Perilous times for wildlife amid severe drought

BOOLIGAL, Australia - From abandoned baby kangaroos to wallabies being blinded by the sun and koalas having to go walkabout to look for eucalyptus leaves, Australia's exotic wild animals are struggling to adapt to a crippling drought.

The "big dry", lasting for several years in some areas, is turning vast swathes of lush green land across the continent's eastern interior brown.

"There are large numbers of kangaroos dying all over the country," ecologist Richard Kingsford from the University of New South Wales said, warning that change was occurring "at such a fast rate for so many animals and plants that they can't adapt in that amount of time".