$4.50

THE SCOTT SISTERS ART FROM THE ARCHIVES

CAMELS IN AUSTRALIA- 'ROO HARVESTING PIG-NOSED TURTLE SOLOMON'S VOLCANOES WHAT'S 'NATURAL'l

WINTER 1987 VOL. 22 N0.5 YouthSho Id Not be Wastedo the Youn

eople of allages belong to swim at Springwood or bushwalk Youth Hostels. at Bundanoon: Youth Hostels are From an old church at located in the most scenic parts of PCarrington to a colonial pub at NSW. Many are near national parks Narrandera, a schoolhouse at like the Warrumbungles, Blue Scone to a modern lodge at Mountains, Snowy Mountains, Thredbo, Youth Hostels are cosier Kuringai and Barrington Tops. than a caravan and cheaper There are hostels throughout than a hotel. Australiaand the world that YHA Canoe at Coffs Harbour, birdwatch members can use. at Bega, cycle round Canberra, Join now.

YOUTH HOSTELS ASSOCIATION OF NSW GPO Box 5276 Sydney NSW 2001 176 Day Street, Sydney Phone: (02) 267 3044 Other YHA Offices: Brisbane (07) 831 2022 Adelaide (08) 51 5583 Hobart (002) 34 9617 Darwin YHA•NSW (089) 84 3902 Melbourne (03) 67 7991 Perth (09) 325 5844 Australian Discoveries Diverse Natural History EDITORIAL

Published by iscovery. The word usually ly to the early exploration of this coun­ The Australian Museum Trust refers to finding something new. try (p. 220). But discoveries are not 6-8 College Street, In this issue we adopt a different always 'large'. Small things are easily Sydney, N.S.W. 2000 slantD by looking back to discover some­ overlooked. The stunning close-up pho­ Phone: (02) 339 8111 Trust President: Robyn Williams thing old-some of the magnificent 19th tographs of bryophytes-miniatures of Museum Director: Desmond Griffin century illustrations by Harriet and the plant world (p. 238)-will ensure Helena Scott (p. 194). These two sisters that your eyes are kept well to the worked as scientific illustrators and their ground when next out in the bush. Dis­ EDITOR Fiona Doig paintings have been cloistered in the cover also in this issue what it is like to SCIENTIFIC EDITOR library archives of the Australian live at the base of an active volcano in Georgina1iickey, B.Sc. Museum for well over a century. Also the Solomon Islands. Find out how this CIRCULATION looking back at Australia's past, Gordon affects the people who live there (p. John McIntosh Grigg salutes the camel: the capabilities 210) and if Australia really is volcanically ART DIRECTION and endurance of this large, arid­ dead. You might be surprised! Watch This! Design adapted species contributed enormous- -Fiona Doig, Editor TYPESETTING Love Computer Typesetting Pty Ltd FILM WORK Contents South Sea International Press Ltd PRINTING Scott Sisters - 194 RodenPrint PtyLtd Art Treasures of the ADVERTISING 19th Century Revealed Jean Barnet Marion Ord (02) 939 6263 (02) 339 8234 Palm Cockatoos-Drumming to 199 a Different Beat SUBSCRIPTIONS Graham Wood Annual subscription (4 issues) Solomon's Volcanoes-Life 210 Within Australia $A 13.00 on the Verge Other Countries $A 15.00 Bill Gladstone Two-year subscription (8 issues) Within Australia $A25.00 Camels-Humpbacks of the 220 Other countries $A30.00 Desert Gordon Grigg For renewal or new subscription please Warradjan-The Pig-nosed 230 forward credit card authority or cheque Turtle made payable to: Arthur Georges The Australian Museum P.O. Box A285 Sydney South Bryophytes-Exquisite Miniatures 238 N.S.W. 2000, Australia of the Plant World Patricia Selkirk, Alison Downing Subscribers from other countries please note that money must be paid in and Helen Ramsay Australian currency. WILD FOODS All material appearing in Australian Natural History is copyright. Ground Orchids-Salute to Saloop 202 Reproduction in whole or in part is not Tim Low permitted without written authorisation from the Editor. FORUM Opinions expressed by the authors are Kangaroo Harvesting-A 204 their own and do not necessarily New Approach represent the policies or views of the Gordon Grigg Australian Museum. The Editor welcomes articles or RARE & ENDANGERED photographs in any field of Australian natural history. Classifying Australia's 208 Threatened Fishes John Harris Published 1987 PHOTOART

ISSN-0004-9840 Outback Sentinels 235 Marianne Porteners Front Cover REGULAR FEATURES The Dingy Swallowtail, Papilio anactus. Books 206 This painting, by Helena Scott, Quips, Quotes & Curios 215 complete with foxing spots and Vincent Serventy 218 correction marks, is from the library archives of the Australian Museum. Letters 227 Robyn Williams 228 Poster Article 229

AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY 193 /

·\ The Scott Sisters Art treasures of the 19th century revealed

By Marion Ord

h! you cannot think how "O thankful I am that my dear father allows me to place my name to the drawings! It makes me feel twice as much pleasure while I paint them!"

Helena Scott was 30 when she wrote those words to her childhood friend Edward Pierson Ramsay, who later became Curator of the Australian Museum. It was 1862 and she and her Bombay, "a naturalist'sparadise" not un­ elder sister, Harriet, were already well like Ash Island. His father, Dr Helenus launched on their careers as profession­ Scott, was botanist and physician to the al artists and natural science collectors East India Company for almost 30 years and illustrators. They were acquainted and Walker inherited his father's in­ through their father with scientists terests. As well as his botanical studies, around the world, and with many in the however, Walker took his MA at Cam­ colony of New South Wales. These in­ bridge, studied law briefly, pioneered cluded the Macleays; Dr George Ben­ several industries and institutions in vi 0 nett, who was the first Secretary, and Newcastle, and was a Liberal member u:: Gerard Krefft, an early Curator, of the of the first Legislative Assembly for � Australian Museum. Northumberland and Hunter in 1856. ::c Harriet and Helena were the He was also a trustee of the Australian � daughters of Alexander Walker Scott of Museum in 1864-66 and 1867-79. � Ash Island at Hexham, on the Hunter "I've entered into a very stimulat- 02 River. Walker Scott, "entomologist and ing association with a Mr. Robert Scott 11:: entrepreneur", was one of a large and and his brother, Walker Scott", wrote z influential family who had migrated to Ludwig Leichhardt in June 1842, soon Q New South Wales from England in the after his arrival in Australia. "Their sis- � 1820s. He was born in India, on the ter is married to a doctor named Mitch- � reclaimed island of Salsette north of ell [Dr James Mitchell of the Rum ::::l

AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY 195 Australian Lepidoptera

. ..,;::i;;;- Hospital]. These people have been in­ terested in natural history since their childhood and have been keen collec­ representation from life. Scott was a where he had emigrated, was prema­ tors of everything that seemed worthy talented artist and his closest friend in ture. The Lepidoptera book, lacking of remark. I have certainly found their England was the painter Edwin Land­ funds, was not published in Australia collection of minerals and shells instruc­ seer, whose portrait of Alexander Walk­ but in England 12 years later, in 1864. tive in the extreme." er Scott resides in the Art Callery of Five hundred copies were then printed. Leichhardt visited Ash Island later New South Wales. Swainson noted: in the same year: From early childhood the sisters "Of the execution of these drawings I "Mr. Scott has very kindly come with had visited the family of Dr David Ram­ am almost afraid to write lest the pub­ me on some of my tramps. He . ..is in­ say of "Dobroyd" at Ashfield, another lic may think that the desire of com­ clined to proceed briskly, like a nimble Scottish emigrant obsessed with natur­ plimenting the fair artists . ..may have huntsman, and his sharp eyes notice the al science and new plant species. His biased my judgment. I am willing, less conspicuous of the new varieties of wife, Sarah, was the daughter of eman­ however, to hazard that scrupulous plants more easily than mine do . ..It's cipist Simeon Lord.The mix of scientists regard for veracity which the scientific a romantic place which I like well and emancipists formed a more liberal­ public has long given me credit for, enough to think that-perhaps-I'd be minded community than that of the ex­ when I state that these drawings are content to live and die there." clusives in the colony, who wanted to equal to any I have ever seen by In 1846 Walker Scott married Har­ live like the English gentry and hated modern artists... Whether we look to riet Calcott, daughter of a convict "freed convicts, emancipists, the Catholics and the exquisite and elaborate finishing, by servitude", with whom he had been the Irish. The friendship of the Scott sis­ the correct drawing, or the astonishing living. She was the mother of his daugh­ ters with E.P.Ramsay began at this time, exactitude of the colours, often most ters Harriet and Helena, then 16 and 14. continuing throughout their lives. Let­ brilliant, and generally indescribably After the marriage he took them all to ters to him remain their only surviving blended, there is no poetic exaggera­ live on Ash Island, a grant of 2,560 acres correspondence. "You are one of the tion in saying: The force of painting can which he had been developing since very few to whom I scribble just as I no further go'." 1829. Ash Island oranges were famous think so you may be sure I have confi­ Swainson then discussed the in the colony and Scott experimented dence in you ", wrote Helena ("Nellie") Lepidoptera species under their differ­ with flax and tobacco crops and grew in 1862. ent families, noting those not seen be­ grapes for wine. In 1847 he imported In the Sydney Morning Herald of 30 fore and others which were important. five German vine dressers to work for August 1851 appeared a long review of "Commencing then with the diurnal or him. a work on moths and butterflies soon day-flying tribe, we have in Plate 52 the To Harriet and Helena, who had to be published: Australian Lepidoptera newly discovered Amprisius Australis been born in Harrington Street in Syd­ and their Transformations, drawn from [Ornithoptera australis, today known as ney's Rocks area, Ash Island introduced the Life by Harriet and Helena Scott, 0. richmondia] a large insect of surpas­ a freedom in which they could develop with Descriptions General and Sys­ sing beauty, recently discovered in the and indulge their talents, at their own tematic, by A.W. Scott M.A. The neighbourhood of the Richmond River. pace. Already their father had taught review, by the eminent botanist W. In its general colour it strongly resem­ them his skills in observation and exact Swainson on a visit from New Zealand bles the famous Priam butterfly of Am-

196 VOL. 22 NO. 5, WINTER 1987 SCOTT FAMILY TREE

Dr Helenus Scott m. Augusta M.an.a Frederid 1796 (Bomb.ly)

August.a M.an.a Robert AUX. W Al.KER Patrid b. 1798 b. 1799 d. 1&44 b 1800 d. 1883 1802-79 1806-117 m 1833 Dr J Mitchell m 1846 HARRIET CALCOTT d 1871 b 1804 d 1866 m Sar.1nna R..,

A M.uia David Scott Margaret HARRIIT HB.ENA b 1834 b. 1836 b 1837 1830-1907�� 1832-1910 10 children d. 1907 m. Quigley m. Dr C.W. Morg.tn m. Edward Forde 1864 m. Ch 3 children 1882 Merewether \ 9 surviving children induding Rose b 1847 d 1925

boyna and the Indian isles . .. That an insect of such dimensions and so strik­ ,--- ingly beautiful should only just have been discovered, is but one of the many proofs how little is yet known of Australian entomology beyond a short distance from the capital." Under Noctuidae, Swainson wrote: "The present series . .. contains one of the most beautiful species known, which see[T)s to be the same . .. or closely allied to others found in India. It is the Catocala Menispermi, Plate 17 of our author, and is as richly coloured in its larvae as in its perfect state. This drawing is one of the most beautifully executed in the whole collection." Many of the Lepidoptera were drawn against landscapes of Sydney in the style of Conrad Martens, a friend of the Scott family and best-known of the colony's painters. As a result of their work, the sisters were elected honorary members of the Entomological Society, a unique honour for women of their time. Later in 1864 Helena Scott married an Anglo-Irish artist and navigator, Ed­ I ward Forde, who was working for the Department of Harbours and River Navigation. They were married on Ash Island and a young cousin, Rose Scott, who was later to become famous as a ----) social reformer, was one of the wit­ nesses. The couple moved to Sydney and l_ in 1865 sailed for Adelaide. Dr Lionel Gilbert wrote: ,, 4 "Edward Forde was sent to survey the [7�,:

AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY 197 the Mr. Scott that has the clever daughters?'" But early in 1866 Mrs Scott died. Walker, Harriet and Mary Ann moved to Sydney. Walker, inept in business matters, was made bankrupt and the Ash Island property sold, although r Scott's books and personal belongings were returned to him by his creditor!i. Harriet now gladly embraced the life of the city "where we can be much hap­ pier than at so very quiet a place." For several years Harriet and Hele­ na executed almost all the artwork for scientific literature produced in Sydney, including J.C. Cox's Monograph of Aus­ tralian Land Shells (1868) and Krefft's Snakes of Australia(1869) and Mammals ' of Australia (1871). They also designed the first Australian Christmas cards, printed by Turner & Henderson in 1879. In 1882 Harriet married Dr Cosby William Morgan, recently widowed, who was an old friend from the days at Newcastle. They lived for several years at Pambula on the south coast. Harriet did little work after her marri­ age although she illustrated the 1884 and 1886 editions of the RailwayGuide. After Walker Scott's death in 1883, Helena persuaded the Australian Muse­ um to publish the second volume of his Lepidoptera in five parts (1890-98). As a freelance with no other capital, she had to earn her own living. "I must try and earn a little money somehow to keep the wolf from the door", she wrote to a cousin in 1904 when she was 72. She had applied to the Museum for ' "some scientific work which is all I am fit for ...". Harriet Scott died at Granville, Syd­ ney in 1907 and Helena at Harris Park, Darling River between Wentworth and "Hers was probably the most represen­ a few streets away, in 1910. They were Bourke for obstructions to river naviga­ tative collection of plants from the low­ bypassed in history until Nancy Gray be­ tion. Helena Forde accompanied her er Darling brought to Sydney up to this gan to collate the Scott family papers husband and by August 1865 she was time." Part of it later found its way into in the Mitchell Library some years ago. collecting and painting specimens the collection of Yon Mueller in Mel­ Fortunately their extraordinary work around the survey camp near Went­ bourne. survives to speak for them, and to recall worth, a noteworthy effort for a wom­ Meanwhile Harriet or "Hattie" lived the painstaking hours spent on Ash ls­ an in such a remote area at that on at Ash Island with her parents and land recording the life cycles of moths time . ..By March 1866 she had a half-sister Mary Ann. There were visits and butterflies. D reasonable amount of material on hand to Wollongong where she painted for her proposed illustrated 'Floraof the several landscapes, and to Sydney, and The Ash Island Series, the work of Har­ Darling'. In the vicinity of Menindee, commissions for Ramsay and others. riet and Helena Scott, is scheduled for however, both husband and wife con­ Harriet, who longed to have been "Har­ publication in 1988 by The Craftsman's tracted fever. Helena recovered but Ed­ ry Scott instead of Hattie Scott"and to Press. The books, arranged and in­ ward died on 20th June, 1866 'of low have had a university education, was troduced by Marion Ord, are: Histori­ fever and exhaustion'." delighted and a little in awe of her own cal Drawings of Moths & Butterflies, On the return to Sydney, Helena success: Vol. 1. From the Collections of The Aus­ gave her material to William Woolls for "Fancy Mr. Krefft introducing Papa to a tralian Museum; and Historical Draw­ his work A Contribution to the Flora of friendof his . ..a Mr. Pitt . ..and the said ings of Native Flowers, Vol. 2. From the Australia (Sydney, 1867). Gilbert wrote: Mr. Pitt accosting Papa with 'Are you Collections of The Mitchell Library. 198 VOL. 22 NO. 5, WINTER 1987

worth further investigation! So began a fascination with a truly remarkable bird. I had come to Iron Range, on north-eastern Cape York Peninsula, to familiarise myself with changes in the fauna, particularly the in­ sects, brought about by the wet season. But the course of my studies was about to take a radical change in direction. Several days later I woke to the same sound. Moving along the edge of the forest, guided by the drumming, I found myself peering up through a break in the canopy. Silhouetted against a sombre sky was a Palm Cockatoo, wings outstretched, turning from side to side and beating the top of the hol­ low trunk on which he was perched. The large bill and superior size suggest­ ed to me it was male. All too quickly he departed, leaving me with the puz­ zle of how such volume was produced. Certainly he could not just have been beating with his foot. Several days passed until I wit­ nessed the next, although brief, perfor­ mance. The other member of the pair, which was standing sentry, raised the alarm and they were gone. But, on departing, the performer dropped the piece of branch he had been using as a drumstick. This bounced noisily down the interior of the stump, unfortunate­ ly beyond my retrieval. Being now familiar with this haunt, I was determined to observe the whole performance. Reward came quickly, with the arrival of the pair before dawn 0 one morning. Following several minutes 0 of preening, the male flew to a nearby 0 3 tree. Clamping his beak around a two­ � centimetre-thick branch, he rocked :r: back and forth in pipe-cutter fashion. A � I.J 'snap' heralded success, a second 'snap' and the foliage end was gone, leaving Male Palm Cockatoo engaged in an early morning drumming performance using a length of about ten centimetres. Fly­ a Grevillea glauca seed capsule. ing to the top of the display trunk he spent several minutes chewing the branch, removing pieces of bark. He then beat the hollow trunk loudly with the stick, which he held in his foot. This time I was able to retrieve the drumstick. The drumstick produced by the Palm Cockatoo is certainly the most complex tool used by any bird and ar­ guably the most complex used by any 0 0 animals other than humans. Only the 0 tools used by primates rival it in com­ 3 � plexity. Few of the devices used by < :r: other animals are actually produced � and modified, as the drumstick is. The I.J drumstick is also the only tool produced by a non-human animal that is not used Drumming implements used by Palm Cockatoos. The round objects are the seed in procuring food and, to my capsules of the Grevilleaglauca tree. These were used by bushmen as clothespegs. knowledge, the only musical imple-

200 VOL. 22 NO. 5, WINTER 1987 the urge to nest came the lining of a number of hollows with a bed of shred­ ded sticks. At this time the hollows were most jealously guarded. There was considerable competition for suita­ ble nest hollows and disputes arose when a rival pair approached too close. The encroaching male was chased by the resident male and attacked whenever he landed. The resident flew directly at the intruder, lunging feet first and throwing his wings back prior to im­ pact. The victim was usually knocked off his perch by the blow but, on the occasions that he managed to hold on, his attacker flapped wildly in a persis­ tent effort to drag him off the branch. This attack was repeated until the en­ croaching pair departed. Beaks were never used in these conflicts-a sensi­ ble restraint when one considers their power. During the attacks the resident females flew beside their partners, screeching raucously but never making physical contact. 0 Following the departure of the en­ 0 0 croaching pair the male prepared a :!: drumstick and provided one of the best � < renditions I have witnessed. During this I � performance the female perched near­ I.) by, in silence. ment produced by any animals other Each pair of Palm Cockatoos had a During the last days before the than humans. Its purpose is to acousti­ number of hollows that were regularly young bird left the nest many drum­ cally delineate territory and probably visited at the beginning and close of ming displays were performed. On a has a pair-bonding function. each day. A morning visit usually com­ number of occasions both parents Months passed without the hint of menced with preening, followed by an drummed at the same time. As if on cue a performance. As the 'dry' season examination of the hollow and the oc­ the young bird, a male, left the nest hol­ progressed I moved toward the coast, casional drumming performance. In this low during one of these performances setting up camp in open woodland­ open country the drumming imple­ and flew to a nearby branch. Immedi­ main habitat of the Palm Cockatoo. ment, rather than being a stick, was ately he was attacked and knocked off Here I identified many potential display usually the nut of the Crevillea g/auca his perch by his father. Although visibly sites, which invariably focused on a tree tree, the so-called 'Bushman's shaken by this experience, he followed hollow with possible use in nesting. To Clothespeg'. his parents, who departed immediate­ avoid disturbing their performances I Drumming performances were ly after the attack. This established his built hides at selected sites. From these most intense during nest preparation position in life until the next nesting sea­ I was able to observe closely their mu­ and just prior to the single young (only son, still following his parents but keep­ sical performances. one egg is laid) leaving the nest. With ing a respectful distance. D

AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY 201 AUSTRALIAN WILD FOODS by Tim Low

cooking. These 'tubers' are actually Ground Orchids-Salute to Saloop large fleshy roots, which accounts for their fibrous texture. These were the only orchids that required cooking to round orchids are enchanting of globular tubers, 12 millimetres broad, improve the taste; the others I was able plants. Each spring they bright­ with a watery bitter taste. The fourth or­ to eat raw. en the forest floor with dainty chid, Pink Fingers (Caladenia camea) Incidentally, Hyacinth Orchids are G had two pea-sized white tubers, tasting mysterious plants. lacking leaves, they blooms of the oddest colours and shapes. Enjoy them while you can, for sweet and juicy. grow only beneath certain kinds of eu­ they flower but fleetingly; each summer I was intrigued by this hilltop orchid calypts and are said to be parasitic on the leaves, stems and flowers die away. entree. The tubers of these four plants a fungus. They seem to have the largest My fascination with ground orchids were as varied in flavour and form as tubers of any ground orchid, apart from blossomed last spring, during a long­ were the flowers in colour and shape. those of Cinnamon Bells, also called term study of the traditional foods of Although some of the tubers were not Potato Orchid (Castrodia sesamoides), Aborigines. Most ground orchids appealing, together they afforded a another leafless saprophyte, once eat­ produce 'tubers' and early colonial most interesting wild food snack. en by Aborigines in Tasmania. writers listed these as Aboriginal foods. Since then I have sampled the Hyacinth Orchids flower through For years I paid them no heed, for I en­ tubers of 12 genera and more than 20 summer but most orchids bloom in countered ground orchids infrequently species of ground orchid. Some were spring, which is when the leaves ap­ and the tubers I dug up were tiny. But quite unpalatable although all were ob­ pear. Ground orchids are not very leafy then I came upon an intriguing article viously edible, and a few were excep­ plants, and many produce only a single on Aboriginal diet by Melbourne tionally tasty-especially the leaf, others two or three. These soft, botanist Beth Gott. She wrote: walnut-sized 'potatoes' of Brown Beaks succulent leaves cannot withstand the "Accustomed as we are to the total pro­ (Lyperanthus suaveolens) and the scorching summer sun, and the plants tection of orchids in most states of Aus­ fragrantly flavoured starch of the 'gestate' through summer in the form tralia, we tend to dismiss the Horned Orchid (Orthoceras strictum). of those starch-filled tubers, so impor­ Orchidaceae [orchid family] as an im­ Most filling were the glutinous tubers tant as foods. portant food source, considering them of donkey orchids (Diuris spp.) and sun Tuber-producing is a common tac­ to be rare; yet orchids are widespread, orchids (Thelymitra spp.) and I have no tic of small plants with soft leaves grow­ even in quite dry areas, and are often doubt that these were important ing in a harsh climate with seasonally locally abundant. They were widely ex­ Aboriginal foods. dry soil. Besides orchids, many of the ploited as a food source." Although most of the tubers were smaller lilies and the Murnong or Yam Beth wrote of finding Nodding tiny, those of the common Hyacinth Or­ Daisy (Microseris scapigera) depend on Greenhoods (Pterostylis nutans) at the chid (Dipodium punctatum) were big. tubers. These plants often grow extraordinary density of 440 plants per One plant had six long tubers, each be­ together in shallow soils and Aborigines square metre, yielding 800 tiny tubers, tween seven and eight millimetres thick no doubt harvested them in large although with a combined weight of and longer than my fingers. The tubers numbers. only 126 grams. Orchid tubers are easy were watery and, for an orchid, un­ The tiny tubers could have served to dig and, at densities like this, could usually fibrous although less so after as staple foods in spring, when these serve as important foods. I began to look out for orchids, and last spring reaped a bountiful reward. It began on a small knoll in southern Australia where I chanced upon four or­ chid species flowering side by side. The first, a Common Waxlip (Clossodia major), sported a single egg-shaped tuber with a pointed tip. This tuber tast­ ed watery and slightly sweet, with a bit­ ter aftertaste. It was not nice. The second, a leopard Orchid (Diuris maculata), had two bullet-shaped � tubers three centimetres long and six to __, seven millimetres wide, with a glutinous ! sticky taste. The arrowroot-like starch, 8 although filling, stuck cloyingly to my The dark-flowered form of the Hyacinth Orchid flourishes in a patch of bushland o gums. The third orchid, a Tall Green­ in Brisbane's western suburbs, close to a main highway. The roots measure up it hood (Pterostylis longifolia), had a pair to 13 centimetres in length.

202 VOL. 22 NO. 5, WINTER 1987 plants are in flower, but I was curious scanned the nearby forest and realised to know if Aborigines would have har­ there were dozens of these dried pods, vested them in other seasons, when the all signalling tiny stores of food hidden plants are less obvious. in the hot earth. These tubers were so At first it seemed unlikely. Last Oc­ common that a forager could have lived tober, in the granite mountains near happily off the land. The different Stanthorpe, I found colonies of Brown shapes and tastes of the tubers con­ Beaks within which only half the plants firmed that several orchid species were were flowering. This orchid has a sin­ present. gle leaf remarkably similar to Blady Elsewhere in south-eastern Austra­ Grass (lmperata cylindrica), and both lia it was the same. In southern Victor­ plants often grow together so that the ia, in coastal New South Wales, orchid is extremely difficult to locate wherever I looked I found tubers­ without its flowers. On open ground sometimes by spotting a dainty flower the leaf is noticeable but still easily over- but more often by finding dried cap­ 1 ooked. Could Aborigines have sules in the wiry grass. Occasionally I gathered an orchid like this outside the made a mistake, confusing the capsules flowering season? of trigger plants (Stylidium spp.) with or­ Last summer I stumbled upon the chids. But there could be no mistaking answer. I was photographing Hyacinth the significance of my find-that, for the Orchids in disturbed bush in suburban Aborigines, orchids were a source of Brisbane where, surprisingly, this orchid sustenance all year round. is locally common. Many of the orchids Ground orchids are no longer on were past flowering, and I took note of my menu. I cannot justify the continued their distinctive oval capsules. Two harvest of these beautiful plants. Nor weeks later, in South Australia, I was would I want others to follow my ex­ tramping through the hills behind ample. Orchids are protected in some Adelaide when I spotted a similar egg­ States, and rightly so. There is, however, shaped capsule on a dried stalk. Could an interesting appendix to my tale. Dur­ this be an orchid? I clawed into the dirt ing my reading on orchids I came upon and, to my astonishment, unearthed a several old references to white people shiny white tuber shaped like a grape. The flower of the Spider Orchid eating the tubers, both here and This came from no Hyacinth Orchid but (Caladenia dilatata X patersoni,) is too overseas. was obviously of orchid origin. Its crisp spectacular to justify the harvest of its Consider the following comment white starch tasted sublime. Excitedly I tubers, which are tiny and watery. by colonial Australian botanist Joseph Maiden, writing in 1898: 'There is hardly a country boy who has not eaten so-called Yams, which are the tubers of numerous kinds of terrestrial or ground-growing orchids." Even more surprising is Anne Pratts description of 'salep' {orchid starch, also called saloop) in her 1891 book Flower­ ing Plants, Grasses, Sedges and Ferns, of Great Britain: "Salep is little used now in this country; but less than a century since, the Saloop-house was much frequented, and the substance was a favourite repast of porters, coal-heavers, and other hard-working men. It is said to contain more nutritious matter, in proportion to its bulk, than any other known root, and an ounce of salep was considered to afford support to a man for a day; hence those who travel in The tubers of Brown Beaks resemble small waxy potatoes, and have a juicy and uninhabited countries have greatly fragrant flavour. The flowers are shown at left. prized so portable a vegetable food."D

AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY 203 pastoral country in central New South Wales is to electrify existing fences so as to raise goats, which eat everything! Look at northern Africa! Something must be done. The best hope for restoration and conservation of our fragile arid lands is for the removal of sheep and cattle­ not just to reduce grazing pressure, but to reduce foot pressure as well. Kinche­ ga National Park, a formerly over­ grazed sheep property south-east of Broken Hill, provides a practical exam­ ple that many will be familiar with. However, for stock to be removed, there needs to be an alternate econom­ ic base. If kangaroos can provide that z alternate base, there will be a revolu­ 0 V, z tion in land use in many of the areas f­;;;; now only marginally useful for grazing < u.J and, wherever it happens, there will be habitat restoration on a grand scale. Graziers raise sheep deliberately and kangaroos inadvertently on most sheep properties. They regard sheep as a source of income, kangaroos as pests. A property might have 6,000 sheep and KANGAROO 3,000 kangaroos. The grazier reaps a financial benefit from the former, but HARVESTING: calls in a licensed kangaroo shooter to kill and sell the latter. This is a paradox. A new approach Its persistence is cultural (kangaroo By Gordon Grigg , School of Zoology, University of Sydney work is, in many cases, beneath the dig­ nity of most graziers) and financial (kan­ garoos are not worth enough at hat can be done to repair the overseas markets for kangaroo meat present). habitat damage done by 100 and hides, and selling them at prices But, if the value of kangaroos in­ years of overgrazing? A solu­ that do justice to their quality, instead creases, then graziers might think twice W of at prices that reflect their current sta­ tion in the marginal pastoral areas may before giving them away. There are iso­ be to promote kangaroo products, in­ tus in Australia as pests. lated examples of this now, even at the creasing their value so that it becomes You think I'm crazy? Hear me out, present low-market value of kangaroos. more profitable to harvest kangaroos point by point. During 1986, when sheep prices were there instead of sheep and cattle. Flying low over most of Australia, low, many graziers in central Queens­ Consider what would happen if the as I have been doing regularly for more land harvested their kangaroos them­ value of kangaroos suddenly jumped than ten years on kangaroo surveys, I selves. A dramatic price increase would three- or four-fold. Many people would am always appalled by the extent of see more graziers doing this and fewer immediately think that this is the worst habitat damage I see inflicted by sheep graziers would be forced off their land thing that could happen; that the large and cattle grazing. The land is criss­ in times of drought and increasing in­ species of kangaroos would come un­ crossed by tracks and beaten to pow­ terest rates. der such harvesting pressure that extinc­ der. Much of our marginal grazing land How much of a price rise would be tion would surely follow. I disagree. I is already well on the way to becom­ necessary? This question was addressed believe that a big increase in demand ing desert. Just try to imagine what the by Michael Young and Allan Wilson of for kangaroo products would not only country will look like in another 50 the CSIRO Division of Wildlife and Ran­ ensure their conservation but would years, let alone another 200. gelands Research (personal communi­ lead also to the rehabilitation of areas Or do you think we know better cation). Even including the costs of now becoming deserts under the pres­ now; that the lessons of the past have constructing and maintaining kangaroo­ sure of hard-hoofed stock. This Forum been learned well and that pastures are proof fencing, which I consider to be article will argue that, with conservation better managed nowadays? Well think counter-productive, they estimated that motives, we should be finding better again! The latest trend in clapped-out a three- to four-fold increase in the price 204 VOL. 22 NO. 5, WINTER 1987 of kangaroo meat would make farming these old chestnuts. After all, the sta­ should be able to work together. profitable, first as a supplement to and tus quo is hardly anything to be proud In an article in this magazine in then as a replacement for traditional of, and I'm sure I'm not the only one 1984 (vol. 21 no. 4, p. 123) I discussed stock. who sees a need for new directions. the kangaroo question at length, includ­ How could such a price rise be First of all, I'm not suggesting con­ ing population data and ethics. The ar­ achieved? A basic principle of econom­ ventional farming, but free-range har­ ticle concluded that Red and Grey ics is that if supply remains constant and vest of a natural resource (something Kangaroos were not threatened by con­ demand rises, then price also rises. The closer to fishing than to farming). Fences trolled harvesting. This conclusion is ac­ supply of kangaroos is limited by quo­ would not be needed. Indeed, fences cepted by most people nowadays. tas set to ensure their conservation (as would probably be deleterious because What that article said, essentially, was it should be), so we need only to in­ kangaroos need freedom of movement, that there are no reasons not to harvest crease the demand. At present, kan­ particularly during droughts. So how kangaroos; what this present article is garoos are undervalued, their present would you establish ownership over saying is that there are good conserva­ price reflecting their status in Australia your kangaroos? Why would you need tion reasons to harvest. as pests instead of something very spe­ to? Your kangaroos are the ones on Of course, if this proposal is put cial on which, we should remember, your property. Next week they may be into effect, there will have to be many we have a complete monopoly. The on your neighbour's but, if you look af­ changes in the structure of kangaroo leather is excellent and is sought by ter your land better than he does (that marketing and stricter controls to en­ manufacturers of many specialised is, by reducing or removing hard­ sure that the resource is managed products, particularly sport shoes and hoofed stock), then they may stay on properly. Regular monitoring of popu­ other sporting equipment. The meat, yours. Mustering? Not necessary. Shoot­ lations should continue, with effective with less than one per cent fat com­ ing has already proved to be an effec- and intelligent control over the num­ pared to 40 per cent for mutton, is a bers taken. There would need to be ef­ nutritionist's dream. With better mar­ fective ways to be certain that only keting, particularly in countries that legally-taken skins (tattooing?) and meat have a protein shortage (such as Japan), " ... if the value of enter trade markets, and there would where there is a tradition of eating kangaroos increases, then have to be a much higher level of su­ game (such as Germany), or in any pervision than at present. This will be country with a 'health food' industry, graziers might think twice crucial, otherwise there will be exten­ prices will inevitably rise. Even the moti­ before giving them away." sive poaching by unlicensed shooters, vation for the harvest-that of reversing with all its unsavoury aspects. Many op­ our grazing-induced desertification­ ponents of the industry have claimed could be.a selling point in Australia and that there is considerable corruption in all other conservation-conscious tive and humane method of harvest and that rules and regulations are not countries. and doesn't require the process of policed. But, with a higher dollar value In brief, my scenario is that kan­ mustering. Indeed, kangaroos could not on the resource, adequate controls and garoos should be marketed at higher be mustered because they are prone to higher penalties are much more likely prices, reflecting the special product post-capture myopathy, a stress-in­ to be implemented than they are at they are. Graziers in marginal country duced deterioration of the muscles that present. While the proposal is aimed will then see a benefit in encouraging degrades the value of the meat. mainly at the marginal grazing areas, I kangaroo populations by reducing and, Worms, parasites, health aspects? In see no reason why the kangaroo indus­ in some instances, replacing entirely South Australia, the only State where try should not continue in other areas, their traditional hard-hoofed stock. This kangaroo meat can now be sold for hu­ as it does now, but with better regula­ will result in a sounder economic base man consumption, it passes regular in­ tion. The greater value of kangaroos in many areas and will promote the spections with flying colours. Note also would lead to more energetic controls restoration of land that is turning into that overheads fall, there being no need in these places too. desert under present land use. to maintain fences, to brand, drench, I am not so naive that I think this You still think I'm crazy, don't you? crutch or spray. proposal is a cure-all for the problems I can imagine many of the criticisms: And the Greenies? Well, I think this in our arid lands, or for the problems "just another academic in his ivory tow­ proposal will be supported by more surrounding the commercialisation of er, flogging his hobby horse"; "doesn't conservation groups than will oppose kangaroos. However, I am urging con­ know anything about the bush"; "every­ it; after all, economically valuable spe­ structive discussion. I hope this article body knows you can't farm kangaroos"; cies are those that everyone wants to will start some. The spread of deserts "you'll need a big fence to keep them conserve and habitat restoration be­ is a problem in many countries. Perhaps in, mate"; "what about the worms?"; comes a bonus. If there is local support, in Australia we may be able to do "the Greenies'II never let you do it, any­ support from overseas will likely follow something about it. If switching to kan­ way"; "you can't muster them" and so for the same reasons. In my view, this garoos works effectively even in just a on. is a proposal on which producers, few areas, then that will be a good start. Well let's concentrate on some of governments and conservationists How far it might go, who can tell?D

AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY 205 BOOK REVIEWS Boles on Birds, Recher on Wrens

for the more irregular of concern to most people, it each species on the appropri· vagrants, are illustrated with is a disturbing approach to ate plate. It does not have one, sometimes more, high the initial presentation of the detail of text found in Piz­ quality photographs from the original information. zey's book. In this respect it National Photographic Index There has been a line of forgoes its usefulness as a of Australian Wildlife (NPI­ notable Australian field more general reference for AW). This is accompanied by guides, including the famous the specific purpose of field text of variable length, dis­ What Bird is That?by Neville identification, yet permits the cussing various aspects of the Cayley (first published in smaller size-a reasonable birds' natural history; a short 1931 and many times since, trade-off in my opinion. Reader's Digest synopsis of the description, including revisions) and the There are some rough edges Complete Book of voice, nesting and distribu­ recent volumes A Field Guide such as the odd irregularity in tion; and a range map. These Australian Birds. to Australian Birds by Peter the presence of range maps, accounts are supplemented Slater (1970, 197 4) and Gra­ and the aspects of plates Richard Schodde and Sonia by a short section depicting ham Pizzey's A Field Guide to mentioned above. There is Tidemann. Reader's Digest, the variety of Australian the Birds of Australia (1980). also perhaps not enough Sydney, 1986, 2nd ed., habitats and a general section Each has had its strengths and contrast in the black and 639 pp. $49.95 on bird biology and origins, weaknesses with none obvi­ white plate of underwing pat­ The Slater Field Guide particularly in the Australian ously superior overall. Now terns of birds of prey and to Australian Birds. context. The latter has been Peter Slater has collaborated ducks; at least one person Peter, Pat and Raoul Slater. expanded and moved from with his wife and son to who has used the book in the Rigby Publishers, Sydney, the rear to the front of the produce the best field guide field has remarked on this 1986, 1st ed., 344 pp. book. to Australian birds to date. point. $29.95. The size is too large for Previous guides retained out­ A cost· conserving urge The Birds of Australia. use anywhere except in the dated formats in which may be implicated in A Book of home, and the photographs, plates, and often maps, were some striking omissions in ldentification-760 as beautiful as most are, have divorced from the text, forc­ the Slater Guide. Surprisingly drawbacks for identification ing the observer to refer to absent is a figure explain· Birds in Colour. purposes. This, however, is several, often widely­ ing the parts or topography Ken Simpson and Nicolas not the function of the book; separated pages for a single of the bird used throughout Day. Lloyd O'Neil Pty Ltd, presentation of an attractive species. The major improve· the book in the text descrip­ Melbourne, 1986, 2nd ed., blend of quality photograph­ ment of the Slater Guide is to tions. Such a figure is a stan­ 352 pp. $35. 95. ic portraits and interesting conform to the well­ dard part of most guides, The number of newly pub­ text is. In this aim it succeeds established format used by a including Pizzey's and Slater's lished books on Australian admirably. majority of the best overseas earlier guide. The single most birds has proceeded at a sub­ In the first edition, the spe­ field guides: for each species astounding absence is the stantial rate for several years cies accounts were written by the text and maps are on one lack of an index to scientific and in the last few months of a number of authors who page facing the relevant illus­ names, an unbelievable solu­ 1986 reached a rather high were acknowledged in the tration. Other improvements tion to reducing the total level. Among this outpouring front of the volume and in are the size, which is smaller number of pages. There is no were several notable the rear. The second edition, than Pizzey's (perhaps still illustration of the introduced volumes: two new editions of completely re-written by slightly too large for easy Blackbird (rumour has it that previously published books Richard Schodde and Sonia back pocket transport) and this figure was at the rear of and one striking replacement Tidemann, still has these the single volume, unlike the the book and disappeared in for a standard Australian text. authors' lists, creating the un­ unwieldly two-volume ar· the company of the scientif­ All were landmarks in Aus­ fortunate impression that rangement of Slater's earlier ic names index). My suspi· tralian bird books when they they are still responsible for work. cions are that these first appeared, and continue comments that few would The plates are probably omissions were beyond the to be so in their updated have seen or had any input the best and most compre· control of the authors who forms. in. The book frequently con­ hensive (more young should be congratulated for When it first came on the tains apparently new infor· plumages included) of any of giving us the state-of-the-art market ten years ago, the mation on species' biology its immediate competitors Australian field guide to birds. Reader's Digest Complete that has yet to appear in (despite some occasionally The 'proper' format uti­ Book of Australian Birds proper scientific format. distracting use of marbled lised in the Slater Guide did made a major impact. While the first appearance of background and subdividing not first appear in that The format remains the such information in a the page), with the added volume. In 1984, Ken Simp­ same: each species, except popularised book will not be plus of including the eggs of son and Nicolas Day 206 VOL. 22 NO. 5, WINTER 1987 produced The Birds of Aus­ the Reader's Digest book is their biology is therefore an only that it deals more or less tralia set out in this manner. the best selection. For the important event. systematically with a single It was also the first work to middle ground-the occa­ The Fairy-wrens was pub­ subject. Indeed, until now, I attempt to illustrate any sort sional foray into the bush as lished in 1982; long enough had ignored it as yet another of range of different well as a general introduction to have been reviewed by of the 'coffee table' genre plumages beyond the obvi­ to Australian birds-Simpson others and discussed at that plagues the world of ous adult ones. This section and Day's book suggests it­ length among ornithologists natural history; I only opened of the book is followed by self. If, however, one is not and keen bird-watchers. The it to prepare this review. This "The Handbook", an exten­ working under such con­ review by Ian Rowley in 1985 has been my loss as not only sive presentation (70 pages) straints, one could do worse (Emu 85: 271), doyen of are the paintings superb, but starting with a brief introduc­ than to have all three of malurid biologists, is certain­ the text is engagingly written tion to the birds' biology, dis­ these worthwhile efforts in ly the most important and and informative, and the tribution, habitats and history one's library. detailed statement yet to historical accounts of the in Australia and concluding -Walter Boles appear. evolution of malurid taxono­ with accounts of each Aus­ As presented by Rowley, my are akin to a good detec­ there are two major criticisms tive story. Unlike Rowley, tralian family of birds and TheTVL their natural history. The for­ R'atry- . wrens of this book. The first and who advises that you 'bor­ mat and quality of paintings I ,1. II. " most important is that the row' and not purchase The by Day, which remain among author, Richard Schodde, has Fairy-wrens, I think a copy is the best in any Australian used it as a vehicle to publish money well spent. As Rowley identification guide, ensured ideas and observations states, "much of the text is or­ this book of a good recep­ without submitting them to nithologically important" but tion. The second edition fol­ the normal review processes it is also the most detailed lowed soon after, correcting that one expects for scientif­ (monographic) account of some of the errors of the ic writings. Thus unsubstan­ this special group of Aus­ original and replacing some· tiated statements and errors traI ia n birds available. of the plates. of fact or interpretation may Schodde has exhaustively The field guide section enter the literature and be ac­ reviewed the literature, bring­ holds its own in comparison cepted as correct by the less ing forth information that The Fairy-wrens. A critical or those unfamiliar most of us would never rea­ with Slater but most obser­ Monograph of the vers will find it far too bulky with fairy-wren biology. The lise existed let alone search to be a convenient field com­ Maluridae. second is that the artwork, al­ for. If in places his observa­ panion. "The Handbook" sec­ Richard Schodde. /1/ustrated beit very nice, does not add tions are unsubstantiated or tion will appeal to a number by Richard Weatherly. significantly to the scientific the text simplified, the risk of people who are pressed to Originally published by content of the text. For a that it will be misused is find this type of information Lansdowne Editions, monograph, Rowley expects minimal. The author has in any other source. Com­ Melbourne, 1982. Current illustrations that show the made it clear where he is bined, the two different styles distribution Connewarran different plumages of males speculating on events and of content make The Birds of Press, Mortlake, Victoria. and females, of young and has made no pretence of Australia something between 192 pp. $70. old, of breeding and non­ having made any more than a field guide and a reference The fairy-wrens (Maluri­ breeding birds or which a good naturalist's observa­ book. dae) are a group of 26 species document egg colour and tions and study of the birds. Anyone having to decide restricted to Australia and shape, nests and various I say 'good on him'-that's between these three books New Guinea. Closely related aspects of the birds' be­ what books are for. and given only a single to Australian warblers and haviour. To some extent The Fairy-wrens is not just choice will need to consider honeyeaters, the fairy-wrens Richard Weatherly's paintings a coffee table volume. I the role it is intended to ful­ are part of Australia's own, and sketches do this but, regret the format which fill. If frequent field use is in­ home-grown avifauna. Be­ overall, are basically irrele­ makes reading difficult but it tended, there is no doubt cause one species, the Su­ vant to the text and, Rowley is probably necessary to that the Slater Guide is the perb Blue Wren (Malurus suspects, have been used to show off Weatherly's paint­ obvious choice. Should there cyaneus), has made the ad­ sell the book. ings to advantage. I regret the be little need of an identifica­ justments to suburbia and Not being a malurid biol­ absence of detailed plates of tion guide but an interest in city parks, fairy-wrens occupy ogist, I have approached this morphological and life cycle an attractive and informative a place in Australia's cultural book less critically than variation in plumage. But mostly, I regret not having book for reference with natural history along with Rowley. Nor was I swayed by greater concentration on in­ Kookaburras, wombats and the labelling of the book as read this book sooner. dividual species' accounts, gum-nut children. A book on a monograph, which means -Harry Recher

AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY 207 · . RARE & ENDANGERED Classifying Australia's Threat

he conservation status of Aus­ (Chlamydogobius n. sp.), Swamp Galax­ fluviatilis). T ranslocation of native fish between drainage systems was also tralian fishes has become a to�i­ ias (Calaxias parvus), Pedder Galaxias cal issue, mainly because of dis­ (Calaxias pedderensis) and seen as a threat. Although no species T were listed by the conference as 'ex­ cussions among the fisheries scientists, the Non-parasitic Lamprey (Mordacia administrators, students and fish en­ praecox); and the three lower classifi­ tinct', it has since been reported that the thusiasts who belong to the Australian cations: 'indeterminate' (two species), Lake Eacham Rainbowfish may have Society for Fish Biology (ASFB). In 1980 'restricted' (32 species) and 'uncertain been exterminated by the translocation a meeting of the ASFB recognised the status' (15+ species). into Lake Eacham of another small na­ need to provide an authoritative up-to­ tive fish, the 'Mouth Almighty' (Clossa­ date classification of the conservation Causes of Fish Conservation mia aprion). status of Australian fishes. The Society Problems Fish often depend on the specific set up an Endangered Fish Subcommit­ The conference identified a varie­ features of a particular habitat type. tee and circulated discussion papers ty of causes of fish conservation Many of the critical features of habitats among its members. When it became problems. Some were due to the high­ are vulnerable to change. For example, clear that a forum was needed to inte­ of spe­ the many catadromous species (those grate the numerous and diverse pieces ly localised distribution patterns cies, often in a single locality. Examples that breed in marine waters and whose of information into the best possible included the Lake Eacham Rainbowfish young must migrate upstream) like classification of threatened fish, we from northern Queensland, the Blind Freshwater Herring (Potamalosa rich­ sought the support of other interested Cave Eel (Ophisternon candidum) from mondia) or Australian Bass (Macquaria bodies for a specialist conference. As a novemaculeata) are critically dependent result, funds were contributed by the a small subterranean location on the central western Australian coast, and on free passage through streams and so fisheries authorities of Victoria, South can be locally eradicated by impound­ Australia, New South Wales and the the Swan Galaxias from a single small Tasmanian stream. ments. Other species depend on the Commonwealth. Contributions were availability of particular habitats for also made by the Australian Freshwater Biological interactions such as pre­ dation and competition between spe­ spawning, such as the sunken logsused Fishermen's Assembly, Native Fish Aus­ by River Blackfish (Cadopsis sp.) or the tralia and ASFB. cies were often identified by the conference as causing the threatened gravel riffles used by Macquarie Perch (Macquaria australasica). The Threatened Fishes status of various fishes. Examples of such interactions included the competi­ The degradation of habitat, espe­ Conference tive effects on native fish of the in­ cially through river regulation (dams, The Society's Conference on Aus­ troduced Topminnow (Cambusia weirs, irrigation, etc.), stream siltation tralian Threatened Fishes was hosted by affinist otherwise known as the Mosqui­ and catchment alteration, was recog­ the Victorian Fisheries and Wildlife Di­ to Fish-an ill-deserved title since the nised as the greatest factor leading to vision in Melbourne in August 1985. It small native fish it displaces probably generalised declines in fish abundance brought together 52 people represent­ provide better control of insect pests. and distribution. While such diffuse ing a broad range of expertise and Other examples include predation and broad-scale forms of habitat degrada­ made a detailed analysis of the status competition by the introduced trout tion undoubtedly increase the vulnera­ of Australia's fish fauna over two days. species (Salmo spp.) and Redfin (Perea bility of many threatened species, only Dr Peter Maitland, Head of the Fish Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, was invited from Edinburgh to be the conference's Guest Speaker. The conference designed a seven-stage scheme of classification for threatened fishes. Sixty-two species were listed. They included four 'endangered' fish: Trout Cod (Maccullochella macquarien­ sis), Swan Galaxias (Calaxias fontanus), Eastern Freshwater Cod (Maccullochella n. sp.) and Clarence Galaxias (Calaxias johnstom); four 'vulnerable' species: Flinders Ranges Gudgeon (Mogurnda n. sp.), Honey Blue-eye (Pseudomugil me/- CS /is), Saddled Galaxias (Calaxias � tanycephalus) and the Lake Eacham � Rainbowfish (Melanotaenia eachamen­ :i sis); five 'potentially threatened' species: � the Australian Grayling (Prototroctes The Trout Cod was listed as 'endangered' at the Australian Threatened Fishes G maraena), Elizabeth Springs Coby Conference, Melbourne, August 1985. 208 VOL. 22 NO. 5, WINTER 1987 ened Fishes Comewith Lindblad Travel andcruise the magnificent i§ � I Continent of Vlu < I 1-z ::> l) urpasses The Lake Eacham Rainbowfish . The Antarctic adventure s any travel experience on earth. Ice occasionally (for example, the Eastern packs, glaciers and awsome icebergs Freshwater Cod or Swamp Galaxias) glitter like giant diamonds. Join our were they seen as the most immediate onboard naturalist and mingle with primary threat. millions of penguins ferocious Excessive fishing pressure was , reported as having threatened some leopard seals and huge elephant seals species such as Tasmanian Whitebait all waiting to be photographed. (Lovettia sea/ii) and Southern Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus maccoyii). Aboard the luxury vessel MV Illiria Overfishing may also have contributed you will enjoy elegant furnishings, to the problems of other species, such museum quality artwork, congenial as Macquarie Perch. atmosphere as you cruise this timeless Lack of knowledge was identified land. by the conference as a further impor­ tant cause of fish conservation After 23 years cruising the Antarctic problems. The low level of taxonomic knowledge of Australia's fishes is shown Lindblad Travel must be the by the inclusion in the classification of undisputed leader in tourism to this 19 species that have not yet been for­ part of the world. So why not see mally described and named. Many large your Travel Agent today or contact us gaps were recognised in knowledge of for our brochure and experience the To experience the grandure of the Antarctic please refer to the distribution of various fishes, and your Summer 86-87 vol 22 No. J issue of the Australian Lindblad difference. the ecology of most species remains Natural History Magazine. poorly known. Such ignorance prevents adequate assessment of the status of fish and inhibits conservation measures. The Future (02) 221 8378 Future work by ASFB on threatened fish will involve publication of the detailed Proceedings of the Conference LINDBLAD TRAVEL on Australian Threatened Fishes (1987). An educational pamphlet illustrating some of the species and noting conser­ vation problems will also be published. The Society has established an Endan­ LINDBLAD TRAVEL gered Fishes Habitat Subcommittee M.L.C. CENTRE, 49TH LEVEL, SYDNEY 2000 AUSTRALIA. TELEPHONE: (02) 221 8378 * FACSIMILE: (02) 261 3895 * TELEX: AA26998 which will seek protection for the WITH OFFICES IN: NEW YORK * WESTPORT * BEIJING * HONG KONG habitats of endangered and other clas­ Please send me your Antarctic Brochure ses of species. The southern Clarence River system habitats of the Eastern Name: ______Freshwater Cod have already been nominated for the Australian Heritage Address: ______Commission's Register of the National Estate. Research on various aspects of Postcode: threatened fish will be promoted by the Society and the conservation listings will be regularly reviewed. D Telephone: ______-John H. Harris Travel Agents Lie. B949 NH/6/87 Fisheries Research Institute AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY 209

' KIRl BATI 1 l,,,, PHOENIX k'. TUVALU h' TOIC,��.AU 11 s!ioc,.. ! , w,,tern ° 157" . J' \s.,,_ 166 C O R A t :. �¥M., t, / VANUATU, Y-l-�-� S f A : FIJI I, _..: : • V""{,levu�: •• • .---�'::· •• O Tinakula .; TON;:,GA I, � "'ta0 LciY4llY 11 NewC,�111� .. QUEENSLAND Roc\,h1mpt011 '• p A C I C !')j Nendo

Kolombangara •Norfotl 1 at SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS 0 C E A : Lala

NEW. N ZEALAND ··"""""-''1' Cook S.bmad� Vok,o,q Kavachi Submarine Volcano �

ing plate is converted into denser rocks people depended upon the volcano. where the minerals precipitate on the and partly melted by frictional heat. The They collected the eggs of the Scrub­ surrounding rocks. When these gases energy released from collision of the fowl (Megapodius freycinet) for food or combine with water they form acids plates colliding generates earthquakes. trade. Scrubfowls bury their eggs in that break down minerals in the rocks, The magma that develops during the sands heated by volcanic activity-a leaving a creamy-coloured remnant of bending of the plates rises and forms natural incubator. The people had lit­ silica and clay. The rising hot gases heat volcanoes at the surface. tle need for fuel: the eggs and vegeta­ any water bodies they encounter. The The Solomon Islands stretch south­ bles were boiled in hot springs or water in the crater lake at the base of east from New Guinea to Vanuatu. Ac­ steamed in gas vents. Simbo's volcano is uncomfortably hot tive and dormant volcanoes are dotted The only signs of Ovi nowadays are to stand in. The heat and chemicals along the length of the island chain. All scattered hut foundations and stone released into the water are optimal for of the Solomon's volcanic islands are walls in the rainforest that has reclaimed algae, which give the lake its charac­ populated. How have the inhabitants' tre site. The volcano quickly subsided teristic green colour. lives been shaped by the volcanoes? but the trees have taken little of its land. When their village was destroyed, Are life forms now returning to areas The crater and much of the lava flow the Ovi people moved to the only va­ that were devastated by previous erup­ are lifeless. Volcanic rocks, once black, cant land that remained on Simbo, at tions? To answer these questions, I visit­ have been gradually transformed to a the opposite end of the island, and es­ ed two volcanoes at opposite ends of creamy colour. Yellow smears of sul­ tablished Tapurai village. There was no the Solomons: Simbo and Tinakula. phur and red coatings of iron oxide fresh water and they were not fisher­ paint an erratic mosaic. men. Fortunately, not all the forest was Simbo The lifelessness, the transformed destroyed by the eruption and each fa­ rocks, and the sulphur and iron deposits mily retained ownership of a patch of The western Solomon Islands have have a common genesis. Gases given Scrubfowl nests. a diverse volcanic character. The active offby subterranean magma or cooling The Tapurai people travel each day submarine volcanoes, Cook and igneous rocks react with surrounding in their canoes to their Scrubfowl nests Kavachi, regularly break through the sea rocks as they rise to the surface, often on the slopes of the volcano. Lunch is surface, develop into small islands, and taking up sulphur and iron. They cooked in one of the many fumaroles. then collapse into the sea. Kolomban­ emerge at vents, called fumaroles, On their way home they collect fresh gara is a large, dormant volcano whose gently sloping cone and serrated crater dominate the region. Simbo is a jagged remnant of an an­ cient volcano. Its final eruption and col­ lapse to a caldera (large volcanic crater) created a deep and protected harbour. Spikes of black rock in the surrounding sea mark the volcano's earlier size. Sim­ bo is now a solfateric volcano: its sur­ face activity is limited to gas vents, hot sands and springs. When Simbo last erupted just after World War II it des­ troyed Ovi village and displaced many people. Ovi village stood around the edges of the crater of a subsidiary volcanic cone in one corner of Simbo, and around the shores of the green crater lake at the base of the volcano. Ovi

212 water from a communal tap in Lengana the caldera are sheltered and safe for village. Scrubfowl eggs are their liveli­ fishing. The villages are clean and the hood: they are traded for other foods huts are securely built from broad pan­ or taken to Gizo, the provincial capital, danus fronds. Wherever I walked and sold at the markets. The people around Nendo I was surrounded by have attempted to guarantee this liveli­ smiling, curious children. hood by making shelters to encourage The active volcano Tinakula lies 15 the Scrubfowls to nest, but the birds nautical miles (28.5 kilometres) north of rarely use them. All accessible nests are Nendo. Smoke belches constantly from raided and all eggs taken. As the the crater. It is a steep-sided volcanic Tapurai people proliferate and become cone created from the lava, ash and more efficient in collecting eggs, it is un­ cinders accumulated from previous likely that the few Scrubfowls that hatch eruptions. from the inaccessible nests will be After 15 years of silence at Tinaku­ enough to support them. la, a violent explosion at 8 am on 29 Tinakula November 1964 began another phase of activity that lasted until May 1965. Tinakula is situated in the Santa There were ash and steam eruptions, Cruz Islands, the eastern-most island and the north-western slope was co­ group of the Solomons. Lata, the main vered by fresh lava flows. On 28 May settlement, is perched on the rim of a 1965 much of the slope fell into the sea volcanic caldera, which is now part of in a gigantic landslide. The following ti­ the island of Nendo. The people of dal wave reached islands 12 nautical Nendo live comfortably. Fresh water miles away. flows freely from the rock faces in cool Six years later Tinakula became ac­ streams, and the soils are rich and tive again. At sunset on 6 September heavy. The rainforests growing out of 1971 the inhabitants of Nendo were dis­ the caldera's slopes were the richest I turbed by a continuous rumbling and saw in the Solomons. The waters inside dark clouds obscured the volcano.

Is Australia Volcanically Dead? Some geologists predict that this hot Most Australians live content in spot could cause an eruption, perhaps the knowledge that they are safe from within the next few thousands of the hazards of the volcanoes along the years. It will all depend on the balance eastern seaboard. Is this a false sense of stress on the rocks, either compres­ of security? Scientific studies indicate sing or stretching fractures which that it is. Australia shelters well behind would close or open up passage ways the active volcanoes of the Pacific to rising lava. margin, which stretches from New Besides the big centres of volcanic Zealand thrOLtgh the Tongan and Solo­ activity, there are several areas of mon Islands into New Guinea. The small volcanic cones and lavas that continent seems serene apart from finished erupting only between 4,000 the odd jolt of an earthquake here and and 20,000 years ago. Any visitors to there. Yet almost the entire eastern Mount Gambier and Mount Schank in coast of Australia shows many past South Australia (the youngest volca­ outpourings of lavas, some being Sites of Australian volcanoes. Numbers noes), Tower Hill in Victoria or the quite fresh and obviously coming from represent millions of years since last Burdekin River near Charters Towers recognisable volcanic cones and eruption. in Queensland can see the evidence­ craters. such as craters, young flows and the Some of the volcanoes are well This places Tasmania in the hot seat unworn surface of lava flows-for preserved in form, indicating that lit­ as next in line for such a volcano af­ themselves. So recent are these erup­ tle has changed since their eruption. ter Victoria, the last place to ex­ tions that they figure in Aboriginal Lack of erosion indicates these are cer­ perience a large volcano six million myths and legends, and explosive vol­ tainly less than 10,000 years old. Scien­ years ago at Hanging Rock. Geologists canic ash beds have buried an old tific research also uncovers some have identified the northern part of Aboriginal midden site near Warrnam­ disturbing patterns in the ages of the Tasmania as the current location for bool in Victoria. older, more denuded volcanoes. the underlying hot spot that has So there is certainly no guarantee The largest former volcanoes in moved down Australia's eastern coast. that all of Australia is volcanically Australia-such as Cape Hillsborough, Already the ground there is giving off dead. With the spectre that large vol­ the Tweed Shield, Nandewar Moun­ higher than normal heat flows. Dis­ canoes may burst forth in Tasmania, tains, Warrumbungles and Mount charges of water into mines in Tasma­ the future appears ashen. Even sleep­ Conobolas-become progressively nia are bringing up dissolved carbon ing giants like incipient volcanoes may younger in age the further south one dioxide from the mantle and there is eventually wake! D ventures, with each centre erupting in evidence that the north-eastern cor­ -Lin Sutherland succession every few million years. ner of Tasmania is tilting and uplifting. Australian Museum

213 Over several hours the tremors became on the ravaged slope, despite the sur­ more intense and flames rose from the rounding forest and sea from which crater. When the sea began to recede animal and plant colonists could come. the people recognised the sign and fled Why? Sporadic ash eruptions and lava from their villages to higher ground; flows destroy colonising vegetation and soon after, all low-lying areas were allow little time for the substrate to be swamped by a tidal wave. There were consolidated. Together with heavy four earthquakes, all followed by tidal equatorial rains, the earthquakes that went out in a canoe one day to search waves. No lives were lost. The constant regularly shake these islands cause for spirits. Coming to a place where eruptions continued until early October more landslides. The layer of ash and they heard the spirits singing, the youn­ and much of the north-western slope dust that covers the slope and shifts ger brother leapt into the sea with a of Tinakula was covered by lava. The constantly in the winds, and the con­ rope. He swam to the bottom and tied inhabitants of Tinakula were not res­ tinuous cascade of boulders that dis­ it; the older brother hauled on the rope. cued for ten days after the initial erup­ lodges seedlings, make plant succession The sea became very rough. Mountain tion due to rough seas. impossible. peaks rose from the water and finally I arranged to visit Tinakula in 1985 The Polynesian inhabitants of an entire island emerged." and was taken by a guide, Moses, in a Tinakula built their village on the only A traditional story was also told canoe. We came ashore on the black­ flat piece of land-a cliff top plateau on that explains the origins of some of their sand beach at the base of the lava flow. the southern rim of the island, in the customs. The story described two sis­ Cinders dislodged by gusts of wind rat­ shadow of a dormant cone below the ters who had fled to Tinakula to escape tled down the flow, sounding like dry, main crater. Moses and I were invited their brother's murderer. In grief, they brittle bones. Lava boulders that origi­ to the village where we sat on woven decided to wear clothes at all times and nated from a vent below the main mats laid out on the dusty ground in the only eat in the mornings and evenings. crater bounded continually down the shade. The people and the fruit they Upon their deaths the sisters were slope. Sudden overflows and gas bub­ gave us were covered by black dust. changed into rocks perched on the bling through magma pools in these The children clung to their parents' legs crater. The people of Tinakula said that vents threw off lava bombs (blobs of and stared quietly. The problem of a to this day they always wear clothes molten lava), the surfaces of which lack of running fresh water had been and eat their main meals in the morn­ cooled quickly to form a thin rocky skin. solved: coconut fronds plaited around ings and evenings. The lava flow is slowly filling the the smooth trunks of betel nut trees Life on active volcanoes is a cons­ gash in the north-western slope creat­ gathered rain water and funnelled it tant risk. Plant and animal communities ed by the landslide. The forest that into buckets. Unlike Nendo, the village that were established over many years covers Tinakula grows to the edges of architecture reflected a lack of quality can be destroyed overnight, and then four-metre high 'walls' that bound the building materials and the uncertainty barred from their former habitats by lin­ lava flow but the flow itself and the en­ of life on an active volcano. The huts, gering gas clouds and ash storms. Able tire north-western slope are lifeless. By built from narrow coconut fronds, were to alter their circumstances, people of contrast the first animals and plants ar­ small, untidy and appeared unstable. volcanoes develop a livelihood suited rived on the blackened remains of The ancestors of Tinakula's people to the constant threat of eviction. Iron­ Krakatau, a volcano in Indonesia, within had witnessed many volcanic events ically, like the people of Simbo, that nine months of its great eruption in and incorporated them into their myths. lifestyle can become dependent upon 1883. Twenty-eight plant species had The story of the origin of Nendo seems the force that threatens them. The fu­ re-established within three years, and based upon accounts of the form­ ture of people living on volcanoes will after 40 years 573 animal species had ation of volcanic islands; Moses trans­ ultimately depend upon their ability to returned. Yet, 15 years after Tinakula's lated for me: survive the changes presented to them last eruption, there was no visible life "Two brothers from the Duff Islands by the volcanoes. D

214 VOL. 22 NO. 5, WINTER 1987 QUIPS, QUOTES & CURIOS

Lover's Darts been attributed various func­ Dart shooting behaviour hypothesised to help in spe­ tions since it first became and expulsion of a dart de­ cies recognition. This, The mating behaviour of known to scientists, well over pends only on the internal however, is unlikely because the humble garden snail (He­ a century ago. One now­ condition of the snail and not when the extract from H. lix aspersa) is curious indeed. defunct hypothesis, that the on its partner's condition or aspersa was injected into a Along with other species of darts were used as weapons behaviour. Thus in many but related species, Cepaea helicids and several other fa­ of defence, stemmed from not all courting pairs, both nemoralis, a positive reaction milies of hermaphroditic land observations of deeply snails shoot darts (depending was recorded. -C.H. snails, they thrust calcareous embedded darts. However, on their condition) but it is darts into the bodies of their because of its use in court­ rarely simultaneous. mating partners during court­ ship, it appears most likely to Chung set out to prove the ship. What to us would ap­ be associated with some sort hypothesis that the dart of H. pear an immediate turn-off is, of stimulatory function. aspersa is used to inoculate for the snails, quite the op­ Daniel Chung, from the its mating partner with a posite. University of Michigan, has stimulatory substance that is These darts are housed in zf­ devoted much of his time to secreted by the mucous < an internal dart sac, which is the study of dart shooting be­ glands associated with the c

AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY 215 European species. employed for it the terms After the Moslem retreat, 'New Holland Cassowary' the fortunes of Portugal and and 'Emu'. Its similarities to Spain rose. They rapidly the South American rheas emerged as major seagoing were recognised and the powers and in 1485 agreed continued use. of the term to divide the world into two 'Emu' for the Ne� World bird parts to avoid conflicts bet­ may have been instrumental ween their rapidly expanding in its consequent replace­ explorations. In this division, ment in the early nineteenth it so happened that Portugal century of 'cassowary' for the gained access to parts of the Australian bird. globe in which other large, -Walter Boles flightless birds were found­ Australian Museum Brazil (rheas) and the East In­ dies (cassowaries). (Australia �-/ and the Emu were not known Animal Airstrikes at this time.) Each large bird Ever since aviation began, r of the Portuguese regions animals and planes have was given a variant of the been colliding. Aviation name ema; conversely in the departments around the FramedAntique Spanish territories, where no world regard birds, in partic­ similar birds existed, this term ular, as a serious threat to air­ was lost, probably through craft safety. A two-kilogram Lithographs disuse. bird colliding with an aircraft When the Dutch moved travelling at 135 knots (about by into the East Indies in the 250 kilometres per hour) can 1600s, they too adopted, have an impact force of 3.8 Harrietand Helena Scott from the local usage, a varia­ tonnes. That kind of force can tion of ema for the cassowar­ cause serious damage to air­ (printed1891) ies. Gradually, however, this craft and cost lives (human was replaced by a title from and other!). Limited quantity of framed original the Papuan words kasu Galahs, kites, hawks, gulls lithographs printed for the Australian (horned) and weri (head), and plovers are the most Lepidoptera will be sold exclusively eventually becoming 'casso­ commonly struck birds, through the Australian Museum shop. wary'. Both 'emu' and 'casso­ although bats can also be a wary' were used by the problem as they fly in large These exquisitely detailed, Portuguese and Dutch ex­ groups. Flying foxes, in partic­ scientifically exactillustrations plorers for the cassowaries ular, have been hit when represent the finest work of Australian and these alternatives were they cross the runways at colonial artists and have only recently adopted by the early English Brisbane airport, however the colonists to Australia. timing of their movements is been retrieved from the Museum's Although missed by Captain more predictable than that of archives. James Cook, the Emu was many birds. Birds of prey are soon encountered by mem­ sometimes known to attack 6 Come in and see our display. bers of the First Fleet who aircraft-they are territorial <� Write or phone for further ___ lJ Vl >U,J information: z >­ >- � australian ""� < 0 :::> museum � P. 0. Box A285 Sydney South, NSW :::>"' a, >­ Vl 6-8 College St, Sydney U,J w altitude, collided >- Phone: (02) 339 8350 :::>"' kilograms. 0 u 216 VOL. 22 NO. 5, WINTER 1987 Come and see 'em at the Compiled by Georgina Hickey australian and see anything flying bers of worms are driven out through their area as a threat. onto the runway after heavy While 97 per cent of bird­ rain. Not only does this at­ strikes occur at or near aero­ tract birds - excessive num­ dromes, mostly at low bers can reduce the braking museum altitudes (under 1,000 efficiency of landing aircraft. metres), many birds soar On the ground, stock, Scientific Seminars much higher. The world's kangaroos, wombats, rabbits, Our regular lunchtime seminars highest recorded birdstrike emus, foxes and dogs have have now been made available to was at 11,300 metres above all been hit by planes. The the public.If you'd like more infor­ sea-level between an Israeli kangaroo problem at Moruya mation, 'phone for a free copy of aircraft and a Ruppell's airport in New South Wales Griffon (Gyps rueppelli,), a requires a few to be shot ev­ the Museum's News and Events large vulture. ery couple of weeks to clear brochure on (02) 339 8111. Many methods of remov­ the runway and discourage ing birds from around aero­ others. Many country airstrips TAMS dromes have been are grassed and must be The Australian Museum Society conducts attempted. These include the mown regularly. The freshly lectures, trips, special sneak previews of birds' own distress calls being cut grass attracts many exhibitions, films, dinners and parties. Phone for recorded and played back, animals, which are especial­ details and a free brochure: (02) 339 8225. strobe lights on planes, gas ly a problem at night as they canons, bells, flare guns, kill­ are difficult to see. Buffalo are The Discovery Room ing or trapping the birds, a big problem in the North­ removal of habitat, introduc­ ern Territory; in the USA it is Our hands-on room for children tion of birds of prey, stuffed deer; in Fiji, donkeys; in the and their parents is open every bird corpses that act as USSR, elk; and in Alaska, weekend and during school 'scarecrows' (these tend to moose. holidays from 1 0am-4pm. get very soggy and lose their Strong updrafts and torna­ There are computer games, shape after a couple of rain­ does have been responsible wave tanks, language-learning storms), spraying grassed for some very unusual air­ modules and activities are areas around runways with strikes. Planes have been always changing. insecticide to kill the insects known to collide with frogs that attract the birds, and or fish at high altitudes. They regularly coating potential get sucked up in a tornado or Guided Tours perches with sticky sub­ waterspout that may lift them "Rogues and Scientists" ... in stances or attaching spikes to to a height of 6,000 metres! addition to our regular free prevent birds from roosting. A small frog can get tossed guided highlight tours of the Most of these methods, about at that height for sever­ Museum, "Rogues and however, have had little suc­ al hours by air currents be­ Scientists" is a history walk cess on their own as birds get fore it finally comes back taking you behind the scenes used to visual or sound ef­ down to earth. both physically and his­ fects and stop responding to A particularly bizarre mid­ torically. We look at the fas­ them unless their position air collision was reported in and method is altered regu­ the USA to have occurred cinating tales of conflict and larly. One airport in France, with a snake. Apparently it controversy that shaped the Museum as we know in a drastic measure, found was being carried by an ea­ it today.Bookings can be made by phoning Gavin that playing Shirley Bassey gle, which, frightened by the Gatenby on (02) 339 8111. records at loud volume plane, dropped its catch into helped for a while. the flight path! Recently, a But birds are not only a light aircraft crash was in­ problem in the air. They, directly caused by a green Open Tuesday-Sunday & holidays along with wasps and mice, tree frog in Queensland. The 1 0am-5pm, Mondays noon-Spm. Phone also build nests inside planes. frog had been stuck in the (02) 339 8111 for details of temporary Undetected, the nests may plane's exhaust system and block fuel tank air vents or sizzled while the plane was exhibitions. may be ingested into the en­ airborne. The pilot, thinking ausbalian gine, causing engine failure. the odd smell was the engine Even the lowly earthworm on fire, attempted an emer­ can be a hazard. At London's gency landing and crashed. 6-8museum College St. Sydney Heathrow airport large num- -F.O.

AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY 217 FROM THE JOURNAL

connection with South America; all their The Enchanted Isles wildlife either flew, floated or swam there. Humans added a more disastrous quota in the last few hundred years in visit the islands of the Galapa­ the form of the goats, pigs, dogs, cats gos is to come away with a deep and rats that are devastating some of "Tointerest in nature� This is the opin­ the wildlife today. ion of The Australian Museum Society Fortunately the magic remains. (TAMS} group that visited these islands Only 25,000 visitors are allowed each in late 1986. Once known as 'The En­ year so there is little chance of the is­ chanted Isles' they were the haunt of lands being 'loved to death' by tourists. buccaneers and whalers, who came not Indeed we only met one other group. in search of natural history enchantment Each party has a knowledgeable guide, but for the food provided by thousands skilled in both natural science and lan­ of Galapagos Giant To rtoises (Ceoche­ guages. Every guide enforces strict con­ /one e/ephantopus). So the 'enchanted servation rules and no plants may be isles' became known as Galapagos, picked and no animal may be touched. Spanish for tortoise. Paths show where you can go. Then came the turn of the The animals ignored us except naturalists of whom Charles Darwin was when they actually nested or sat on the the most famous. Back in England from pathways and refused to allow us to a world tour his thoughts turned on the pass. One TAMS member came too problems of how evolution could have close to a Blue-footed Booby (Su/a ne­ shaped the world of nature we know to­ bouxit) and found that the huge bill day. Discussions with his naturalist could inflict a nasty wound! friends over the significance of many of We travelled on a small boat, the Frigatebirds (Fregata minor) displaying his Galapagos and other observations, lsabela, that held only our group. We their red courtship throat pouches, the led to his famous book The Origin of moved during the night and each day awe-inspiring charges of the male Species, a work that was to shake the visited one or two of the islands. Some Galapagos Sea Lions (Zalophus wolle­ world of ideas as no other book has of us explored under water; swimming back,), the awkward comical courtship ever done. Fascinating plants and with seals and penguins is an unexpec­ dance of the Blue-footed Boobies, the animals live in this group of volcanically­ ted experience. beauty of Red-billed Tropic Birds (Phae­ formed islands lying across the equator After dinner we learned of the thon aethereus), the prehistoric solem­ 1,000 kilometres from the coast of Ecu­ pleasures in store for us next day and nity of hundreds of Marine Iguanas ador. The islands never had any land went to sleep dreaming of Greater (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) and the state­ ly dance of the Waved Albatross (Oi­ omedea irrorata). Seals, seabirds and landbirds were among the maior wildlife attractions but most of the TAMS group were en­ thralled by the reptiles, the Marine Iguanas in particular. The first Marine Iguana we saw crawled like a coal-black dinosaur across the sand. It was much photographed, although later we realised we had was­ ted a lot of film as we found these liz­ ards on most of the islands and often in groups of several hundred. We saw them soaking up the sun on the volcanic rocks, nibbling at green seaweed at low tide and plunging into the water to feed under the sea. A Ma­ rine Iguana can stay under water for nearly an hour so these are reptiles ideally suited for feeding on seaweeds. The tail is the swimming organ and the lizard uses its webbed feet with sharp

218 VOL. 22 NO. 5, WINTER 1987 OF VINCENT SERVENTY

claws to cling to rocks when waves wash them. Marine Iguanas vary from very dark to attractively coloured with mottlings of red and orange, green front legs and green crests. We never tired of them. The Galapagos Giant Tortoises are truly gargantuan with individuals weigh­ ing up to 230 kilograms. Thirteen subspecies are found on the islands, although some scientists believe that, like the famous Darwin finches, they should be considered full species. In the early days of the discovery of the Galapagos, hundreds of thousands of Galapagos Giant Tortoises have been island itself and the group as a whole. tortoises were taken on board sailing found many kilometres out to sea so it The third problem is more serious. The ships as fresh food and it is estimated is possible that some drifted on ocean recovery of the wildlife depends on the there are only 6,000 to 10,000 left on currents to reach the islands. A more removal of as many of the intruding the islands. likely explanation involves rafting. The animals and plants as possible. This Broadly speaking the tortoises from large rafts of vegetation that often wash needs money, and the staff at the the larger and wetter islands with plenty downstream and into the sea most Charles Darwin Research Station of plant food have dome-shaped shells. probably carried a number of them. showed little interest in educating the Those on the drier islands have long, Yet even in paradise there are tourists on this problem. thin legs and strangely shaped shells problems. We noticed three. We intend to send a letter to the with a dip in the neck-these are Firstly, the graffiti daubers have President of Ecuador on these topics. referred to as the 'Saddlebacks'. Such a been at work on many of the islands. There is nothing like a foreign letter to shape allows a longer stretch of the There was no evidence that the authori­ bring action as we found on a previous neck so an animal can browse on tree ties were going to remove these blem­ TAMS visit to India. A suggestion sent cactus (Opuntia sp.) a common food ishes, although there are regulations to the then Prime Minister, Mrs Indira plant in more arid places. forbidding the practice. Secondly, the Gandhi, regarding the famous Bharatpur There is still argument as to how small town on Santa Cruz, due to what wetlands, brought a prompt response such reptiles reached these volcanic is­ seems to be a complete lack of plan­ and action. So TAMS plays its part in in­ lands so far offshore. On rare occasions ning, is a blemish on the beauty of the ternational conservation. 0

AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY 219 Hunipbacks o.fthe Desert

By Gordon Grigg School of Zoology University of Sydney

"At first they are queer, awkward, slow, hard to understand, stupid, smelly, unapproachable and unfriendly, horribly noisy with their awful groans at loading time, generally repulsive, and trying to the nerves of anyone in a hurry . ..the whole process of travelling by camel seems antiquated and exasperating. But when the thermometer begins to pass 100 ° day after day, when the feed disappears, and only dry brambles can be found, and, finally, when water and the possibility of water become nothing but a wild hope, then the camel comes into his own. There he kneels, uncomplaining and unconcerned, a tower of strength and comfort, living on the fat of his hump, and good for another 200 miles." Explorer Charles Madigan, Central Australia, 1836.

any people are sur· prised to hear that AustraliaM has a large population of feral camels. They were introduced mainly between the 1860s and the turn of the century for use as work animals in the inland. With their ability to cope with poor feed, shortage of water, high temperatures and sandy substrates, camels made ideal work animals in our arid interior and contributed significan- � tly to its exploration and development. With the arrival of .., motor transport, many were turned loose to become the �

220 VOL. 22 NO. 5, WINTER 1987

ancestors of today's herds. Despite their and the steppe country in south­ them a logical choice as a domestic extensive use throughout Australia for western China. It is often domesti­ animal for pre-petrol-driven Australia. more than 60 years, little has been writ­ cated throughout central Asia. The first camel into Australia was a sur­ ten about them or their 'Afghan' drivers. The only other living members of vivor of a shipment of several from the Two books, however, stand out as fas­ the family Camelidae are four species Canary Islands, which landed at cinating reading: H.M. Barker's Camels in the New World-the Alpaca, Vicuna, Adelaide in 1840. Subsequently this and the Outback (1964) and T.L. Llama and Guanaco in South America. animal was used by the Horrocks McKnight's The Camel in Australia This disjunct distribution may seem odd brothers in an exploration of country to (1969). This article will outline some but is resolved by consideration of the the west of Lake Torrens in South Aus­ aspects of the biology of camels, their fossil record, which suggests that tralia, becoming the first of many contribution to Australia and their con­ camelids evolved in North America camels to contribute to the exploration temporary ecological significance. some time in the Eocene, and then of our desert areas. diversified and spread into South Ameri­ The push for more camels to be im­ History of Camels in Australia ca. In the Pleistocene they apparently ported came mainly from South Austra- All Australian camels are Drome­ migrated across the Bering landbridge 1 ia, Adelaide being the closest daries, Came/us came/us dromedarius, to Asia, Europe and North Africa, extinc­ settlement to country where •camels with a single hump. Most of them were tion occurring in North America. The six would be useful. The prime mover in shipped from Karachi, Bombay or Cal­ surviving species are all that remain of importing and later breeding camels cutta and presumably originated in a diverse and widespread group with at was the pastoralist Sir Thomas Elder Baluchistan (now a province of least 20 known fossil genera. With its who brought in not only the camels but Pakistan), Rajasthan (northern India) and long isolation, Australia is perhaps the skilled handlers as well-the well-known neighbouring areas. The natural distri­ least likely continent to have camels at 'Afghans', most of whom were not from bution of Dromedaries is uncertain be­ all, yet it is here that most of the world's Afghanistan at all, but from Baluchistan cause they have been domesticated for undomesticated camels now occur. and Rajasthan. Elder started a camel­ at least 5,000 years, associated mainly How has this come about? The long breeding station at Beltana, a still­ with the peoples of the warm sandy association between camels and man famous sheep property several countries in south-western Asia and is easy to understand. They are tracta­ kilometres south of where Leigh Creek northern Africa. The other Old World ble (in skilled hands) and useful not only is now, which also became the head­ camel, the two-humped Bactrian Camel for pulling or lifting loads but also for quarters of a general cartage company (C. c. bactrianus), prefers colder, rocky their wool, leather, meat and milk. using camels. With their much admired areas and occurs naturally in Mongolia Their abilities in hot dry country made but downtrodden and insular 'Afghan' handlers, working camels rapidly be­ came a significant and familiar sight throughout inland Australia. Not only in exploration, but in the major inland construction work of the time, there was a reliance on camels: the Overland Telegraph Line (1870-72), the Transcon­ tinental Railway (1912-17), the exten­ sive vermin-proof fences along State borders and at the margins of the pastoral country, and the pioneering of the Canning Stock Route. For 50-60 years camels provided the life blood of the developing pastoral industry in the arid lands, numbers peaking at 20,000 or so in 1920. Then their usefulness came to an abrupt end with the arrival of motor transport. Bar­ ker's book provides a fascinating per­ spective not only of the use of camels but also of early pastoral life. He tells poignantly about the end of the camel work and recognised that something very special was departing the Aus­ tralian scene. Unwanted camels were either shot or released and the survivors bred and dispersed throughout any suitable habitat. Among people familiar with camels, the beasts seem to have always raised strong although mixed feelings. Perhaps it is the aloofness they seem to show, or their characteristic unbending independence that disturbs so many observers. Opinions differ about their tractability. Many authors have reviled

222 VOL. 22 NO. 5, WINTER 1987 them for their intransigence, their habit of spitting green saliva, their discomfort Camel Stew as a mount, their smell, their untrust­ worthiness and their general unsociabil­ On explorations into Australia's soon reduced to a polished skull, ton­ ity. Barker, on the other hand (who arid interior, camels did provide, gue, brains, and cheeks all having dis­ might almost, from his writing, have however reluctantly, the occasional appeared; the foot was much preferred camels to people) wrote life-saving meal for the explorers. esteemed as a delicacy, though a charmingly about their willingness to Peter Egerton Warburton, for exam­ great deal of time was requisite to work, their prodigious abilities at pull­ ple, in his JourneyAcross the Western cook it to perfection .... ing and lifting, and their intelligence. Interior of Australia (1875, p.217) "Out of the whole number of They undoubtedly deserve this ad­ didn't waste a scrap: camels killed for food . ..not one miration, if even half of the feats repor­ ''The inner portions of the beast threw to the surface of the cooking ted of them are true. Madigan writes were first eaten, not the liver and bucket a single particle of fat. Worn that a load of 500 pounds (about 200 other dainty parts only, but all, every out and diseased, they afforded no kilograms) is commonplace on a pack single scrap was greedily devoured, more nutriment than is found in the animal, with loads of 1,440 pounds (650 and whenever eating is mentioned, it bark of a tree, and yet on such kilograms) possible-the equivalent of must be taken au pied de la lettre, and wretched stuff the party preserved four bales of wool. As for distances not with the loose signification we at­ their lives for many weeks. Poor as it travelled, McKnight reports an 'Aus­ tach to it in England; to eat a bird was, it was their all, and without it tralian record' camel ride of 224 meant with the explorer to pluck him they must have infallibly perished." kilometres in a single day. He regarded and then to eat him right through, and On a lighter note, we'd like to rides of 80-100 kilometres per day as to eat a camel meant exactly the same share with you this recipe for a gas­ commonplace. Other famous rides are thing. No shred was passed over; tronomic delight: that of an 'Afghan' taking a ballot box head, feet, hide, tail, all went into the 450 kilometres from lnnaminka to Fari­ boiling pot, even thevery bones were 3 medium-sized camels na in South Australia in less than three stewed down for soup first, and then 1 ton salt days, and a famous race between a broken for the sake of the marrow 1 ton pepper camel and a horse over 176 kilometres they contained. The flesh was cut into 500 bushels potatoes from Bourke to Wanaaring. Both made thin flat strips and hung upon the 200 bushels carrots the distance between sunrise and sun­ bushes to dry in the sun, three days 3,000 sprigs parsley set, the horse winning narrowly. But the being requisite to effect the process 2 small rabbits horse died the following day, while the properly. The tough thick hide was cut Cut camel into bite-size pieces. cameleer Abdul Wadi rode the camel up and parboiled, the coarsehair was This should take two months. Cut back to Bourke the next day. Distances then scraped offwith a knife, and the vegetables into cubes (another two of 50 kilometres per day are more the leather-like substance replaced in the months). Place meat in pan and cover norm for riding camels, however. pot and stewed until it became like with 1,000 gallons of brown gravy. Madigan (1936) apparently consi­ the inside of a carpenter's glue-pot, Simmer for four weeks. Shovel in pep­ dered the speed of a pack camel to be both to the taste and to the smell. per and salt to taste. When meat is one of life's constants. He allowed "two Nourishment there was little or none; tender, add vegetables. Simmer slow­ and three quarter miles per hour ...and but it served to fill up space, and as ly for four weeks. Garnish with pars­ [would] not be a mile out in a hundred". such was valuable to starving men, ley. Will serve 3,800 people. If more He conceded that "this does not apply who could afford to discard nothing. are expected, add two rabbits. [Source to a trotting camel, which can be urged The head was steadily attacked and unknown]. D to a faster pace". (Madigan, I feel sure from his writing, was a man of fixed bient temperatures close to or above nent Danish animal physiologist Knut ideas. I once met one of his camel their body temperature is by the evapo­ Schmidt-Nielsen, showed the impor­ drivers on the Simpson Desert crossing. ration of water vapour on a moist sur­ tance of the coat as an insulating layer He was a part-Arunta-part-'Afghan' face. Evaporative cooling by sweating by shaving a camel. The camel called Walter Smith, then in his 80s and is usually a luxury that a desert mam­ produced 60 per cent more sweat than retired in the Hartz Ranges. He told me mal cannot afford and camels are no ex­ an unshorn one. He found also that with much laughter and elaborate ception. Instead they have physiological camels play a significant physiological mimicry how Madigan always went in capabilities and behaviour that enable 'trick' by letting the body temperature straight lines, following the compass, them not only to survive in hot, dry rise each day. Most warm-blooded even if a hill got in his way. Walter had deserts but to work and travel as well. animals maintain a very stable body apparently attracted a severe repri­ One thing camels have going for temperature. A man in the desert, for mand for going around a small hill on them is their large size. This gives them example, soon starts sweating when one occasion and, after more than 30 a small surface-area to mass ratio, which ambient temperature rises, in an at­ years, the reprimand still rankled!) means that their body temperature has tempt to keep the body temperature more inertia than a small animal. They constant. Camels, however, are able to Camel Survival Tricks have a lower metabolic rate and a low­ tolerate a wider range in body temper­ The suitability of camels for desert er loss of water across the skin and lung ature. In the heat, but with abundant regions comes from their ability to cope surfaces per unit weight than smaller water, Schmidt-Nielsen found that a with the two main stresses of deserts­ animals, so a camel takes longer to de­ camel showed daily fluctuations in high temperatures and a shortage of hydrate and longer to warm up. body temperature from about 36 ° C in water. Indeed, these are synergistic in The camel's thermal inertia is en­ the morning to 38.5 ° C later in the day. their action because the only way for hanced by an insulating coat of hair, In comparison, a camel deprived of warm-blooded animals to cool in am- thicker on the upper surfaces. The emi- water started each day cooler (34.5° C) AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY 223 ..... 0.. � <:) c5 ....."' "' u......

and tolerated a rise to nearly 41 ° C. By comes available. Gauthier-Pilters and many variables that no hard and fast storing heat and tolerating the temper­ Dagg, working in Mauritania, northern rules can be laid down. Obviously one ature rise, water is saved that would Africa, found that camels often drink at significant factor will be the night as otherwise have had to be expended in 10-20 litres per minute, with a maxi­ well as the day temperatures. evaporative cooling. Schmidt-Nielsen mum of 28 litres per minute. Dehydrat­ Another fallacy that must be calculated that this strategy saved the ed camels may drink 25 per cent of referred to is the frequently encoun­ camel about five litres of water per day. their body weight at rehydration. In tered belief that camels store water in At night, of course, the stored heat is typical mammals, such a flood of water the hump. The hump is an important lost to the cooler surroundings. The as �ntering the bloodstream from the energy store, as fat, and its size is a yet unknown biochemical explanation ;tomach would cause the rupture of reasonable guide to the fitness of its for this heat-tolerant phenomenon red blood cells by osmosis. In camels, owner. Certainly the metabolism of fat would make an interesting study however, workers in Israel have shown does produce some water, called project. that the red blood cells are sturdier and 'metabolic water, but this is trivial in the Apart from coping with high tem­ do not burst. Also, the kidneys are very overall water economy of camels. peratures, the other physiological skill competent and can go from producing Apart from their water and temper­ of camels is that they can go such a long a dark, thick, syrupy liquid to a thin, ature relations, camels have other at­ time without water. They can do this watery urine in the space of 30 minutes tributes that equip them excellently for because of their large body size and be­ or so. life in hot, dry deserts. Their long legs cause they avoid the use of water for Contrary to popular belief, camels enhance mobility and the soft, enlarged evaporative cooling, as discussed do not drink and store water in antici­ foot pads are ideal for walking on sand above. However, this is only part of the pation of a need. In moderate temper­ substrates. Long lashes keep blowing story for they also have a prodigious atures, camels may not drink at all, sand from the eyes and the slit-like nos­ ability to tolerate dehydration. Whereas gaining sufficient moisture from succu­ trils, together with the fringe of nose we die if we lose water equivalent to lent food. At 30-35° C, they may drink hairs, probably filter air in the event of 10-20 per cent of our body weight, every 10-15 days, depending on activi­ a sandstorm. (Perhaps somebody could camels tolerate losses of 27 per cent ty. Frequent watering seems to be confirm this by following the ex­ without ill effect. Camels can also toler­ necessary in temperatures consistently perimental lead of Schmidt-Nielsen and ate rapid rehydration when water be- above 40° C, however there are so study a camel in a sandstorm with its 224 VOL. 22 NO. 5, WINTER 1987 nostrils shaved?) of hours after birth. Puberty in males is shooting. at about three years but they only start Various features of camel be­ Distribution, Abundance to serve females when they are bet­ haviour and diet are such that severe and Impact ween six and eight years old, and con­ damage to habitat is not likely. They eat tinue to do so until they are about 20. shrubs and trees rather than grasses, so How many camels are there in Aus­ Females are likely to calve when they there is little likelihood of competition tralia and what is their distribution? are four to five years old and may breed with domestic stock in areas where These are questions asked commonly, until they are 20 or even 30. They may both occur, except in drought. Appar­ but the answers are not easily found. live to 40 years. ently they do not linger around water­ McKnight tried to come up with an­ Are camels harming Australian ing points the way stock often do, so swers by questionnaire, interviews and habitat? Because so many of Australia's are less likely to cause local denudation. travel. They occur in all Australian exotic ferals have done irreparable Also, the feet are large, soft pads and States, except New South Wales, Vic­ damage to our habitat and wildlife, it cause little injury to the habitat, toria and Tasmania. He estimated a is reasonable to worry about the possi­ although camel pads are a definite fea­ population of 15,000to 20,000in 1966. ble impact of animals as large as ture in camel country. They are repor­ Aerial survey would seem to provide camels. Also, are they pests where they ted to move extensive distances while the best possibility of making an esti­ occur in grazing country? These ques­ foraging, 50-70 kilometres per day (but mate, as with kangaroos.Indeed, we al­ tions were addressed in a Northern Ter­ see box), nibbling rather than tearing at ways note all camels seen during aerial ritory Government enquiry into feral shrubs and trees, which suggests that surveys for kangaroos and recently animals there, chaired by Goff Letts in they may not cause significant long­ Short, Caughley, Grice and Brown from 1978-79. Usually camels are found in term damage. However, the evidence the CSIRO's Division of Wildlife and areas where there is little grazing by for many of these statements is subjec­ Rangelands Research have put together domestic stock, and travel in small fa­ tive rather than objective and more from such data a minimum estimate of mily groups rather than in large herds. work is needed. Some concern has 43,000 camels(/. Arid Environ., in press), However, during droughts they may been expressed that their predilection about twice that of McKnight's estimate. form into large mobs that can be very for certain species of shrub or tree may However, because of their cryptic damaging to fences, particularly around threaten extinction but once again hard colouration, camels are surprisingly watering points. This is the main data seem to be lacking. Two German difficult to see from the air and how problem identified by pastoralists and university students are presently en­ large a correction factor should be al­ local control is often undertaken by gaged in a study of camel social be- lowed to account for individuals present on the flight transect but not seen is unknown. Sexy Blatherers er] .. . opened its mouth, exposing By all accounts, camel mating is The blathering habits of sexually teeth coated in greenish grey slime wondrous to behold. R.T. Wilson in his aroused camels may stun or even and lips flecked with pea-green foam, book The Camel {1984) described revolt the unaccustomed human ob­ and made a noise like the ones you males in the rutting season becoming server. Jeremy Leggett describes his hear in the students' union bar on the hostile to each other and difficult to experience with a Dromedary Camel night of a rugby-club victory. The control. In a group, one male will es­ while on a field trip in Baluchistan, result, in the case of the camel, was tablish dominance. Wilson notes (p. 91): Pakistan (New Scientist, 22 May 1986, a spray of green slime most of which "Males in full rut grind their teeth, suck p. 61): spattered over the torso of the load­ air, belch, draw the head back, lash the "Giving a reverbatory, rumbling er. I watched horrified as the Baluch tail, crouch with jerky movements of groan, a camel near me extruded from made little or no effort to wipe away the tail and generally make themselves the side of its mouth a slimy, pinkish the offending substance. This was look ridiculous". Frequently they evert grey sac about the size of a small foot­ clearly a regular occupational hazard. from the mouth a fleshy bag, the dulaa ball, and apparently blown up with air. ''Yet I had heard from Arab friends or pelu, which is an air-filled extension I was astonished. It looked as though that the saliva of a camel is host to a of the soft palate. In females, oestrus it was trying to throw up its own certain rather awful social disease. On lasts three to four days and is followed stomach. After exhibiting this object the basis that even a 0. 1 per cent likeli­ (if fertilisation does not occur) by anoes­ for about 30 seconds, the camel tilt­ hood of truth might lie behind this trus of 10-25 days depending on the ed back its head, and, as though with rumour, and on the dreadful images season and location. Females in oestrus an effort, returned the sac to its which sprang from it ("You're not go­ are usually very receptive, often lying mouth, swallowing noisily and look­ ing to believe this, darling, but . ..'1, down if a male approaches. Males are ing more than usually disdainful as a I had hitherto steered well clear of all attracted by visual and olfactory cues. peristaltic wave passed down and camels encountered in Baluch­ Copulation typically lasts 10-20 round its U-shaped neck. istan . ... minutes but bouts may be repeated all "One of the came/men, noticing "Aroused camels are dangerous. day. Wilson again notes (p. 94): "Con­ my look of revulsion, volunteered that I was told that a came/man in a near­ clusion of the act is accompanied by this object was in fact the camel's ton­ by village had tried to intervene in the much bellowing, gurgling and frothing gue, the blathering extrusion of which amorous affairs of one of his beasts a at the mouth by the male and a more was a feature of the 80-day phase of few weeks before, only to be killed or less continuous bleating by the sexual activity (or, in the case of these during his noble efforts at population female". tethered beasts, sexual aspirations) control. The camel had taken him by Ovulation is stimulated by copula­ which camels enjoy each year .... the neck, hurled him through the air, tion and the gestation period is 13 'The reluctant camel [having been and to add insult to an already fatal months.A young calf may weigh 25-50 pulled down to its knees by the load- injury, trodden on his head. "O kilograms and suckles within a couple AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY 225 haviour in central Australia. From their undoubtedly be learned about the like­ toads, there are plenty of candidates many hours of observations, much will ly impact of camels on the en­ higher up the list for eradication pro­ vironment. grams than the camel. Indeed, com­ It seems, from what is known so pared with the freeloaders and far, that among the plethora of feral destroyers on this undistinguished list, animals that are the scourge of Austra­ it could be said that camels, more than lia, including pigs, horses, dogs, cats, any other feral animals, have contribut· foxes, donkeys, buffalo, rabbits, in­ ed more to Australia than they have troduced birds and disgusting cane taken away. D

Satellite Tracking from the camels refute what has be· come the conventional wisdom that Gordon Griggs interest in camels camels move long distances each day was stimulated originally by seeing as they forage. The two female camels them during aerial surveys of kan­ under study mostly travel only short garoo populations. Since May 1986 distances daily, if at all, moving to a he, with colleagues at the University new area for a further period. It is of Sydney, has been following the hoped that data will be accumulated movements of two female camels until the end of 1987. south-west of Alice Springs-the first The project is short of funds for use of satellites for tracking wildlife in the continued purchase of the satel­ Australia. This research has been lite data. Tax deductible donations made possible by a grant from the (minimum $20) would be most wel­ Australian Research Grants Scheme. come and Gordon will put your name The advantages of satellite telemetry on the mailing list for the periodic are that, once the radio collars are at­ Cameletters that circulate news of tached, the animals are followed via the project and the camels' wander· a computer linkup, no matter where ings. Cheques should be made paya· they go, and without the need to ble to Wildlife Research Unit and sent spend tedious and time-consuming to Zoology Building, University of Syd­ months in the field. So far the results ney, NSW, 2006. 0

226 VOL. 22 NO. 5, WINTER 1987 LETTERS Whinges _and Cringes and Habitat Fringes

Creationist Cancels political movement that pays tion, however, seems too control its populations and little heed to the standards of simplified, given the biologi­ spread. I refer to an article written evidence and scepticism that cal data on Cane Toads al­ -Dr W.J. Freeland by Robyn Williams entitled are displayed by science at its ready accumulated. Conservation Commission of "Worrying About Creation best. Dr Ross Alford of James the Northern Territory 'Science' " (ANH, vol. 22, no. My article was not an at­ Cook University, for example, 3, p. 132). This author, who tempt to argue the case for has recently found that some Economic (not Cultural) is apparently the Australian evolution. But I did say that native tadpole populations Cringe Museum Trust President, biologists dispute only its around Townsville may carry Like Tim Low in his article, spends the entire article mechanism. They do not a disease that kills Cane Toad Raspberries, blackberries and denigrating fellow scientists deny that it happened. tadpoles. How common this the cultural cringe (ANH vol. who hold to a different view -Robyn Williams is and whether the disease 22, no. 2), I grew up in an era to himself. He uses no scien­ exists in the Gulf is as yet when nearly all the nature tific evidence to support the unknown but research is un­ books and films were English theory of evolution but finds Applause for Archer derway. We also need to be or American imports. It was it impossible to tolerate the I would like to congratu­ able to simulate Cane Toad most frustrating and exten­ thought that others may hold late you on the last issue of populations in the computer ded to other areas such as as­ to the theory of special crea­ ANH (vol. 22, no. 4). The in order to determine what tronomy, for as children we tion. I find such a position in­ articles were most interesting effects, if any, a disease may had to rely on what the tolerable and such bigoted and the photographs magnifi­ be having on Cane Toads (be libraries stocked. Libraries, for articles deserve only one cent. Especially, I commend the disease native, or a South us, were few and far between response. Please cancel my the article by Michael Archer American one that may have and in that post-depression subscription. on creationism and the biocontrol potential). era it was easier and cheap­ -Chris B. Chapman editorial staff for publishing it. Many factors also need in­ er for librarians to stock the Harvey, WA -Dr LG. Cartwright vestigation, for example cli­ nature section with overseas University of Sydney matic factors, parasites, remainders. I cannot imagine how Mr shelter availability etc. It is It's true that many of the Chapman managed to infer not a simple problem but we earlier settlers were ignorant that I denigrate "fellow scien­ More on Toads may be making progress. of the ways of nature but tists who hold to a different Public interest in the in­ The Council of Nature Con­ they had little education and view" on creationism. I know troduced Cane Toad remains servation Ministers' (CON­ even less time to improve of no scientists of any repute high. Evidence to hand sug­ COM) Cane Toad program their knowledge of nature by who believe in creationist gests that the Townsville has been underway for near­ observation. However I doctrine despite my 15 years populations have declined ly 12 months and has made would challenge the concept as a science journalist, work­ and that Cane Toads are in significant progress, its that my generation suffered ing throughout the world. poor condition. This needs to primary goal being to provide from a cultural cringe. The My article quoted research be confirmed using capture­ a basis for the biological con­ problem was one of eco­ by Prof. Rhondda Jones of recapture techniques, and trol of Cane Toads. This can nomics. There was not a suffi­ James Cook University show­ this is currently being done. be achieved only after we cient market or efficient ing that an alarming number If the populations have have thoroughly investigated distribution network to sup­ of students in Australian declined we need to know the Cane Toad's impact on port Australian nature books. universities have had their what has caused it. In recent the native fauna; whether One of the books that fired thinking "muddled" by being newspaper articles it has Townsville populations have my imagination in those far taught creationism at some been suggested that a actually declined and, if so, off days was called Little time when at school. A re­ decline in Cane Toads in the why; and what diseases and Savage. It was a delightful cent Gallup poll states that 44 Townsville area can be at­ parasites the Cane Toads story, as I remember it, of per cent of the American tributed to a more efficient have. The work must be children who went through population agrees with the shire council, which has thorough in order to under­ the adventures of living out statement: 'Cod created man cleared up the area, reducing stand what the Cane Toad is of doors 'Red lndian'-style. It pretty much in his present the amount of food available doing to the fauna and, if was the sort of thing children form at one time within the for the toads. This sugges- necessary, to know how to anywhere would love to last ten thousand years' emulate. In my childish fan­ (quoted in The Wisdom of cies I hoped that one day a Science by Prof. Hanbury similar book would be writ­ Brown, Cambridge Universi­ ten about Australia. I still be- ty Press, 1986). o lieve that such a book could There is, as I tried to im­ 5 be written and I think Tim ply in the article, a real crisis � Low would be the person to in science education, here � do it. and in the United States. It is > -P.R. Smith caused in part by a religious- c§ Blackburn, Vic. AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY 227 ROBYN WILLIAMS

times without our even knowing, as What's Natural About Natural History? civilisation spreads. But isn't destruction itself a 'natur­ allowed treasures like that to become al' process? After all, here is Nature " he survival of our wildlife is a extinct and on such a scale?" responding to the chainsaw, the bull­ Tmatter of grave concern to all of But, you might say: "That's the way dozer or whatever. We are part of the us in Africa. These wild creatures with nature. Catastrophes occur, cli­ natural process so what we do is as amid the wild places they inhabit are mates change and species go. A new much natural as the celebrated not only important as a source of balance replaces the old." In the last meteorite that is supposed to have wonder and inspiration but are an in­ century, however, more species have crashed to Earth 65 million years ago, tegral part of our natural resources and disappeared than ever before. Peter sending up vast quantities of dust to of our futureJulius livelihood Nyerere, and President well-being." of Raven, the Director of the Missouri Bo­ shut out the sun and so, apparently, Tanzania 1964-1985 tanical Garden and a noted conserva­ cause thousands of organisms, includ­ tionist, warns that the richest ing dinosaurs, to become extinct. The Arusha Declaration, ecosystems on Earth-the tropical Well, I must admit that I am certain­ Tanganyika, Sept. 1961 rainforests-will soon be gone unless ly very fond of the English countryside, their rate of destruction is halted. The which is, almost entirely, a human in­ "I could be one of the last genera­ nature we observe today is rarely un­ vention. No more forests brimming with tion that is lucky enough to see the altered by humans. And so we see a bears and wolves; instead hedgerows rhinoceros or the tiger in their natural distortion-balances are altered and it and gentle fields stretching like a patch­ environment'', said my American friend, is often difficult to discern the 'pre­ work to the horizon, with little stone who is appalled at the prospect. She is human' scene. walls built centuries ago, still standing a biologist and fully aware of the death Consider the kangaroos. Only in quietly. There you can perceive the his­ toll recorded each year for the bigger one or two places in the remote parts tory of people blending with the beasts. "We can stick a few of them in of Western Australia do they still live landscape-acts that were done, in the zoos so our kids will see the relics, but as they did before European farmers main, without the knowledge that they how do you explain to them that we opened up the bush, providing constant could be irrevocable. People often im­ water supplies where once there was proved on nature or, at least, lived light­ none. Three of the large kangaroo spe­ ly on the land. In fact, until very cies, the Eastern and Western Greys recently, we struggled to maintain a and the big Red, increased enormous­ patch in the wilderness. Now, for the ly in number. Their reproductive cycles, first time, we can contemplate a total very much governed by the availability elimination of that wilderness. of food and water, were also altered From a scientific point of view, it is drastically. We now think of 'roos as of concern because so much of the re­ pests and have kill quotas of three mil­ maining natural heritage is unrecorded, lion a year. Not many Australians know unrecognised. Even large mammals in of the other 46 species of macropods­ Australia have not been studied proper­ the smaller ones, some endangered. ly; there are enormous gaps. To be san­ Tim Macartney-Snape's Having distorted nature we often see guine about the present state of things Wilderness Expeditions ugliness. The next stage is to reject it. is like saying you can "know all there Consider a tropical island in the is to know about the natural world by Small group adventures to South Pacific. The forest may be lush examining the plants and animals in wonderful places • Australia and dense, but the soil is invariably your back garden". Life appears to have • The Andes • Himalaya poor and thin. The richness is in the flourished in only one small part of our • China canopy where birds, insects and small solar system, so it would be an act of plant life abound, nurtured by the im­ hooliganism to allow most of this Cross country skiing, mense green leafiness all about. But, treasure-trove to die. Rafting, Trekking and when you knock down the trees to ex­ From a personal point of view it is Cycling. pose the fragile soil to wind and sun, of concern because people in most so­ For our brochure contact us now the spectacle is as squalid as before it cieties clearly enjoy unspoiled country­ Name ...... was spectacular. Nothing is quite as side. A lyrebird spotted in the woods Address ...... bleak as an island stripped bare, as any is worth a dozen trapped in a cage. Yet ...... Post Code ...... traveller flying above will testify . people don't appreciate how vulnera­ These are examples of obvious ef­ ble nature can be. Remember those WILDERNESS EXPEDITIONS fects of recent human intervention that traces of DDT (a pesticide now banned) 100 Clarence St. make any scientific observation of a discovered in Antarctica? The reach of Sydney2000 Phone (02) 291 581 'natural state' almost impossible. Less human messing is far greater than you Tarb. Uc. No. B1455 visible are the untold thousands of ANff 587 first suspect. What would the world be micro-organisms and small plants and like if everywhere you looked you saw animals that will become extinct, some- nothing but your own face?D

228 VOL. 22 NO. 5, WINTER 1987 mall moths are very difficult to illustrate in all their intricate detail. S However, Helena Scott has suc­ ceeded admirably as most of those on the plate are readily identifiable even though none has a wingspan greater than four centimetres. Identifying many of the moths on this plate is easy because of the accura­ cy of the details of the moths them­ selves, their food plants, larvae and the small structural diagrams. The larvae of ,, geometrid moths are distinctive. They have two prominent pairs of rear pro­ legs, such as portrayed in the top left illustration of Corula geometroides Walker, one of three geometrids on the plate. Here it rests on Native Cherry (Ex­ ocarpos cupressiformis). The second ge­ ometrid, one of the delicate emerald moths, Chlorocoma cadmaria (Guenee), is depicted in the centre on Native Cur­ rant (Leptomeria sp.), and the other, one of the few that cannot be identi­ fied to species, is shown centre right. Scott's plate, even now, constitutes the first record of the biology of these first two geometrid species, although being published more than 120 years after preparation. Unlike Corula, which has a limited distribution from the Hunter River to just south of Sydney, the pyralid Hyme­ 41 nia recurvalis (Fabricius), shown in the upper centre on New Zealand Spinach (Tetragonia tetragonioides), is almost .�� l- '· ,. ' .,�# i q,.,.,... .-,� cosmopolitan in warm climates. It is a �/\ well-known pest of beet and other crops in many countries. Helena Scott has shown with dis­ the subfamily Olethreutinae, charac­ a scientific name must be the oldest cerning accuracy a most peculiar habit terised by the single band of scales per published name. Despite the fact that of the larva of the nolid moth Uraba lu­ segment indicated on the diagram of the plate was prepared before 1864 and gens Walker-that of stacking the cast the antenna. This group is large with so possibly before 1851, it was never pub­ larval head capsules from previous many similar species that the one illus­ lished and the names AW. Scott coined moults above its head. The larva shown trated is not identifiable. The brilliantly have never been used. Most of the here on Eucalyptus sp. tips at the low­ coloured tortricid at the lower right is moths illustrated were described later er left, is a serious defoliator of eu­ Aristocosma chrysophilana (Walker) by other authors but few subsequent ar­ calypts across southern Australia, and whose larvae feed on Elaeocarpus, in­ tists characterised the species as clear­ has the ability to cause itchy skin rash­ cluding Blueberry Ash, from Stradbroke ly as Helena Scott and certainly none es if handled by humans. Island to Batemans Bay. so beautifully. D The moth beside Uraba, shown on The names I have used all differ -Ted Edwards Elaeodendron australe, is a tortricid of from those on the plate. To be used, CSIRO, Division of Entomology

AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY 229

ly biologists to mistakenly consider the species to be a link between the sea tur­ tles and freshwater river tortoises. The species totally lacks the horny scutes that overlie the bony shell of most tur­ tles. Instead the shell is covered with skin-soft and cream-coloured on the undersurface; thin, taut and greyish brown above. The nostrils open at the end of a prominent fleshy proboscis through which the turtle inhales not only air at the surface but also water when submerged. Passing water through the nostrils may serve to en­ hance smell but the regular way in which it is done suggests some other function. Perhaps the cone-shaped papillae at the rear of the mouth, first noticed in 1963 by Thomas Schultze­ Westrum, serve a respiratory function, or they may instead serve as salt­ secreting organs during forays into sa­ line waters. History

Carettochelys insculpta was first described in 1886 by Dr E.P. Ramsay It is obvious why this animal is called the Pig-nosed Turtle. from a single specimen in the collection of the Australian Museum. It was one say to release details of the vertebrae waters of the Daly River system. There of two turtles collected by explorers in the neck to "show at once the affini­ are no substantiated reports of the spe­ Walter Froggat and Jas. H. Shaw on an ties of this peculiar genus". "Alas!", cies occupying estuarine habitats in expedition to New Guinea with the responded Ramsay, "there were no cer­ Australia, but it certainly does so in New Geographical Society of Australasia. As vical vertebrae to examine; the animal Guinea where they even nest on the Froggatt later wrote to Edgar Waite had served the explorer[s] for food, and sandy shores of river deltas and on (South Australian Museum) in 1905: the whole of the bones, except for the coastal beaches. "Six of us took the whale boat up skull had been cut away". The matter Pig-nosed Turtles are opportunistic the last hundred miles [of the Fly River] remained one of considerable debate omnivores. Figs, pandanus fruits, flow­ after the 'Bonito' struck the gravel, and until 1905 when Edgar Waite received ers, leaves and seeds that fall into the as we towed the boat along the two a more complete specimen from the ls­ water from overhanging vegetation, turtles ran offthe sand banks into shal­ land of Kiwai in New Guinea. He and aquatic plants such as ribbon weed, low water and were caught. We ate the showed conclusively that Carettoche­ are eaten. Animal foods recorded from contents of both: a large number of lys is not a side-necked turtle. among their faeces include water snails, eggs were found inside them. It was evi­ The debate over what living form freshwater mussels, aquatic insect lar­ dently breeding time as some of the is the closest living relative of the Pig­ vae and nymphs, windblown insects sand banks were covered with their nosed Turtle continued sporadically un­ and carrion. A hair ball was taken from tracks." til the present day. Current wisdom has the stomach of one specimen in Kakadu The turtles no doubt tasted good it that the closest living relatives are National Park. at the time but the meal was to result among the soft-shelled turtles, as Ram­ Until recently, data on the in a prolonged disagreement among say had originally claimed, although the reproduction of Pig-nosed Turtles were taxonomists over the affinities of this species is sufficiently distinct to warrant few, based largely on observations in­ new and unusual species. Ramsay, in his its own family, the Carettochelydidae. cidental to broader studies in Papua initial description, grouped the species New Guinea. In fact when Dr Harold with the soft-shelled turtles (family Tri­ Life History Cogger (Australian Museum) first repor­ onychidae) of the northern continents. Given that the regions occupied by ted in 1970 that the species occurred Only three years later, George Pig-nosed Turtles are remote, a surpris­ in Australia, he was not certain whether Boulenger (British Museum of Natural ing amount of information, albeit gener­ the populations were self-sustaining or History) placed it in its own family, the al, is known about their life history. whether they merely represented a Carettochelydidae, and included it Although a fast swimmer, the Pig-nosed non-breeding outlier of the New Guinea among the suborder of side-necked tur­ Turtle is essentially a bottom-dwelling populations. However it is now known tles, the Pleurodira. At the time, only species, at least in the dry season, that each year in northern Australia, be­ side-necked turtles were known from spending much of its time in and tween late August and mid November, Australasia and this appears to have around logs and undercut banks and females of the species leave the water been Boulenger's prime reason for the feeding mainly at night. It has broad to lay one, two or perhaps even three move. G. Baur, working from photo­ habitat requirements and lives both in clutches of eggs. They choose banks of graphs, was vehemently opposed to the permanent lentic mainstream and clean fine sand adjacent to water in grouping Carettochelys with the side­ floodplain billabongs of Kakadu Nation­ which to nest, and construct an egg necked turtles, and called upon Ram- al Park and in the continuously flowing chamber about 22 centimetres deep

232 VOL. 22 NO. 5, WINTER 1987 must withstand high temperatures (up and his wife were going past on their to 38 ° () and considerable daily fluctu­ way to their garden, when they saw ations in temperature. Although not two Minowas lying side by side in the even the hottest of the 38 nests exa­ mud [this turtle is always said to lie on mined by me in late 1986 (as yet un­ the mud when copulating]. The wom­ published data) seemed to suffer undue an said 'Could we not do this thing that mortalities, temperature does exert a the strange turtle does?'. The man re­ more subtle influence on their early plied 'I do not know anything of it'. The V, u., I.) .,. lives-their sex depends upon the tem­ woman persisted, and on going to their 0< • 0 perature at which they are incubated. garden they laid side by side, as they u., I.) Nobody as yet has an entirely satisfac­ had seen the turtles, and after a time, < 0 tory explanation for this phenomenon. the act of coition took place, and in due u.,z ...J In the field, cool shaded nests produce course the woman conceived and a I.)_..__..; only males, hot exposed nests produce child was born to them". An uncovered nest chamber of the Pig­ only females, and nests with an aver­ At the time, the Kiwai villagers would nosed Turtle in which the eggs have age core temperature of around 31.6°C not kill the turtles because they be­ been numbered, measured and produce a mixture of sexes. Pig-nosed lieved that to do so would endanger replaced. Turtles are not unique in this, as the their chances of becoming fathers, or phenomenon is almost universal among that their existing sons would be ren­ and between 30 centimetres and three turtles in seven of the eight families so dered impotent. metres above water. In the chamber far studied worldwide. However, it is The attitude of the Kiwai people to­ they deposit between four and 19 the only freshwater turtle in Australia day has probably changed. Certainly round, hard-shelled eggs ranging from with this trait, all the rest belonging to elsewhere within its Papuan range, Pig­ 31 to 42 millimetres in diameter-very the family Chelidae in which sex deter­ nosed Turtles are favoured by villagers much like ping-pong balls in size and mination appears to be independent of for food and they are important in the appearance. After covering the nest the temperature. The implications of subsistence economies of many com­ female returns to the water and the temperature-dependent sex determina­ munities. In the breeding season, vil­ eggs begin development which, in tion for management of Pig-nosed Tur­ lagers collect female turtles and their natural nests, lasts for about 70 days. tles may be considerable, because eggs when they come to shore to nest, It is at this stage in their life history that some management programs, where or they locate nests by systematically the turtles are most vulnerable, as the sea turtle eggs have been incubated in prodding sand banks with a stick or adults take no further measures to pro­ shaded artificial nests, have resulted in spear. In some areas, pit-traps are tect their eggs or the hatchlings that the release of thousands of young male checked each day for nesting turtles emerge from them. Many nests fall prey turtles, contributing little to the species that have fallen into them on the previ­ to goannas and some of the lower nests recovery. ous night. At certain times of the year, die when flooded by early wet-season Nothing at all is known of the lives many adult turtles and thousands of rains. of hatchlings once they enter the water. eggs pass through the Kikori markets After 65 to 70 days of incubation, Where do they go in the wet season alone. Out of season, the turtles are the eggs are quite capable of hatching, and what predators must they avoid? speared or caught by hand from boats but instead they enter a form of How fast do they grow and what size in shallow water and swamps, or are torpor-their metabolic rate and de­ must they reach before they breed caught on lines baited with crab or de­ mand for oxygen drops precipitously, themselves? How do they fare in com­ shelled mussels and in basket traps. and they wait. Further experiments by petition with other turtles-the North­ In northern Australia, turtles are Grahame Webb (Conservation Com­ ern Snapper (Elseya dentata), the eaten regularly by Aborigines and Pig­ mission of the Northern Territory) and Yellow-faced Turtle (Emydura victoriae) nosed Turtles are favoured by some for his colleagues have shown that immer­ and the Red-faced Turtle (Emydura aus­ their size and flavour. Carla Ngalyorrun sion of the eggs in water is sufficient to tralis)-with which they share their en­ of Nourlangie, Northern Territory, arouse the torpid hatchlings they con­ vironment? These are all questions for recalls that men used to climb trees on tain, and subsequent experiments in the future study. the banks of a billabong in the early field have shown that not only flood­ morning during the dry season when ing but also torrential rain can stimulate Value to Indigenous Peoples the water is clear. When they saw War­ hatching. Clearly the young turtles de­ It has long been known that the radjan near the surface they would lay hatching until the first heavy rains Pig-nosed Turtle is well regarded by in­ pierce the front flipper with a pronged of the wet season flood the nests or digenous people within its range. In spear. Other reports indicate that War­ saturate the sands that surround them. 1898, George Boulenger described a radjan could be hunted by diving on top Presumably the hatchlings gain some dancing stick from the Fly River region of them from the bank or by waiting benefit from this strategy, hatching into that was adorned with the skulls of the quietly in the water while others herd­ water where there may have been no species, and the turtles are referred to ed the turtles in. Today, however, they water before, or into turbid water that in folklore. One novel story told by the are more often caught on hand lines may have been clear before. The first chief of Mabadumu on Kiwai Island baited with wallaby or buffalo meat. floods may enable dispersal of poten­ around the turn of the century was re­ Paintings of the Warradjan are well tial predators previously concentrated cently published by Dr Peter Pritchard represented in the rock art of Kakadu in the contracted waterbodies and may (1979) in his book Encyc/opedia of National Park and adjacent Arnhem open new areas into which the hatch­ Turtles: Land, a measure of the importance lings can disperse to feed and seek 'The first time a Minowa (Pig-nosed placed on the turtles as food by shelter. Turtle] was seen was a long time ago, Aborigines. Notable examples of this art During incubation, the embryos on a mud bank at Oemeramuba. A man are at Nourlangie Rock (blue paintings), AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY 233 trict. This exploitation has no doubt oc­ The curred over many generations with little impact on turtle populations, but it has -Ttrens been exacerbated in recent times by the introduction of modern technolo­ gy, principally outboard motors, and because, since clan warfare has ceased, people have moved from the hinterland l!l to more convenient positions along the � river banks. 8 The impact of Aboriginal harvesting � of Pig-nosed Turtles in Australia is ::J by � unknown. Exposure to western culture Richard Schodde � and technology has changed Aboriginal practices. Aborigines now primarily se­ ( illustrated by An Aboriginal painting of the Warrad­ cure Pig-nosed Turtles with baited RICHARD WEATHERLY jan at Little Nourlangie Rock in Kakadu hooks on lines, which may be more ef­ National Park. Paintings such as this ap­ fective than traditional methods. A SUPERB LIMITED pear throughout Arnhem Land, but this Refrigeration and improved transport EDITION BOOK particular one is well known as one of encourage removal of more turtles than in a choice of LEATHER or the 'blue paintings', touched up with are required for immediate use by the CLOTH bindings Reckitts Blue by Aborigines in the early local community. Turtles from the Daly • 36 colour plates • 192 pages 1960s. River Mission area are caught and trans­ • 175 B& W drawings ported to Darwin some 220 kilometres Deaf Adder Creek and on the Arnhem away for the benefit of friends and rela­ The numbered, Plateau in the Mann River catchment. tives. The extent of this sort of trade in leather,bound Some of these paintings are estimated northern Australia is not known. COLLECTORS EDITION to be more than 7,000 years old, in­ Both legal fishing with baited lines of 500 copies is signed dicating that the Pig-nosed Turtle is not and illegal fishing with 'square hooks' by author and artist. a recent arrival but a long-term resident (gill nets) can be expected to exert of northern Australia. Aboriginal legend some pressure on Pig-nosed Turtle The frontispiece is has it that Warradjan and Manbirri, the populations. Fishermen can be brutal the first ever illustration Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas), are when a 'nuisance' turtle is caught on a of Campbell's Fairy,wren, sisters (Manbirri being the younger). A line. In an attempt to retrieve a 15-cent signed and numbered by long time ago when the salt water was hook and sinker, many will readily des­ the artist and removable "going away", Manbirri decided to go troy the life of a 60-year-old turtle. For­ forframing. with the salt water while Warradjan tunately, Pig-nosed Turtles are unlikely decided to stay in the fresh water with to be caught on lures designed to catch The unsigned CLOTH EDITION, Naderrwo (the Northern Snapper). The Barramundi, central to the sports fish­ with jacket, is similar salt water went away a long time ago ing industry of the north, and they are in content to above indeed, between 7,000 and 20,000 not caught in large numbers by com­ (excluding frontispiece). years ago during the last ice age. mercial fisheries. Edition 2000. In Australia, Pig-nosed Turtle popu­ Management lations have been sheltered from poten­ Please send copies of me ____ Assessing the conservation status tial threats by their isolation, but with COLLECTORS Edition future development this may rapidly The Fairy $375 per copy. and the need for a management plan Wrens at change. Vast tracts of land in the Daly Please send copies of for the Pig-nosed Turtle is seriously me ____ River catchment are being cleared, in of hampered by lack of demographic in­ Cloth Edition places down to the waterline. Such The Fairy-wrens $70 per copy. formation. It was once considered to be at clearing, which has occurred in many Enclosed is my cheque/money order one of the rarest turtles in the world, other parts of Australia, will result in for but whether this reputation reflects only $ ______its remote distribution or also low long-term degradation of the river and (Price includes postage and population densities is unknown. It is perhaps adversely affect the Pig-nosed handling) considered relatively common within its Turtle and other organisms upon which restricted range by many who it feeds. NAME ______know the animal in the field, but this needs to be Several sources used to construct ADDRESS ______confirmed by research specifically this article have called for studies of the directed at assessing population distribution, population structure and _____ POSTCODE __ numbers. dynamics, habitat requirements and lev­ SIGNATURE ______Stereotyped nesting habits render els of exploitation of Pig-nosed Turtles Pig-nosed Turtles (like sea turtles) ex­ to be given a high priority in conserva­ CONNEWARRAN PRESS tremely susceptible to over­ tion funding. Such information is re­ P.O. BOX21 exploitation. In Papua New Guinea, quired for an objective assessment of MORTLAKE 3272 populations are reported to have been the species' rarity, and to determine if VICTORIA AUSTRALIA seriously depleted in the last 20 years any of its populations are endangered Telephone: (055) 99 7276 in regions where the adults and eggs or in need of remedial management are eaten, such as the Kikori River Dis- programs.O

234 VOL. 22 NO. 5, WINTER 1987

of small land plants, comprising most­ ameter and resemble root hairs. phytes. The tree canopy becomes den­ ly mosses and liverworts. Indeed they Although serving as effective an­ ser and, together with the are often overlooked because of their chorage, they do not have an internal overshadowing ridges, provides more size. There are about 23,000 species of conducting function. Unlike other land shade to the valleys, minimising desic­ bryophytes, all fairly simple in structure. plants, which have well-developed in­ cation. Valley temperatures are less ex­ They colonise fallen logs, tree trunks, ternal conducting systems, most bryo­ treme and humidity higher than that cliffs and rocks, and are important pi­ phytes rely on external moisture, encountered on the ridge tops. Bryo­ oneers on bare soil. Typically they grow absorbed over a large surface area. phytes are abundant in the dark cool­ in moist or humid places but some are They may trap water between leaf and ness of the Sassafras (Doryphora common even in cities where they stem, between overlapping leaves, or sassafras)and Coachwood (Ceratopeta­ manage to find a toe-hold in the hostile between the closely packed stems of lum apetalum) rainforest in the gullies. environments of brick paving, damp a moss clump. Here they thrive in low light levels, on concrete and stone walls. Some can The Blue Mountains to the west of moist soil, tree trunks, branches, fallen also survive in harsh conditions such as Sydney reveal bryophytes in their logs, rough trunks of tree ferns, and wet the arid interior of Australia and in parts element-thriving and luxuriant. In fact, rocks, by creeks and around waterfalls. of Antarctica. a third of the moss species that occur The variety and size of bryophytes in­ Mosses have stems that can be up­ in New South Wales are found in the crease in such situations. right or creeping and their leaves are Blue Mountains. Most of them are in the At Mts Wilson, Irvine and Tomah, characterised by a midrib. When sheltered gullies but some are found in rich, deep volcanic soil caps the sand­ reproducing, they have a distinct cap­ not so moist and shaded places. stone ridges. The volcanic soil supports sule on a rigid stalk. The capsule is a denser rainforest vegetation, which in green when young, and has a lid (oper­ turn provides an environment rich in culum), which falls off at maturity. bryophytes. Many mosses and liver­ Single-celled spores are then released worts, which usually grow in protected through a toothed fringe (peristome) deep gullies, thrive in rainforests on that opens and closes with changes in these volcanic outcrops. Particularly atmospheric humidity. The capsule striking here are the mossy curtains of browns after releasing all its spores. Papillaria spp. festooning the branches Some mosses may have capsules at any of shrubs and Coachwood trees. time of the year but they are most com­ Stems of Papillaria sp. festoon branches Both mosses and liverworts often m on in winter and spring. of trees and shrubs in wet forest. colonise bare rock surfaces, soil and There are two main types of liver­ burnt ground, where later seed plants worts: fleshy and leafy. Flat, fleshy (thal­ On ridge tops in the Blue Moun­ may grow. Common colonisers of road­ lose) liverworts often grow in tains, the sandy soil is mostly shallow side banks and disturbed soil in the Blue greenhouses and wet places. Leafy with little water-holding ability. It over­ Mountains are the mosses Pogonatum liverworts are often mistaken for moss­ lies porous sandstone rock and the subulatum and Dawsonia superba. es but their delicate leaves do not have vegetation is exposed to wind and sun. Oawsonia superba is a very large moss midribs, and are usually arranged in The open woodland vegetation in­ (looking a bit like a small pine tree seed­ three rows, two on each side of the cludes gnarled eucalypts (such as Black ling) commonly 30-40 centimetres tall stem, and one underneath. The capsule Ash, Eucalyptus sieberi and Scribbly and sometimes reaching 60 centimetres of a liverwort is usually a small, black Gum, f. sclerophylla) and tough shrubs or more. sphere on a translucent, fragile stalk, with leathery leaves (such as need­ Epiphytic bryophytes (on tree quite different from the wiry, rigid stalk lebush, Hakea spp. and Mountain Devil, bases, trunks and branches in wet of moss capsules. In most species the Lambertia Formosa). If you look careful­ forests) are an important home for in­ capsule splits in four to reveal a mass ly on ridge tops in the area, you will find sect larvae and many other types of tiny of spores mixed with special long cells a surprising number of different bryo­ animals. They represent microforests, called elaters. The walls of the elaters phyte species despite the apparently providing shelter and in some cases have a spiral thickening, which causes harsh conditions. They can be found on food. Some fascinating interactions be­ the elater to twist erratically with shaded sides of rocks and fallen logs, tween bryophytes and insects are changes in atmospheric humidity. As a in soil pockets in rock crevices, on road­ known from overseas studies. For in­ result, the spores are dispersed gradu­ side banks, in seepage areas and sand­ stance, some New Guinea rainforest ally into the wind. stone depressions that might trap water weevils live disguised as clumps of bryo­ Both mosses and liverworts have a for a little longer than the sandy soil. phytes, with mosses and liverworts great capacity to produce new plants, Mosses are more successful than liver­ growing on their backs. The bryophytes not only from spores but also from frag­ worts in colonising these areas. Some­ serve as camouflage but may also make ments of leaves or from gemmae-small times bryophytes may appear to be the insects distasteful to predators. In­ structures that easily break away from dead, crisped and curled, but don't be teractions between Australian bryo­ the parent plant and sprout readily. fooled. A short shower of rain will un­ phytes and the tiny animals that live Despite their differences in appear­ curl the leaves within seconds and the amongst them await description. ance, mosses and liverworts share a plants become green, sometimes only Bryophytes, although small in sta­ number of features that distinguish to dry and curl up again hours later un­ ture, are important members of a plant them from other land plants. Bryo­ der a hot sun and drying winds-they community. Their delicate beauty re­ phytes are attached to the soil or rock are efficient resurrection plants. quires the magnification of a x10 hand surfaces on which they grow by thread­ Below the ridges, the significant in­ lens or a camera macro lens for full ap­ like rhizoids rather than by the roots crease in size and number of trees and preciation. Their presence in profusion possessed by most other land plants. shrubs in the valleys is accompanied by adds to the delights of a visit to the Blue Rhizoids are only a single cell in di- changes in the type and variety of bryo- Mountains. D 240 VOL. 22 NO. 5, WINTER 1987 ON NATURAL SCIENCE FOR SERIOUS STUDENTS from

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