Fire Hunting in Australia

Western Australia's Martu people set small fires as a matter of course while hunting lizards. But, say Stanford researchers, the technique may also buffer the landscape against two extremes -- overgrown brush and widespread lightning fires -- that hurt Australia's endangered small mammals.

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[JahvisLoveday]

8 years ago and this is more relevant than ever today.

[johngreenlee]

As a matter of fact this contributes to the sustainability of the ecological system and are extremely important to it's maintenance. People have been doing this for upwards of 45, 000 years and have shaped these landscapes to the point that if they weren't to burn the spinifex it causes huge lighting burns as opposed to these complex fire mosaics in their subsistence strategies. Just read some of the research done by Dr. Douglas Bird and his wife Dr. Rebecca Bliege Bird.

[starman]

Let me see if I understand. The wildlife was there when the Europeans came to Austrailia even though the Martu had been doing this for thousands of years, (proof that it doesn't cause any harm ) but, all of a sudden they shouldn't do it anymore because newcomers don't understand.

[starman]

Great Video, I don't know if they deliberately combined the hunt with the fires or if it just seemed to be practical to combine the two different things, but all that experience in living off the land is impressive. Alot of people don't know if you grab the wrong end of the lizard or fail to knock it out - - -you're dead.

[syedsayeed]

Awesome video! I went to Australia's Western Desert with Professor Bird in 2007 to meet the Martu. They are expert hunters. It's amazing to see the fires as they happen. They and the Martu are crucial to the diversity of the desert ecosystem since they promote the growth and cycling of vegetation, which has upstream effects on the food chain.

[antonimalachowski]

props to this man for keeping a straight face while saying all that

[potnta]

No this, this, is something worth watching at 3am

[ethancohen]

If anyone else were to light an uncontrolled bushfire they would be taken to court tried and found guilty of arson.

[expulsoroffarts]

Love how people say shooting birds, squirrels, hogs, roos, etc.is inhumane but whacking a lizard over and over by a minority Aboriginal warms their heart.

[rRobertSmith]

The small amount is prevention of a HUGE fire latter on, so it is justified, in fact huge fires are prevented this way naturally, that is why man made fire prevention caused the Yellowstone disaster in the US

[PlatinumRatio]

This is why Australia is 1/2 dessert. 35, 000 years ago the land was transformed. Good thing they never kept it up and don't seem to want to. It's an easy way to catch animals. It changed the flora to the point where what remained needs fire to germinate. It was never controlled, like how?

[ryangibson]

Funny how if you did that to a goanna WITH intent to eat it but you’re a white Australian. You’d get fined for animal cruelty. The double standards.

[sadesulaman]

These people are extraordinary, survivors.

[sanalicious]

THAT SHIT IS PALEO FOOD, For the paleo people to know, they didnt eat dark chocolate and nutty pates and smoothies, they ate what was out there.

[GeoffdeRuiter]

The CO2 that is released is reincorporated into the plant materials in the next couple years. There is not net increase in CO2. Hope that helps.

[HuckleberryHim]

This is not sustainable or ecologically responsible. Man-made fires like this contributed to the decline of megafauna across the world, including, and perhaps even most notably, in Australia itself. Today they are the sole driver of the Southeast Asian haze, among the most pressing ecological crises in the region.

Fires are produced by nature, and have been since flammable material arose from nature. I think the biota which evolved to survive damage from these natural fires for millions of years are better equipped to deal with those than with some hungry tribespeople setting the bush ablaze.

[Gariel]

I encourage you to dig deeper into Australia's history. in particular the aborigines the environment and man made forces that have changed both.

[HTTIYAN]

well in africa they would take offense, just because your calling them something else other then normal.
in australia they are proud to be called it, because its their heritage.

thats the only 2 i can talk about and say i am not wrong (spent my life in both places)

[peterstone]

How the F is a box of matches traditional?  The aboriginals did not have matches.

[shanaestreeter]

I'm pretty sure the wartu people who have been living on this land for millennia know how to sustainably use the land.