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Some animals run, jump, fly, or crawl away from fire.
Some animals burrow deep under the ground.
Some trees have a thick bark that protects them from fire
In a bushfire, animals such as kangaroos, wallabies, emus and deer run and jump to escape the flames. Other animals such as mice, snakes, lizards, and wombats escape fire by burrowing, or escaping into burrows. Ants too, sheltering deep in the earth, often survive a fire.
Mature birds can fly to a safer area until the flames have passed. But nesting birds cannot escape.
However, many animals will not survive a bushfire! In the bushfires in Victoria, Australia in 2009, millions of animals were destroyed.
Although thousands of trees, shrubs and grasses are destroyed by bushfire, many plants will regrow.
Re-growth in bushland, one year after a bushfire
Some plants are protected from the heat of the flames by thick bark. Some have buds under the bark that grow after a fire, fed by food stored in the bark and water collected by roots deep in the soil.
The seeds of some cedar plants are fire resistant. They fall into the ash of a fire and when rain falls, they begin to grow.
Some plants protect their buds from fire with layers of succulent foliage or a cluster of needles.
If you use any of this information in your own work acknowledge this source in your bibliography like this:
Thomas, R. & Sydenham,S. How animals and plants survive a bushfire [Online] www.kidcyber.com.au (2009)
updated March 2009 (copyright kidcyber) images ©[2008] Jupiterimages Corporation