Bush Buddies
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Bush B Volume 2 u d d i e s Ask an Expert Do you have nature questions that you’d like Sylvie asked: As for camouflaging, there are lots of answered by our team of ecologists and other experts? lizards that use camouflage and many Can you please tell of them are found here in Australia. Send them to [email protected] me which lizards use We have Earless Dragons, which are or better still, make a video question and tag us on one camouflage and are tiny round little lizards that are able of our social media channels. We have answers! to camouflage in really well with their poisonous? rocky surroundings by looking a bit like a pebble. Ecologist Alana De Laive: But I think the masters of camouflage That’s a really good question. Most are the Leaf-tailed Geckos. They have lizards are totally harmless to us amazing colours, patterns and textures humans. But there are a couple of that help them camouflage in with species that can produce toxic poison the trees and mossy rocks. They also from venom glands in their jaws. They have spiny fringes that break up their are the Gila Monster and the Mexican body outline and flattened bodies so Beaded Lizard, and they’re both found they don’t cast much of a shadow to in North America. give them away. Very cool lizards. T Q I B I N J M Q U M I Q Y G I P Word search A D L E R E D G U M V K H B E P L N O U E L P V B J H A Z M V W J A N O L U F T Z R F D H Z W A W P N Our Carnarvon A T Z M V T R V C E Z S L O X S I Reserve in Central O A I E P C M U H R V L P B S H G Queensland is home G K W Y Y O Q J T O A J H A Z V A to around 170 different animal species. K C O L T A J U H B S G R V G E L But finding them can A O L D H R H A Y R O G K V D T E be a challenge. A C A L O T U T H R E I M I R U B Are you any good at Z D G L N F G H F U M G H A B P A finding animals? C F I D A J U L L O U Q N Q T P E D M R J R R I B I O Q N L L E P O M Y B U I G T V A D U P L S O P M T I J A P I D Z H D E U V N H Q D X M Y R X Z R M D X M R G R O D W H T G R M T Q Z G U L T U P S T R Emu Glider Turtle Cockatoo Frog Goanna Dunnart Bluegrass Koala Python Wallaby Planigale Quoll Redgum Brigalow Dirt track detectives We need to know which animals are we set up several sites to be swept on our reserves so we can look after clear and then monitored for new them. But some are very hard to find! footprints. Can you figure out Some animals only come out at night Jessica Stingemore manages our and others like to hide. One of the Charles Darwin Reserve in WA, and which animals made ways we can see which animals are has a big job ahead of her sweeping these footprints? around is looking for footprints. all the sandpad monitoring sites. But the fun part is trying to figure out Have you ever noticed how clear your You’ll need to think carefully about which animals made which footprints. footprints can be at the beach? Sand the foot shape and weight of each is great for capturing footprints. So on Would you like to have a go at animal. Where does each live? reserves where we have sandy tracks, playing detective? Do they have tails that drag? How do they walk? Do they have hard hooves, soft paws, claws or toes? Q.1 Q.2 Which animal made Which animal has left this these unusual tracks that huge three-toed footprint are all in a straight line? in the sand? Dingo Emu Malleefowl Wombat Kangaroo or wallaby Cassowary Thorny Devil Koala Dirt track detectives Q.3 Q.4 Who left these paw Mmm. What has left prints behind? this swirling trail? Platypus Snake Honey Possum Bearded Dragon Goanna Malleefowl Dingo Goanna Q.5 Q.6 Look at these tiny tracks. Something has left tiny little Which animal has waddled tracks around its desert home. through? There’s almost no space What do you think it was? between each print, which suggests it may have moved slow. Lizard Spider Goanna Budgerigar Thorny Devil Bearded Dragon Dunnart Brolga Answers: Q.1 Malleefowl. Q.2 Emu. Q.3 Dingo. Q.4 Snake. Q.5 Thorny Devil. Q.6 Spider. Q.6 Devil. Thorny Q.5 Snake. Q.4 Dingo. Q.3 Emu. Q.2 Malleefowl. Q.1 The Thorny Devil is a diurnal (day- up against dew-covered grass. Then Thorny Devils active) reptile reaching 20cm in length. the hygroscopic (moisture-attracting) It’s covered in thorny spines and grooves between their scales channel (Moloch horridus) sports a ‘pretend’ head on the back of this water to their mouths! The same its neck, which is thought to warn off process occurs when it rains. The Thorny Devil is marred with a wicked common predators. Essentially, capillary name, and its Latin species name horridus doesn’t Devils can change action allows the lizard to seem much better. In reality, it’s a slow-moving colour to blend into their suck water from all over ant-eater, and horridus means bristly, referring to surrounds, appearing its body – an amazing the reptile’s erect stance! mostly grey, red, orange adaptation! They’re or yellow. also thought to bury Their gait is also remarkable: tail themselves in sand, in lifted, they walk along with slow, jerky extreme circumstances, movements backwards and forwards. This might be a defence mechanism to draw moisture from it. to confuse predators when they’re spotted in the open. The species holds cultural importance for many Aboriginal groups – for How do these lizards survive in example, the Anmatyerre/Alyawarr water-parched arid Australia? During people of the Northern Territory have the night dew condenses on their a dreaming story surrounding the bodies, and in the morning they brush species. Where do Thorny Devil Thorny Devils live? behaviour Their range covers most of arid Australia Head-bobbing and leg-waving is how A face that only a mother could love. This Thorny – large parts of Western Australia, the a male Thorny Devil attracts a mate. Devil was found at Bon Bon Station. southern half of the Northern Territory, Courtship complete, the female then Photo Gillian Carter. South Australia and western Queensland. lays 3 to 10 eggs in a chamber burrowed They live in dry sand country, spinifex 30cm deep in the soil. Depending on the grasslands and scrub. temperature, the eggs hatch after three to four months. Young start eating almost It may be a well-known species, but immediately. scientists are still somewhat unsure about Thorny Devils eat ants. In the morning They can be very well its distribution and population size. The camouflaged. International Union for the Conservation and late afternoon they locate a trail Photo Leanne Hales at Eurardy Reserve, WA. of Nature (IUCN) has graded it as ‘Of and lap them up with their short, sticky least concern’ on its Red List. tongues. In one day an individual can eat thousands of ants! This diet seems to suit them just fine: they can live to be20 years old in the wild. Threats to What’s Bush Thorny Devils Heritage doing? Natural predators include Goannas Thorny Devils are found on our Charles and predatory birds such as the Darwin, Hamelin and Eurardy reserves Brown Falcon. Being entirely reliant in Western Australia, as well as Cravens on ant populations, the Thorny Devil Peak and Ethabuka in Queensland. is vulnerable to habitat loss and disturbance. They’re also found in the Birriliburu Indigenous Protected Area where Being ectotherms (which get their we partner with the Martu people – body heat from external sources) Traditional Owners of this country they’re at risk of being run over while – to support important work such as basking on warm roads. reinstating traditional fire patterns, Bilby monitoring and conducting baseline fauna surveys. The Thorny Devil looks frightening up close. Photo Ben Parkhurst. Many of our staff love Thorny Devils. Photo Nella Lithgow. Eeis for Echidna Jj is for Jabiru What are some of the problems they face? Dressing up is lots of fun and it really gets you And what are some things they do that people can’t do? thinking. Do you know how Koalas behave? Print off and cut out this face mask. You can attach it with some elastic or glue it to an icy-pole stick. Then take some time out to be a Koala!.