Australia's unique wildlife among victims of 'angry summer'

Record-breaking summer heat waves in recent months have left Australians sweating and uncomfortable and killed thousands of animals, graphically illustrating the dangers posed to the world's driest inhabited continent by climate change.

With temperatures topping 42C along the country's eastern seaboard, thousands of indigenous flying foxes in months have been dropping out of their trees, dead or severely distressed. In Queensland, Loggerhead turtle hatchlings have been cooked in their shells while trying to reach the ocean across ferociously hot sand.

Wild animals ranging from possums to snakes were forced into aberrant behavior along the New South Wales coast in search of refuge from the heat inside houses and garages. Koalas came down from their perches in eucalypt trees to find water.