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The Great Barrier Reef Facts For Kids
Interesting Facts About The Great Barrier Reef
Australia get’s the pleasure of having the worlds largest coral reef right on it’s shorelines. It is made up of over 3000 individual reef systems and has an abundance of marine life. There are hundreds of islands that contain the most amazing sun soaked golden beaches. The great barrier reef is one of the 7 wonders of the world, and it is well deserved. I hope you enjoy learning the great barrier reef facts for kids that I am bringing you today.
The Great Barrier Reef Facts For Kids
Interesting Facts About The Great Barrier Reef
Let’s start off by doing a quick question and answer session for the great barrier reef. Get some of the more simple questions answered for you!
How Big Is The Great Barrier Reef?
It’s pretty big! I is 132,973 sq miles (344,400).
Where Is The Great Barrier Reef?
The great barrier reef is located off the North Eastern coast of Australia.
Is The Great Barrier Reef Alive?
Yes, the coral reef that makes up most of the great barrier is indeed a living organism. As a matter of fact, it’s the worlds largest known organism.
When Was The Great Barrier Reef Discovered? And By Who?
The first recorded history of the great barrier reef was actually an accident. Lieutenant James Cook crashed a ship into the great barrier reef in the year 1770. The area caused many ship wrecks, but wasn’t mapped until the 1800s. It’s likely it was “discovered” before then, but that was the first account we have historically.
How Old Is The Great Barrier Reef?
The great barrier reef’s main structure is about 500,000 years old. Although that is not the structure that thrives and lives as we see it today. That part of the reef is about 8,000 years old. About 40,000 years ago, there was an ice age that made the water drop significantly lower. The aborigine people would have been able to walk on the great barrier reef. The ice age ended flooding the ocean with water from the melting ice caps and recovering the coral reef. About 10,000 years ago it started developing again into what we see today!
Interesting Facts About The Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef Facts For Kids
Alright, it’s finally the part you have really been waiting for. Let’s talk about some great barrier reef facts for kids! I hope you enjoy the cool and interesting facts about the great barrier reef!
♦ The great barrier reef is the largest reef in the world, it’s bigger than Italy!
♦ The great barrier reef is in good company. It’s considered one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. Right there with it is the Grand Canyon, Mount Everest and Northern Lights.
♦ I’m sure you have seen the Disney Pixar movie Finding Nemo, the clown fish (anemone fish) can be found all over the great barrier reef.
♦ It’s very beautiful, but can also be very dangerous. The great barrier reef hosts some of the deadliest creatures in the ocean. Watch out for the stone fish, box jellyfish and blue ringed octopus.
♦ There are some very large fish and some very small fish that call the great barrier reef home. The whale shark which can be as big as 12 meters and the stout fish which is only 7 millimeters are among the 1500 different fish species that live at the great barrier reef.
♦ To give it some scope, the great barrier reef is about the size of 70 million football fields!
♦ The great barrier reef is visible from the moon.
♦ People love to visit the great barrier reef. It’s a huge money maker for the country of Australia. Tourism brings in around 4-5 billion dollars every year.
♦ It’s not just fish that thrive at the great barrier reef. There are 215 species of birds that call the reef home.
♦ You will find 6 different species of turtles at the great barrier reef. There is the Flatback, Olive Ridley, Hawksbill, Green, Loggerhead and the Leatherback. That is actually 6 out of 7 species found in the world. The only one not at the reef is the Kemp’s Ridley turtle, they are found in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Great Barrier Reef Facts For Kids
Cool Great Barrier Reef Stuff!
Check out some of the cool great barrier reef stuff you can get below!
The Great Barrier Reef Facts For Kids
Interesting Facts About The Great Barrier Reef
History of the great barrier reef.
The Great Barrier Reef Facts For Kids
Interesting Facts About The Great Barrier Reef
There is an incredible amount of diversity with marine life at the great barrier reef.
- 450 types of corals
- 4000 types of molluscs
- 1500 types of fish
There are more species of animals and marine life found per cubic meter of the great barrier reef than any other environment in the world! This does also include the tropical rainforests and jungles. There are actually more species of animals in the great barrier reef than the entire Caribbean Ocean.
Approximate Number of Species
|
|||
Type of Animal |
Great Barrier Reef
|
Caribbean
|
World
|
Fish |
1500
|
900
|
13,000
|
Turtles |
6
|
4
|
7
|
Sea snakes |
15
|
0
|
52
|
Whales & Dolphins |
26
|
22
|
75
|
Hard Corals |
350
|
50
|
1260
|
Snails & Clams |
4000
|
1200
|
100,000
|
Giant Clams |
6
|
0
|
9
|
Nudibranchs (sea slugs) |
350
|
130
|
1550
|
Sea Stars (starfish) |
100
|
18
|
1800
|
Sea Cucumbers |
115
|
25
|
1400
|
The Great Barrier Reef Facts For Kids
Check out this really cool video that gives you some awesome info about the Great Barrier Reef.
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The Great Barrier Reef Facts For Kids
Interesting Facts About The Great Barrier Reef
I’m so glad you stopped by today. It’s very important for people to know about large Eco systems like this. Just knowing and understanding it can help our world preserve and take care of the Great Barrier Reef. Every day man does things that can endanger this wondrous natural structure.
Click Here To Learn More About Helping The Great Barrier Reef!
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