Bizarre detail in French Zoo's Aussie map has people in hysterics
The map intended to show where emus are found in Australia – but it's being mocked online.
France has many things going for it. It's one of the world's most-visited countries, boasts a rich history and a mouth-watering food scene.
While the French have nailed many aspects of life, there may be one department requiring a little work according to people online— or rather, one zoo.
Posting to Reddit, one confused wildlife enthusiast uploaded an image of a map of Australia taken at a French zoological park. The map, seemingly located outside an emu enclosure, shows where the native Aussie icons are located around the country.
'Strange' issue with French map of Australia
The green part of the map details where emus are found, while the white, apparently shows where they are not — one small circle and one elongated oval in Western Australia's northwest. While the image seems simple enough, eagle-eyed Aussies have have been quick to respond, laughing at what they say is a "strange" lack of "fact finding" — and experts agree.
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According to this detailed interactive, put together by researchers at the Atlas of Living Australia, the French map is wildly inaccurate, leaving people online puzzled.
Animal expert highlights flaw in French emu map
Tyler Lower, Mammals & Birds Keeper at the Australian Reptile Park agreed the map was "definitely oversimplified".
"As for why emus have a limited distribution within this area, it will mainly be due to the climate not being sufficient enough for them to stay there," Lower told Yahoo News Australia.
"Between the NT and WA border, it's an arid climate and most likely [an area where they are not found]," he said, pointing to a more accurate map, that can be found here.
"I’m guessing that the zoo just decided that your everyday Joe just isn’t that bothered by the accuracy of those maps," one person hypothesised. "To be fair, few tourists would be willing to travel to whoop whoop to verify it themselves," joked a second.
"I don’t blame 'em. I live in WA and I’m not going there to check either," another said.
The French map doesn't quite represent the ares of Western Australia where you won't find emus while it also overlooks that there are no wild emus in Tasmania.
Where emus are found
According to the Australia Museum, the animals were once found in Tasmania, but were driven to extinction.
"The Emu is found only in Australia (naturally)," the museum states. "It lives throughout most of the continent, ranging from coastal regions to high in the Snowy Mountains. Emus were once found in Tasmania, but were exterminated soon after Europeans arrived.
"Two dwarf species of emus that lived on Kangaroo Island and King Island also became extinct."
Emus move within their range according to climatic conditions, the museum continued. "If sufficient food and water are present, birds will reside in one area," it said. "Where these resources are more variable, emus move as needed to find suitable conditions. They are known to move hundreds of kilometres, sometimes at rates of 15 km to 25 km per day."
In Australia there are between 625,000 to 725,000 wild emus. Though the map at the zoo, may not be entirely accurate, other facts, when translated, appear to be correct.
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