London to New York.

00:11And if you'd walk next to it, you'd need six months to complete the journey.

00:15It wasn't built to safeguard the Australian border.

00:18Why would it, since Aussies are just surrounded by water?

00:22It wasn't meant to protect some important building either.

00:25Its purpose is to keep some animal species away from each other.

00:29It was back in the late 1800s when Australians started building parts of this fence.

00:37They wanted to create a barrier separating the lively, bustling part of the country,

00:42where cities like Melbourne and Sydney thrive, from the harsh, dry outback.

00:47They used wooden posts dug deep into the ground, linked up with wire mesh standing about six feet tall.

00:55Some parts of the fence even have a second electrically charged layer.

01:00To make sure this fence did its job, they added some red and white lights to help guard things even at night.

01:07A team of over 20 people work full time to keep things in check here.

01:12And every year, local authorities chip in around $750,000 to keep the construction in shape.

01:20Why all this trouble?

01:22The main reason was dingoes.

01:24These gingery, wolf-like creatures are Australia's largest carnivore mammals, and they're also apex predators.

01:32They were causing a lot of trouble to local farmers, especially in southern Queensland, where they often go after sheep.

01:39For the most part, the fence has been doing its job okay, but it's not foolproof.

01:44Some dingoes still manage to sneak through.

01:47Other times, wild camels end up crashing into it.

01:51That's because Australia has quite a massive camel population roaming around.

01:56But this man-made solution did more than locals expected.

02:00They thought there would just be fewer dingoes within the fence, but fewer dingoes mean more kangaroos.

02:06And more kangaroos mean more competition with the sheep for food.

02:11It's not just the bigger species feeling the squeeze.

02:14The smaller animals and the greenery also went through changes.

02:18With all this competition in a smaller space, locals noticed less diversity in the plant life and small animals.

02:25The soil became less nutritious over time, affecting plant growth.

02:30Plus, the fence acts as a roadblock for animal migration and seed dispersal.

02:35Even the sand dunes are feeling the effects, with less grass cover to hold things together.

02:42When scientists looked at kangaroos on both sides of the fence, they noticed that the young pups inside were lighter and tinier on average.

02:50The outsiders had bigger feet and heads for their age, and it wasn't because they were eating a different diet.

02:56The kangaroos that were stuck sharing the land with dingoes had to bulk up faster to survive.

03:02On the flip side, those inside the fence took it slower because they weren't under the same type of pressure.

03:08These had to compete with a lot of other creatures for food, so a bigger size wasn't a priority anymore.

03:15Researchers are still not sure if this difference is a quick fix or a long-term gene adaptation.

03:22What about domesticating dingoes? Wouldn't that help?

03:26Many think dingoes were once pets in Australia, but it's not known for sure.

03:31These days, they're pretty wild, just like wolves, hyenas or coyotes.

03:36Most of them don't need packs to survive and are solitary hunters with sharp instincts built in, so taming them isn't going to be easy.

03:44Still, taking down the construction is not an option for now.

03:48Australians are so strict when it comes to making sure dingoes are kept away that they even put laws in place for people who mess up with the fence.

03:56Leaving a crossing gate open can put people behind bars for up to three months.

04:02Damaging the fence can cost people six months' worth of their freedom.

04:07It wasn't the first time Australians thought a fence could help with animal issues.

04:11Before they needed it for dingoes, they experienced a serious bunny invasion.

04:16Cute as they are, rabbits were damaging the land used for farming, so locals thought of a three-part fence.

04:23The first one stretched all the way from Ravensthorpe in the south to Pardew Station on the Pilbara coast.

04:30It was over 1,100 miles long, making it the longest unbroken fence globally at the time.

04:37All these bunny problems could have been traced back to a man named Thomas Austin.

04:42Back in 1859 when he first came to the land down under, he thought it would be a good idea to release a few rabbits into the wild, thinking it would add a bit of charm to the place.

04:53But since rabbits aren't native to Australia, they didn't have any natural predators at the time.

04:59They're also pretty adaptive creatures, needing just some grass for feeding.

05:04They reproduce at astonishing speeds too.

05:07A mama rabbit can have four litters a year, with as many as five bunnies each.

05:12Pretty soon, their numbers boomed.

05:15By the late 1880s, the bunnies had caused so much damage that local authorities came up with a proposal.

05:22They'd offer the equivalent of almost $2 million today to anyone who could come up with a solution to this long-eared problem.

05:30Nobody claimed the prize, but a commission did gather a bit over a decade later and came up with the fence idea.

05:37Maintaining those fences was complicated.

05:40They had inspectors keeping an eye with each one responsible for a stretch about 500 miles long.

05:47There were also these boundary riders patrolling smaller sections, using bikes at first, then switching to camels or using camels to haul buggies.

05:55They even tried using cars at one point, but they couldn't handle the rough terrain and constantly had punctured tires.

06:02In terms of its effectiveness, well, by 1902, rabbits were already hanging out on the wrong side of the fence.

06:10That's why, four years later, they put up another one.

06:13It worked for a while, so much so that the local authorities didn't bother helping out farmers past that second fence with rabbit netting loans.

06:21Those caught between the two fences, however, still had a rough time dealing with rabbit trouble.

06:27Soon enough, rabbits spread even over fence number two, and it was clear the solution didn't work.

06:33In some areas, even while the fences were being built, those sneaky bunnies found their way past them.

06:40To this day, the rabbit population still sometimes puts the Australian officials through rough times.

06:46The dingo fence may be the longest one, but it's not the weirdest.

06:51The aquarium fence in Turkey might take that prize.

06:54This 164-foot aquarium fence was built to make sure the expensive villa's ocean view would be visible from every one of its levels.

07:03These days, it gathers a lot of tourists from all over the world, eager to see the variety of fish it contains, and even the octopuses.

07:12Putting up a see-through structure wasn't hard.

07:16The real challenge was connecting the aqua fence to the Aegean Sea through a buried pipeline stretching across 13,000 feet of land.

07:24This ensures water constantly flows, keeping the aquarium clean and the fish happy.

07:30To make sure no one damages the delicate fence or steals any of the fish or two, the owner also invested in security.

07:38He installed a network of 17 cameras equipped with facial recognition.

07:43Visitors are free to look and take pictures, but step too close, and you're likely to trigger alarms.

07:49Another one of those weird fences is New Zealand's bra fence.

07:55If you ever find yourself through central Otago, you might stumble upon a fence adorned with bras of all kinds of shapes, sizes, and patterns.

08:04Its story takes us back to 1999, when people in the area found four bras mysteriously hanging on the fence near Cardona Valley Road.

08:13Some were a bit surprised, but then others started adding their bras to the decor.

08:19Some more bras appeared, and it became a must-see spot for tourists.

08:23Its popularity was so high that at times it caused traffic problems in the area.

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