Rainbow Lorikeet. I�,,,,, 1/7/'(/4 , ,., I
See the Antarctic with a scientist. Visit Easter Island with an anthropologist. Or go to lectures, films and dinners with
,------7Membership Application the famous.
D Single540 D Dual 550 or $40.00, you can join D Family 555 D Sponsor S 100 F the Australian Museum Student $35 Pensioner 535 Society and see and do D D things most people never Surname ______experience. Field trips to First Name(s) ______remote corners of the world. Adventures within No. in family ______Australia: rafting, diving, Address ______abseiling, walking and ______Postcode ___ more. Telephone (Bus) ___ (Home) ____ The Society also D Please find enclosed my cheque/money presents lectures, films, Sir Dm,,it Att order for S ____ luncheon talks and l'liboroug/i or charge my credit card D Bankcard dinners at the Australian D Mastercard Exp. date ___ Museum; with guest speakers such as Sir David Attenborough, Sir Edmund Hillary, o.1 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I David Suzuki, Richard Dawkins and Paul Ehrlich. Members also attend special Signature ______previews of major exhibitions and rare tours Send to: The Australian Museum Society, backstage at the Museum. 6-8 College Street, SYDNEY NSW 2000. Telephone (02) 339 8225. Membership of TT1eAustralian Museum Society offersyou unparalleled opportunities L ______j and a wealth of new experiences. <9the australian museum society REBURIAL: NOT JUST Winter 1991 Volume 23 Number 9 A BLACK & WHITE ISSUE Published by The Australian Museum Trust BY FIONA DOIG 6-8 College Street, Sydney. NSW 2000 MANAGING EDITOR Phone: (02) 339 8lll Fax: (02) 339 8313 Trust HEN UNIDENTIFIED ABORIGINAL policy. Other institutions have only President: Robyn Williams human remains more than 30 begrudgingly returned a few things Museum Director: Desmond Griffin years old are discovered in New under pressure. MANAGI G EDITOR W South Wales, law requires they be sent When human remains are from a liv Fiona Doig, B.A. Comm. to the Australian Museum. Were the ing culture, this 'all-or-nothing' attitude SCIENTIFIC EDITOR remains of European origin, however, shows a complete lack of concern for Georgina Hickey, B.Sc.. they would be buried in a pauper's human dignity. EDITORIAL ASSISTANT grave. In the USA, indigenous burial Of great concern to these institutions Jennifer Saunders, B.Sc. sites are being pillaged; some collec is the maintenance and study of human TRAINEE PRODUCTION ASSISTA T tors describe the sites as 'art farms'! remains that are of scientific value. But Michelle Neal Skeletal remains are often tossed aside a significant number of indigenous peo CIRCULATION MANAGER in favour of the more valuable artefacts ple actually do want to obtain scientific Cathy McGahey found with them. There is no law in the information on their past and are willing ART DIRECTION USA that prevents American Indian to cooperate where material of scien Watch This! Design remains from being dug up. (Disturbing tific value is concerned. An example is TYPESETTING human remains of any racial group is New Zealand, where some museums Character Typesetting illegal in Australia without a permit.) have retained important scientific PRINTING Such contrasts governing the exhu material through arrangement with Excel Printing Company, Hong Kong mation of indigenous human remains Maori people. They have also developed ADVERTISI G seem extremely discriminatory. They policies recognising the cultural import Kate Lowe don't help in resolving disagreements ance of material and some has already Phone: (02) 339 8331 Fax: (02) 339 8313 over the maintenance and handling of been returned. The emphasis is on Pager: (02) 214 7035 collections of human remains housed in communication and I firmly believe that, UBSCRIPTIO S research institutions, especially when a by listening to a culture's needs, a level Annual subscription (4 issues) number of such places are not working of understanding and respect can be Within Australia $A30 with cultural groups to determine the built up. This is important if under Other Countries $A42 future of such material. standing is to be mutual. Two-year subscription (8 issues) In Australia there are approximately But those institutions that continue Within Australia $ASS 4,500 Aboriginal skeletal remains held to hold a 'hands off, its mine' approach Other Countries $A78 in scientificcollect ions. In the USA, the are cutting their own throats when it New subscriptions can be made by credit Smithsonian Institution (Natural His comes to important material, because card on the ANH toll-free hotline tory) alone holds about a quarter of a the indigenous people in question are 008-028 558 or use the form in the back of the million American Indian remains. And likely to react by maintaining a similar magazine. If it has been removed, send the Museum of Mankind, part of the vice-like stance regarding reburial. It is cheque, money order or credit card British Museum (Natural History), a no-win situation. authorisation to the address above. made holds remains of known individuals. Fortunately museums and universi payable to the 'Australian Museum' in Some of these collections contain ties in Australia are not taking such a Australian currency. remains that form valuable scientific All material appearing in ANH is copyright. black-and-white attitude. The Council Reproduction in whole or in part is not records of an otherwise unknown past of Australian Museum Directors passed permitted without written authorisation from and, in some cases, may be the only resolutions in 1982 that skeletal the Editor. record of prehistoric peoples. Some material would not be displayed in pub Opinions expressed by the authors arc their indigenous people are insisting that lic and that human remains would be own and do not necessarily represent the entire collections be returned, such as returned to those who could show patri policies or views of the Australian Museum. the Murray Black collection (see ANH lineal relationship. Since then, all Aus ANH is printed on archival quality paper vol. 23, no. 1, 1989). But what happens tralian museums have formulated suitable for library collections. when a cultural group desires the return policies regarding material of human of remains that are of little scientific origin and a significant amount of Published 1991 value? material has already been returned for ISSN-0004-9840 Over the last few years, many muse reburial. ums have proved willing to return such So why don't all research institutions
Australian Natural Australian Natural material when claimed by a legitimate follow this lead? Surely if their function History is audJted by History is proud winner group. Unfortunately, not all museums is to facilitate understanding between the Audit Bureau of of the 1987, 88. 89 & 90 are doing this. Some are not even con cultural groups, they need to display circulations. WhitleyAwards for Bes, Penodlcal. sidering returning any human material. some respect for those groups. To not They fear that, if one thing is returned, to do so is excessively hypocritical and Front Cover The stomatopod Gonodacty/11s smithii has everything else must also be returned. risks the loss of communication with dramatic purple spots on the insides of its raptorial It is very disturbing to think that this the very cultures that the institution appendages (claws). These are displayed to unyielding attitude is occurring today in prides itself on understanding. If we are approaching intruders and may signal aggression some very well-respected research to study death in the context of a living and/or provide information about species identity. institutions. One large US institution culture, surely that culture has some Photo by Roy Caldwell. devoted only a single day to review its rights in making the rules. •
VO LUM E 2 3 N U M B ER 9, WI N TE R 1991 665 Articles IN THIS ISSUE BY GEORGI A HICKEY SCIENTIFIC EDITOR
!NOL G A GREAT COVER SIIOT FOR TIIIS ISSUE !'ROVED an unusually easy task, for a change! The photos of these curious crustaceans by visiting researcherF Professor Roy Caldwell were so exquis ite that selecting just a handful for the article was THE FLY-BY-NIGHT GETTING IN ON a challenge, albeit a pleasant one. From the Uni PARROT THE GROUND FLO OR versity of California at Berkeley, Roy is the first Lost to the toorld since 1912, The concept of convergent inaugural recipient of the Qantas Lizard Island Australia's legendary Night evolution is superbly Fellowship. His article and photos introduce us to Parrot makes an unexpected illustrated by /100 bees from the colourful world of stomatopods, better known return. It pays to watch yo11r opposite sides of the globe Iha/ as mantis shrimp. feet while you chat by /he can detect virgin females roadside. before they emerge from their The pictured trio is Australian Museum Birdman BY WAL:rER BOLES, underground cells. Walter Boles (centre), Queensland Museum's Wayne WAYNE LO GMORE & BY JOH ALCOCK Longmore (left) and visiting fellow Max Thompson MAX THOMPSON 714 (from Southwestern College in Kansas, USA). To gether they relate 688 the story behind the STOMATOPODS: THE recent rediscovery of BETTER TO SEE YOU Australia's enigmatic WITH MY DEAR Night Parrot. With no Some mantis shrimp have hard evidence of its eoolved an elaborate visual existence for nearly 80 system capable of sophisticated years, they literally colour analysis. Their 'good stumbled upon a dead looks' enable them lo keep an l'.)'l? out for predators, bird by the roadside. competitors and prey. It was a little worse BY ROY L. CALDWELL for wear but, in terms of what it can tell us 696 about this most elusive of species, this speci men is a mine of information. Another tale of serendipity is told by University of Melbourne'sRick Willis. In the Archives section, Rick explains how he recently happened to come across the first known painting of an Australian bird. The bird is the Rainbow Lorikeet; the artist, Moses Griffith; and the year, 1772. In the other articles Tim Flannery (Australian Museum) gives us his theory on why Australia and other 'Meganesian' countries have so few mamma lian meat-eaters; John Alcock (Arizona State Uni versity) describes the amazingly similar mate THE MYSTERY OF finding strategies of two quite distantly related THE MEGANESIAN bees; and Leo Joseph (University of Queensland) GENETICS AND MEAT-EATERS describes how important the study of genetics is CONSERVATION Why does Australia (and Whal species should be neighbouring landmasses) towards successful conservation. conserved and how do 1ve go s11pport so few large Also in this issue are articles about the world's about it? The study of genetics mamnwlia11 camivores? I fer largest land crab, Aboriginal medicines, 'missing offers powerful new tools for poor soils make it hard to pay links' and the merits of popular science. The poster the conserl'ation biologist. the food bills. in this issue is a 19th-century French illustration of BY LEO JOSEPH BY TIM FLA ERY arachnids. 706 722 666 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY P R O F L ESTILL EVOLVIN G PROFESSOR OF RETICULATING THE TREE EVERYTHING OF LIFE George Seddon believes it is Horizontal gene trm1sfer acts cou11ter-producfill<' to destroy as a kind of small-scale the faith of young people in hybridisation between branches their own society. of the phylogenetic tree. BY ROBYN WILLIAMS BY RALPH MOLNAR & GLE INGRAM 686 736
QUIPS, QUOTES & FROM THE ARCHIV ES CURIOS PORTRAIT OF A PET: 'Monkeying'Around AN AUSTRALIAN FIRST with Drugs?; Where The first known pai11ti11g of a11 Did You Get That Tusk?; Australian bird fumed up Ora11g-uta11 Boost; unexpectedly while browsing Widely Wandering Albatrosses through 011e of London's Break All Records; The antique shops. Vampire's Kiss of Life; BY RICK WILLIS Rock-crunching Snails; Image of Dodo Goes 011 a 680 THE LAST WORD Diet; Calling Caterpillars Mimic Ants; Did the RARE & ENDANGE RE D p H 0 T 0 A R T A POPULAR Neanderthals Bury their COCONUT CRABS MISCONCEPTION? Dead? The largest land crab in the Popularising science is no 1oorld: easy come, easy go? longer given the thumbs down. 672 Indeed, it is seen as a BY ROGER T. necessary and important part QUESTIONS & ANSWERS SPRINGTHORPE of the scientist's job. Seeing Red; Reptile BY ROBYN WILLIAMS Cannibalism; A Question of 682 Identity; Tamished Tan. 744 W I L D F O O D S 738 SPICES OF THE FUTURE? Rarely used in cooking, Australian le111011 grasses were LETTERS instead used by Aborigines to Virile Viruses; Population the cure a wide range of ailments. Problem, not Race; No Plastic BY TIM LOW Please; Conservation Vandal; More 011 'Cockies'; Zapped!; 684 Classie Article; How to Save the World Before Lunch;. SCULPTURES Primarily Brains; Oops! BY THE SEA Pitted 'sandscapcs' occupy this 668 photographer's viewfinder. BY ANTHONY FARR 730 VIEWS FR OM THE FOURTH DIMENSION REVIEWS THE LINKS THAT BIND The Population Explosion; The links that bind reptiles The Biology and Evolution and mammals are certainly of Australian Lizards; no/ 'missing' i11 /he fossil Crocodiles of Australia; record. And neither are they in Gemstones and their Origins; the land of the living: why else Encyclopedia of Minerals; 1oould baby ba11dicoots suck Rainforest: A journey i11to with their ears? Nature's Richest Carden; BY MICHAEL ARCHER The Spirit of Australia. 734 740 VOLUM E 2 3 N U MB ER 9 W, NI TER 1991 667 Instead of worrying about the effects of the human population explosion, conser vationists should be directing their efforts to limit human growth. By all means grant the Aboriginal people land LETTERS rights but keep all people out Comments, criticisms and congratulations from concerned correspondents. Readers are invited to air their views. of areas the nation (as a whole) wants to preserve. -D.H. Crakanthorp Broulee, NSW No Plastic Please Population the As an avid reader of ANH I Problem, not Race would like to question why "Conservation and Abor we receive our copy of this iginal Land Rights" (A H excellent publication enclosed vol. 23, no. 6, 1990) was a in plastic. timely article, but only For a magazine supporting touched lightly upon the main conservation and ecological problem involved: overpopu principles, isn't it a bit incon lation. gruous that it is packaged in a _, All people of all races are non-renewable, polluting 0.. Vl greedy, lazy and comfort bag? :z 0 sceking. Why would Aborigi Let's lead by example N "'0 nes be any exception? Given instead of preaching from a :i:: the means, they will wipe out position of privilege. I for just as much flora and fauna one would like to know the Virile Viruses Electron micrograph of the rabies as Europeans have done. rationale behind the change I look forward to receipt of virus: are viruses living or not? It is a tragedy that Abor from paper to plastic. If it is your fine periodical with igines have been so terribly more expensive to use paper eager anticipation each quar the authors inadvertently treated over the last two cen I would be more than happy ter. There is a very interest attribute that statement to turies by the 'white invader', to pay extra for my subscrip ing and challenging article by Darwin? but the past can't be changed tion. Glen Ingram and Ralph Mol -Joseph K. Slap and now, for better or worse, -John Hunter nar in the Winter issue (ANH California, USA they have to submit to being Wandiligong, Vic. vol. 23, no. 5, 1990). How One can view viruses in sev treated as ordinary Austra ever, it contains a statement eral way s. They can be seen as lians. If we are to preserve with which I must disagree. living, albeit degenerate, parts of our environment, Subscriber copies of ANH In reference to viruses, the organisms that were once then access to those parts have been delivered in plastic authors state " ... they are much more complex but have must be severely limited to i11 recent years because it is far probably not living... ". 'devolved' into little more than humans, Aboriginal and more cost-effective than enve Although the taxonomic nuclear material. One can otherwise. lopes, quicker to wrap and classification of viruses is also view them as rampant still a contentious matter, nucleic acids spawned at some there is little doubt that they stage by their' hosts'. This lat do live. In fact, the authors ter view explains simply why imply as much by stating that viruses are so similar geneti viruses "are almost certainly cally to their hosts and indi more closely related to their cates why they are so hard to hosts than they are to each combat: it is difficult to target other". The scientific litera them separately from their ture reports many laboratory hosts without deleteriously results demonstrating that affecting the hosts. viruses do indeed live. For The quote is Haldane's and example, Nature (345: 572- probably the simplest expla 573; 1990) reports, for one nation is that such misquotes group of viruses, that "Pro are viral. That is, someone gress in molecular biology makes an error with respect to has been particularly im a memorable statement and, pressive-genomes have because of its memorableness, been sequenced ... •·. the statement is perpetuated Ingram and Molnar also and the error rides with it, de state, in reference to beet facto. ft is no/ the error that is V, les, ''God loved them accord ....,u doing the perpetuating, but it > ing to Darwin". Perhaps they will multiply. Like others "'...., Vl were thinking of J. B.S. before us, we are an important � Haldane's statement, when part of the propagating pro � < he \vas questioned about evi cess. And those that follow � dence of a god's intent in will cooperate, loo, when they 8 creating life on Earth, "He use our misquote as their own. � must have had an inordinate -Glen Ingram ';;' fondness for beetles"? Did Queensland Museum
668 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY distribute and, most impor of rainforest on my residen tantly, it protects the maga tial property near Wingham zine. We still constantly Brush and have made exciting replace rain-damaged maga finds at home. zines that have been sent in I was therefore dismayed paper envelopes. when an adjacent neighbour Plastics are recyclable but mounted an electronic insect no-one seems to be arguing killer on the outside of his much for plastic recycling. We house, which is continuously are all on the paper-recycling run. Although my neighbour bandwagon and have lost sight has been made aware of my of our original intentions-to objections, he persists in the reduce our impact on the use of this device. After lis environment. tening to insects being I would prefer to send mag zapped all night long, I azines out with a simple, decided to investigate. addressed paper band (as The devices are being mar home-de/ ivered newspapers keted as environmentally once were). Unfortunately, friendly, although they attract magazines rarely fit into letter and destroy insects indis boxes, 111aking them vulner criminately, even including able to the elements. Mini outright beneficialgroups like mum-size letterbox standards mantids and dung beetles. -to the point where all mail is The advertising brochure for well-protected from the "Yard Guard" encourages its elements-could make envel use in backyards and on hol opes obsolete and enable rein idays in the bush, stating that it protects wildlife but allows statement of seals on letters � instead. Think of all the paper the entry and destruction of and plastic that would not be wide-winged insects. Unfor- � wasted worldwide in a single tunately, Australian insects � day! are by far the largest, most � -Ed. diverse part of our wildlife � and an integral part of the i: Conservation Vandal natural environment. � Dr Rick Shine's article I dispute the statement � "The Broad-Headed Snake" that "Yard Guard is the "' (A H vol. 23, no. 6, 1990) enter the house or while they Put those fallen logs back, too! answer to the ecological addresses the familiar theme are inside. objection to harmful sprays of a species threatened by Take a jam jar, any size, scientific importance, Wing and poisons", as claimed in habitat destruction, with the and smear vaseline, olive oil ham Brush, for the past dec the brochure. Modern insec multi-pronged solutions of or any slippery substance ade (see ANH vol. 23, no. 5, ticides can usually be safely education, habitat reserves around the inside rim of the 1990). This remnant forest is applied and are either specific and research to help con bottle. Place cut up banana, located within the township to the areas being sprayed or serve this threatened spe two or three slices to each of Wingham and borders sub to a range of pest species cies. I was staggered, jar, and put in different spots urban residences. A number within the area being however, to read his specific in the house. I have two jars of exciting entomological dis sprayed. By contrast, these suggestion of using "old at my back door, two down coveries have been made at electronic insect killers are fallen logs" as "an aestheti stairs near the garbage bin the Brush recently, intluding non-selective and impact cally pleasing alternative" to and several dotted around the species new to science, one adjoining properties. The the decorative garden use of unit (in the toilet and bath beetle apparently confined to analogy can be drawn to weathered bush rock from room never fails). Cock this small area of rainforest. I advertising a device designed sandstone outcrops, a micro roaches love banana (as do I). have also established a patch to eradicate sparrows that habitat for this snake. What I then pour boiling water on does he think fallen logs are? them and empty the bottles Generations of wood-eating onto the garden bed-no poi invertebrates and sapro son needed. phytic fungi utilise those -V.M. McIntyre logs, eventually recycling the Gold Coast, Qld nutrients tied up in the wood. His suggestion smacks of Zapped! individually targeted conser I am concerned about the vation of a species, not of the use of electronic insect kill whole ecosystem as he ini ers in unenclosed areas. I tially suggests-so back up routinely utilise black and that flatbed truck and put the mercury vapour lights in my logs back as well! survey work in regional rain z 0 -Ian Loch forests and appreciate that a N ci< Australian Museum great variety of insects can 0 be attracted from a wide area :,:: �:,:: More on 'Cockies' by such lights. V I have been involved with 0"' I have found the 'banana 0 bottle' is a great way to catch the restoration of a remnant cockroaches before they rainforest of outstanding Another way to kill a cockroach. VO LUM E 2 3 N UM BE R 9 , W I N TE R 1991 669 farmer I would too. Such a 'male pill' would be highly desired by the great majority of humans, who see male children as being more use ful. It does not matter whether they are right or wrong. With such deep seated conviction held by a large proportion of the world's population, the mar keting of a 'male pill' would be more successful than the digital watch. The effect on the second and third genera tions would be a severe reduction in the world's total population. There is nothing to sug
c::, gest that a population com 0:: ;:? posed largely of males would u be any more war-like, or that � z such a population would have ::r:: S2 more homosexuals or be in For many beetles, like this rare and as yet undescribed species of rhipiphorid found at Wingham Brush, any way significantly different outdoor electronic insect killers are a fatal attraction. from today. Of the four meth ods of population control it is also destroys all other birds How to Save the World doubt that the overwhelming the only one that is likely to as being environmentally Before Lunch majority of the Earth's popu be effective, could conceiv friendly. The Reverend Malthus pro lation would choose to have ably save the planet, and The use and potential pro posed four methods that tend male children. And perhaps if from which a single inventive liferation of these devices is to reduce population: I were an African subsistence genius could make several of particular concern to the managers and restorationists 1. War. This can be emo of urban bushland, like tionally very satisfying, but myself, as well as the the effects tend to be short- National Parks and Wildlife 1 ived as populations bounce Service, where camping is back after a good blood permitted in or adjacent to letting. their reserves. 2. Plague. Disease can be I believe the use of these a major inhibitor of popu devices, as they are pres lation growth. But our scien ently designed. should be tific understanding has grown restricted to indoor areas. to such an extent that a Their use outdoors is irres recurrence of the Black ponsible from an environmen Death seems unlikely. tal point of view and I am 3. Moral persuasion. Even disappointed that manufac Malthus was inclined to dis turers would encourage such miss this as an effective clearly inappropriate use of method-and it was his pro their products with mislead fession. ing advertising. 4. Starvation. Any popu -J.D. Stockard lation that reaches the limits Wingham, NSW of its natural resources encounters not just a mild restraint but a potential col Classic Article As a classics student who lapse. The Easter Islanders failed in all her university found this out about 250 applications. even to read years ago. Persian (as it then was) at Of the four methods the Durham University and who only morally acceptable one opted out of biology at the is persuasion. yet it appears first possible opportunity, I to be the least effective. You have to tell you that I had a can persuade some people to delicious time reading Mike remain childless, or to have a Archer's article "Coming to limited number of children; Grips with Male ipples" but never enough. Hence my (A H vol. 23, no. 6, 1991). suggestion: Thanks! It is \\'ithin our current -Countess of Stradbroke abilities to develop a method Darlington, Vic. (Failed student, mother of seven that would ensure that par and wicked stepmother ents could select the sex of to seven more.) their progeny. I have no
670 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY THE SHAPES OF v,iArn-ifn l
...J 0. � 0 N ii: 0 :r Farming in Australia: reliant on specialist scientific research.
million dollars. Of course this cut-throat international com seas prices are down, we're doesn't solve the problem of petition. stuck with produce for which the greater environmental Australia has reason to be we do not have adequate facili impact that industrialised proud of the performance of ties or expertise to use to our nations have than populations its rural industries-and the benefit. of subsistence farmers. And considerable research and -Ed. it is populations of subsis development backing their tence farmers that are most success. Just because these Oops! likely to buy the 'male pill'. industries are resource In my response to Mr Rus But I'll solve that problem based does not exclude them sell's letter, "'Dynamically after lunch! from being brain-based as Speaking" (ANH vol. 23, no. -P. Warner well. 7, 1990-91), there has been Roseville, NSW I suspect the mining indus an unfortunate error. The tries may also have good rea fourth sentence should read: "'Living organisms are not in Primarily Brains son to be incensed by this The Editorial in the sum Editorial. equilibrium with their en mer issue (ANH vol. 23, no. -E.F. Henzell vironment-when they are CSIRO Inst. Plant Production & they are no longer living... " :;( 7, 1990-91) paints a picture C Processing The second occurrence of C of Australia as a bucolic back ;:? c. Dickson, ACT � water, relying primarily on "they are" was inadvertently � � primary produce for export omitted, giving the incorrect CJ: income rather than harness The intent of the Editorial was impression that even in death ing its collective intelligence to put down the lack of incen organisms do not come to to emulate the likes of Swit tive offered to scientists in this equilibrium with the environ zerland and Japan. country, regardless of whether ment. But of course they do, Ignored is the fact that their background is agricul hence my comment regarding Australian agriculture relies tural, mining, biology or phys equilibrium thermodynamics heavily on new and highly ics. They are offered more to as the realm of the dead. developed technology for its move overseas. 'Minding the -Ralph Molnar existence. Also, today's sheep' is only an expression Queensland Museum farmers must make difficult and was not intended as an management decisions based insult aimed at farmers. The are ANH welcomes letters for on analysis of market infor point was that we clever at publication and requests lw th� complete.I& II ,tor,. mation from around the producing resource-based raw that they are 400 words "ntt..· h1rour Skt·pin� BJ� Bu�l.'r,Guhk world. To imply that the rural materials but stop there. Our maximum length and typed \ame... sector is involved only in heavy reliance on a resource if possible. Please supply a activities like ·'minding the based economy makes us vul daytime telephone number .\ddre" ...... sheep" is an insult to the nerable. Take, for example, and type or print your name ... PO\tcode.... people who are responsible the problem with wool sales. and address dearly on the for keeping our farm export We have the best raw material letter. industries alive in the face of in the world but, if the over-
VOLUME 2 3 NUMBER 9, WINTER 1991 671 P O T P O U R R I may be more remarkable than that. Paul Newton (Univer sity of Oxford, UK) and Toshisuda ashida (Univer QUIPS, QUOTES sity of Kyoto, Japan) report that wild Tanzanian Chimps deliberately massage the & CURIOS leaves of Aspilia spp. and Lippia plicata between the COMPILED BY GEORGINA HICKEY tongue and the inside of their cheek (Anim. Behav. 39: SCIENTIFIC EDITOR 798-800; 1990). Evidently these leaves contain high 'Monkeying' Around with ('Tie-one-on') Pan who is head to clear. concentrations of a potent Drugs? searching for the leaves of a Have these Tanzanian antibacterial, antifungal and It's the morning after a special tree his father told Chimps found a forest phar antihelminthic agent (thia swinging fermented fruit him about when he was a macy? Apparently yes: but it rubrine A). Presumably for party in the trees of Tanzania big-eyed baby apeling. Find the same reason, Aspilia and the Chimps (Pan troglo ing it, he plucks a leaf with Chimpanzees may have found a way leaves are also widely used in dytes) are not looking too shaky fingers, shoves it in his to give them that extra lift they the local medicines of bright-except for Peter mouth, and waits for his hairy need in the morning. humans. But why would the Chimps suck the leaves rather than chew and gulp them? Newton and Nashida speculate that the drugs the Chimps are after may be inactivated by stomach acid. If so, absorbtion via the skin of the mouth might be the only way the drug could be taken in. Buccal administration of therapeutic drugs (sucked under the tongue or between the cheek and tongue) has been an 'accepted' medical practice since 1879. Only in this way can some therapeu tic drugs such as nitroglycer ine be readily absorbed into the circulatory system with out first having to survive inactivation by the acids of the gut or the detoxification processes of the liver. Stim ulants such as cocoa prod ucts, snuff and smokeless tobacco are also 'sucked in' in this way, knowledge of the mouth route having been shared by tropical forest peo ples for many generations. Newton and Nashida also noted another curious fact: the Chimps generally mouth sucked the leaves in the morning rather than in the afternoon when they nor mally foraged for food. Could it be that sought-after drugs were more concentrated in the leaves in the morning, or that overnighttheir blood lev els of this substance fell so low that it had to be replen ished first thing in the morn ing? Perhaps more likely, as Newton and ashida suggest, leaf-sucking is simply the equivalent of a stiff cup of black coffee in the morning. -Michael Archer University of NSW
672 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY Where Did You Get That Tusk? Illegal trading in elephant ivory reached alarming pro portions in the last decade, seriously threatening the sur vival of the African Elephant (Loxodonta africana). The crisis culminated in an inter national ban on the ivory trade at the October 1989 meeting of CITES (Council for International Tr ade in Endangered Species). The ban was seen by many as the only way to save elephants from extinction. But will it? A blanket ban may only send black market prices skyrock eting and increase poaching pressure, as occurred with rhino horn. And, unlike the situation in East and central Africa, elephant populations are actually increasing in southern Africa. The issue is more complex than it appears at first. In southern Africa, ele phants have been better man aged and protected. In A new method has been devised that ical substrate of the region. Each pair of tusks would be Botswana, for instance, num can pinpoint the source of culled ivory. In combination, these three provided with a certificate bers have increased substan variables should not coincide detailing the isotopic values. tially over the last decade and source of ivory offers the sol for different areas. These values may be spot culling is necessary to pre ution to the problem. Based We set out to test this, checked by customs authori vent irreparable damage to on our earlier work on carbon using 100 pieces of elephant ties in ivory-importing their habitats. The southern isotopes and elephant diets bones and ivory, from all over countries. The second prob African countries (Zimbabwe, (African j. Ecol. 26: 163- Africa. Happily, the results, lem requires the establish Botswana, Namibia, South 172; 1988), Nick van der which have recently been ment of a continent-wide Africa etc.) opposed the ban, Merwe and I believed this reported in Nature (346: database of elephant 'iso arguing that culling is essen could be done using a method 744-746; 1990) show the pat prints'. The difficulty lies in tial and that financially we called trivariate isotopic terns we predicted; the three obtaining accurately sourced pressed conservation bodies analysis. isotopes clearly discriminate samples to construct the need the funds generated Animal tissues are con between all the areas we master chart, and the from the sale of ivory. In structed from elements in sampled. In fact, the results expense of the analyses. some areas, local people are food, and the stable isotope from Etosha in Namibia and Once this is done, however, included in management deci ratios of carbon (".1C: iic) and the Kruger Park in South ivory may be isotopically 15 14 sions and reap some of the nitrogen ( : N) present in Africa show that we can even checked at any point along benefits, effectively turning food are also reflected in the distinguish between ele the trade route to determine potential poachers into wild- tissues, including bones and phants from different parts of whether or not it came from 1 ife conservationists. This teeth. And tusks are really the same park. parks with legitimate culling kind of policy will probably be just teeth. Carbon isotope How can this method help programs. the only way of ensuring the ratios in elephant bone or in practice? If a control An internationally recog survival of elephants in the tooth reflect the density of method can be devised to nised system for detecting long term, since the main tree cover in the region, via market the culled ivory, it poached ivory must be in threat is actually human the proportions of browse would relieve some of the place by 1992 when the ban is encroachment. and grass in the diet. Ele demand and reduce poaching reviewed. Some southern Clearly, however, limited phants from deep forests are pressure, as well as benefit African countries have trading under CITES control easily identifiedby exception the conservation efforts of already given notice that they hasn't worked either. ally low amounts1 of the the southern African coun intend to reintroduce the sale Burundi, which has no ele heavier isotope, :ic. Nitro tries. The problem is first to of culled ivory. Any limited phants, became a major gen isotopes vary inversely ensure that marketed ivory is trading agreement must exporter of ivory! The with rainfall. These two iso legitimately culled, and sec include recognised safe CITES quota system could topes reflect two environ ond to guard against the sale guards such as the one out be circumvented because it mental variables of the region of poached ivory. In the first lined here, or there will was impossible to distinguish and should usually be suf instance, the solution may be inevitably be a return to the between culled and poached ficient to determine the area based on the detailed isotopic disastrous situation we have ivory once it reached the in which the elephant lived. results available for southern recently witnessed. market. But legitimately To pinpoint the area more Africa. A marketing system culled ivory comes from only exactly, we also analysed for with a central auction auth -Julia A. Lee-Thorp a few regions, mainly in strontium isotopes ority in Botswana is envis Department of Archaeology 87 8(i southern Africa. A method ( Sr: Sr), which directly aged, where only legitimately University of Cape Town, for accurately tracing the reflect the age of the geolog- culled i\'ory may be sold. South Afric.i
VO LU M E 2 3 N U M B ER 9 , WI N TE R 1991 673 Orang-utan Boost the reason for declining num insidious than simply remov decreasing as investors turn A recent survey of tht bers of Orang-utans. ing the food source, Dr to other more lucrative pur Orang-utan population of the Lowland habitat, destroyed Payne maintains that the suits. And, with the strict Malaysian State of Sabah has to make way for oil palm and trees felled by loggers are enforcement of the 27-year shown that, although cocoa plantations from the not those that bear fruit old Sabah Wildlife Protection decreasing in numbers, early 1980s, forces Orangs (such as figs, durian and jack Law banning the keeping of Orang-utans are nowhere into the more mountainous fruit) eaten by Orang-utans. baby Orangs as pets, the near as close to extinction as regions where their repro On a world basis, Dr Payne trade in hunting and poach has been feared. duction rate falls and thus considers Orangs to be rare ing, which usually involves The solitary, arboreal habit their numbers diminish. but not endangered. He said the slaughter of the mother of the Orang-utan (Pongo pyg Although he agrees that habi the rate of decline should Orang-utan, seems to have maeus), together with popu tat destruction is far more slow down with the fall in all but ceased, at least in lation numbers long known to world prices for oil palm and Sabah. be small and diminishing, has Orangs in Sabah are better off than cocoa; the rate of develop always made it difficult to we thought. ment of plantations is now -lane Mundy accurately survey their num bers. Previous estimates have ranged widely from a conservative 5,000 to an over-optimistic 150,000. The most recent study was conducted in 1988 in Sabah by World Wide Fund for ature (Malaysia) scientist Dr Junaidi Payne (Ora11g utan co11servation in Sabah, WWFNM). It is based on aerial nest-count data and has put the Orang-utan popu lation in Sabah alone at between 10,000 and 20,000 individuals. Dr Payne's study is con fined to Sabah, which makes up around ten per cent of the land area in Borneo and Sumatra known to be poten tial Orang-utan territory. Extrapolating from the results, he believes there are fewer than 100,000 animals worldwide, but certainly sev eral tens of thousands. The highest population density was found to be in freshwater swamp forests, especially close to big rivers such as the Kinabatangan in eastern Sabah. There was a gradual decrease in numbers with distance from the coast, the numbers of Orangs found in mountainous inland areas being ten times fewer than those found on the coast. The study showed that Orang-utan populations have not declined in areas logged in the last 20 years and has thus called into doubt the popular theory that it is pri marily degradation of their natural environment through logging of rainforest timbers � that has brought about the � Orang-utan's demise. � It may not be fashionable ffi to exonerate loggers but Dr Payne believes that environ �__, mental destruction through � clearing the forest for agri � culture, rather than felling � trees for timber. is indeed
674 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY Widely Wandering Crozet Archipelago (south Albatrosses Break All Records we stern Indian Ocean). Wandering Albatrosses While their female partners (Diomedea exulans) have long remained at home on the been recognised as one of the island incubating the pair's most widely ranging of all sea egg, males went on foraging birds-travelling up to 1,800 trips lasting between two and kilometres from the nest 33 days. The albatrosses when foraging. However, travelled at speeds of up to recent research has shown 80 kilometres per hour and that these birds cover even over distances of up to 900 more staggering distances of kilometres per day, sustain between 3,600 and 15,000 ing high average speeds over kilometres in a single forag long distances (one bird aver ing trip! French scientists aged some 56 kilometres per Pierre Jouventin and Henri hour over 800 kilometres). Weimerskirch, from the The birds undertook long C RS (National Centre for distance flights only in the Scientific Research) at Beau daytime (distances of up to voir, satellite-tracked Wan 936 kilometres were record dering Albatrosses in the ed), and much shorter dis Southern Ocean and found tances at night (generally that distances covered and less than 50 kilometres), long-distance flight speeds tending to fly further on Wandering Albatrosses have broken their own flight records. are much higher than the moonlit than moonless highest estimates for this or nights. around it until they encounter low-pressure systems follow any other species of bird Wandering Albatrosses favourable winds. High one another at short, regular (Nature 343: 746-748; make the most of the South pressure systems (resulting intervals. The researchers 1990). ern Ocean weather condi in an absence of wind) can believe that the evolution and Six male Wa ndering Alba tions by taking maximum prolong foraging trips by days survival of Earth's largest trosses (weighing 10-12 kilo advantage of prevailing winds or weeks, but partners will flying seabirdhas been poss grams and with wingspans of on the outward journey and fast as long as 55 days before ible only in this region, which 3. 0-3. 2 metres) were fitted probably facing the wind on deserting the egg. is subject to stronger and \_j� with radio transmitters and the return trip, either tacking In the foraging zone of the more regular winds than in 15 satellite-tracked while breed in towards the home island in Wandering Albatross, any other part of the world. ° ° : ing on Possession Island in a long zigzag route or looping between 30 and 60 South, -S.H. o
-l _�i:/,.,_,-�The Banksias are amongst �{�l_ k'· �; � Bank a Australia's best-known s1· Ban sia , � ,�,,,, ,. , ..and best-�oved plants. �ach kind of � !•�.'!!f£'�,�.-.r'l;/.t;,, (Reprint) IS illustrated 111 The 8anks1a Atlas-98 species, •=,.,.... , r-.•�,;� -t,' /.,; subspecies and varieties in all. Maps of distribution 141 ;,. Banksia, '1j;z�}l·),��:.:�··<�·�,; A tI as of each together with details on growth, habit, )5'.r� habitat, reaction to fire, pollination and flo"'.'ering time, greatly_ amplify previous knowledge. · ":.:: Horticulturists, land managers, conservatI0111sts and those 1ust interested 111 beautiful flowers ..•��'gj �;:ii r�·· "'..'!-�� will find the atlas a valuable source of information on the distribution and biology of Banksias. �..4' The Banksia Atlas is a beautifully presented publication featuring colour photographs and detailed distribution maps. The atlas is more than just a fascinating book-it is a conservation tool of great power. An AGPS Press publication Cat. No. 89 1149 4 $49.95 AGPS MAIL ORDER FORM Please indicate your requirements and send to: AGPS Mail Order Sales, GPO Box 84, Canberra ACT 2601 Please forward D copies of: The Banksia Atlas Cat. No. 89 1149 4 549.95
Name I enclose payment (made payable to AGPS)• for$ _____ or charge my Address ______D AGPS account number ______Postcode ____ D Bankcard D Visa D Mastercard Expiry date ____ AGPS Phone Shop (008) 02 0049 Canberra customers please call 295 4861. Available over the counter at Commonwealth Govemment Bookshops in all capital cities. Card number (_j_j_1 ( � � I__ . L - --Price includes surface postage in Australia and overseas. Minimum Mail Order Sale: -cash, cheque. AGPS Account-SS.00 -credit cards-S 10.00 Signature______Date ____ Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra. IAD08 V O L U M E 2 3 N U M B E R 9 • W I N T E R 1991 675 while two to three subordi nate males also occupy the roost (usually a hollow tree or caYe). Often the groups are further subdivided into smaller clusters. Although the groups are generally sta ble, the composition of clus ters making up each group varies continually, with the females (and sometimes their pups) shifting roosts once or twice a week, thus exposing themselves to new males with whom they sometimes mate. Adult females prefer to roost with certain other females, which are not necessarily relatives, and have the opportunity to form long, stable relationships with each other. At least two of the females studied were known to have roosted together for more than 12 years. Over the five-year period of Wilkinson's study, he and his assistants found that 7-30 per cent of vampires in a cluster fail to obtain a blood meal on any given night, and observed 110 instances of blood sharing by regurgita tion. Seventy per cent of instances were between mother and pup, while 30 per cent involved adult females feeding young other than their own, adult females feeding other adult females and, on two occasions, adult males feeding offspring. Wilkinson found that only closely related bats or bats that have had a long-term association give blood to each other. Such associations The Vampire's Kiss of Life prey by making a small inci Common Vampire Bats will die if they among females enable vam Tentatively she ap sion with its razor-sharp inci fail to receive a blood meal for more pires to regurgitate blood to proaches, first licking under sor teeth and, with help of an th�n two nights in a row. one another on a regular her roostmate ·s wing then, anticoagulant in its saliva, basis (a kind of buddy sys moving closer, gliding her laps blood for 20-30 minutes. the United States studied tem) and so significantly tongue over the other's lips. If by dawn the vampire is vampires in their natural increase their chances of sur In this way, a hungry Com unsuccessful, it must depend habitat in north-western vival. Although this behav mon Vampire Bat (Desmodus for its life on a blood gift from Costa Rica to test whether iour puts the donor at risk, rotundus) solicits regurgi- a relative or long-term the vampire's food sharing the recipient is likely to sur >- tated blood from a roostmate associate. was a form of altruistic vive the night and indi\·iduals t;:; to fend off starvation for Food sharing of this kind behaviour or, rather, a kind that exchange blood gain � another day. (in which individuals provide of kin selection (Sci. A 111er. immediate advantage in v The Common Vampire Bat food for other members of Feb. 1990: 64-70). In other terms of increasing their own � of ce ntral and South the group) is very rare in words, he set out to show survival and sometimes the g America-one of only three mammals, and true al whether blood sharing was as survival of relatives. Hence, !:s bat species to live solely off truism-where a donor gives common between non-related in vampire society both kin
676 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY sition blown in from other areas, such as the Arabian and Sinai Peninsulas. The authors calculated the rate of dust deposition by wind in the same general area in which the snails were studied to be 360 kilograms per hec tare per year-less than half Rock-crunching Snails that provided by biological In 1987, three scientists weathering by snails. made an extraordinary dis Although the snails consume covery in Israel's rocky lime around the same amount of stone egev Desert. Moshe food as other snails in less Shachak and Yigal Granot hostile environments, these (from Ben-Gurion University desert snails have a dispro of the egev), and Clive portionate impact on the eco Jones (from the New York system because they must Botanical Garden), reported physically disrupt the rock an unusual form of herbivory substrate to get at their food. in two species of snail Since this study, further (Euchondrus albulus and E. work by Jones and Shachak desertorum). These snails, has revealed another ben which are less than a centi eficial role for these rock metre long, consume endo- crunching snails: that of 1 ithic lichens-lichens that fertilising the desert with grow below the surface of the nitrogen (Nature 346: 839- rock-and, in the process, 841; 1990). RlTUALS OF THE HUMAN LIFE CYCLE ingest an enormous amount The snails feed on the A gallery focussing on the rites and of substrate each year. endolithic lichens in the early Feeding behaviour of the morning and at night when rituals that shape our lives snails was observed on vid dew is present, resting by eotape. After moving over day under rocks and deposit the rock in what appeared to ing their faeces there. The be searching behaviour, the snails remove the nitrogen snails would manoeuvre from the lichens, which themselves into a near absorb airborne nutrients, vertical position, and then and transfer these to the soil make quick side-to-side in their faeces. A small movements for about 20 min amount of nitrogen is utes, leaving behind a white retained by the snails, pre gouge mark in the rock. The sumably for shell growth. teeth of the snails were often The authors calculate that damaged as a result of this each year the faeces contrib rock-crunching activity but, ute about 24 milligrams of as in other snail species, are nitrogen per square metre of continually replaced. soil (240 kilograms per hec Comparison of the calcium tare), which is 11 per cent of DREAMTIME TO DUST content in the rock and in the the total nitrogen input for snail faeces was almost iden the Negev Desert and 18 per Australia's Fragile Environment tical, confirming that the cent of the net input (taking snails do ingest rock as they into account loss of nitrogen eat. Fi eld experiments through soil erosion and run revealed that each snail off from rain). And, because removes about four per cent the snails deposit their COMING SOON of the rock surface to a depth faeces beneath rocks where of one millimetre per year, they are less likely to be LUK LUK GEN feeding at a rate of nine cubic washed away by rain and CONTEMP ORARY ART FROM millimetres per day. Extrap where the roots of desert PAPUA NEW GUINEA olating these data for the shrubs such as saltbush INSPIRING WORKS FROM INOIGENOL IS ARTISTS whole egev Desert, the occur, plant growth is COMING TO THE M SEUM IN SEPTEMBER authors estimate that the boosted. rate of biological weathering The authors believe that FOR INFORMATION ON MUSEUM ACTIVITIES of rock by snails is between these desert snails provide PHONE THE MUSEUM ALIVE LINE ON 695 and 1,104 kilograms per an important link between 339 8181 hectare per year! the lichen-rock and plant-soil About 30 per cent of the ecosystems. Without the Negev Desert is soil, the snails, the nutrients ab australian other 70 per cent being lime sorbed by lichens would be stone rock. It had always trapped in the rock, unable to been thought that the main be utilised by higher plants in source of soil for the Negev the soil. museum6 College St. Sydney Ph (02) 339 8111 Desert was due to dust depo- -G.H. Open 7 days, 10am-5pm
VO LUM E 2 3 NU M B E R 9, WI N TE R 1991 677 on a bonfire at Oxford's Image of Dodo appropriately named Ash Goes on a Diet molean Museum in 1755. The popular image of the Bones collected in 1865 from extinct Dodo (Raphus cucul a Mauritian swamp had been /a/us) of Mauritius as an pieced together by the exceedingly fat, flightless famous anatomist Sir Richard bird may be unfair. According Owen of the British Museum to Andrew Kitchener, (Natural History). After Curator of Birds and Mam Kitchener had exhaustively mals at the Royal Museum of measured each and every Scotland in Edinburgh (BBC bone, he built a wire skeleton Wildlife Aug. 1990: 512- and added plasticine muscles, 514), in the wild the bird having studied the shape and might actually have been disposition of muscles in slim, elegant, perhaps even other birds. When he stood athletically built. How could back to see what he had the European artists have got wrought, lo and behold: the it so wrong, particularly skinny Dodo. when the first illustrations of Then, by studying the rela the bird-those made before tionship between the weight 1626 by artists who had actu of pigeons (close relatives of ally been to Mauritius the Dodo) and the length of showed a reasonably slender one of their leg bones, he bird? Apparently later illus >- determined that his slim and 0:: <( trations, the ones that came trim Dodo would have 0:: C0 to dominate European litera ::::; weighed, in contrast to the ::c ture, were of captive birds 30 kilograms for the usually u 0:: <( that had had constant feeding 'fat' model, only about 13. 5 w w.,., and no exercise-couch kilograms, roughly the 0:: potato Dodos. weight of a swan. �:::, .,.,w When Kitchener was asked ·'Dead as a Dodo" the �:::, by the museum to "Do us a Dodo may be, but its persona z <( Dodo" for an exhibit, he gath has been given a new lease of ::::; <( ered all of the writings and life. Its old, familiar image as 0:: t;; drawings he could find. the huffing, puffing fatty of ;il Becau e historical paintings Lewis Carrol's Alice's Adven were contradictory about the Our chubby image of the Dodo may not be correct after all. tures in Wonderland has been Dodo's waistline, Kitchener radically trimmed. and the decided to examine any grisly 1660s-less than 200 years pile of bits: bones, a dried Dodo should now strut bits of bird that might have after the first humans set head and the cast of a foot-a through history as a new survived the three centuries foot on Mauritius. whole stuffed bird having bird. since its extinction in the What he found was a paltry been unceremoniously tossed -S.H. Calling Caterpillars the University of Texas, has managed to record the subtle as the caterpillar pulls its Mimic Ants found that a number of these calls of the Panamanian but head in and out, they produce Caterpillars of some but caterpillar species actually terfly caterpillar Thisbe iren a rasping sound that travels terflies form special relation ·call' ants to them, thus help ea, which seems to be as vibrations through the ships with ants. In these ing to maintain the associ exploiting a communication ground, leaves, stems or symbiotic associations, the ation (Science 248: 1104- system normally used among bark beneath them. The cat caterpillars provide ants with 1106; 1990). DeVries has ants. erpillars call almost con food (protein and sugar Many ants produce and stantly as they move about. ecretions) in exchange for The Imperial Blue Butterfly (Ja/menus respond to stridulations and Calling caterpillars, protection against predators, evagorus) is one of 14 species tested vibrations as part of their DeVries found, receive bet such as wasps. Philip J. whose larvae mimic the calls of their important short-distance ter protection from enemies De Vries, an entomologist at communication system. In than mute ones (in which the his study, DeVries found that papillae were removed). caterpillars mimicking these DeVries also detected the substrate-born vibrations ability to call in 13 other spe were likely to elicit an inves cies of ant-associated cater tigative response from ants. pillars, all of which made In cases where caterpillars calls that were similar to needed ants to survive the those of their ant associates: attacks of predators, they closely related species that used these calls (together did not associate with ants with chemical signals) to were silent. A number of attract and maintain the pres other species also produce ence of the protective ants. calls but do not have In Thisbe irenea, the calls vibrational papillae. These are produced by vibratory produce sound more like the papillae, a pair of ridged, rod calls of tropical frogs. but shaped organs located behind how they are made is not yet the head. When rubbed known. against the edge of the head, -S.H.
678 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY Did the Neanderthals Bury their Dead? The question as to whether or not the Neanderthals intentionally buried their dead is the subject of a recent paper by Robert Gar gett from the University of California at Berkeley (Curr. Anthrop. 30: 157-190; 1989). Earlier interpretations of the archaeological evidence from six Middle Palaeolithic sites (La Chapelle-aux-Saints, Le Moustier, La Ferrassie and Regourdou in France, Teshik Tash in the USSR, and Shani dar in Iraq) posited the association of human skeletal remains with the apparent remains of features such as flower offerings or circles of goat horns as evidence of intentional burial. If such interpretations are correct, then these sites constitute the earliest evidence of the human capacity for symbolic or ritualistic behaviour, an extremely significant adapta tion within the behavioural evolution of our species. Gargett, however, prefers to consider the evidence derived from these six Nean derthal sites within a geoar chaeological framework. His basic proposition is that the inference of mortuary ritual from archaeological deposits requires non-human agents to be ruled out. In other words ''It is not enough to say that humans could have produced a given deposit; it A nearly complete Neanderthal adult, gett is not without his critics. along with Frayer and must be shown that nature La Ferrassie I (France), in situ, 1909. At the end of his paper, fol Montet-White. all comment could not." His re-examin lowing Current Anthropology that more recent excavations ation of these sites leads him and anthers recovered from style, are the solicited not discussed by Gargett to conclude that, in every the 'burial' of Shanidar 4 and responses of 11 groups of (such as Saint-Cesaire, case, processes other than interpreted as the remains of authors. While a few concede Kebara and Roe de Marsal in purposeful human behaviour a flower offering may also that earlier descriptions of France, and Amud in Israel) could have resulted in the have been blown into the inferred mortuary ritual may indicate beyond doubt the formation of the deposits in cave, transported in by ani have overextended the intentional burial of humans question. mals or simply have grown in archaeological evidence, possess111g a eanderthal For example, the La the immediate vicinity of the some argue that even these morphology. Chapelle-aux-Saints 'burial' burial. early excavations reveal Also debated by Gargett is reinterpreted as an acci Gargett concludes that, in strong evidence for inten and his critics is the dental interment within a many cases of inferred Nean tional burial. For example, extremely fragmented nature natural cave-floor depres derthal burial, "simple and D.W. Frayer and A. Montet of human skeletal remains sion. The flexed position of likely explanations have been White from the University of found in Europe prior to the the skeleton of La Ferrassie I ignored in favour of complex Kansas, commenting on the last interglacial and the fact is just as likely to have been scenarios invoking enigmatic La Chapelle-aux-Saints that nearly complete skele the result of natural death purposeful behaviour". burial, observe that they do tons do not appear until the during sleep as it was the Unless other Neanderthal not know of a single example time of the Neanderthals dur result of a mortuary ritual. sites can provide evidence of a "naturally. produced rec ing the last glacial. If burial The stone arrangement exca contrary to his position and tangular, straight-walled, cannot account for the pres vated near the base of the withstand the test of geoar flat-bottomed pit in the mid ervation of these complete skeleton at Regourdou, ini chaeological interpretation, dle of a karstic shelter". C. skeletons, what can? Gargett tially interpreted as a care then we must presume that Gamble (University of South does not offer an alternative. fully constructed coffer, is the eanderthals did not hampton), P. Ossa (La Trobe seen by Gargett as the result intentionally bury their dead. University) and E. Tr inkaus -Michael K. Green of natural roof fall. The pollen As we might expect, Gar- (University of New Mexico), Victoria Archaeological Survey
VO LU M E 2 3 N U M 8 F. R 9, WI N TE R 1991 679 porary private museums, the Tunstall Museum whose records provide the link between Tupaia and the Rainbow "A Rainbow lorikeet Lorikeet. This specimen has long since was apparently taken alive at Botany been lost or destroyed by the ravages of Bay and became the pet of the Tahitian time. However, it is distinctly possible that the pet lorikeet survived the priest Tupaia." voyage and was then painted in 1772. Certainly, in Griffith's painting, the gleam of the eye and the posture of the bird are painted more like those of a live bird, than is commonly found in images PORTRAIT OF A PET: of that era. A Rainbow Lorikeet also features in what is often regarded as the fir t published illustration of an AN AUSTRALIAN FIRST Australian bird, in Brown's New Illustrations of Zoology (1776); how ever, the bird illustrated as the "blue-bellied parrot" does not appear to BY RICK WILLIS be the same individual painted by INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE Griffith. Who was Moses Griffith? He was a 1------, Welshman who wa the servant and N JANUARY 1987 I BEGAN A PERIOD OF of the Tahitian priest Tupaia who had travelling companion of Thomas Pen sabbatical study at the British Museum chosen to join the voyage for its nant, another Welshman who made I ( atural History) in London. Often I completion. othing further is known numerous important contributions to would walk down Brampton Road at about this, except that the bird, then zoology, including British Zoology and lunchtime to windowshop or to salivate in known as a "blue-bellied parrot", Genera of Birds. As such, Pennant was the food hall at Harrods. One wintry day, apparently ended up as a stuffed an acquaintance of Joseph Banks. In his as I emerged from Harrods, I stopped at specimen in one of London's contem- autobiography, Pennant records that in one of the rather expensive and intimidating antique shops in the area. Through the window I could see the usual range of decorator antique bird prints, but one image seemed strangely unfam iliar to me. I entered the shop with some trepidation, as I noticed the price ticket on one armchair read £13,000. I edged my way toward this curious picture, which was titled on the mount "A Green Parrot". The picture was in fact a fine gouache on vellum, and was signed Moses Griffiths and dated 1772. However, the subject was not your ordinary green or 'Amazon' parrot but, as evident in the orange beak, was a lorikeet and, on closer examination, was likely a Rainbow Lorikeet (Tricho glossus Jzaematodus). Here, before my eyes, was the first known painting of an Australian bird! It was too good to be true. How had this obscure artist, Moses Griffiths (better known as Griffith), come to paint such a bird at the time of Cook's First Voyage? I decided to take the plunge and I bought the painting on the condition that it was genuine; however, I had to wait for fund to arrive from my bank in Australia. In the meantime, I began the detective work of piecing together the various threads of the story. First, ornithological experts at the British Museum ( atural History) agreed the portrait was indeed of Trichoglossus haematodus molucca11us or the Rainbow Lorikeet found along the eastern coast of Australia. Although not recorded in the journals of Cook or Banks, a Rainbow Lorikeet was apparently taken alive at Botany Bay and became the pet i;; � The first known painting of an Australian bird: the 3 Rainbow lorikeet. I�,,,,, 1/7/'(/4 , ,., I
680 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY September 1771 he visited Joseph PERSONALISED Banks and Daniel Solander in London, shortly following their triumphal return OUTBACK from their epic voyage around the s A F A R world. Although nothing is specifically s mentioned in this passage about the Four-wheel drive small group safaris �-W�l�N�-lWhy no! join us in LANliUtuU�or rntNNt� I presence of Moses Griffith or the into nature's own backyard. Camp oven in FRANCE or !he MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON I lorikeet, Griffith travelled everywhere cooking. Sleep under the stars in our in RWANDA or in NEPAL. PAKISTAN. I with his master, and would have likely I had the opportunity to paint for Pennant luxuryswags. Australiaall over! INDIA or SOUTH AMERICA. the beautiful Rainbow Lorikeet, pre Sendfor a freecolour brochure. I viously unknown to science. I Thus the pieces began to fall into TRANSCONTINENTAL SHERPA EXPEDITIONS t � I place. However, I still had personal NAME------: - doubts that the image was of the ,. AOOAESS: . ______I Trichoglossus haema SAFARIS I Australian race of ENQUIRIES AND BROCHURES: CHRIS PAINE OUTDOOR TRAVEL 55 Hardware St todus, as numerous other races exist MELBOURNE 3000 I03l 670-7252 JAMES RD CLARE SA 5453. PH: 088 42 3469 lC J\11)? I north of Australia. Eventually I was able ______.. to collect the painting from the antique shop, and I quickly transported it back to the British Museum (Natural QUINKAJYCOUNTRY History) to be properly photographed. I In Cape Yorlr Penlnaula. hike to beautiful Aborlgi· had to remove the picture from its nal rock art sites amongst the spectacular sandstone frame and was delighted to find written escarpments of the Quin.Iran Rucrou and stalk on the back of the painting, in a fine the wlldllre and waterblrds of Lake/feld l"lallonal Australian Heritage Encounters Parle. whilst staying at Program for 1990-91: 18th-century script akin to that of Jowalblnna Bush • National Parks of Far East Gippsland Pennant, "from ew Holland". Subse Camp. • Trees of the Far East quent expert examination of the • The Rainforest Trail painting has shown that the vellum is of • Painting and Sketching Safari • Wilderness Encounter a type produced in the 18th century. Small group · luxury camping This picture ranks as one of the great 5-8 days 4WD/easy walk finds in Australian zoological art. The In company with the Snowy's most experienced guide only surviving image of an Australian Trezise Bush Guide Seruice For brochures: bird from Cook's First Voyage is the P.O. Bo,c 106, Freshwater, Cair� Bushwackers Touring Co. rather faint pencil sketch of a Red-tailed 4870 Qld. Ph: (070) SS 1865, Post Office, Buchan, Vic. 3885 Black Cockatoo by the botanical artist Fax: (070) 312 016 Telephone: (051) 55-9240 Sydney Parkinson, who accompanied Banks and Solander. The Griffith painting of the Rainbow Lorikeet is thus r------Gipsy Point Lodge , historically comparable to the much Birds of Lord Howe Island I celebrated painting of the kangaroo by Past and Present the well-known English artist George by Ian Hutton I Stubbs. The kangaroo painting was Th11 neo book detarlr and 1/lumate1 for th,· Jim executed in London in either 1772 or trme all of the bird, - landbirds. ,eabrrd,. I early 1773, and was based on a skull HH/OH and extinct birds - of Auural1a 'smost and pelt, and some of Parkinson's pencil {as
Name ______
Address ______
______Postcode ______
Telephone ______Send this coupon leTravelearn, Continuing Education, The University of Queensland, Queensland 4072 (Thi• coupon dou not con>titutt compttitlon tntry - ... condition>.) L ______WILD FOODS could explain why white settlers did not take to them. And, among Aborigines, "Lemon grasses were very popular the use of herbs or spices for flavouring was not widespread. They appear to remedies for a wide range of have been significant only in the Top ailments." End of the orthern Te rritory, where at least 14 kinds of leaves were cooked with meats and shellfish. Some of these flavouring leaves, like those of the c Peanut Tree (Sterulia quadrijida) and Gardenia fucala, have no pronounced SPICES OF aroma and probably impart only a subtle flavour, comparable to that of banana leaves in Asian cooking. Others, THE FUTURE? notably the tea-trees (Melaleuca acaci- oides, M. argentea, M. 111inut1folia, M. viridijl.ora) are strongly aromatic. But apart from Vai Stanton's anecdote I can find no evidence that lemon grasses BY TIM LOW were used. NATURE WRITER A look at Aboriginal medicine provides an explanation why. Lemon 1------1 grasses were very popular remedies for USTRALIA LIES JUST SOUTH OF TIIE mosquitoes. (Citronella oil extracted a wide range of ailments. At least five fabled spice islands (in Indonesia). from Asian lemon grasses is a popular species (C. a111biguus, C. bombycinus, and our northern forests contain insecticide.) The other record comes C. obtectus, C. procerus and C. A from Uluru (Ayers Rock) where refractus) many plants closely related to the were used, in the form of spices. Our fruit-bearing lilly pillies Aborigines are known to sometimes add infu ions or as niffing herbs, to treat (Syzygium species), for example, are the lemon grass called Silky Heads (C. ills as varied as sores, colds, fevers, placed in the same genus as the Clove obtectus) to their tea. Neither of these muscle cramps and sore eyes. Vai Tree (5. aromaticurn) and some have can be considered a traditional practice, Stanton, for example, told me of using clove-smelling leaves. Cloves them although both may derive from it. one wild lemon grass to treat colds: selves are dried buds but. if left on the There are probably a number of "We'd douse it in boiling water and tree, they flower and develop into red reasons why lemon grasses were not you'd see the oil droplets coming off. It edible 'lilly pilly' fruits. more popular. They are not a part of was good for cleansing the head, for Australia's native nutmeg (Myristica traditional European cuisine, which people with colds". Vai said this was a insipida) is a close relative of true nutmeg (M. fragrans), and was used as a nutmeg substitute in Queensland, although it is less aromatic (hence the name insipida). Similarly, one of our native cinnamons (Cinnamomum oliv eri) has been used as a substitute for traditional cinnamon (C. verum). Australia also has plants in the same genus as pepper, turmeric and lemon grass. The culinary potential of these plants has been almost completely ignored, despite the current fascination with wild foods. The native lemon grasses (Cymbo pogon species) interest me especially. There are no less than ten native species, occurring across northern and outback Australia in rocky and sandy soils. They vary in form from small slender tussocks to large coarse clumps, but all have aromatic leaves and stems, with a lemon or ginger scent. When I first learned about these grasses I was curious about their culinary potential. But I have been able to find only two accounts of their use as flavourings, both by Aborigines. Vai Stanton, an interesting and knowledge able Koongarukunj woman originally from Katherine, orthern Te rritory, told me her parents used to flavour beef with a wild lemon grass. They also burnt bundles of this grass to ward off Among the boulders of the Devil's Marbles in central Australia, lemon-scented Grass is one of the most common plants.
684 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY The Journal of Sustainable Food and Agriculture
'."CRES_A11strnlin � is a high quality, 111fom1ahon packed JOLmial punlished for Australians who are concerned with the long-tem1 environmental and economic stability of the agricultural sector. 1h? scope of ACRES Au�tralia include<;: • Conservation soil and water management • Alternatives to artificial chemical pesticides and fertilizers • Agroforestry and the value of trees on farms _and native vegetation and retenhon • Organic marketing, food purity and different kind of lemon grass from the Silky Heads (Cymbopogon obtectus) is most human health issues one used in cooking. effective as a medicine when green and lush. This • ?cientific analysis and debate on issues such as genetic engineering, The orthern Territory Pharmo- plant is growing at the base of Ayers Roel<. P.V.R. and ethical economics copeia Project analysed the composition • Case studies of successful organic and of oils in four native lemon grasses and that, although the Australian lemon grasses smell lemony, they are sustainable farmers found a range of aromatic compounds, • "'.1etworking community organisa including camphene, borneol and alpha chemically very different from Asian hons - Who's doing what? Seminars pinene, but no citral, the main lemon grasses (and lemons). They may publications, book reviews. well be unsafe to use as flavourings. flavouring component of lemons, the . If YOC arc �earching for practical Asian lemon grass C. citratus and Evidence for this idea comes from 111formation and ,·iabfe alternati\·cs - Lemon-scented Tea-tree (Leptosper- Alice Springs ethno-botanist Peter Latz, who told of an unpleasant THIS IS THE JOURNAL YOU 1111011 petersonii). Furthermore, Silky ARE LOOKING FOR!!1 Oilgrass (C. bombycinus) tested encounter with Lemon-scented Grass strongly for the presence of triterpenes (C. ambiguus). Aborigines usually apply their remedies externally, but the or steroids when the Liebermann How to s11/,scribe Burchard test was applied. It is clear Warlpiri people north-east of Alice Springs sometimes drink an infusion of Ple.1se pro,·ide me "·1th: Lemon-scented Grass-sparingly-to 4 1,sues .J soothe colds. Latz reported: "When I tried a decoction of the leaves of this Back is,ues (Please ,pecifyl :i plant one evening I suffered from an Adwrtising rate, _.J almost continuous stream of vivid nightmares throughout the night!" If E:\CLOSEDPAY\1E:\T s ..... Australia's lemon grasses produce :'\o\\' simply complete this form and effects like these, no wonder they have return it \\'ith your cheque or money not found a place in bush cuisine! • order: 522.00 for 4 issues.
A,·a1l,,ble on lnt L�rn,H1nn,1l ,ub,1..npt1on tor Suggested Reading S46 00 (Au,tra.li cln) for 4 b,..,Ut.''- \\'htch indt11..k-.. gu,-u,1ntC'ed ,11r m,·ul ,lth.i duh· Barr, A. (ed.), 1988. Traditional bush medicines: an Back issues 55.00 each ( pi us 52.00/per Aboriginal pharmacopeia. Greenhouse Publications: order for postage and handling) to: Melbourne. ACRES Australia Latz, P.K., 1982. Bushfires and bushtucker: PO Box 10066, Gouger Street, Adelaide Aborigines and plants in central Australia. M.A. thesis: S.A. 5000. Telephone (08) 212 1533. University of New England, Armidale. :--:,1111e Low, T., 1990. Bush medicine. Angus & Robertson: Address Sydney. Telephone ( Ti111 Low is a fullti111e nature writer living in Occupation Brisbane. He is the author of four books about Agnes lippo of Belyuen Aboriginal Community near plan/ use, /he 1110s/ rrcen/ of H•hich are Bush Give your 11eigltbo11r a subscription and Darwin identifies 'Bu' (Cymbopogon procerus), an tucker and Bush medicine (Angus & ltelp change tlie face of Australian old-time remedy for sores and headache. Robertson). agric11lt11re
VO LU M E 2 3 N U M BE R 9 , WI N TE R 1991 685 latest, which has taken too long to write, is about the Snowy River. He has canoed down its white-water rapids "George Seddon is an intellectual who more times than he can count and, in a likes to shock, but does so with a great way, it's that very familiarity that has sense of fun. " formed a block to the finishing of the book. You want to do justice to the one you love. But the other problem was the historical tangle of the Snowy Moun tains Scheme itself. Who today can fathom the vision, the certitude and the PROFESSOR sheer scale of what those Australians were prepared to do, in the middle of this century, to achieve irrigation and a OF EVERYTHING power supply? It was one of history's greatest exercises in earth engineering and it transformed Australia. But, at a time now when large schemes such as the Multi Function Polis, the Very Fast BY ROBYN WILLIAMS Tr ain, the Space Port and the extension ABC RADIO SCIENCE SHOW of Sydney Airport cause such environ mental ructions, it seems incredible that the Snowy Mountains Scheme FAVOURITE PHOTOGRAPH OF WHAT Europe, would have qualified for a much came to pass, was finished, and yet has looks like two old hobos: one is larger category of classification? left the Mountains themselves, as genial and bearded like a poet; the "What do we mean by... ?" The Seddon puts it, ·'relatively intact in the Aother slightly mischievous and squinty, question comes up again and again public view". beaming through his spectacles. They when you talk to George Seddon. He He likes to examine this change in are Dr Frank Ta lbot, once Director of tells the tale of a British ecologist who perceptions, from times then, when we the Australian Museum, now in charge came to look at Kakadu and kept asking welcomed 'progress', to ones today of the Smithsonian Institute (Natural "where are the large carnivores. the when we seem to be suspicious of it. History) in Washington, known interna lions or the tigers?" "Any act has physical consequences tionally for his work on coral reefs. The only part of which stem from the other is George Seddon. Professor of intention... The man who invented DDT Everything. Together they are pictured did not intend to weaken the egg-shell strolling through the Australian bush, of the American eagle any more than looking somewhat smug as if they've Prof. McHarg intended to contribute to discovered something we don't know atmospheric pollution by flying from about. Philadelphia to Sydney." Frank Ta lbot has a famous record as George Seddon is a slim, handsome, a museum chief and defender of Pacific athletic man; an intellectual who likes ecosystems from rapacious developers. to shock, but does so with a great But more about him another time. sense of fun. As an el FERDINAND I' ' BAUER � ·• Y" FROG BREEDING SPIDER SILK• MODERN INDONESIAN FERDINAND BAUER INSECT FLIGHT • •PLAGUE IN THE ROLE OF ZOOS FISHING• DATING •ELECTRIC •RAINFOREST SAVED PACIFIC· MIKLOUHO • FOSSIL BATS DREAMTIME ART MONOTREMES •HONEYBEES: MACLAY • • SEAHORSE BREEDING • • DAINTREE TOURISM • •ANTARCTIC MINING • FRIEND OR FOE? S U P P L E M E N T S ;.\ Pieces "Paradise 'A . _y � ' '.:-: ;. ,r, ) \ 1 ' \�! . . \'' BIOLOGICAL CONTROL TRACKING ECHIDNAS SLIME MOULDS �· •POMPEIIS IN THE • SEA MONSTERS • WHALING Pieces of Paradise Tracing the paths of Pacificartefacts. PACIFIC· WAS DARWIN • INSECT ORIGAMI • VANISHING FROGS II Tracks Through Tlme: The Story of Human Evolution. Introduction AGORAPHOBIC? •TASMANIAN • SOLOMON'S RATS by Richard Leakey A look at our origins by some of the world's • • TIGER'S SISTER experts in this field. BACK ISSUES & SUPPLEMENTS ORDER FORM Back issues are available for SB.SO each including postage and handling or buy all 8 for $58. Please send me the following back issues (indicate number of copies of each required in the box provided). Order these publications by D 2311 D 2312 D 23/3 D 23/4 completing and returning D 23/5 D 23/6 D 23/7 D 23/8 Supplements this form (or a copy of it) 0 Pieces of Paradise (o S6.95 0 Tracks Through Time (a $7.95 Cheque or card authorisation must accompany order. and sending it, post-free, to: Please make cheques payable to 'Australian Museum'. Freepost AAAlO Name Address Australian Natural History Suburb/Town Postcode PO BoxA285 Please debit my O Bankcard O Visa O American Express O MasterCard Sydney South NSW 2000 ! L 1TTT..TTLCJ TTITT CARD NUMBER EXPIRY DATE ____ Cardholder's Name (print) Signature Cheque/Card Authority enclosed for$ ______688 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY LOST SPECIES ''just as one should not judge a book by its cover, the value of this inauspicious little carcass should not be dismissed. " THE FLY-BY-NIGHT PARROT BY WALTER BOLES, WAYNE LONGMORE & MAX THOMPSON DIVISION OF VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY (BIRDS), AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM DEPARTMENT OF ORNITHOLOGY, QUEENSLAND MUSEUM DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY, SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE, WINFIELD, KANSAS, USA A.t'lY COUNTRIES IIAVE ANIMALS THAT The legend of a 'lost' species is have acquired almost legendary perpetuated by the presence of regular status. Unlike fantastic beasts reports and the absence of documen suchM as Bigfoot or the Loch Ness tation in the form of photographs or Monster, however, their existence has specimens. These reports are sure to been proved. They have been well spark discussion over their validity and documented by scientists, and whether or not the 'lost' species even specimens are preserved in museums. exists. Such debates are not limited to Despite this, they remain mysterious and scientific circles; they capture the elusive. In the years since their public imagination, becoming familiar to discovery, they have become 'lost', people with little other interest in seeming to slip into the realm of wildlife. extinction-or possibly not. Australia's unenviable record of The authors and discoverers of the 1990 Night Parrot specimen (left to right): Walter Boles, Max Thompson and Wayne Longmore. VOLUME 2 3 NUMBER 9. WINTER 1991 689 OC('lB�·:STAUS. (,,,,tit( .I Ii<,:/,/ & I/( /,',.Jo',, ,/,. rl ful 690 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY animals 'lost' since European invasion these is unknown. makes it a fertile location for legendary When no more specimens or sight species. The foremost among these ings were forthcoming from known must be the Thylacine or Tasmanian collecting localities, ornithologists of Tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus); how the time soon began to speculate on the ever, by no means are they limited to demise of the ight Parrot. Archibald J. mammals. Birds provide several promi Campbell (1915) noted that "my friend, nent examples. Since Captain Cook's Mr. Albert Walker, who resided at arrival, no mainland species of birds are lnnamincka, Cooper's Creek, for over conclusively known to have become 25 years, has frequently seen the bird, extinct. In recent years, some of those but he states that of recent years, thought to have suffered this fate have according to the testimony of both been rediscovered, for example the whites and blacks, the bird has entirely Noisy Scrub-bird (Atrichornis clamosus) disappeared". Campbell concluded that and Eyrean Grasswren (Amytornis "evidently this parrot has been exter goyderi). Two 'lost' species hold the minated." premier position in the debate. The Gregory Mathews, in his extensive Paradise Parrot (Psephotus pu/cherrim The birds of Australia (1910-1927), us) has not been reliably documented opened the account of the ight Parrot since 1924, but every year there are with the comment "There is little to reports from suitable parts of its former record concerning this unique g�neric range (see ANH vol. 23, no. 1, 1989). form save that it is now impossible to The other enigmatic bird is the Night add much more, the absolute extinction Parrot (Ceopsittacus occidentalis). of the species apparently being Unlike the striking Paradise Parrot, complete." Mathews goes on to quote the Night Parrot is a rather subdued Captain Samuel A. White, one of his mixture of green, yellow and black. Yet most authorative correspondents: "We for many reasons this is a most unusual have hunted for years now over the old species among parrots. As its common haunts [in South Australia] where they name suggests "the most extraordinary were once found, but cannot find a trace circumst,ance connected with this bird of the bird, which makes one think that is, that it is nocturnal!" (comments it is close upon extermination if not written by Dr Ferdinand von Muller, already exterminated." when he forwarded a bird to the Some international conservation Zoological Gardens, London, in 1867). organisations have adopted a pragmatic The Night Parrot is also terrestrial, definition of extinctions: if the species living more like a quail than a parrot. It has not been recorded for 50 years, it is spends the day in a burrow in the considered extinct. However the ground. Its distribution spreads across IUCN's Red data book of rare and the arid regions of Australia, including endangered birds and the RAOU's some of the least visited sections of the Threatened birds of Australia list the country. The natural history of this Night Parrot as 'indeterminate', a species remains one of the least known reflection of the present uncertainty. of any Australian bird. Rediscovery of 'lost' species, like The Night Parrot has achieved its many pursuits in science, is a legendary status from these odd combination of planned action and biological characteristics and from its serendipity. Of the deliberate attempts rather sudden disappearance. It was to find the Night Parrot, the most discovered in 1845 by John McDouall successful of late was in 1979, when Stuart, a participant in Charles Sturt's Shane Parker of the South Australian central Australian expedition, who Museum set out from Adelaide to collected a bird north of Cooper's Cooper's Creek. He flushed four birds Creek, South Australia. This individual believed to be this species. That most was overlooked and the species was searches have come back empty-handed eventually named by John Gould in 1861 has not discouraged subsequent exped from another individual taken in itions. A monetary reward was even Western Australia in 1854. Frederick offered as an enticement for expanded W. Andrews, a collector for the South efforts. Australian Museum, had the greatest Yet many discoveries in science success in obtaining specimens. He depend on chance rather than a collected up to 16 birds from the area of predetermined course of action. Many the Gawler Ranges and Lake Eyre apparent observations have been incid during the early 1870s. After his time, ental to the activities at the time. few other birds were collected. The Stockmen working at night are among last, and only one in the 20th century, the most frequent non-ornithologists came from Western Australia in 1912. glimpsing the bird. And, in the 1970s, In all, only 22 specimens of the Night about 20 scattered but unsubstantiated Parrot are known to have existed, but reports of ight Parrots were made by the present whereabouts of some of amateur bird watchers while preparing surveys for the RAOU's The atlas of Painting from John Gould's The birds of Australia Australian birds. Our rediscovery of the (1840-1869) of the Night Parrot. The subject of ight Parrot in October 1990, con both figures was the type specimen, taken in firmed by a specimen, was the outcome W1l1n /11.11 Western Australia in 1861. of a serendipitous sequence of events. VOLUME 2 3 NUMBER 9, WINTER 1991 691 The location of the 1990 Night Parrot north of Boulia, Queensland (red). Other recent records are shown in grey. (Adapted from Schodde and Mason 1980.) IIE AUSTRALIAN :\lt.:SEU'.\I HAO PLA, NED an extensive trip through northern TAustralia, where Walter Boles, orni thologist at the Museum, and Ross Sadlier one of the Museum's herpetol ogists, 'would work on bi_rds_ and reptiles respectively. Walter 111v1ted Wayne Longmore, an Associate of the Aus tralian Museum, currently employed at the Queensland Museum, and Max Thompson. Professor of Biology at Southwestern College, Kansas (USA), to join the trip. Headi1�g out in t\�O Australian Museum vehicles, our tnp took us from Sydney to Broome, Western Australia, through the Kimber ley, and into the Top End of the orthern Territory. Ross returned to Sydney midway through the trip. After six weeks, we started our return through western Queensland. Rather than taking a direct route back, A comparison of the tails and claws of the Ground we headed south from Mt Isa along the Parrot (left) and Night Parrot. In the former bird, Diamantina Developmental Road (High both features are noticeably longer. way 83). On 17 October 1990, 36 thrill and wonder of the find surfaced kilometres north of Boulia, we stopped only during breaks m our other at the side of the road to look at some activities. Australian Pratincoles (Stiltia isabella). Because the specimen was found in When the birds flew and landed down Queensland, it will eventually be the road behind the vehicles, Max housed in the Queensland Museum. In turned one vehicle around to follow the interim we have been fortunate to them for a better look. Wayne and be able to study and exhibit it at the Walter remained parked on the side of Australian Museum. the road in the other vehicle so as to Confirmation of the identity is a reduce the disturbance to the birds. logical but not difficult starting point. After obtaining a suitable look, Max Very few parrots bear any resemblance returned, pulling up and parking behind to the ight Parrot, other than for the the first vehicle. Walter got out and obvious features that characterise this walked back to speak to Max through group everywhere. It bears a superficial the window of the passenger's door. resemblance to an over-sized Budgeri After speaking, he turned away from gar (Melopsittaws 11ndulatus), but the vehicle and happened to look down. no-one would ever confuse them. The There, next to his foot on the roadside, only Australian parrot for which it could was the carcass of a 1 ight Parrot. He possibly be mistaken is the endangered picked it up and handed it through the Ground Parrot (Pezoporus walliws). In vehicle window to Wayne, then addition to the differences in habitat returned to tell Max what he had found. (the Ground Parrot is a bird of wet The discovery was made without overt coastal heathlands), the Night Parrot demonstrations of excitement, tem can be easily separated by the short pered no doubt by a combination of disbelief and another week of field work The Budgerigar of arid Australia resembles a small, in hot, dry conditions still to come. The more brightly coloured Night Parrot. 692 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY z 0 :E:r 0 :c I- i The Ground Parrot of coastal south-eastern and south-western mainland Australia and Tasmania. This species is considered by many scientists to be the closest relative of the Night Parrot. VO L UM E 2 3 N UM B ER 9 , WI N TE R 1991 693 claws, absence of an orange forehead, ANY SCIENTISTS CO SIDER THE GROU D The new specimen will also enable us short tail, unbarred belly and swollen M Parrot to be the Night Parrot's closest to study its bones, as none of the cere (fleshy covering at the base of the relative. In New Zealand there is another skeletons of previous specimens was upper mandible). possible candidat�: the bizarre Kakapo or preserved. Apart from some minor The value of the specimen may not Owl Parrot (Strigops habroptilus). Its damage to some of the ribs, the be immediately obvious. It was not large size, flightlessness and communal skeleton of our ight Parrot appears to fresh when found. Ants had removed breeding system make it the most be intact. We can also examine the much of the soft tissue and what distinctive parrot in the world. It has a skull, which was omitted from the only remained had been desiccated. It is similar plumage to that of the Night study carried out on a dissected laterally flattened and the left side. Parrot, is nocturnal, lives in burrows, and specimen. where it lay on the ground, is shares some anatomical peculiarities. Without doubt this individual was dishevelled. The head has become cientists are far from agreement over killed by a motor vehicle. We cannot be detached, much of the tail is missing whether these similarities are merely sure whether the parrot died at the and feathers have been lost from the coincidental or not. We hope to help location where it was found, or was upper back. Most of the plumage, the resolve this problem with the assistance transported in the grill of the vehicle for wings and the legs show little damage. of our newly found ight Parrot. Using a some indeterminate distance before Just as one should not judge a book by small sample of muscle tissue from the falling by the roadside. Nor are we able its cover, the value of this inauspicious back and recently developed biochemical to judge with certainty how much time little carcass should not be dismissed. techiques, we should be able to compare had separated its death and discovery. It offers us the opportunity to find out the DNA of these and other parrots to find Dr Paul Canfield, a veterinary patholo much about the Night Parrot. out how they are related to one another. gist from the University of Sydney, has estimated the period to be between X-rays of the 1990 specimen of the Night Parrot. The head is detached but most of the skeleton is three and 12 months. The weather at intact. This is the only preserved skeleton of this species. the time and for some days preceding the discovery was hot and dry, which would have promoted desiccation of the specimen. The plumage is faded when compared to specimens in the Australian Museum and it is probable that this occurred as the carcass lay on the roadside. Most of the plumage appears fresh and little worn; only the head retains old feathers. Where the plumage has been protected from the sun, the colours are quite vivid. Scattered new feathers had started to appear on the head, their bright green colour contrasting with the pale remnants of the previous plumage. Yellow pigments in feathers are quite susceptible to prolonged light exposure, so they could have faded in a relatively short time. We can tell that the bird was an adult but, in the absence of internal organs, are unable to determine the sex 694 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY with confidence. It has been suggested The Kakapo of New Zealand. Although a much that males have slightly larger bills and larger bird than the Night Parrot, it shares a longer wings than females. If this is so, number of characteristics and is sometimes thought our specimen is a male. to be closely related. (Illustrated by J.G. Keulemans The ight Parrot has been reported in W.L. Buller's A history of the birds of New from two different habitats. Many Zeilli!nd, vol. 1, 2nd ed., 1888.) published records from last century and subsequent books associate it with mean for the conservation of this porcupine grass (Triodia spp. ), particu species? What management program larly in stony country. Other reports should be adopted, particularly when so describe the primary habitat as low little is known about it? And how many chenopod shrub (saltbush, bluebush or resources should be directed towards burr) country, usually associated with ight Parrot conservation, particularly if lake systems, with birds moving into other endangered species might be porcupine grass when it seeds. We better served? found the most recent carcass in an area There seems little value in setting ""> of low, dry mitchell grass (Astrefba), aside reserves for the ight Parrot. It < cc"" burr-daisy (Calo/is) and chenopods with appears nomadic, moving as necessary ::::; areas of bare gibber. There were no to locate changing supplies of water and :c food and making its presence unpredict u"" trees in the immediate vicinity except UJ< V, along a dry watercourse a few able. The concentration of Night UJ 0:: kilometres away. There was little Parrots found in South Australia in the ::E ::, 1870s has been attributed to a localised UJ standing water for some distance in V, ::, either direction along the road, except immigration of the species. Yet ::E z possibly for bores and dams (which ornithologists were quick to announce < were seen from the road but not its extermination once the influx had ;i! investigated). o porcupine grass was passed. Such an area of abundance, if ::, apparent in the immediate vicinity. found today, would seem an ideal site to <( Needless to say, the events that be set aside for the species, but in most made this find possible are the results years it may not support the bird at all. Suggested Reading of considerable coincidence and luck. A To rigorously study the biology of the host of potential destructive forces Night Parrot will require a large Blakers, M., Davies, S.J.J.F. & Reilly, P.N., 1984. The spared the carcass, including scaven commitment of resources and time. atlas of Australian birds. RAOU and Melbourne gers such as the very efficient Black Extensive surveys are needed to find it; University Press: Melbourne. Kites (Milvus 111igrans). Conversely but these may be like looking for a Brouwer, J. & Garnett, S., 1990. Threatened birds of ants may have as isted in its preser needle in a haystack. Much of its range, Australia. An annotated list. Roy Austral. Ornithol. vation by removing much of the soft and maybe even its stronghold, is Union Rep. No. 68. sparsely populated and not easily tissue. Campbell, A.J., 1915. Missing birds. Emu 14: traversed. A possible tool for selecting 167-168. HE Sl'ECl�IEN CO. FIRMS TII.-\T TIIE :--JIGIIT survey sites might be satellite remote Parrot still exists. But what does it sensing, if it permitted identification of Forshaw, J.M., 1981. Australian parrots. 2nd rev. ed. T selected vegetation types at the right Lansdowne: Melbourne. Forshaw, J.M., Fullagar, P. J. & Harris, J.I., 1976. The countryside in which the 1990 specimen of the stages of growth. Surveys might make a quick discovery, or they might not. Specimens of the Night Parrot in museums Night Parrot was found. It is sparsely vegetated, throughout the world. Emu 76: 120-126. with large expanses of gibber. Once the birds are located, radio tracking methods would be required to Gould, J., 1861. On a new genus and species of follow them during their nightly parrakeet from Western Australia. Proc. Zoo/. Soc. routines and larger-scale shifts. Such a Lond. 1861: 100-101. project should extend for several years Mathews, G.M., 1916-1917. The birds of Australia. if we are to understand the movements Vol. 6. Witherby & Co.: London. and . ecological requirements of this species. Murie, J., 1868. On the nocturnal Ground-Parakeet (Geopsittaws occidentalis, Gould). Proc. loo/. Soc. Eventually the question of the Night Lond. 1868: 158-165. Parrot's status needs to be considered. Is it teetering on the brink of Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J., 1980. Nocturnal birds of extinction? Some scientists have Australia. Lansdowne: Melbourne. instead suggested it may not even be Wilson, H., 1937. Notes on the Night Parrot, with very rare. Nonetheless it was probably references to recent occurrences. Emu 37: 79-87. never common and, most likely, has suffered a decrease in numbers because WalterBoles is the Collection Manager of Birds of European agricultural and livestock at the Australian Museum. His major research management practices, and introduced interests are the Riversleigh fossil bird fauna predators such as foxes and cats. The and systematics of Australo-Papuan songbirds. ight Parrot is no doubt extirpated from Wayne Longmore is an Associate of the parts of its former range. It is possibly Australian Museum and is wrrently employed endangered. Unfortunately our know iJy the Ornithology Department of the Queens ledge of this species is too scanty to land Museum. He is the author of the permit more than speculation about its forthcoming National Photographic Index book abundance. Honeyeaters and allies of Australia. Max Regardless of the outcome of future Thompson joined the expedition while on z sabbatical leavefrom his position as Professor of 0 efforts, the ight Parrot will never lose Biology, Soutlnvestern College. In addition to � its mystique. Even its reappearance on his long-standing involvement with birds, he is � a large scale would only add another a prize-winning hortiwlturalist, with a special chapter to its intriguing story. • interest in orchids. VO LU M E 2 3 N U M B E R 9, WI N TE R 1991 695 "Evolution does not occur in a vacuum. The development of a smashing appendage has far-reaching consequences affecting almost every aspect of the biology of the species. Here I discuss just one: vision." STOMATOPODS: THE BITTER TO SEE YOU WITH MY DEAR TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROY L. CALDWELL DEPARTMENT OF INTEGRATIVE BIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY. USA OCONUT BEACH ISO E OF �IY FA\"OURITE flat extending 300 metres outward from retreats. estled behind the rep the beach will be exposed. Walking along tilian head of Lizard Island, its white the sand and out across the emerging flat. sandsC stretch northward nearly a kilo no icons of civilisation intrude. Armed metre from the massive cliffs along the with net and gloves, 1 start my daily Lizard's neck. At low tide, the entire reef search for the animals that I have come to study-stomatopod crustaceans, more commonly known as mantis shrimp. For the next three hours until the tide returns, this patchwork fieldof corals and sponges, algae and clams, becomes my hunting ground. But as I scan the sand flats, rocky beaches and tide pools to z z catch a glimpse of one of these secretive s 0 creatures. I am well aware that many sets z of remarkable eyes are tracking my every < :::E er move. Several hundred thousand z0 stomatopods. representing at least 13 Having eyes on stalks enables stomatopods to peer out of holes and around corners. Here two Gonodactylus attempt to size each other up as they prepare to fight for a cavity. The author near the Lizard Island Research Station, where he studied these curious crustaceans. 696 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY 698 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY species, live at Coconut Beach. This afternoon, I'll be lucky to catch a dozen. But why travel all the way from Berkeley, California, to spend weeks prowling the reefs of Lizard Island in search of this elusive quarry? Beyond the aesthetic pleasures of such research (and the relief from classrooms, telephones and endless committee meetings) lies the growing satisfaction and occasional excitement of unravel ling the biology of one of the most remarkable groups of animals I know. Studying the morphology, behaviour and ecology of stomatopods has helped me understand the interdependence of each in the evolution of the whole. TOMATOl'OUS AKE A SMALL HUT DIVEi/SE Sgroup of marine predators with about 400 species representing 14 families and 74 genera. Only distantly related to more familiar crabs and prawns, the stomatopod lineage split off from other crustaceans 400 million years ago. Most species are restricted to shallow tropical and subtropical seas. Stomato pods can be found in just about any subtidal habitat surrounding Lizard Island. Several species live in cavities in live or dead coral, coralline algae or rock. Others excavate burrows in sand or mud. A few occur only at depths greater than 20 metres, while some live well into the intertidal zone. After several visits to the Lizard Island Research Station, I have learned where each of the 21 species I have collected around the island might be found. And each new expedition yields at least one or two additional species, often new to science. The most u111que teature ot stomato pods is their pair of enlarged raptorial appendages carried folded beneath the head. They are analogous to the forelimbs used by praying mantises to seize prey and it is this similarity that gives stomatopods their common name of mantis shrimp. One difference is that mantids strike overhand, trapping their prey from above, useful for catching insects attempting to take flight. Stomatopods strike underhand, hitting their victims from below where prey such as prawns and fish are more Comparison of the raptorial appendages (or dactyls) of a spearing stomatopod (top) with that of a smasher vulnerable. A more impressive differ (bottom). Both are shown in the open position. Spearers typically strike with the dactyl in the open posi ence is the speed of the strike. Full tion, impaling soft-bodied prey on the sharp barbs. Smashers, on the other hand, strike with the dactyl extension of a stomatopod raptorial folded, hitting their armoured prey with the blunt heel. appendage takes as little as three milliseconds, several times faster than stomatopods, which I have divided into strike is particularly effective against the strike of a praying mantis. Finally, two functional groups-spearers and armoured prey such as crabs and snails, the raptorial forelimbs of mantids are smashers. In spearers, the distal which are literally broken apart by designed to grasp prey, holding it firmly segment of the raptorial appendage, or repeated blows. with the aid of spines lining the two dactyl, is armed with two to 17 spines. It is the evolution of the smashers distal segments that fold together. The Spearers strike with the dactyls that has particularly intrigued me. From unfolded, impaling soft-bodied prey the fossil record we know that the first situation is somewhat different in such as fish or prawns on the stomatopods were spearers. Their The raptorial appendages of the common smasher needle-sharp spines. In smashers, the ancestors used five pairs of small Gonodactylus smithii are greatly enlarged and dactyl is usually unarmed but has a thoracic limbs to sift food from muddy carried tightly folded beneath the head. The greatly inflated and heavily calcified bottoms. Gradually, animals with terminal pink dactyl with its heavily calcified heel heel. Strikes are delivered with the longer, hooked appendages appeared can be seen tightly folded against the blue and dactyl tightly folded back against the that were better able to seize more purple next-to-last segment, the propodus, which next segment, hitting the target with mobile prey. Around 200 million years swings out when a blow is delivered. the blunt. hammer-like heel. Such a ago, animals appeared with the second VOLUME 2 3 NUMBER 9, WINTER 1991 699 pair of these appendages greatly raptorial appendages. Eventually, the Haptosquil/a trispinosa commonly lives in deep enlarged and modified for spearing. muscles that power the strike would water where there is little light. In the area of These were the first true stomatopods. have enlarged, the heel of the dactyl greatest visual acuity, the compound eye is modified We currently recognise four major become heavily calcified to add mass to have many visual elements (ommatidia) pointing groups of modern stomatopods, the and prevent self-damage, and the dactyl in the same direction. This results in larger bathysquilloids, squilloids, lysiosquil spines reduced or lost since they would pseudopupils. Here the three pseudopupils can be loids and gonodactyloids. The bathy have been ineffective in capturing clearly distinguished. squilloids and squilloids are nearly all armoured food and could have been spearers but, in the other two groups, damaged when striking such prey. the same point. The eye is bisected by and particularly in the gonodactyloids, But evolution does not occur in a a central band made up of a few rows of smashing has evolved several times and vacuum. The development of a smash ommatidia that each point straight out in several different lineages. ing appendage has far-reaching conse on the equatorial plane. However, on By studying the behaviour of modern quences affecting almost every aspect either side of the central band, some spearers, it is possible to construct an of the biology of the species. Here I will ommatidia are tipped toward the centre. evolutionary scenario of how this might briefly discuss just one: vision. How is Consequently, a point directly in front have occurred. While spearers usually it that such a seemingly unrelated trait of the eye is viewed by ommatidia from eat soft, unarmoured prey that they can be influencedby the evolution of the three different regions, some in the impale on the dactyl spines, I have smashing appendage? central band, some from the dorsal and observed individuals of some species some from the ventral hemispheres. feeding on weakly armoured animals LL STOMATOPODS HAVE A PAIR OF This can be seen by peering into the such as thin-shelled clams. Attempting A compound eyes mounted on movable eye of a stomatopod. When you look to open a clam, the dactyl spines are stalks, although in the bathysquilloids, directly down the barrel of an useless. However, by striking with the which live at great depths, the eyes are ommatidium, it appears black because dactyl closed, they can use the elbow as greatly reduced. In the other three incident light is absorbed. Off axis, an a hammer, cracking the thin shell. superfamilies, up to 10,000 visual ommatidium appears bright because Should such prey be particularly elements, or ommatidia, make up an light is reflected. If you are directly in abundant, it is easy to see how eye. Each ommatidium views the world front of the eye, you will see three dark selection could favour individuals with through a separate lens pointed in a spots or pseudopupils, each consisting the largest and strongest hammers different direction, although the visual of several ommatidia pointing directly at capable of opening prey more effic fields of adjacent ommatidia frequently your eye (or in the case of a iently. As the size and power of the overlap, particularly in the areas of photograph, directly at the camera smashing appendage evolved, some highest visual acuity, which are usually lens). If you move slightly to the side, individuals would have been able to directed forward. An unusual feature of only two pseudopupils remain, one from break or kill still more heavily armoured the stomatopod eye, however, is its the dorsal and one from the ventral prey, opening up further rounds of functional concavity, with different hemisphere. A single eye effectively has escalation in the evolution of smashing regions of the same eye responding to 'binocular', or even 'trinocular' vision, 700 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY This female squillid is curled on her side laying eggs. The eggs are then mixed with a cement and kneaded into a ball, which she will guard in her burrow and frequently carry in her mouth parts until they hatch weeks later. Note the broad peanut-shaped eye and bright eye shine, typical of nocturnal spearing stomatopods. which can be used for range-finding. If both eyes are brought to bear on a tar�et, the stomatopod has 'hexnocular' v1s1on. In some species, and particularly in spearers such as lysiosquilla that must hit moving prey at a distance, the eye has become broad and peanut-shaped, moving the pseudopupils further apart. This increases the parallax (the apparent change in the position of an object resulting from the change in the position from which it is viewed) and Gonodactylusplatysoma is one of the most common stomatopods encountered throughout the lndo-Pacific. thereby increases the ability to This eight-centimetre smasher can be seen on the reef flat darting from coral head to coral head during determine the distance to an object. low tide. Obviously, being able to accurately judge distance in an animal that strikes finding system? In contrast to mantids prey, even if they are approaching from out with raptorial appendages is that have their eyes fixed in their head, the side. It also means that, should a important and stomatopods have stomatopods have highly mobile eyes stomatopod lose an eye, which occa evolved one of the most complex mounted on stalks that continually scan sionally happens during fights, it is still range-finding systems known. the environment. Furthermore, they capable of capturing prey and so is not Let me return to the analogy with frequently look out from the confines of doomed. preying mantises. Mantids rely entirely a burrow entrance, which does not But the complexity of the stomatopod on simple binocular disparity to gauge permit the animal to turn its head to eye does not end here. Many spearers depth and must orient their entire head orient toward an object. The ability to are sit-and-wait predators, ambushing directly towards an object to determine determine distance using a single eye passing prey from burrow entrances. its distance. Why should stomatopods allows stomatopods to quickly respond They hunt at night or in dim, murky evolve an elaborate, one-eyed range- to potential predators, competitors or waters and their eyes are designed to VO LU M E 2 3 N U M BE R 9 , WI N TE R 1991 701 gather light. The few species studied to date possess only a single visual pigment, which would prevent them from distinguishing colours. Most smashers, on the other hand, live in clear, shallow water and are active during the day, making frequent forays from their cavities to hunt. Because of their colourful body markings, I have suspected that at least some of these stomatopods use colour vision in their interactions with one another. Recently, Dr Tom Cronin of the University of Maryland and Mr Justin Marshall of the University of Sussex have shown that the eyes of the major group of stomatopods containing most smasher species, the gonodactyloids, appear capable of sophisticated colour analysis. But even in gonodactyloid eyes, the ommatidia of the dorsal and ventral hemispheres contain only one visual pigment and are similar to those of other stomatopods. However, the central band in the gonodactyloids is more complex. In species without colour vision, the central band contains only two rows of rather ordinary crustacean ommatidia, but the central bands of groups that appear capable of colour discrimination have six rows of specialised ommatidia, each serving a different function. Rows 5 and 6 contain a single visual pigment and have structures that appear adapted for detecting polarised light, each sensitive to perpendicular planes of polarisation. For what purpose, we can only speculate, but a possibility is homing. Stomatopods that travel far from their cavities, as many smashers do, might use polarisation cues to determine which direction is home, just as Honeybees use the polarised sky to Central band of a typical gonodadyloid eye, comprising six rows (I�) of specialised ommatidia. (The help them return to their hive. dorsal and ventral hemispheres, only partially shown, continue either side.) The photoreceptOf cells of rows Rows 1 through 4 are very different. 5 and 6 contain only a single visual pigment and may be adapted for detecting polarised light. Rows 1-4, Within each ommatidium, the photore however, are made up of two distinct tiers, each with a unique visual pigment maximally sensitive to ceptor cells form two tiers. The wavelengths of light ranging from violet to green. The system is made even more sensitive with the existence resulting eight different regions each in rows 2 and 3 of coloured filters (shown here as yellow, orange, pink and blue) that cap each tier of contain a unique visual pigment with a photoreceptor cells. Each ommatidium is also apparently sensitive to ultraviolet light (although shown here peak sensitivity to wavelengths of light as darkest purple). (Adapted from Cronin and Marshall 1989.) ranging from violet to green. In addition, in rows 2 and 3, the receptor cells of each tier are capped by a coloured filter that further tunes the sensitivity of the system. The filters in row 2 are mostly yellow and orange, while those in row 3 may be red, purple or blue. The outer tier of each ommatidium is sensitive to shorter wavelengths than is the inner one, and the outer filters pass shorter wave lengths than do the deep filters. The result is fours pairs of receptors, each with a pair of narrow spectral sensitivity curves separated by 50 to 75 nanometres (thousand-millionths of a metre) that cover the spectrum from the near ultraviolet to red. Further more, physiological tests have shown that these stomatopods also have another visual pigment in the central Scanning Electron Micrograph of the eye of a juvenile Gonodacty/us. The central band containing the six band maximally sensitive well into the rows of ommatidia specialised to discriminate among colours and to detect polarised light are visible. ultraviolet. 702 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY The eyes of gonodactyloid stomatopods have colour filters that increase the animal's sensitivity to colour. These occur in rows 2 (yellow) and 3 (purple) of the central band of ommatidia. With at least ten visual pigments plus several colour filters, this system is vastly more complex than our own colour vision based on three visual pigments, or even that of some birds, turtles and fish that may have up to five visual pigments and one coloured filter. But why? Prey and predator detec tion while moving through their complex visual worlds probably accounts for part of the reason, but I suspect that the rest of the answer concerns the evolution of the smashing raptorial appendage and the danger it poses to other stomatopods. HE S:-tASHI G APPE DAGE IS NOT O LY Teffective in capturing and processing prey, it is also a lethal offensive and defensive weapon. Even though they Odontodactylus scyl/arus is one of the largest (18 centimetres) and most brilliantly coloured of all smashing stomatopods. It is commonly collected and sold in the aquarium trade but buyers beware: a large specimen can easily crack the side of a glass aquarium with its smashing strike and prized fish probably won't survive the first night! Here a female carries her large clutch of pink eggs. VO LU M E 2 3 N UM B ER 9 , W I N TE R 1991 703 have evolved heavy protective bodv Smashing stomatopods frequently have heavy body armour, many smashers are capable of armour to ward off the blows of an attacker. Here a severely injuring or even killing another cornered Gonodactylus smithii assumes a defensive stomatopod with a single blow. Most coil, using its tail as a shield against the blows of smashers live in natural cavities in coral an enemy. In this species, bright red spots on either or rock that are easier to defend than side of the tail are typically displayed during such the burrows excavated by spearers. encounters and may provide information on species Cavities provide protection from preda identity. tors, a place from which to hunt and process prey, and safe ha\·en when odours to be involved, these stomato brooding eggs and larvae or when pods are most likely using vision to moulting. An animal without a cavity determine the sex of the approaching has little chance of survival. Suitable animal. While subtle differences in homes are often in short upply and posture or movement could announce competition for them is intense, leading an animal's sex, none is apparent to me. to frequent and often violent contests. In a few species, there are marked Fighting is an extremely dangerous colour differences between males and business and smashers have evolved females that serve to identify sex. For example. in a smashing species elaborate behaviours that aid in (Co11odactylus ternatensis) assessing the fighting ability of an from Thai opponent as well as the likelihood that it land, males and females are similarly will attack or flee. Threats displaying coloured except for their antenna! the raptorial weapons signal the scales-large flaps that extend out from apparent ability to strike as well as the the side of the head. Males have blue willingness to attack. Probing tactics to scales, females orange. Behavioural determine an opponent's strength invite tests show that males recognise blows to the well-armoured telson (or females by the colour of their scales. ·tail'). But, most surprising, I have Colour differences between males and discovered that some smashers are females of most species. however. are capable of recognising individuals with barely detectable to the human eye. which they have previously fought and Still, given the colour-analysing poten use information on the outcome of that tial of these animals, it may well be that contest to determine whether to fight stomatopods use colour hue or pattern or run. My initial studies shmved that or both to identify potential mates. these stomatopods used odour to Twenty-five years ago when I first recognise individuals, but recent work stalked stomatopods on the reefs of suggests that vision may also play an Bermuda, I had no idea that their important role. particularly at a distance pursuit would become my passion and where chemically based information is lead me around the globe to such places unavailable. Many species that appear as L1za:d Island. I did know that they to have colour vision are highly variable were difficult to catch. Now we are _ with respect to colour and pattern, beginning to understand why. Their while species that do not have colour remar�able eyes are useful not only for detectmg a prowling biologist and vision are typically colour monomor . escaping h1 1 et, ut also for capturing phic. l suspect colour vision functions in � � ? _ part to detect and identify other prey and d1st111gu1shmg potential mate stomatopods. from cavity usurper. • In animals where it is dangerous to approach too closely, the recognition of Suggested Reading potential mates can present problems. and here too colour vision may plav a Caldwell, R., 1987. Assessment strategies in role. On the inner surface of the stomatopods. Bull. Mar. Sci. 41: 135-150. raptorial appendage, stomatopods have Caldwell, R. & Dingle, H., 1976. Stomatopods. Sci. a large spot. These are displayed by Amer. 234: 80-89. spreading the raptorial appendages when an individual threatens or during Cronin, T. & Marshall, N., 1989. Multiple spectral courtship. Within a species, the spots classes of photoreceptors in the retinas of are always the same colour, even if the gonodactyloid stomatopod crustaceans. /. Comp. Physiol. A 166: 261-275. colour of the rest of the body varies. In Marshall, N., 1988. A unique colour and polarization smashers, the spots are often brilliantly _ coloured-purple. red. yellow or blue. v1s1on system in mantis shrimps. Nature 333: Typically, if more than one species 557-560. occurs in a habitat. they will have different coloured spots. While it Dr Roy C11lduv.'il is a Professor of flltegrati1¥! remains to be proven. I suspect these Bt0loK)· at the U11iiv>rsity of California al spots aid in recognising members of the Berkeley. USA 1d1ere hi' . teaches animal same species and thus potential mates. belun•iour. .\1os/ of his resrarc/1 centres 011 the In the field, I have watched bioloK)' 14' sto111atopods tt'ith recent studies stomatopods begin courting members co11cc11/rali11g 011 the em_l11tio11 of 111ati11g of the opposite sex at distances of over systems. foragmg bl'lumour and l'isual discri111i11alio11. As a rrcipirnt of the Qantas a metre. If the intruders are of the Lizard ls/a11d Fl'IIOit'Ship. Qa11/11s pnn•ided the same sex, these ame animals hide or a!tllwr 11•1/h a return i11temalio11al airfare. The give aggressive displays. Since the J.e//011•sl11p 1s part of the co111pa11y's co111111it111c11t distance is probably too great for lo SC1e11ce. 704 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY V O L U M E 2 3 N U M B E R 9 , W I N TE R 1991 705 decisions have been made after looking as overhunting or deforestation on at the morphological or phenotypic feeding and wintering grounds affect all variation in any given species (or group or only some breeding populations of of species) throughout its range, and these species? relating that to ecology and natural Genetics can provide answers to all of history. However, phenotypic variation these questions-quickly and usually reAects only a tiny proportion of the unambiguously. Potentially, each separ genetic variation in species (see box), ate population of a species has, in the and so this approach is often inad DNA of its component individuals, equate. Consider the following prob diagnostic 'tags' or markers that allow lems. these problems to be solved (see box). Managers of some rare and threat However, other problems are more ened species have translocated individ complicated and the value of genetics uals from existing populations to other relative to ecology and demography areas of habitat to set up new popula seems to vary from one species to tions. Which individuals should be selec another. The easiest way to appreciate ted for translocation? Some species may the use of genetics in conservation is to be genuinely rare, but others may in look at some actual and potential fact be the result of occasional natural applications. hybridisation between two common species and so not be valid species at HE SEASlllE SPAllROW 708 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY The method of gel electrophoresis is used to Daintree River Uncleared rainforest Remnant rainforest patches compare the DNA between individual Priddy Skinks Mt Lewis near Ml Bartle Frere near Mt Bartle Frere (Tropidophorus queenslandiae) from four different areas in northern Queensland. Each column -· represents an individual, except for columns 10 and ...... 1 2 3 4 5 6 - 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20, which are standards for comparison. Columns 1-4 are from the northern part of the skink's range, north of Cairns, while the remainder are from south of Cairns near Mt Bartle Frere; those in columns 5-9 are from uncleared, extensive rainforest and those in 11-19 are from isolated remnant patches of • I rainforest. Differences (that is, genetic variation) • can be seen not only between the northern and • • southern individuals but also among the northern • and southern individuals themselves. None of this .. variation, however, is apparent from the outward ---- .. - - .. • appearance of the skinks. -- The hybridisation program, which - used Gulf of Mexico females, would have been better conducted with • females from other Atlantic Coast - -• - •• • populations. In many cases, however, ,_ - - -- we simply do not have the data to make • decisions like this and so we have to use .. existing taxonomy, which is itself often • the only available estimate of genetic variation within and between popula - -. - • tions. ' A similar example closer to home is - the Norfolk Island Boobook Owl (Ninox • novaesee/andiae royana) of which one - last female remains. Hybridisation with males of the New Zealand subspecies (N. n. novaesee/andiae) has been conducted successfully. (The Boobook Owl from nearby Lord Howe Island, the sub species N. n. albaria, would probably have been the better population to use in a hybridisation program but is already extinct. Are some rare species natural • hybrids, rare morphs of common species, or genuinely rare? Ornitholo gists from Australia and New Zealand are familiar with two examples that Genetic Variation illustrate this type of problem: Cox's I think that most people can intuitively see some because its sequence of bases usually varies a Sandpiper (Calidris paramelanotos), merit in the oft-mentioned value to conser lot from one individual to the next. It is this large which may be the result of natural vation of conserving genetic variation. But what variation between individuals in these hybridisation between other Calidris exactly does 'genetic variation' mean? sequences that makes it so useful in the study sandpipers, and the Orange-fronted of genetics in conservation. Parakeet (Cyanoramphus malherbi), DNA is the genetic material in the cells of the individuals that make up a population. It is In summary, the DNA of each chromosome is which may be just a colour morph of the shaped like a coiled ladder and the 'rungs' of arranged into a particular sequence of coding Yellow-fronted Parakeet (C. auriceps). this ladder are a linear array of chemicals and non-coding regions alternating along the Genetic methods can assay the called bases. There are four bases involved length of the chromosome and characteristic supposed parental species of Calidris and we can abbreviate their names as A, C, G of that chromosome. 9 sandpipers for genetic tags diagnostic and T. As many as 10 (a thousand million) Now we are in a position to see that genetic to each species. If the problematic bases are in the DNA of every cell of organ variation refers to differences between indi isms such as birds and mammals; the humble viduals in the sequence of the bases A, C, G Cox's Sandpiper consistently shares the coli 6 tags of different species, we can argue E. has about 10 . Often this DNA is not and T within some defined part(s) of a that it is a natural hybrid. If it lacks one continuous coil per cell but is instead chromosome, be it in a coding region of a them and has its own diagnostic tags, parcelled up into chromosomes. In humans, gene or in a non-coding region. We might for example, there are normally 46 chromo study a certain gene in 50 individuals of a we can argue that it is indeed a species. somes in each cell (except sperm and eggs population and find that 20 have one variant Similarly, with the Orange-fronted which have 23). A gene is a particular long of that gene and 28 have another, while only Parakeet, more work is needed to see sequence of bases located at a particular part two have a third variant. whether it too might share genetic tags of a particular chromosome. The sequence of with the Yellow-fronted Parakeet and bases in a gene is a code that, in simple Evolution, upon which I have hinged my terms, enables the chemical machinery of an definition of conservation, is often thought of thus be argued to be a different and described in terms of how the frequencies plumage morph of the Yellow-fronted. organism to determine some observable char acteristic of the individual carrying that gene. of different variants of particular genes and In both cases, genetics can potentially non-coding regions change in different gen resolve whether these two birds are A lot of DNA is of uncertain, if any, function erations of a population or, at a different level, valid species and thus whether we need and is not part of the code of a gene. This how they are now distributed within and to worry about their conservation. so-called non-coding DNA is worth considering between the species under study. Which individuals should be selected VO LU M E 2 3 N U M BE R 9, WI N TE R 1991 709 Genetic studies of Green Turtleshave shown that separate breeding populations in the Caribbean share their feeding grounds, where the turtles are harvested, off the Atlantic coast of Brazil. Therefore, by genetically identifying turtles on their feeding grounds, we can determine the extent to which harvesting may be affecting the various breeding populations. to establish new populations of critically grounds off the coast of Brazil by endangered species? The species populations with discrete breeding recovery plan for the Gila To pminnow grounds in the Caribbean. The stage is (Poeciliopsis occidentalis), an endan set for these same techniques to be gered fish of streams, springs and applied to other populations of these marshes in the deserts of Arizona and and other species, where priorities Mexico, originally relied on restocking about which breeding populations to from a hatchery stock. This was protect have to be worked out. abandoned on the basis of genetic and Loss of genetic variation seems to demographic considerations; for the affect different species in different hatchery-bred fish used for restocking ways. The Northern Elephant Seal lacked genetic variation and produced (Mirounga angustirostris) underwent a less offspring compared with other population crash last century but has Arizonan populations, and they may since recovered in numbers. Relatively Cheetahs exhibit virtually no genetic variation. have been adapted to the thermally insensitive assays of genetic variation in Already seriously endangered, they provide a stable conditions of the hatchery and the 1960s showed no variation in the challenge to the conservationist. therefore incapable of dealing with recovered population yet the species is more variable conditions of desert doing fine. Possibly, the seals do not and therefore genetically distinct indi streams. In its place a natural stock was need a lot of variation in their present viduals, is normally among the most used that had three important attri environments but, if that's the case, variable in mammals, yet those that butes: it came from thermally more who's to say that they will not need have been studied in these cats are variable springs and streams, it had variation to deal with environmental invariant. Even skin grafts between higher genetic variation, and it pro change (such as in ambient tempera unrelated cheetahs are not rejected. duced more offspring than the hatchery ture, chemical pollutants in fish Males of these cats have low sperm stock. The new populations are still consumed by the seals) in the future? counts and some captive populations of being monitored. Or perhaps the relatively limited, cheetahs have already been devastated Genetic studies of species undergo insensitive survey that was used simply by disease perhaps in large part due to ing long-distance migrations can short missed a lot of variation. the lack of variation in these genes. cut the years of tedious, unrewarding A less equivocal example of the Their successful conservation is likely studies required by using physically problems associated with loss of to be a major challenge. marked individuals to trace migration genetic variation concerns African These examples of elephant seals, routes. Studies of genetic variation in Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) and Asi cheetahs and lions have all had one Humpback Whales (Megaptera novae atic Lions (Panthera Leo persica), thing in common. Sudden reductions in angliae), for example, quickly con seriously endangered animals in which population size at some time in the past firmed routes of migration between there seems to be virtually no genetic and gradual increases thereafter, called feeding and breeding grounds that had variation at all, especially in South population bottlenecks, have been been worked out arduously using African Cheetahs (A. j. jubatus). A documented or proposed in each case. marked individuals. Similarly, genetic major group of genes involved in Mathematical aspects of genetics studies of Green Turtles (Chelonia immune responses, including the rejec predict that it is not so much the size to mydas) revealed sharing of feeding tion of skin grafts between unrelated which a population is reduced that 710 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY influences how much genetic vanat1on will eventually be restored but the rate at which the population recovers its size and how much variation is actually lost during the bottleneck. When population size is relatively small, it will be more likely that closely related individuals will mate and produce offspring. This phenomenon, called inbreeding, reduces overall genetic variation and tends to increase the frequency with which deleterious genetic traits occur in a population. Having looked at some populations _, that have recovered from bottlenecks, < z we can now examine species that have 0 been studied while their population �z u.l"' sizes were down to critically low levels. >- One such species is the Chatham Island ;;; w Black Robin (Petroica traverst), which Cl. j declined to seven individuals (two pairs V, ::, § V, Studies on recovered populations of Northern 0_, Elephant Seals revealed no genetic variation j z < between individuals. Although the species seems to u z be doing well, perhaps it could be threatened by :r changes In environmental conditions in the future. Q VO LU M E 2 3 N U M BE R 9 , WI N TE R 1991 711 712 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY and three males) in 1976. By 1988-1989 rots have lost genetic variation, at least it had recovered rapidly to number 98. in this century. One female contributed a large ENET!CS IS NOT A CURE-ALL IN proportion of offspring to the recovery conservation but should be seen as a yet there have been no_ appar�nt complementG to ecology, natural history adverse effects of inbreeding, which and demography that has, until now, has been intense. There are other been largely unexplored in the context examples of island populations of of conservation. It offers powerful new vertebrates that, despite inbreeding tools in conservation biology. At the and lack of variation, are seemingly community or ecosystem level, much unaffected. On the other hand, captive remains to be studied, such as the populations of large ungulates in zoos genetics of long-lived vertebrates, and often are adversely affected by close ther-e are important areas I have not inbreeding, resulting in poor survival of offspring. referred to, namely, the genetic . . diversity in plants and the oceans, and An explanation for these d1ffenng what they may mean for our own susceptibilities to inbreeding arose out conservation. of work done by the geneticist Sewall We need to continue describing the Wright who experimentally inbred patterns of genetic variation in natural several lines of guinea pigs. Some Imes populations so as to understand the died out due to the expression of processes that are at work and that deleterious genes, others survived. have worked in the past to shape those Applying his results to the present patterns, and to better �n�erstand _the problem, we can suggest tha� the genetic structuring w1thm species. original populations of the island Ecology and demography may be more n species were distributed o� more. tha, important in the short term but an one island and so were hke Wnght s understanding of genetics may be separate lines of guinea pigs. Perhaps, crucial in the long term. therefore, they have already been There seem to be few 'recipes' for See through episodes of inbr:eeding, �nd genetics m conservation; but that deleterious genes affecting survival reflects the diversity we want to may have already been expressed in more conserve. Now, therefore, is the time to some or all of their populations; the start addressing genetic problems and, individuals that survived were the lucky few that managed to get through in so doing, assess the magnitude of the problems and how much of our of the periods of inbreeding devoid of the resources we need to channel into deleterious genes. If this were so, they genetic research. • and their descendant populations would country be relatively unaffected by later episodes of inbreeding. Natu�al pop�la Suggested Reading tions of species affected by mbreedmg in captivity can often be shown to have Avise, J.C. & Nelson, W.S., 1989. Molecular genetic had little geographical structuring a�d relationships of the extinct Dusky Seaside Sparrow. Meet so are less likely to have this genetic Sdence 243: 646--648. 'protection' from inbreeding. Also, they Baker, C.S., Palumbi, S.R., Lambertsen, R.H., Wein are often species in which the amount of rich, M.T., Calambokidis, J. & O'Brien, S.J., 1990. more inbreeding has changed suddenly and Influence of seasonal migration on geographic distri drastically from that with which they bution of mitochondrial DNA in humpback whales. have evolved. Here we should not Nature 344: 238-240. of the overlook the important role that human Cohn, J., 1990. Genetics for wildlife conservation. intervention has played in rescuing the BioSci. 40: 167-171. Black Robin and other species that have Mette, G.K. & Vrijenhoek, R.C., 1988. Conservation peop 1 e declined to critically low numbers. genetics in the management of desert fishes. Conserv. The Orange-bellied Parrot (Neo Biol. 2: 157-169. phema chrysogaster) of south-eastern For more information mail this Meylan, A.B., Bowen, B.W. & Avise, J.C., 1990. A _ p Australia is another rare and highly genetic test for the natal homing versus sooal faol cou on to, _ endangered species (now num1?ering itation models for green turtle m1grat1on. Saence less than 200 individuals) facing a 248: 724-727. TOURISM number of ecological threats. It breeds AUTHORITY in Ta smania in spring-summer and Prober, S., Pompkins, C., Moran, G.S. & Bell, J.C., 1990. The conservation genetics of Eucalyptus pali OF THAILAND migrates to coastal Victoria and formis L. Johnson et Blaxell and f. parvifolia Cam 12th 56 Pitt St south-eastern South Australia in bage, two rare species from south-eastern Australia. Ft, autumn-winter. Genetic data would add Aust. J. Bot. 38: 79-85. a fascinating perspective to its story by Sydney NSW 2000 _ Yuhki, N. & O'Brien, S., 1990. DNA variation of the telling us how inbred the population 1s mammalian major histocompatibility complex reflects Name, ______and how much variation it has. New genomic diversity and population history. Proc.. Natl Address, ______techniques are available for �ss_essi�g Acad. Sci. USA 87: 836-840. the amount of genetic vanat1on m museum specimens and so we could estimate whether Orange-bellied Par- Leo Joseph is a Ph.D. student in the Zoology Department of the University of Queensland, The Orange-bellied Parrot from south-eastern studying the genetic effects of habitat fragmen Australia is rare and endangered. It would greatly tation in birds. He has had a long-standing benefit from genetic studies into the amount of interest in Australian birds and their conser inbreeding that has occurred in the population. vation. VOLUME 23 NUMBER 9, WINTER 1991 713 714 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY "The two bees have independently evolved similar solutions that help individuals find virgins fast and defend them from other males." GITTING IN ON THE GROUND FLOOR BY JOHN ALCOCK DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY, USA ERE IS AN INVASION OF BEES ON THIS seem colour-coordinated with the rusty August morning in Western Aus red soil of the area. TItralia. Dawson's Burrowing Bees A tiny hole forms in the earth amidst (Arnegilladawsoni) appear to have taken the gravel covering this patch of the over Meeberrie Homestead. You flinchas barren flood plain. The hole grows as the big bees zoom noisily past, cruising something nibbles away at the opening by the hundreds over the flat claypan in from below. Some males, which have the wide flood plain of the Murchison been skimming over the ground, now River. They are not only big bees but turn and come zig-zagging in toward the handsome ones, with black wings, a dark break in the soil. The first male lands by tan abdomen and pale tan thorax that the hole and watches, apparently The nesting and emergence site of Dawson's Burrowing Bee in the Murchison River flood plain of Western Australia. Left: a male Dawson's Burrowing Bee poised by an emergence tunnel constructed by a recently metamorphosed adult female. VO LUM E 2 3 N U M B ER 9 , WI N TE R 1991 715 716 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY The flowers of the poverty bush Eremophila /aani provide nectar and pollen used to provide the underground nests of female Dawson's Burrowing Bees. intently, as an emerging female pokes her head to the surface. Having spent the better part of a year as a dormant immature grub in an underground brood cell, the female has chosen today to metamorphose into an adult and to gnaw her way up to the surface. As the female pulls herself out of the ground, the first male lunges to meet her just as a bevy of rival males rushes to the spot. In an instant. a tumbling bundle of males forms around the female, whirring and buzzing and biting, as the males struggle to carry off the female. Finally, out of the melee emerges a pair, the male mounted on the female, which seems none the worse for the tussle. They half-fly, half-run across the ground away from the mob of buzzing males that has already begun to break up, now that the female has gone. Once well removed from the others, the pair perches on the ground and copulates briefly before the male releases his partner. She flies away, no longer receptive to ardent male suitors now that she has mated. Instead she will devote the rest of her life to building a nest with underground chambers, which she will stock with provisions from the blossoms of a poverty bush (Eremophila /aani). Her emergence, along with that of thousands of other females, has been timed beautifully to coincide with the flowering season of this species of poverty bush, which grows in abun dance on these hard plains. Each provisioned cell within her nest receives an egg. To fertilise an egg before laying it, the female uses sperm from the supply she has stored in a special organ (the spermatheca) after her first and only mating. The offspring that result will spend a year underground in the red soil of Western Australia before emerging for a brief round of mating and nesting when the poverty bushes bloom again. ow the behaviour of Dawson's Burrowing Bees is full of remarkable features-especially the male's ability to find virgin females that are about to emerge and the male's readiness to A bundle of male Dawson's Burrowing Bees has formed around a recently emerged female as the males fight for her possession. 717 VOLUME 2 3 NUMBER 9, WINTER 1991 engage m all-out war in the effort to kicking earth energetically out of a cells with pollen and nectar from the secure a virgin mate. Australia is, small pit. The male pauses for a abundant paloverdes and Ironwoods however, filled with remarkable animals moment and, as he does so, a female (Olynea tesota), which undergo a highly and we might be tempted simply to comes scrabbling upward out of the ephemeral burst of flowering at this acknowledge that the bee offers one emergence hole that the male has found time of year in the desert. more amazing bit of biology that and opened from above. non-Australians can only envy. But As the female exits, several other HrnE :\RE THOL'SANDS OF SPECIES OF BEES before we do that, let's move a good males come sailing into the picture and in the family Anthophoridae, the way around the world and north across a bundle of Digger Bees forms to Tfamily to which both Dawson's Burrow the equator to Arizona where, in the tumble over the desert floor until one ing Bee of Australia and the Digger Bee flood plain of the Salt River on a male can assert himself sufficiently to of Arizona have been assigned. With the morning in May, you might see male mount the female and flyaway with her, exception of the 'carpenter bees', which Digger Bees (Centris pa/Iida) behaving leaving his rivals in the dust. bore into solid wood or plant pith, all in almost exactly the same fashion as Once mating is completed far from anthophorids are ground nesters. male Dawson's Burrowing Bees. the madding crowd in the quiet of a Among the anthophorid bees there are The large handsome males decked mesquite (Prosopis) or paloverde (Cer parasitic species, with females that out in greys and tans with striking cidi11111) tree, the female becomes seek out the nests of other bees, and green eyes are everywhere. filling the non-receptive. She, like her Australian non-parasitic ones whose females build air with the hum of their wings. One of counterpart, has stored sufficient burrow nests in the ground (or in the the buzzing horde drops to the sperm to suffice for her short adult life. wood) with brood cells that they hard-packed ground and begins to bite During the next few weeks, she will dig provision entirely by themselves. No at the soil with his jaws. Soon he is underground burrows and stock brood anthophorid bee has evolved anything nearly as complex as the social The nesting and emergence site of the Digger Bee in the Salt River flood plain of central Arizona. arrangements of certain apoid bees, of which the Honeybee (Apis me/lifera) is the most familiar example, with its battalions of sterile workers labouring on behalf of a queen. Instead, each adult female anthophorid usually works entirely on her own to find the food resources with which to provision her larval offspring. The diversity of female behaviour that exists within the Anthophoridae is modest compared to the variety of male mating tactics. There are many species whose males non-aggressively patrol the pollen- and nectar-producing flow ers that nesting females visit to gather provisions for their larval offspring. When a male of these bees spots a female in his wanderings, he pounces upon her and attempts to mate. In other species, however, males set up little territories by a particularly rich patch of flowers, driving rivals away in order to be the only male present, able and willing when sexually receptive females come foraging. Counterintuitive though it may be, still other anthophorid males defend hovering stations at plants without flowers, particularly at trees or bushes growing on prominent hilltops or at other conspicuous landmarks. In these species, females search males out, rather than the other way round. The list of anthophorid mate-finding strategies also includes the tactic of searching for emergence ites. as is exhibited by Dawson's Burrowing Bee and the Digger Bee. But in most of the bees in this category, males pursue females only after their potential mates have come out of the ground rather than locating them prior to their emergence. Why should Dawson's Burrowing Bee and the Digger Bee be such similar exceptions to the rule? The two species are members of the same family and therefore may have simply inherited the fundamental mat- A male Digger Bee digs down to meet a virgin adult female that is burrowing up to the surface. 718 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY VO LU M E 2 3 N U M B ER 9 , WI N TE R 1991 719 A male Digger Bee mounts a virgin female upon her emergence from the ground. whereas the other does not. is also consistent with the hypothesis of independent evolution. If we rule out shared ancestry as the reason for their behavioural similarity, what might have caused these two species on different sides of the world to adopt convergent mate-locating tactics? Let's try to answer this question by imagining what would happen if. by chance, a male in either species arose with a hereditary tendency to look for mates at sites other than the emergence area. Given V"" 0 the special features of female repro �< duction in these species, particularly z :,: the loss of sexual receptivity following S2 mating, it is hard to see how such a A fighting mass of male Digger Bees surrounds a virgin female. male could hope to have many descendants in a population that ing tactics of the anthophorid bee that Centrini, an exclusively New World contained rivals searching for emerging happened to be their common ancestor. lineage. whereas the Australian ,·irgins. Once recently emerged virgin However. the diversity of mating A 111egilla daH•s011i belongs to a genus females have been found and mated, systems exhibited within the Antho that has no New World representatiYes they will not mate again, making it hard phoridae, and the O\·erall rarity of the and has been placed in a different for males elsewhere to have offspring ability to locate pre-emergent females, anthophorid lineage. the Anthophorini. that would carry on their distinctive make this an unlikely explanation for the These factors suggest that each species mate-finding tactics in future genera shared behaviour of the two super has independently evolved its unusual, tions. mate-finders. Furthermore. the two yet similar. method of competing for On the other hand, any chance bees belong to different genera and mates. The fact that the males of the mutation that enabled a male to indeed to different major subgroups two bee are not absolutelv identical in compete more effectively with the within the Anthophoridae: the Arizona their behaviour, in that one male hundreds (or thousands) of other males Centris pa/Iida is a member of the actively exca,·ates the females he finds in emergence sites for access to virgins 720 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY ,------.;;;;.;;.:.-;-;. dently -converged--- upon-- similar-- attri-----, ...... ----111!!!!!!1 butes, like powerful jaws, shearing teeth and great running ability, that �) O facilitate the capture of other large (e-... / mammals. "" V The existence of these kinds of * � matched pairs of structurally similar but <§ z unrelated mammals thrills evolutionary :,: S2 biologists because they provide power- A primary food plant for the Digger Bee is the ful evidence that evolution by natural lronwood, which flowers abundantly during the selection has occurred. The convergent limited flight season of the bee. marsupials-placentals suggest there is one best way to make a certain kind of might well raise the reproductive output living. Natural selection acting on � o of such a male. If the novel male left different continents has evidently more offspring, his genes would be favoured members of each species that better represented in the next gener happened to have the most reproduc ation and his behavioural abilities would tively effective characteristics, even if -great be correspondingly more common. For the species had little or nothing in 1 example, males willing to battle common genetically at the start (or violently for possession of a virgin finish) of the process. ---.,;...... ; A U S l A A ll A n female might well have a better chance Which brings us back to Dawson's to mate, leave descendants and Burrowing Bee and the Digger Bee. propagate their special genes than The names of these creatures will not SClfnCf males that conceded virgins to their revive a faint memory of a lecture once original discoverer. Furthermore, males endured in introductory biology. Even able to detect the odour of a virgin professional biologists are unlikely to ...... - --�1 SHOW might have had the reproductive edge have heard of these bees but, in their over males that used visual cues alone own way, they illustrate the principle of to find mates. convergent evolution almost as force- In the case of the Digger Bee, simple fully as do the two 'wolves'. Although experiments have shown that olfactory they are both members of the cues associated with their fellow bees Anthophoridae, they are not terribly are sufficient to permit males to detect close relatives judging from the females even before they have reached systematists' decision to place them in the surface of the ground. The bees can different genera and tribes. Separated find and excavate dead females or even by thousands of kilometres and their parts of females that have been different evolutionary histories, they experimentally buried under a centime nevertheless exhibit remarkably similar tre or two of soil. mating behaviour. Males of both Thus, the fact that females of both species have independently evolved a bees mate just once and nest in large particularly effective set of behavioural companies creates the 'rules' that tactics for leaving descendants given determine what reproductive tactics that the females of their species occur will work best for males in the abundantly at �mergence sites and will competition with many rivals. Within mate only once. Convergent evolution this framework. males of the two bees is not, therefore. limited to placental have independently evolved similar and marsupial mammals on different solutions that help individuals find continents but applies with equal virgins fast and defend them from other strength to the small and less males. One wonders if Dawson's conspicuous members of the living Burrowing Bees will eventually evolve world. Vive la similarite! • the same ability to detect (and uncover) buried virgin females on the basis of scent alone, completing the behavioural Suggested Reading convergence between the two species. Alcock, J., Jones, C.E. & Buchmann, S.L., 1977. Male IIE l!E.IILLY CI..\SSIC EX..\�tl'LES OF mating strategies in the bee Centris pa/Iida Fox convergent evolution, familiar to (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae). Amer. Natur. 111: Tmany who have survived an introduc 145-155. tory course in biology at the university Alcock, J., 1990. Sonoran Desert summer. University level, include certain Australian marsu of Arizona Press: Tucson. pials that are matched with other Thornhill, R. & Alcock, J., 1983. The evolution of amazingly similar placental mammals insect mating systems. Harvard University Press: from elsewhere in the world. For Cambridge. example, the now-extinct marsupial Thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian Wolf or Tiger. was a dead ringer for the John Alcock is a Professor of Zoology al placental wolves that range from the Arizona Stale University i11 the heart of the S011oran Desrrl, ho111e/a11d of the Digger Bee. Arctic tundra down through the fie has deooted two s/11dy lea/Jl!s lo research mountains of Europe and orth insects in A11s/ralia and has written about his America. Despite their different ances rxprriences with A11stmlia11 animals in a book tors and very different modes of r11titled The kookaburras' song ( 1988, reproduction. the two 'wolves' indepen- U11iVl!rsi(l' of Arizona Prrss). VO LUM E 2 3 N U M B E R 9 , WI N TE R 1991 721 revealed a large and hooded claw, which was doubtless used in killing, and it is now universally considered as a specialised leopard-like carnivore. The ecology of the extinct Giant Rat kangaroo is even more enigmatic. About the size of a female Eastern Grey Kangaroo, it had a dentition similar to that of much smaller insectivores. It existed throughout eastern Australia during the last ice age, even in areas of grass steppe. It may well have been omnivorous, eating plant matter and scavenging. opportunistically taking bird eggs and small vertebrates. In the entire Australasian region, therefore. there was only one mammal species filling each of the broad ecological niches of dog-like, cat-like, civet-like and scavenging species. Just how unusual this situation is in a worldwide context is best shown by referring to the table in which the larger carnivores of Meganesia. East Africa, Thailand and the United States of America (chosen as representative of their region because good references were available) are sorted according to their broad ecological niches. (The The undersides of two skulls and a lower jaw of the extinct Marsupial Lion. Note the greatly enlarged category ·civet-like and other' 1s a premolars used to slice through flesh. catch-all for unusual carnivores, from 724 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY otters to civets and bears. The ecological niche of the Giant Rat kangaroo remains unknown but it was clearly different to the others. For convenience it is listed in this category.) It is obvious from this list that Meganesia is grossly depauperate in carnivores. Generally the cat-like and dog-like niches are subdivided accord ing to size, prey type and habitat, allowing many species to coexist. There are also large numbers of specialised or unusual species (the catch-all cat egory). Indeed Thailand, with 24 species, dwarfs Meganesia with its four or five, even though its land area is less than one-fifteenth the size. Even expressed as a ratio of the number of carnivores in excess of five kilograms to herbivores in excess of ten kilograms, the difference still holds. For example, East Africa has around 77 herbivorous or insectivorous mammal species that weigh over ten kilograms (there may be additional species that became extinct in the Pleistocene, bringing the number to approximately 80 species). This gives a ratio of 0. 26, or just over one carnivorefor every four herbivores. For Australia the ratio is 0. 07, or one carnivore for every 15 herbivores! IOLOCISTS HAVE LO G SPECULATED ON the cause of this great imbalance in theB Meganesian mammal fauna. One idea that has been discussed from time to time is that marsupials, for some reason, have found it difficult to evolve into truly predatory species, perhaps 'oecause of their relatively small brains (placental carnivores only recently-in the last 40,000 years-reached Aus tralia). However, a quick look at the fossil record of South America dis proves this hypothesis, since many species of dog-like marsupials of the subfamily Borhyaeninae evolved there during the Tertiary. These ranged in size from that of a bear to that of a civet. A second, even more remarkable subfamily of South American carnivor ous marsupials, the Thylacosmylinae, evolved into animals resembling sabre tooth cats and were probably capable of The possibly carnivorous Giant Rat-kangaroo, which inhabited eastern Australia until 20,000-40,000years killing the largest of prey. A third ago. subfamily, the Sparassocyninae, related to the living didelphids (such as the American Opossum), also included Meganesia East Africa North America Thailand large flesh-eaters. All of these carnivor dog-like 1 5 6 2 ous marsupials became extinct upon the arrival of placental carnivores in South cat-like 1 7 9 8 America over the past five million years, but what is remarkable is that scavenger 1 2 1 0 they thrived for many millions of years, 11 preying mainly upon large placental civet-like and other 1 or 2 6 14 mammals! There being no intrinsic bar to TOTAL 4 or 5 20 27 24 carnivory in marsupials, we should look to the environment for an explanation of The number of species of mammalian carnivores that exceed five kilograms in weight from four regions of Meganesia's paucity of large carnivores. the world. The table includes species that became extinct upon the arrival of humans, and the category Large warm-blooded carnivores sit at 'civet-like and other' is a catch-all category for a whole range of unusual carnivorous species. The the apex of a broad-based food pyramid Australian species included here are the Spotted-tailed Quoll and the extinct Giant Rat-kangaroo and are thus the most vulnerable of life (Propleopus oscil/ans). VO LUM E 2 3 N U M B ER 9 , W I N TE R 1991 725 where. The amount and quality of arable land is another good measure of productivity. There are around 77 million hectares of arable land (ten per cent of the total Australian land area) but most of this is extremely marginal when compared with that overseas. Other indications come from Australia's plants, which have developed a wide variety of strategies (including slow average growth rates) to cope with the nutrient-poor environment. A second important factor has also recently been recognised. This is the impact of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (E SO) cycle, which influences rainfall with a periodicity of roughly a decade. In some years (such as 1990) Australia receives high rainfall and thus experien_ces peak productivity. However, 111 El N1110 years rainfall is reduced and prolonged droughts are frequent. It is now known The landmass of Meganesia as it existed during ice that Australia is unique in the degree to ages when sea-level was up to 160 metres lower which the cycle influences the entire than at present. The darker areas show the principal continent. Its effect can readily be seen islands as they exist today. in the high degree of nomadism and non-seasonal breeding in Australian forms to disturbance in the food chain. animals, particularly birds. When such As an example, an area of grassland variability in productivity is superim that supports billions of individual posed on a system that is already low in grasses may be able to support a few productivity, it seems likely that thousand large herbivores. These in top-order carnivores would be particu turn may be able to support less than larly stressed. 100 large carnivores. If the environment Although these arguments appear to is poor, large herbivores will be rare have some validity for the drier parts of and spread thinly, and a critical point is Meganesia, what of the rainforests, reached where the density of prey is so where the effect of the ENSO cycle 1s low that a self-sustaining population of probably less severe and where biomass large carnivores cannot be supported. productivity may be higher? The largest Likewise, if during a period of rainforest block in the region is found in environmental change 90 per cent of the New Guinea, which is, if anything, grasses of an area are destroyed, then more remarkable for its lack of almost certainly only a few tens of mammalian predators than Australia. herbivores would survive. This in turn Here we have no evidence of indigenous would be insufficient to support any cat-like, scavenging or civet-like pred large carnivores. Similar factors affect ators. The only large carnivore present large carnivores on islands, where the before humans came was the Thylacine, resource base is meagre simply because and this was in a fauna of around 200 the land area is small. For example, the species of mammalian herbivores and New Guinea Harpy Eagle (Harpyopsis insectivores! One possible explanation novaeguineae), which is the largest may lie in the size distribution of avian predator of New Guinea, is not mammal species in pre-human New found on a single offshore island, even Guinea. Unlike Australia, there were though many were connected with the few large herbivores. Indeed, only mainland during the last ice age. This is seven herbivorous species that weighed because it is only on a very large island over ten kilograms are presently known such as New Guinea that the resource (although one or two more may remain base is sufficient to support a viable to be discovered). This again is population of these carnivores. strikingly different from rainfore ts To explain the paucity of _lar�e elsewhere, which harbour mammals mammal carnivores in Meganes1a 111 such as elephants, rhinos, tapirs, these terms we would need evidence okapis and many others. These that Meganesian environments are_ observations indicate that Meganesia's extremely resource-poor or Yery vari able, with long periods of . lo�v The Tiger ( Panthera tigris) was once widely productivity. Information that this 1s distributed- from Eastern Europe to Bali. So indeed the case has been gathered prolific were they last century that A.R. Wallace steadily over the past few years. It is wrote "There are always a few tigers roaming about now clear that, by world standards, Singapore, and they kill on average a Chinaman Australian soils are exceptionally poor every day" (The Malay Archipelago, vol. 1, 2nd ed., and thin. For example. soils in Macmillan and Co, London, 1869). Such large Australia's semiarid zone have around warm-blooded carnivores have never existed in half the levels of nitrates and Australia because the continent is too resource phosphates of equivalent soils else- poor. 726 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY VOLUME 2 3 NUMBER 9, WINTER 1991 727 The giant goanna Megalania prisca was the largest land carnivore in Meganesia until its extinction 20,000-40,000 years ago. Here it is shown in the Australian Museum's "Oreamtime to Dust"exhib ition, eating a Diprotodon. shortage and can exist at higher densities relative to their prey. These factors may well have given them an advantage over mammal predators in resource-poor Meganesia. Armed with this knowledge we can look back over the Australian fossil record to investigate if there were periods when Australia supported a greater number of mammalian carni vores, thus indicating a significantly greater biological productivity. Unfor tunately much relevant data remain unpublished but it appears possible that at least two species of dog-like carnivores (thylacinids) coexisted at Riversleigh (north-western Queens land) during the Miocene, around 20 million years ago: and it is known that both a large and small species of marsupial lion coexisted in eastern ew South Wales in the Pliocene period, five lo two million years ago. Even given this slight increase in carnivore diversity in earlier times, the number does not compare with those that have existed on every other continent (except Antarctica) throughout the age of mammals. It seems possible that Meganesia has. at least for the past 20 million years. been a resource-poor land. and that it has suffered perhaps a further decrease over the past two million years. FINAi. ()l'ESTIO:S: NEEDS TO BE RAISED concerningthe success of the larger, Arecently introduced carnivores. Three species are most important: humans dogs and foxes. All three of these species have thrived since their arrival in Australia, suggesting that mammalian carnivores can be successful here. 1-Iowe\·er. a closer analysis of the situation reveals an interesting story. Doubtless humans present the least under tood and most controversial rainforests may also be environments of killing the largest of marsupials. There case. yet there is some evidence that, relatively low productivity compared to was also a very large (over 50 when they arrived in Australia some rainforests elsewhere. It may \\'ell be kilograms) python (Wo11a111bi 11arracoor 40.000 years ago. they were spectacu that the inherently nutrient-poor soils /e11sis) that inhabited southern Aus larly successful predators. leading to of Meganesia have an impact e\·en in tralia. Additionally, among surviving the extinction of all terrestrial verte these most favourable area-. \'aranids, there are at least ten brate species that exceeded them in If large mammalian carni\'Ores are Meganesian species that exceed five size. This included all of the land disadvantaged in a lo\\'-productivity kilograms in weight. and a further ten carnivores larger than the Thylacine. system such as Meganesia. \\'hat \\'ould species of pythons in the same size Thus, in part, humans must be seen as the consequences be for other carni range. This remarkable assemblage of a replacement of and not an addition to \'Ores? Perhaps carnivores that are large. predatory and land-based reptiles the carnivore assemblage of Australia. otherwise less 'fit' may be advantaged. has no parallel outside Meganesia. But Also. by world standards. the human There is indeed e\·idence that this has why should large reptilian land carni population size in Australia has always occurred, for Australia has produced a vores be so uniquely advantaged? An been small. and humans are omnivor remarkable assemblage of carnivorous obvious difference between reptiles and ous. The ability to fall back on marine reptiles. Before the arri\'al of humans, a mammals is that reptiles are cold or plant resources may have given gigantic goanna U'vfega/a11ia prisca) and blooded. Because they do not need to humans an advantage when land-based a land crocodile (()11i11kmw fortiros burn energy to create heat, they need protein resources were sparse. /r11111) were the largest carnivore in the to eat a great deal less frequently than Dogs have also been ·uccessful. region. Both exceeded 200 kilograms in warm-blooded species. This means l lowever, when the Dingo was intro weight and \\'Ould have been capable of they can survive long periods of food duced around 3. 500 years ago it also led 728 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY Preparator Alison Titchen putting the finishing touches on the reconstruction of the giant snake Wonambi narracoortensis, which now features in the Australian Museum's "Dreamtime to Dust" gallery. Up to six metres long and 30 centimetres thick, it once lived in southern Australia - an unusually cold habitat for such a large reptile. to a decrease in carnivore diversity rather than an increase. This is because it apparently drove both the Thylacine and Tasmanian Devil to extinction on mainland Australia, so it too is a replacement, not an addition. The case of the fox is intriguing, for it has been extraordinarily successful since its introduction in the 1850s. Its diet, like that of humans, is remarkably broad. It can survive on insects and berries if no vertebrate prey are available, and it can also kill animals as large as young Euros (weighing around 20 kilograms). A large part of the fox's success may be due to the abundance of rabbits in Australia. The rabbit itself may only be so successful because of the prior extinction of many species, which left abundant niches vacant in the Australian landscape. Thus the fox and rabbit may be utilising production that otherwise would have fuelled a whole megafauna. Furthermore, the smaller marsupial carnivores (quolls) have declined wherever foxes are present. Overall, I feel that the success of these introduced carnivores does not detract from the idea that Meganesia is generally a hostile environment for mammalian carnivores because, by and large, they have been replacements for the few existing species. The hypothesis developed here is a useful one in that it allows us to examine many other questions. Could it be, for example, that our herbivores are (and were) especially susceptible to predation by placental carnivores because, before people arrived, they only had to deal with 'thick-witted' reptiles? Additionally, does the hypoth esis tell us anything about the relative abundance of species of megafauna? Are there other resource-limited places, such as islands, where reptiles have become the dominant predators (Komodo Island and its dragons, and New Caledonia and its newly discovered extinct large varanid come to mind)? Whatever the case, the mystery of the Meganesian meat-eaters reminds us again of what a strange corner of the wo rld we live in, and just how little we understand it. • Suggested Reading Flannery, T., 1989. Who killed Kirlilpi) Aust. Nat. Hist. 23(3): 234-241. Dr Tim Fla1111ery is head of the Mammal Section nt the Australian Museum. I-le is interested i11 many aspects of Australasian ecology and prehistory. VO LU M E 2 3 N U M B ER 9 , WI N TE R 1991 729 VIEWS FROM THE FOURTH DIMENSION the side wall of the braincase, much too far away to be involved in jaw "When it opens its mouth for the articulation. Instead, the reptile's articular bone, the last of a series of second time in its life, it does so as a small bones forming the back of its bona fide mammal. " lower jaw, articulates with the quadrate bone of the skull-this jaw joint being the trademark of reptiles. Gish declares absurd the idea of a gradual evolutionary transition between the reptilian and mammalian conditions. THE LINKS His 'logic' here is that before the mammalian condition could develop, the articulating bones of the reptile, which THAT BIND appear to prevent contact between the dentary and squamosal, had to first vanish. This would require an imposs ible intermediate condition because there must have been a 'moment' of BY MICHAEL ARCHER evolutionary time, as the quadrate and SCHOOL OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WAUS articular bones were finally vanishing, when the lower jaw wasn't hinged to the skull at all! To the many gullible souls EISTY GEOLOGIST PROFESSOR IAN question but he still seemed hard of who have been sucked in by his 'logic', Plimer, Australian champion of hearing. this sounds like a reasonable objection. rationality and untiring terrier at Although I have no doubt that Gish Unfortunately for Gish's argument, theF throat of Creation 'Science', was knew about Archaeopteryx, I suspected the fossil record demonstrates a long just getting into his debating stride. In he had never heard of Pikaea, nor been and diverse parade of mammal-like response to the declaration by funda able or willing to understand the reptiles that ruled Earth in Permian and mentalist Dr Duane T. Gish, San Diego evolutionary significance of mammal Tr iassic times, before the dinosaurs Creation 'Scientist' extraordinaire, that like reptiles. Understanding about this usurped the throne. Known technically evolution was nonsense because no-one last series of 'missing' links is as synapsids, they provide the solution had actually seen one species evolve particularly important. First, the tran to Gish's anti-evolutionary paradox by into another, Plimer plugged in an sition is well-documented by the fossil demonstrating how the reptilian jaw electric cord and calmly presented the record. Second, it is supported by a articulation system gradually evolved exposed end to Gish. I was too far back vast body of data arising from the study into that which characterises the in the audience to hear exactly what mammals. Plimer said but it was in effect: 'Dr In the older synapsids, the dentary Gish, no-one has ever seen electricity, and squamosal bones were widely but if not seeing something is sufficient "Darwin's ghostly separated as in other reptiles. Their basis for concluding it does not exist, jaws were articulated by the articular you surely won' t mind touching the ends chuckle ought to and quadrate bones. But gradually, in of these wires!' Gish reeled back in successively younger forms, the den horror-needless to say, he was a true have sent a chill tary enlarged up and backwards and the believer in the electricity he had never squamosal enlarged down and forwards. seen-and Plimer, albeit flamboyantly, down Gish 's back." By middle Tr iassic time, the dentary of had made his point. the more 'advanced' mammal-like Much more was said in that curious reptiles, such as Probainognathus debate held at the University of ew jenseni from South America, just South Wales but one of Gish's favourite of the anatomy and development of contacted the squamosal to form a red herrings brought my blood to boil: living animals. Third, it involves our second jaw articulating system outside "The fossil record reveals no 'missing ancestors and is thus relevant to of and alongside the still functional links' between the different kinds of understanding our origins. And fourth, articular-quadrate system. As the newly creatures-because they were created it is a useful antidote of evolutionary acquired dentary-squamosal articula as different kinds". Gish has declared rationality when biblical fundamentalists tion continued to enlarge in the many times that, if such links could be come knocking! primitive late Triassic and early Jurassic demonstrated, it would put paid to any All modern mammals have a single mammals, the old reptilian articular literal interpretation of Genesis, this bone on each side of the lower jaw, the quadrate bones correspondingly de conviction being the keystone of dentary. The dentary articulates with creased in size. Creation 'Science'. the squamosal bone of the skull. If you This is how the transition from reptile When the time came for questions, I put your fingers in or just in front of the to mammal jaw took place. Both jaw vigorously waved my hands. "Dr Gish, lower half of your ears and say 'jaw articulation systems operated simulta you said there are no links between the joint!', you will feel the ball (or condyle) neously, side by side, one phasing in as different kinds of organisms. How then of the dentary bone moving in the the other phased out. Darwin's ghostly do you account for the Cambrian Pikaea overhead socket (or glenoid fossa) of chuckle ought to have sent a chill down gracilens, which is structurally inter the squamosal bone. This jaw joint is a Gish's back. mediate between invertebrates and trademark of all mammals. But the full record of what happened vertebrates; the Jurassic Archaeopteryx In reptiles, the dentary bone carries is even more remarkable than this. lithographica, which links reptiles and teeth, as it also does in mammals, but There are three bones in the middle ear birds; and mammal-like reptiles such as it does not make contact with the of mammals: the hammer (or malleus), the Triassic Probainognathus jenseni, squamosal and is not in any way anvil (or incus) and stirrup (or stapes). which is a perfect intermediate involved in articulating the lower jaw to The stirrup transmits vibrations to the between reptiles and mammals?". His the skull. Similarly, the squamosal of fluids of the inner ear where the response was "What?" I repeated the the reptile is a relatively small bone on energies of the sounds received are 734 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY developed condition, it must climb into the pouch and open its mouth to grab a teat. But at this stage the dentary and squamosal bones, destined to form the bandicoot's normal jaw joint, have only just begun to develop. So how does it open its mouth? As in all embryonic mammals including ourselves, immediately behind the developing jaw, at the junction of the jaw and the skull, are two relatively large bones. Developing precisely where a jaw hinge ought to be, they are the articular (soon to be the hammer) and quadrate (soon to be the anvil), ready, willing and able to hinge the lower jaw as it opens for the first time; borrowing, as it were, from its reptilian past to ensure its mammalian future. Once teated, the bandicoot baby shuts up and sucks for another 50 days. Then, when it opens its mouth for the second time in its life, to release the teat that brought it this far, it does so as a bona tide mammal, using the now well-developed dentary and squamosal jaw joint. Perceiving four-dimensional patterns in living creatures and discovering their historical and developmental causes is one of the most intensely pleasurable experiences a biologist can have. The intertwined evidences from the fossil record, anatomy and embryology, which converge to provide understanding about the nature of the teensy weensy middle ear bones of mammals, are to biologists what the telescopic visions of the universe were to Galileo. To insist that God made those little articulating mammal ear bones de nova, complete with the diverse indications that lead rational minds to see in them a rich The fossil record has produced evolutionary intermediates that link reptile-like amphibians (front) to early legacy of evolutionary history, is a bit mammal-like reptiles (right) to advanced mammal-like reptiles (rear) to primitive mammals. like the 16th-century priests' flat refusal to look through Galileo's telescope translated and transmitted to the brain articulating function the two bones that because they knew what Galileo said he for interpretation. This inner-most hinged the jaws of the advanced saw simply could not be. Visions of middle ear bone is clearly the same as mammal-like reptiles-the articular and middle ear bones articulating in his the reptilian columella, having persisted quadrate. dreams surely must give Dr Gish at throughout the reptile-to-mammal tran The conclusion is loud and clear in least a teensy weensy ulcer. • sition. But the hammer and anvil are our ear: the mammalian hammer and unique to the middle ears of mammals. anvil bones of the middle ear are the They have a complex joint between articular and quadrate bones of the Suggested Reading them unlike the simple one that reptile's jaw articulation system. While interfaces the anvil and the stirrup. they no longer hinge the lower jaw in Archer, M., 1987. The reality of organic evolution: Where did these two bones originate? adult mammals as they do in reptiles evidence from the living. Pp. 27-40 in Confronting creationism: defending Darwin, ed. by D.R. Selkirk As part of God's finished Creation in the and mammal-like reptiles, they still and F.J. Burrows. University of NSW Press: Sydney. Garden of Eden as Gish contends, or continue to articulate with one another, from pre-existing bones present in the but now as a means for transmitting Archer, M., 1987. Evidence for evolution from the ancestors of mammals? sounds from the ear drum to the stapes, fossil record. Pp. 72-102 in Confronting creationism: In life, the mammalian ear bones which was part of their function along defending Darwin, ed. by D.R. Selkirk and F.J. occur immediately behind the back end with jaw articulation in the advanced Burrows. University of NSW Press: Sydney. of the lower jaw, which is where you mammal-like reptiles. Kemp, T.S., 1982. Mammal-like reptiles and the might expect to find remnants of a To punctuate the conclusion, baby origin of mammals. Academic Press: London. declining reptilian jaw articulation bandicoots contribute even more evi Maclean, P.O., Roth, J.J. & Roth, E.C. (eds), 1986. V'> system. What's more, in developing dence for the reptilian jaw origin of the The ecology and biology of mammal-like reptiles. w"' 0 Smithsonian Institution Press: Washington. < embryos, the hammer first appears as hammer and anvil. Some bandicoots are w c,: part of the lower jaw. The anvil, in born a mere 12. 5 days after conception, z :I: contrast, while developing adjacent to the shortest gestation pei.-iod known in Professor Michael Archer lectures in biology the rear of the developing lower jaw, any mammal. At birth, the neonate is § and geology at the University of New South 0 clearly is part of the skull. These two little more than a pink, blind, pug-nosed Wales. Most of his non-teaching hours are § developing mammalian ear bones head, with stumpy arms and a legless devoted to the study of the fossil faunas of � closely resemble in shape, position and posterior. Yet, despite its little- Riversleigh. :x: Q VO LU M E 2 3 N U M B ER 9 , WI N TE R 1991 735 strongly. The bases that make up DNA, when not subject to natural selection, "If horizontal gene transfer is common are altered at a more or less constant rate. This phenomenon is the so-catted aniong animals then, although molecular clock. But for genes that the branches of phylogenetic trees have no information-bearing function, would not exactly reunite, some the rate of slightly under one per cent of bases being changed in 65 million communication could pass between theni. " years, as is shown by the h 19 gene suite. is very slow. After all, even the corresponding genes in the other species of Stro11gylocen/ro/us show RETICULATING substantially more difference than that. So, if the hl9 genes were altered by the molecular clock, the hl9 genes should THE TREE OF LIFE be much more different than they are. This explanation itself needs an explanation: why is the difference so BY RALPH MOL AR & GLEN INGRAM small between these two specific VERTEBRATE FOSSILS. QUEENSLAND MUSEUM lineages, and no others? VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY. QUEENSLAND MUSEUM There is no getting around it; horizontal gene transfer is the best explanation. But how does it actually IE \IOl -' two sea-urchins Stro11gy/ocentrot11s dro Cl. Vl bac/1ie11sis and Psa111111echi1111s miliaris The occasional transfer of genes between unrelated organisms seems to be mediated by viruses. Even z0 diverged late in the Cretaceous. at viruses that have only RNA, such as the infamous AIDS virus seen here, can N transmit genes by a process "'0 about the time of the extinction of the called retrofection. :,::L-______J 736 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY infected cell. This DNA then becomes tenets of modern evolutionary theory: active in the cell and directs the that species are individuals. This does NEW FROM M.U.P. construction of new viruses. Some not imply that the tenet is incorrect but times, however, the reverse tran that sometimes some individuals (like scriptase also copies the RNA already the sea-urchin Strongylocentrotus dro within the cell into the D A of viral bachiensis) may incorporate some MOTHS OF AUSTRALIA origin. Then, when copied back into the portion of another individual (like I. F. B. Common viral RNA, it may take with it a gene Psammechinus miliaris), so that 5. from the cell. In 1987, Maxine Linial of drobachiensis is just a little bit P. Moths of Australia is the first com the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research miliaris. prehensive, well-illustrated book that Center (in Seattle) showed that The modern concept of animal covers the enormous diversity of retrofection can occur in the laboratory evolution is that, once a species has Australian moths, summarizes our and suggested that it also occurs in formed, it does not ever again merge knowledge of them, and presents the nature. The possibility that one might with any other species. Plants do it findings of much original research. just be getting a beneficial gene with differently: hybridisation is more com With colour, half-tone and line one's illness does make one feel a bit mon among them. But, among animals, illustrations of over 1300 subjects; better about catching colds and flu and once a lineage has separated from the authoritative accounts of the structure, such-at least to the confirmed 'family tree', it never merges with any life history, biology, population, evol optimist. other lineage. Phylogenetic trees ution and geographical distribution of So horizontal gene transfer occurs, branch but do not reunite. If horizontal moths; a detailed glossary, a biblio but the question is whether it is of gene transfer is common among animals graphy and index, this is an essential evolutionary significance. There seems then, although the branches of phyloge reference book for all who are in no doubt that it is quite common among netic trees would not exactly reunite, terested in Australian natural history. prokaryotes (bacteria and other unicell some communication could pass 245 x 178 mm cloth ular organisms lacking a nucleus). One between them. In a sense, horizontal 544 pages, 32 pp colour. important implication of this is to call gene transfer acts as a kind of into question the Recognition Concept hybridisation but only for one or two March $125 of Species (this column, ANH vol. 23, genes at a time, not whole genomes. no. 3, 1989-90) for prokaryotes, since Gould has pointed out that we can they do not seem to discriminate represent animal evolution well without reliably between individuals of the same taking such things into account. This species and those of other species, or suggests that horizontal gene flow is even genera. However, we must leave not important among animals. However, further comments on this topic to Baza as he admits, it may be very important the hawk, whose dialogue featured in among fungi and bacteria, where the that issue. usual Linnaean classification works only Horizontal gene transfer has also in a makeshift fashion. Indeed, even been demonstrated between the bac among animals, convergence (when terium Agrobacterium tumefaciens and unrelated organisms show similar plants, while Progenitor cryptoides structures or biochemistries not known Spring release seems to be able to acquire genes from in their common ancestor) can be humans. However, both these examples annoyingly prevalent. Recent work in involve diseases, Agrobacterium causing cladistics and morphology has shown crown gall in plants and Progenitor that it is more common than previously THE INSECTS OF being associated with tumours in thought. Horizontal gene flow might AUSTRALIA humans. Such examples raise an just explain why. • Second Edition interesting point. Genes do not exist in a vacuum. They interact with other C.S.I.R.O. genes, as well as gene products and Suggested Reading The Insects of Australia is a compre other molecules in the cytoplasm. hensive, authoritative study of Aus Genes that have evolved together, for Anderson, N.G., 1970. Evolutionary significance of tralian insect fauna. Extensively illus virus infection. 227: 1346-1347. example in a moth, might be expected Nature trated with colour plates and line to be integrated with each other. A new Buslinger, M., Rusconi, S. & Birnstiel, M., 1982. An drawings, completely revised, up gene horizontally transferred from, say, unusual evolutionary behaviour of a sea urchin dated and greatly expanded in a new a wombat would disrupt this integra histone gene cluster. The EMB0 Journal 1: 27-33. edition, this book is an indispensable tion. This might have physiological Gould, S.J., 1986. Linnaean limits. Natural History work of reference for the professional effects and hence might result in 95(8): 16-23. entomologist and student. incorporates diseases like the tumours mentioned Linial, M., 1987. Creation of a processed pseudogene The Insects of Australia above. We must not only consider how by retroviral infection. Cell 49: 93-102. the work of over seventy authors and is often horizontal gene transfer occurs, sponsored and arranged by the Div Stachel, S.E. & Zambryski, P.C., 1989. Generic ision of Entomology, Commonwealth but also how often the gene or genes !rans-kingdom sex) 340: 190-191. transferred are compatible with those Nature Scientific and Industrial Research already possessed by the host. As far as Organisation. I am aware, no-one has yet considered Dr Ralph Molnar is Curator of Palaeontology Now in two volumes. the significance of this aspect of at !he Queensland M11se11111. His research has horizontal gene transfer. been directed towards fil/i11g the vast gap in 279 x 216 mm cloth Stephen Jay Gould from Harvard knowledge of Australian vertebrate history approx. 1400 pp, University pointed out that the potential belween the Devonian and Miocene. Dr Glen 700 b&w illustrations, importance of horizontal gene transfer Ingram is interested in evolution and the 8 pp colour. is quite out of proportion to its philosophy of science. In 1987 he received a special co111111e11dation from the BBC Wildlife September approx. $150 per set prevalence. In other words, even if it Nature Writing Awards. Although both Molnar occurs with a relatively low frequency, and Ingram are co-authors of the Still Evolving Melbourne University Press it is still very significant. This is co/1111111, each essay is written only by the senior P.O. Box 278, Carlton South, Victoria 3053 because it compromises one of the author. V O L U M E 2 3 N U M B E R 9 , W I N T E R 1991 737 THE ENQUIRING MIND bungaroides), Mulga Snake, Yellow-bellied Black Snake, Spotted Black Snake and Red-bellied Black Snake (Pseudechis australis, P. but QUESTIONS & leri, P. guttatus and P. por phy riacus respectively), Western and Eastern Brown ANSWERS Snakes (Pseudonaja nuchalis COMPILED BY JENNIFER SAUNDERS and P. textilis), Curl Snake (Suta suta) and its relative EDITORIAL ASSISTANT S. punctata, Black-headed Snake (Unechis gouldii) and shook its head from side to side, Bandy-bandy (Vermicella an presumably in an attempt to nulata) . In all but one of the swallow the remaining half a above cases snakes are taken metre or so of its prey. It then as only part of a much wider became aware of my presence diet of vertebrates. The and dragged its victim into a exception, the Bandy-bandy, culvert pipe, eventually disap appears to feed almost exclu pearing through a crack and sively on blind snakes (Ram leaving me not entirely sure if photyphlops spp. ). this was a genuine gastronomic True < annibalism-that is, orgy or some part of a bizarre the eating of the same mating ritual! A nearby dam species-has been observed abounds with frogs and lizards, in the Desert Death Adder so starvation is an unlikely (Acanthropis pyrrhus), Cop motive. Can you explain? Is can perhead (Austrelaps super nibalism normal in snakes? If bus), Broad-headed Snake, so does it happen with all spe Red-bellied Black Snake, and cies and under what conditions? Western and Eastern Brown Seeing Red Aboriginal rock painting of an Emu at Snakes. Although these very On a recent trip around least 10,000 years old from Kakadu -David Wakefield Strathy Creek, Vic. limited observations make it Q •. Australia my wife and I National Park. Originally it may have appear as if eating one's own took a particular interest in been many colours but only the red . Many Australian snakes species is less common in Aboriginal rock paintings and has survived. A• do eat other snakes as a snakes than eating other spe noticed that most of them are normal part of their diet. For cies, no experimental work red. I am interested to know if pamtmgs on open rock sur example, the following spe has been done to determine this is because the original pig faces that may have been yel cies are known to eat snakes if any snake shows any tend ment was red, or has the pig low are now red. The oldest of another species: Black ency to actively avoid eating ment changed colour with time? surviving yellow paintings Headed Python (Aspidites its own kind. Are we really seeing these rock are often those not exposed melanocephalus), Common Beyond these normal feed paintings in their true colours? to sunlight. In most cases, Tree Snake (Dendrelaphis ing habits, should two snakes -Jane Rice unless the rock art has been punctulatus), Small-eyed start feeding at the opposite Wheelers Hill, Vic. protected from the weather Snake (Cryptophis nigrescens) ends of the same prey animal, ing and erosive elements that and its close relative Crypto one of the two is very likely . At present there is no commonly occur over time, it phis pallidiceps, the Broad to engulf the other, as if it A• single answer to your is doubtful that you are see headed Snake (Hoplocephalus failed to distinguish where question. A possible explan ing them in their original ation is that, although many colours. It is, however, inter colours were used in the esting to note that many original artwork, the red pig anthropologists and archaeol ment is best able to survive ogists, such as Ge orge the weathering process and Chaloupka ( orthern Te rri so eventually is the only tory Museum), contend that colour left on the rock face. many of the oldest forms and The reason for this is that red styles of rock art in Kakadu ochre, or haematite, is very National Park, for example, fine-grained and penetrates are complete in one colour into the rock surface deeper red-and that they have than other substances. A always been this way. In recent study of rock paintings sum, all three of these pro near Cloncurry, north cesses may have contributed western Queensland, has to what you recently revealed that some paints observed. undergo a change on the rock -Michelle Neal face whereby goethite, a yel ANH low to brown mineral, is con verted to the red mineral Reptile Cannibalism � hematite. Elevated tempera I recently observed a corn s tures and dehydration g •. mon brown snake appar g enhance this conversion from e y consuming another adult � yellow to red. As a result of brown snake. As I watched, the � this process many of the rock half-coiled predator snake Eastern Brown Snake. 738 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY the prey left off and the com A Question of Identity races, squamous cell carci individuals. The development petitor for the prey began. Can you tell me when an noma only arises in damaged of melanoma at these sites is This seems to be due in part Q •. Aborigine is an Aborigine? skin such as old scars or completely unrelated to UV to an apparent obsessiveness Can quarter- and half-castes chronic ulcers where the exposure. evident in many species of still be Aboriginal even if blond squamous epithelium has -Helen Shaw snakes to finish feeding once hair and blue eyes prevail? regenerated without its pig Melanoma Unit it has begun. This single -E.M. Hain ment and is extremely vulner Sydney University mindedness may be related Forestville, NSW able to solar carcinogenesis. to the relatively infrequent The less common skin can feeding opportunities snakes A person's Aboriginality cer, malignant melanoma, is Questions for this column (and other carnivores) often A• is not determined by also very rare in heavily mel may be sent to Jennifer have: when prey is captured, anything other than that they anised skin since it occurs Saunders, Australian Natural its consumption becomes an identify as Aboriginal and are only on the lightly pigmented History, P.O. Box A258, Syd almost total, short-term pri accepted as such by the palm, sole, nail bed or ney South NSW 2000. ority. This accidental eating Aboriginal community. mucous membrane of these of another snake is likely to -Phil Gordon be rare in the wild but can Australian Museum happen easily in captivity when two or more snakes are Tarnished Tan WALK WILD fed together. This is some . Why are light-skinned thing that beginner snake • people more prone to skin TASMANIA IN COMFORT keepers should bear in mind. cancersQ than dark-skinned peo See Tasmania's spectacular To answer your question, ple? World Heritage Area on a therefore, the snake you saw, -Simon Paine 60km, 6 day walk along which was almost certainly Avalon, NSW Cradle Mountain's historic an Eastern Brown Snake Overland Track. At the end judging from the locality, was The two most common • skin cancers, basal cell of each day a hot shower . either quite normally eating a A private room and a delicious snake of either its own or carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, develop in light meal. Discover Australia's another species, or was rival to the Milford Track. doing so accidentally as a skinned individuals through result of having converged on chronic exposure to intense CRADLE MOUNTAIN HUTS the same prey as its hapless UV radiation. Negroes, how TEL. (003) 31 2006 • FAX. (003) 31 5525 victim. ever, are less susceptible to PO BOX 1879 LAU CESTO 7250 It might be worth mention general solar damage and ing that almost everything we UV-induced skin cancers know about snake diets than dark-skinned Cauca comes largely from three sians who in turn are less sources: the detailed examin susceptible than fair-skinned IXPLORATION • SCIINCI • ADVINTIRI ation of museum specimens, Caucasians. This is because THE EXPLORING SOCIETY the careful observation of hair colour and skin pigmen captive specimens, and the tation depend on the amount, 1991 EXPEDITIONS chance observation in the type and distribution of mel We offer the challenge: explore Australia's wilderness, desert or rainforest anin, a pigment that photo while helping us to collect scientific data for programs of national impor field. The first source is a tance. This year the Exploring Society will run two desertexpeditions and good example of an important protects the skin. Melanin one into the rainforests of North Queensland. role that reptile keepers, who and the distribution of mel EXPEDITIONSIMPSON DESERT II will explore the unique Witjira Nation are often 'amateurs', play in anosomes (the pigment cells) al Par\\ in the far north of South Australia between August 12 end 31. This adding to our knowledge of in the epidermis of heavily regionincludes the oasis created by the Dalhousie thermal pools. The ex the basic biology of our native melanised skins effectively peditionis open to people of all ages. protect these races from the EXPEDITIONCOONGIE LAKE is an all women expedition which will fauna, and the third shows explore the Coongie Lake area in South Australia between September16 the importance of serendipi carcinogenic effects of UV and October 5. The unusal combination of wetlands and arid dune sys tous observations, often radiation by filtering and tems provides an opportunity for studying a range of flora and fauna. made by members of the attenuating this impinging Women of all ages from all different backgrounds, will find this a rewarding general public, in advancing radiation. experience. scientific understanding. There is strong evidence of EXPEDITIONENDEAVOUR will explore the area north of the Dain tree this photoprotective role of River in Far North Queensland between 16 December '91 and 20 -Allen Greer January '92. Aimed primarily at people aged 17-25, the expedition will be Australian Museum melanin. In highly pigmented a challengingadventure. The scientific tasks we will perform on these expeditionswill include earth/nature sciences dealing with wildlife, vegetation, the land and natural history. Applications are now open for people wishing to join these expeditions. Suitably qualified or experienced people are needed as Science Group Leadersand peoplewith an interest in science are needed as ex peditioners. Others who have a sense of adventure can play valuable roles by joining our support teams. Applicationsand further information are available fror:n: The Exploring Society PO Box174 ALBERT PARK VIC 3206 TEL: (03) 5293783 Patron-In-Chief FAX: (03) 5211447 HRH TheG Prince of Wales V O L U M E 2 3 N U M B E R 9 , W I N T E R 1991 739 R E F E R E N C E S Greer (now Senior Research Scientist in the Herpetology Section, Australian Museum) was very stimulated by Rob ert Bustard's 1970 book Aus tralian lizards. Nearly 20 REVIEWS years later, Greer has writ ten an excellent successor to COMPILED BY JENNIFER SAUNDERS Bustard's work in the form of EDITORIAL ASSISTANT a thoroughly documented review of what we know about Australia's remarkably rich lizard fauna (just on 500 had no control. This work lems has been sitting in our species, with more unde makes it absolutely clear that laps all along. If Australia scribed). I was terribly wrong. How do could just undergo a slight The text is arranged into we know when an area is decline in the birth rate and seven chapters plus an intro overpopulated? The answer halt immigration, we would duction, covering phylogeny is when the organisms in soon have a declining popu and biogeography. Each of question start destroying lation. For the first time we the five Australian lizard their resource base. Of would have the spare funds families-the dragons (Aga course, we might be able to and the breathing space to midae), the geckoes (Gek change our ways by adopting solve our problems and then konidae), the flap-footed different technologies or con help our neighbours. This lat lizards (Pygopodidae), the suming less, but this book is ter step is crucial. Even if skinks (Scincidae) and the about practicalities; the here Indonesia's birth control pro goannas (Varanidae)-has a and now. Given this defini gram works at full capacity, chapter devoted to it, and the tion, Australia and many there will still be many mil book concludes with a brief other developed nations are lion additional Indonesians in chapter summarising the overpopulated. In Australia, 50 years time. The 'environ anatomy and possible origins The Population Explosion our rate of growth is so enor mental refugee' problem that of those lizard cousins, the By Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. mous that each of us would this could create for Australia snakes. Ehrlich. Simon & Schuster, NSW, have to use ten per cent less is appalling. Our guns and In each of the five main 1990, 320pp. $16.95. each eight years or so, just to ships would be helpless chapters several areas of keep the levels of environ against such a flood. The only biology are emphasised l read the 320-page-long mental degradation steady. lt hope seems to lie in planning (namely morphology, ecology Population explosion in two has been argued that our and large amounts of appro and behaviour) and the state nights. Its easy style made population growth does not priate aid. of knowledge of phylogenetic this possible and its extra matter as most results from l must make a plea to all relationships within each ordinary message made it a immigration and thus is just who read this review-please family is summarised. At the necessity. Having given shuffling people around the buy a copy of The population end of each family chapter myself a couple of days to Earth. The Ehrlichs say this explosion as soon as possible. there are tables that list digest and contemplate, I am of immigration: " et immi Pick up the phone now and aspects of reproduction, diet, sure that l am not indulging gration to rich nations is the ask your local bookshop to anatomy and other factors-a in hyperbole by suggesting it rough equivalent of natural order it for you. You can save gold mine for researchers. is the most important work I population increase ... it wil I the world, but only if you The basic unit for discussion have ever read. be important to decide how have this book to help you. throughout the book is the The Ehrlichs state their much of the input side of our -Tim Flannery genus and every Australian case succinctly and convinc population equation is to be Australian Museum genus is covered. ingly. When their earlier made up by natural births and The writing style is more work The population bomb how much by net immi relaxed and accessible than was published in 1968, the gration". the dry-as-dust prose of population on Earth was 3. 5 Because citizens of devel scientific papers, but the billion. Many of their predic oped nations put a greater book is packed with infor tions, which then seemed strain on environmental life mation and demands a fair more like wild speculation, support systems (roughly 100 level of comprehension from have since proved correct. times more), our population the reader. Familiarity with The population today stands growth is of paramount the technical language of biol at 5. 3 billion and increases at importance. Australia is the ogy and the classification of 95 million per year. You don't only developed nation that reptiles will make the book have to be a genius to see we has a rate of population easier to use. Appreciating are headed for disaster. I growth similar to that of a this, the author does rec think, however, it is a rare third world nation. The utter ommend several general genius indeed who can pro selfishness of such a situation texts to provide background pose viable solutions to avoid is pointed out adequately in for the material he covers. At the looming crisis. And it is the book. As the Ehrlichs The Biology and Evolution of times, the text is relieved by just such solution that lie at say, people often feel help Australian Lizards wry humour and in other the heart of The population less to solve the world's prob By Allen Greer. Surrey Beatty & places waspish criticism of explosion. lems. Even recycling and Sons, Sydney, 1990, 264pp. certain areas of reptile biol Before reading this book I conserving energy is ren- - $60.00. ogy, notably the critique of was convinced that overpop dercd pointless by continued much of the zoogeographic ulation was essentially a third growth. And yet, the ultimate When still a newcomer to speculations concerningAus world problem over which l power to solve these prob- the Australian fauna, Allen tralian lizards. 740 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY One of the many strengths duced and of an excellent of the book is the thorough quality. ness with which Greer has While there are the obliga drawn together extensive tory accounts of crocodile literature citations for many attacks on humans, these are areas of natural history. For restricted to one chapter and too long, as he points out, dealt with in a factual man the same few anecdotes have ner. There is a chapter that been recycled. Much of the investigates the interactions new documentation comes between crocodiles and from the amateur herpetolog humans-from crocodiles as ical literature, a source not Aboriginal totemic symbols, hitherto drawn on exten through the period where sively by professionals but crocodiles were considered shown by Greer to be to be vermin, to the current extremely valuable. Another era where crocodiles are the strength is the high-quality subjects of scientific illustrations. The numerous research, conservation and colour photographs have farming. The bulk of the book been carefully selected to is, however, a detailed augment the text, and the account of the biology of the line drawings of osteological two crocodile species and and scalation features are their habitats. This is where admirably clear. Crocodiles of Australia shines A negative feature of the above its competitors as it book is Greer's decision to lacks the 'gee whiz' and 'Ooh use several generic and spe ah' approach that typifies cific names that are inade most other books on croco quately diagnosed and being diles and instead contains a considered for rejection by wealth of detail the others do the International Commission not provide. of Zoological Nomenclature. with a professional or ama Many publications have been The first chapter is a gen (Examples include Amphib teur interest in our fauna, cashing in on this wave of eral introduction to crocodil olurus burnsi, Rankinia, The biology and evolution of popularity, most of which ians and the second a review Claireascincus and Egernia Australian lizards will pro have focused on the bloody of all modern crocodilians. mcpheei.) While work in pro vide a remarkably thorough attacks and gory myths. Sud They are intended as a pre gress by Greer or others and lucid summary of the denly, anybody who had seen cursor to the subsequent might well validate the bio structure, habits and evol a crocodile in the wild was a chapters but are, in them logical reality of these taxa, ution of one of the most self-proclaimed expert, capa selves, a useful account of the fact that such work is diverse and fascina ting ble of writing the next 'defini the biology and status of all unpublished, or at best only groups of Australian verte tive' load of crocodile 'fact'! crocodilians. In short, this is implicit in this book, makes brates. Crocodiles of Australia is a the most accurate and com use of these names prema -Mark Hutchinson clean break from other recent plete popular account of Aus ture. South Australian Museum books on Australian croco tralian crocodiles currently The quality of the book's diles. Indeed, its intention is available. production is not as good as it Crocodiles of Australia to present a popular account The weaknesses? I'll be should be, with far too many By Grahame Webb and Charlie of the current scientific showing my bias here misprints. An erratum slip Manolis. Reed Books, Sydney, understanding of these ani because I have to take Webb lists some 78 errors (roughly 1989, 160pp. $24.95. mals. The authorship of Gra and Manolis to task over one every third page) and hame Webb and Charlie their handling of the history more are apparent as one Crocodiles are the most Manolis gives this book the of crocodilians in the first reads through. To mention unlikely candidates to win a hallmark of authority. Both chapter. Much of their infor the more glaring of the popularity contest. Yet, dur men have worked extensively mation in this section is inac unlisted errors, all three dust ing the last five years or so, with the two crocodiles found curate or badly out of date. A jacket photographs are mis they have become one of the in Australia-the Saltwater pity, because this is the only labelled: on the front cover, most popular Australian Crocodile (Crocodylus poro flaw of any magnitude that I A mphibolurus puchalis native animals-easily rival sus) and the Freshwater could detect in this otherwise should be Ctenophorus ling the Koala, wombats and Crocodile (C. johnstoni) superior pick of the crop of nuchalis; Pogona nitticeps kangaroos in the attentions of and between them their crocodile books. should be Pogona vitticeps; the general public. But, research has generated most -Paul Willis and on the back cover lam unlike the warm furries, the of the current knowledge of University of NSW p ropho l is sp. should be crocodiles' sudden popularity these two species. The basis Saproscincus sp. Hopefully is not because they are cute for this book is a translation Gemstones and their Origins the next edition will see and cuddly; quite the of their many scientific By Peter Keller. Van Nostrand these mistakes corrected. opposite. The rise of the papers into everyday lang Reinhold, USA, 1990, 144pp. These quibbles aside, this crocodile fan club has its uage and it is a job at which $129.95. is a great piece of work that roots in films such as ''Croc they have succeeded. The is very well priced and which odile Dundee" and an text reads well (with the Generally, one of the last should be compulsory for increasing number of savage occasional anecdote) and things that a gemmologist everyone seriously inter crocodile attacks since 1980. benefits from the authors' has a good grasp of is the ested in reptiles in general Crocodiles have become the familiarity with their subject. geology of the formation of and lizards in particular. For a respectable bad guys rather Both the photography and gemstones. In fact, many wide range of other people than the lovable heroes. graphics are clearly repro- geologists-mineralogists who VO LU M E 2 3 NU M B E R 9, WI N TE R 1991 741 gemstones (for example the eral species, colour plates of continue to fulfil the needs of Columbian emerald deposits) minerals and a glossary of students and mineral enthu and gemstones from igneous terms. Listed under the min siasts who need a compre environments (for example eral name and chemical for hensive and easy-to-use the gem pegmatites of Brazil, mula are the definitive reference. It should also and the ruby deposits of physical properties including appeal to professionals who Thailand). The third section crystal, x-ray, optical and like an alphabetical, single is about gemstones found at physical data, with geograph volume summary of mineral very high temperatures and ical occurrences. Each entry species for rapid and con pressures and uses the ruby finishes with the best refer venient checking. There is no deposits of Mogok (Burma) ences in English. other comparable reference and the jadeite deposits of The new edition is about book that draws together the Ta wmaw (Burma) to explain 30 per cent larger at 797 essential data for most known how metamorphism results in pages and adds information mineral species and presents have an excellent grasp of the the formation of precious on about 400 new mineral it in a clear and logical for mineralogical aspects have gems. And the fourth section species (making a total of mat. Keen mineral enthusi very little idea about the spe looks at the different ways about 2,600) with over 3,200 asts will have to dig deep into cial circumstances that cause gemstones can form at great alphabetical entries. All the their pockets to add this book the occurrences of the gem depths. The peridot deposit information has been to their libraries, but they or precious members of the in Zabargad Island and the rechecked in the light of will find the expense worth different mineralogical fami Argyle diamond deposit in recent research. A book of while. lies. Western Australia are used this type is of course only - Ross Pogson For the gemmologist, it as examples. up-to-date at the time the Australian Museum has always been a matter of The excellent photographs text is prepared. Comparison searching through a number of the different mining local with entries in American of different texts and sifting ities give the reader a good Mineralogist and Mineralogi through quite complicated insight into the different cal Abstracts indicates that and unfamiliar geological jar techniques used in various new minerals up to around gon to try to understand the parts of the world today to mid-1987 are included. geology of the formation of win the gemstones from the The greatest change is in gemstones. earth. the number and format of the It is very exciting, there The book's presentation photos. The first edition used fore, to come across a book and writing style make it not about 940 small colour pho such as Gemstones and their only a very useful and tos of microminerals, while origins because it fills a void informative addition to the the new edition has approxi previously not dealt with in serious gemmologist's mately 240 larger colour pho gemmological literature by library, but also a great gen tos of superbly crystal! ised, addressing the subject in eas eral interest book for the cof mainly larger-sized speci Rainforest: A Journey into ily understood language and fee table. mens. Nature's Richest Garden providing easy access to the -Bill Sechos Interspersed throughout By Densey Clyne. Reed Books, important information on the Gem Studies Laboratory the text are 104 black-and Sydney, 1989, 97pp. $14.95. latest theories of gemstone white photos, 45 crystal formation. drawings and some Scanning Flies butting their 'antlers' The book is divided into Electron Microscope photos. like stag deer; spiders cam four sections, each with an Readers familiar with that ouflaged as bird droppings, introduction that takes a gen doyen of mineral journals The minute mites sporting red eral look at the conditions of Mineralogical Record will 'shag pile' coats, plants hous gemstone formation and then recognise the style of many ing ant colonies. Densey uses specific gemstones to photos and, indeed, the Clyne and her contributors illustrate the points dis photo editor of this new edi have captured these and cussed. tion is the editor of The Min many other wonders in Rain Where the specific gem eralalogical Record. forest: a journey into nature's stones are discussed a very The change in photo for richest garden. comprehensive treatment is mat provides a different This book presents an given of the different import emphasis; for, while the new overview of the rainforest ant geological and geographic Encyclopedia of Minerals colour plates are undeniably community-the various hab locations in which they occur, By Willard L. Roberts, Thomas J. more 'showy', they unfor itats, types of organisms and the text is beautifully Campbell and George R. Rapp tunately cover a much found and their interactions. illustrated with photographs Jr. Van Nostrand Reinhold smaller range of species. It is not a reference book for of the gemstones themselves Company, 2nd ed., USA, 1990, This is a pity since the more identification, nor an all and location shots of the min 979pp. $249.95. comprehensive but less spec encompassing catalogue, but ing areas. tacular photos of the first edi it does contain something of The first section discusses Rapid advances in mineral tion were used by many interest to most. the importance of the action ogy have occurred since the collectors to help identify the Principally, Rainforest is a of water in the formation and first edition of E ncyclopedia more uncommon minerals. collection of photographs. concentration of gemstones. of minerals was published 16 However, the new photos are Cuddly mammals and colour Examples discussed are the years ago. Many hundreds of certainly stunning and of very ful birds are of course pre extremely rich gem gravels of new mineral species have high quality. They are also sent, but the 'humbler' Sri Lanka and the opal depos since been discovered so an now more evenly divided spineless inhabitants are its of Australia. The second update of the Encyclopedia between common and rarer hown to be just as fascinat section illustrates the differ was inevitable and eagerly minerals and their captions ing. It is in the realm of ences between the hydro awaited. Both editions have include specimen size. microscopic photography that thermal formation of an alphabetical listing of min- This new edition should the Clyne/Frazier team are 742 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY justly renowned and once wildlife photographers. Reg again their patience, acute Morrison, Kathie Atkinson, australian eye and skill have been Jean-Paul Ferrero, David rewarded. Jim Frazier's wiz Parer and Elizabeth Parer ardry with lenses is apparent. Cook all contribute. This is You try and photograph the a formidable group and com museum full length of a tree trunk in bined produces a comprehen focus! sive view of the diversity of For Authentic The dark page colouring life and landform within Aus provides a sympathetic back tralia. As a bonus to all pho Aboriginal drop for the photographs and tographic enthusiasts, there the text complements the is information in the back of Artefacts pictures nicely. It is short the book on how, where and The Australian �luscum Shop spcl'ialiscs in more enough to invite perusal and, with what equipment the than just natural history books. It also boasts <111 once so drawn, full enough of photographs were taken. extensive range or authentic ,\boriginal artclacts. interesting information to The book is divided into This is one or the very rcw shops in Sydney that hold the readers' attention. "Land Spirit", "Sea Spirit" carries Tiwi dcsiQns. These cxclusi,·e ,\boriginal Just a few criticisms; an and "Animal and Tree Spirit". designs arc prini�d on a quality fohric and - arrow would have been handy Dodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath guaranteed to he originals. Painted coolamons in linking text with photo Walker) gives us her poetic and clap sticks arc also stocked, usually from the graphs as it is not always comments from an Aboriginal �lount ,\lien district in South .\ustralia. evident which text accompa perspective throughout the nies which figure. Some indi book. Paul Cliff writes the cation of scale would have bulk of the text with humour added to our understanding and sensitivity. The total and to our appreciation of the effect is a trilogy of poetic technical achievement in the images, photography and photography. Also, occasion information that takes you on ally jargon creeps in without a mental sojourn around the being satisfactorily explained continent. The concept of and, as this book is designed 'The Earth-Mother' becomes for the non-specialist, a glos clearer as you read through sary may have been helpful. the pages-rock formations, Quantity Item Price This 'journey into nature's rivers and weather patterns richest garden' is a visual are no longer just scientifi Tiwi design cotton shirt $150 feast, informative and very cally explained occurrences readable. Not only do we but a part of "the Web of Life Tiwi design cotton fabric (triple $14-0 share in the beauty and of which we are a strand". It screen printed, 2 m length) strangeness of the rainforest, is unfortunate that animist Tiwi pure silk scarves $100 but in the author's affection notions are often thought of and deep understanding of as childish or primitive, while Tiwi design T-shirt $ 4-0 this habitat. Although clearly Western philosophy, which Didjeridu $170 designed for a generalist separates us from nature by Painted coolamons approx. $ 95 audience, this book offers placing us above it, is consid interest and pleasure to all. ered sophisticated. If our Painted clapsticks approx. S 45 -Lynne· Albertson planet is to survive, we must Australian Museum learn to regard the environ Less 10% discount to 1\.c\'H readers* ment with the same rever Postage and Handling add $8.00 ence as the Aborigines do. Australia is one of the oldest 'ID1�\L continents on Earth and its indigenous people have been *Get a 10% discount for mentioning this ad when around for over 40,000 years. making any of these purchases in the Museum Shop or Until recently, its isolation when sending in this coupon (or a copy). has meant that both the land and the Aboriginal conscious Please charge to: ness have held valuable D Bankcard D Mastercard O Visa D American Express secrets waiting to be discov Card Number ered. If we are to benefit from this knowledge, we Name must look at it with an open Address mind. The Spirit of Australia This book is aptly named Postcode Edited by P. Cliff. Golden Press, The spirit of Australia as the Signature Exp. Date Sydney, 1989, 128pp. $24.95. spiritual quality comes through strongly. It contains Post to: The Australian i\luseumShop, The spirit of Australia, like a wealth of information con PO Box A285, Sydney South, NS\V2000. any other coffee-table picture densed into a very palatable book, is full of photographs. form, combined with superb 6-8 College St, Sydney. This book, however, has an photography. I highly rec Phone (02)339 8150 Fax (02)360 4350 advantage over the others as ommend it. its photography comes from -Kate Lowe Send a copy or a letter with these details if you do not some of Australia's finest Australian Museum want to cut the magazine. V O L U M E 2 3 N U M B E R 9 , W I N T E R 1991 743 T H E L A S T W O R D include Mike Tyler, the frog man from "Good communication is as important Adelaide; Ann Henderson-Sellers, the climatologist from Macquarie Univer in our universities as any claims on sity: Sir Gustav Nossa!, Director of the original discovery." Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research; Ron Strahan from the Australian Museum (not to mention Tim Flannery) and Adrienne Clarke, the botanist from Melbourne University. There are scores more one could A POPULAR mention. One no longer with us is Peter Mason, once professor of physics at MISCONCEPTION? Macquarie University. I remember his first efforts, a book review and an obituary. They were somewhat ordi nary. I gave him a few tips, expecting BY ROBYN WILLIAMS them to be forgotten, as usual. But Mason, who had a splendid record of ABC RADIO SCIENCE SHOW research behind him then, had decided, on reaching his early 50s, that a change of course was in order. He gave all his FHIEND OF I\IINE FROM TIIE UNIVERSITY scientific face is seen often on TV or in energies to teaching and broadcasting. of Sydney wrote to me earlier this the papers, accusations of vanity, Just days after my casual advice on year asking for a reference. He was ambition or even worse can be voice production and writing, he was Aapplying for promotion to the position of forthcoming. Radio's not so bad. It back. He presented another piece with associate professor. He said his chances seems more serious and one is more twice the flair and ten times the impact. were slim: he'd dbne little research, likely to have time to explain. From there he went on to whole concentrating instead on his teaching and The trouble is, to do well it requires programs and even several series. Most on broadcasting. He'd written and pre practice. Therefore, the scientist needs became books, several published inter sented several superb radio programs for to appear often and keep doing so. nationally. me, one of which has been published as Exposure like this, on any of the media, Mason was clear about the vital a book here and abroad. then brings the risk of being accused of importance of popularising science. He I willingly supported his submission. neglecting research. How else could knew that a country like Australia has There is no doubt that good communi someone keep up with the increasingly to face the future with its brains instead cation is as important in our universities irksome demands of the lab with of its brawn or bombast. He knew of the and schools as any claims on original attendant grant applications and sem pioneering efforts of his mentors in discovery. But there is also no doubt inars? Britain: the geneticist J.B. S. Haldane, that many a scientist has suffered as a Despite all this, times have changed. novelist and science writer H. G. Wells, result of forsaking the bench. The best scientific institutions now J.D. Bernal (The Sage) who helped The best known instance is, perhaps, actively encourage their scientists to start X-ray crystallography, with Carl Sagan, a humane and forthright popularise. There is an annual prize Lawrence Bragg, and set the stage for person of impeccable scientific accom (the Faraday Prize) given by the Royal the revolutions m molecular biology plishment, who decided years ago to Society of London for this very carried out by Watson, Crick, Perutz become a TV professor. This was in the purpose. Last year it was won by and Hodgkin. Mason had also admired series "Cosmos", which he wrote and Oxford's Professor Colin Blakemore for the efforts of Lawrence Bragg himself presented and which also resulted in a his book and TV series The mind (born in Australia 100 years ago) at the book, other spinoffs and even Sagan's machine. This year it was won by Dr Royal Institution, where the Christmas countenance on the front cover of Time Richard Dawkins, also of Oxford, for his lectures had inspired many a youngster magazine. books The selfish gene and The blind to take up science as an interest for life. My, how the brickbats flew! Remarks watchmaker. It was the Royal Institution that was the were made about everything from the In Australia there is strong support stage for Michael Faraday 120 years Sagan ego, his political allegiances and for CSIRO researchers to go public before, where he gave his own even his private life. ow, I don't care it's part of the Board policy. At the admirable colloquia-hence the naming (nor should you) about such dross. He Australian Museum we invented a prize of the Royal Society Prize. may be a swank, a pinko or even a rake. last year, similar to the Faraday, to But what matters is his mar vellous boost the promotion of science. The Our own prize, The Eureka Prize, talent for turning millions of Americans winner of the $10,000, donated by ABC has overtones both of discovery and and others all over the globe onto the TV and Radio, went to Professor Australian history. It was presented at delights of cosmology. That he also Michael Archer from the University of the Australian Museum by the happens to be a decent. conscientious New South Wales for his books, articles Governor-General, Mr Bill Hayden. and extremely moral human being (many in Auslralian Nalura/ 1/istory) When he gave it to Mike Archer, his makes the snide remarks that much and appearances on the electronic Excellency remarked on the vital harder to bare. Which is why Sagan has media. One of the judges, Professor importance of popularising science in chosen to keep out of the public eye in Paul Davies from Adelaide, himself an the 1990s and that the effort depends, recent times. accomplished performer on the public above all, on the scientists themselves. It's easy to understand why scientists stage, remarked that Archer manages Of that, in these uncertain times, there prefer to avoid the limelight. In to combine both a first-class research should no longer be any doubt. • television it may take hours or days to output. fundraising for his Riversleigh record just a tiny spell on the screen Project to further their lab, research Robyn Williams is the Exewtive Producerof the when broadcast. The truncated version and field work, and an effectively ABC Radio Science Show. He has received the of what one said appears glib at best, outspoken presence in the public arena. Michael Daley Award and the Ben Lexce11 superficial or wrong at worst. If the Other superb performers in Au tralia Award for excellence in science journalism. 744 AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY GF SU SC I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE MY FASCINATION FOR NATURE WITH SOMEONE ELSE. PLEASE SEND A GIFT SUBSCRIPTION FOR Australian Natural History O Two-year subscription to ANH for $58 (overseas $A78) ANH O One-year subscription to ANH for $30 (overseas $A42) 23/9 O Backdate this subscription for issues In the next few issues, TO ADDRESS you will discover SUBURB/fOWN POSTCODE FROM New Dating Techniques ADDRESS • in Archaeology • Find SUBURB/fOWN POSTCODE Payment by D Cheque O Money Order O Bankcard O V,sa O Mastercard D American Express Darwin's Forgotten My card number is Please send renewal notice to me O IlTI11=ICD=-:��� EXPIRY DATE Notebooks• Recover CARD HOLDER'S SIGNED NAME !fu_ntJ Cheque or card authority mus! a«ompany order Make cheques payable lo 'Australian Museum· ANH os a quarterly Lost Tasmanian Lizards magazine, with issues released in January, April, July and October Please allow up to 12 weeks for delivery of first issue (unless backdated). Prices valid to December 1991 � Discover a Pocketful DEMYSTIFYING OUR NATURAL WORLD • �------�; of Mites Pick the 1 I World's Oldest Known I I N w SUBSCRIBER I O Two-year subscription to ANH for $58 (overseas $A78) Flower• Wonder How I O One-year subscription to ANH for $30 (overseas $A42) 23/9 I O Backdate this subscription for issues Dinosaurs Survived I O Tick if TAMS member or previous ANH subscriber I NAME I Freezing Winters I ADDRESS I SUBURB/fOWN POSTCODE Ask if Australia I I Payment by O Cheque O Money Order O Bankcard D Visa O Mastercard D American Express I My card number is is Overpopulated I 1 --,- I � I :-I r I T 1 r --:-- � �l , EXPIRY DATE Explore the Origins I CARDHOLDER'S I SIGNED NAME (_Pnnt.) I Cheque or card authority must accompany order Make cheques payable lo 'Australian Museum' ANH IS a quarterty of the Solar System magazine, with issues released in January. April. July and October. Please allow up to 12 weeksfor delivery of fiosl issue I (unless backdated). Prices valid lo December 1991 I Understand the I DEMYSTIFYING OUR NATURAL WORLD • I1------Asymmetry of Life. 1 I C �AD AN NA URE F�D A 0 Whet your intellectual O YES! I am interested in learning more about Canada's natural wonders. Please register my membership immediately. My tangible benefits include receipt of Nature Canada Magazine (quarterly) and "Almanac·. the CNF conservation newsletter. Payment of $43 (Australian) for one year's appetite: renew your membership is enclosed. subscription promptly NAME ADDRESS when your renewal SUBURB/fOWN POSTCODE form arrives Payment by O Cheque O Money Order D Bankcard D Visa O Maslercard D American Express My card number is T T ' (sent automatically 17L�fiiflll:l EXPIRY DATE CARDHOLDER'S before expiry). Or you SIGNED NAME (_Pnnt) Cheque or card aulhonty must accompany order Make cheques payable 10 'Australian Museum'. NatureCanada IS a quarterty might just miss an ) magazine Please allow 12 weeks for delivery of fiosl issue. Pnce valid lo February 1992. exciting issue of ANH! PAY 13Y CREDIT CARD: t-AX. ORDERS (02) 339 8313 OR PHONE THE TOLL-FREE SUBSCRIPTION HOTLINE· 008-028558 'New subm1bers onl� SEND THIS CARD AND PAYMENT POST AGE FREE TO: FREE POSTAAA 10 AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM P.O. BOX A285 SYDNEY SOUTH N.S.W. 2000 AUSTRALIA w ------ SEND THIS CARD AND PAYMENT POSTAGE FREE TO: FREE POST AAA10 AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM P.O. BOX A285 u SYDNEY SOUTH N.S.W. 2000 AUSTRALIA SEND THIS CARD AND PAYMENT POSTAGE FREE TO: FREE POSTAAA 10 AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM P.O. BOX A285 SYDNEY SOUTH N.S.W. 2000 AUSTRALIA J Act Naturally Naturalists come in all shapes and sizes ... but they have unique natural heritage. Discover a whole new world by taking one thing in common. They need a healthy environment to advantage of this opportunity to join the Canadian Nature survive. For over 50 years, the Canadian Nature Federation __ , Federation. When you do, you will receive the -1\0::-: \ has been working to increase the awareness of- award-winning CNF magazine Nahire Canada, _ �l.;{"�"�\)'{tt and protection for-natural ecosystems. _-;:-,z1'R£- "4W'�� 1,.,..,.,"'.'' as well as the conservation newsletter 0 Whether the issue is endangered species ( \1�1,:��.-� �_''"', ' 'J\.lmanac".For more information, call toll ,,,.. :' · or threatened habitats, the CNF searches for · free 008-28-558 or write to: Canadian solutions that benefit all life forms. But you Nature Federation c/o Freepost AAAIO, don't have to live in Canada to appreciate its 1 • __ ) PO Box A285 Sydney South, NSW 2000. \ �_... \ \ ����-- t" '---- - Photo by M,ke Beedell To order. use the card in the back of this magazine. Youcan learn a lot about the history of Macquarie Street just by looking at the pavement. Macquarie Street's Sydney Hospital hasn't Further down the street you'll find the site ln an effort to pay tribute to this, Caltex, always enjoyed such an established and con- where the Female School of Industry once stood. in association with the NSW Public Works In 1826, before anybody had even heard of Department, has laid twenty 'Feminism,' the colony ran short of servants. commemorative footpath site was occupied by Accordingly, the ladies of the colony set plaques along Macquarie a hospital which was up the Female School of lndusrry in order to Street, each marking a his- teach their lesser sisters "every branch of liquor of the day, namely, Rum. household work." The site is more appropriately So ii you want to find out what Sydney was In 1810, three Sydney businessmen built occupied now by the Mitchell Library. really like in the early days, look out for the the city a magnificent hospital in exchange for The fact is, Macquarie Caltex Commemorative Plaques on your next the coveted monopoly over the city's Rum trade. Street is more than just This became the Rum Hospital. and stood another city street lot simply by watching demolished ro build rhe present Sydney Hospira!. Australia's, most interesting thoroughfare. where you walk. C,1h\•:i.01\ (Au ..tr.ho1t l't) L1m11... d THE COMMEMORATIVE PLAQUES SPONSORED BY (ln1.Nf'N