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Also available in this series. • Sharks • Gorilla • Tiger • Cameraman • Orangutan • Safariby Balloon • Lions of Estosha • Humpbacks • Elephants • Flight of the Snowgeese • The Parenthood Game • Come into my Parlour • World of the Beaver • The Leopard that changed its spots • Subtle as a Serpent • Eagle Coms Homs • Killsr Whale • The Winged Messenger • The World you never see • The Waterhole • People of the Sea • The Wonderful Kangaroo • Pelican Flyway • Together They Stand Available from all leading retailers and video stores VIDEO SURVIVAL ANGLIA "uSELECTION ,-, .. � L1m1ted EDITORIAL Australian Natural History EXPORTING OUR ANHSummer 1990-91 Volume 23 Number 7 EXPERTS Published by The Australian Museum Trust BY FIONA DOIG 6-8 College Street, EDITOR Sydney, NSW 2000 Phone: (02) 339 8111 Trust President: Robyn Williams Museum Director: Desmond Griffin NE OF THE BEST EXPORT ITEMS TO salaries appallingly low and poorly struc­ come out of Australia yields the EDITOR 0 tured, a distinct deterioration of working Fiona Doig country virtually no financial gain. conditions has occurred over the last few SCIENTIFIC EDITOR In fact, it is costing us money. The im­ years, with greater pressure on staff to Georgina Hickey, B.Sc. porter, on the other hand, reaps all the increase teaching hours and administra­ CIRCULATION MANAGER benefits.What ridiculous kind of product tive duties. Many senior research scien­ Cathy McGahey could that be? Our experts. Those people tists find they must spend an inordinate ART DIRECTION who have the capacity to solve some of amount of time chasing up funding for Run Run Run Design PtyLtd our major environmental problems, bring their research projects-they are literally EDITORIAL ASSISTANT us closer to an understanding of our natu­ being forced to become entrepreneurs, Jennifer Saunders ral history and develop our resources leaving less and less time for research. TYPESETTING more effectively. Job insecurity is a major stumbling Excel Imaging PtyLtd Why are we exporting these products, block. Many scientists I work with exist PRINTING which cost so much to produce, for no from grant to grant, with periods of em­ Dai Nippon Printing Co., Tokyo, Japan gain? ployment ranging from a few months to a A student entering any field of the few years. Add to this scenario the ever­ ADVERTISING dedicated Wendy Symonds natural sciences has to be to increasing annual budgetary cutbacks Lisa Rawlinson the subject. That person must put up with which research institutions like mu­ (02) 339 8234 with shoddy conditions, lack of incentive seums are struggling and you have the SUBSCRIPTIONS and poor prospects-at least in this recipe for mass emigration of scientists. Annual subscription (4 issues) country. On the flip side of the educational coin, Within Australia $A30 When I see an advertisement for a PhD science teachers are leaving schools in Other Countries $A42 in nuclear physics with several years ex­ droves. This shortage is so severe that Two-year subscription (8 issues) perience offering a salary less than a primary school teachers are being put Within Australia SASS fresh economics graduate, I question the through crash 13-week courses to teach Other countries$A 78 imbalance. New subscriptions can be made science in high schools. What kind of sci­ by credit card on the ANH toll-free I have met many scientists on oc­ ence education can they provide future hotline 008-028558 or use the form in the casional sojourns back to the 'land of milk generations of scientists? back of the magazine. If it has been and honey' telling tales of the great job All of this is occurring at a time when removed, send cheque or money order to the prospects in other countries... and moan­ the Federal Government and unions are address above, made payable to the ing the abysmal lack of professional work emphasising the importance of a brain-led 'Australian Museum' in in their own. economic recovery-but what has been Australian currency. But this is not the worst of what ap­ done to achieve this? All material appearing in Australian pears to be a general trend. Not only are At least this ideal has recognised the Natural History is copyright. we losing trained people, fewer and fewer fundamental error we have been making Reproduction in whole or in part is not students are reaching the higher levels of in relying heavily on primary produce for permitted without written authorisation education. Fears that Australia will face a our export income, rather than using our from the Editor. huge shortage of post-graduate scientists collective intelligence. Just compare Opinions expressed by the authors are have been confirmed in a recent study by Australia's economic structure with that their own and do not necessarily represent the policies or views of Flinders University. This research found of other, relatively stable, nations. Swit­ the Australian Museum. that there was, for example, a net loss of zerland, for example, lives off not the fat Australian Natural History is printed on mathematicians from Australia to other of the land but the power of the brain, as archival quality paper suitable for countries every year and that only about does Japan. library collections. 60 PhDs in physics are graduating annu­ These countries advance in technology 1990 ·· .. ally. In 1989, 270 positions for such while we stay behind and mind the sheep. Published @-· · ,,'t' people were advertised in one daily news­ ISSN-0004-9840 : · • Our infrastructure is not unlike that of paper alone. I imagine the stakes for the many developing nations. ' natural sciences would not be dissimilar. Much is said of a lack of economic com­ Australian Natural Australian Natural Concern within the CSIRO about find­ prehension among scientists, but little is History is audited by History is proud winner ing qualified staff in the future was so said of scientific literacy amongst econo­ the Audit Bureau of of the 1987, 88, 89 & 90 great it triggered the implementation of a mists or politicians who ultimately make circulations. Whitley Awards for union-management action plan to take decisions that affectthis country's future. Best Periodical. their argument for a 19 per cent pay An emphasis on research that leads to Front Cover increase before the Australian Industrial solving global problems will certainly reap Scientists Gordon Grigg, Mike Augee and Relations Commission. vast benefits for the nation that comes up Lyn Beard (pictured) spent over two years Job and pay structure needs to be im­ with viable alternatives, for example, to tracking Echidnas in the high country to proved if young academics are to be en­ fossil fuel-based energy. discover just how they survive the freezing couraged to pursue a career in scientific Economic support of science is vital so winters. The answer has important research. Universities aren't even able to that we can put Australia's scientific cred­ implications for the study of hibernation. compete with the CSIRO. Not only are Photo: Gordon Grigg. ibility back on track. • VOLUME 23 NUMBER 7, SUMMER 1990-91 505 CONTENTS Articles IN THIS ISSUE BY GEORGINA HICKEY SCIENTIFIC EDITOR E STEREOTYPE IMAGE OF AN TIchidna is that of a primitive, egg­ ying holdover from the earliest days of mammalian evolution. You can imagine the surprise, then, when Gordon - ECHIDNAS IN THE HIGH Grigg (pictured) and his colleagues found COUNTRY .) :. Echidnas in the Snowy Mountains hiber­ The recent discovery of winter hibemation for Echidnas in nating over winter-a mechanism pre­ the Australian Alps has rocked the traditional views 011 the viously reserved for only birds and physiology of Echidnas and the 'higher' placental mammals. This excit- concept of hibemation in general. ing discovery has led the authors of the article on page 528 to BY GORDON GRJGG, LYN reconsider, among other things, the traditional concepts of BEARD & MIKE AUGEE hibernation. 528 Australia's extinct Thylacine is also put under scrutiny, but RETURN OF THE GREAT SEA MONSTERS from a phylogenetic viewpoint. Dan Faith uses the Thylacine After 450 hours of painstaking to explain methods of evolutionary biologists intent on eluci­ work, a grisly pile of rubble from the opal fields at Coober dating the relationships between animals. In this new age of Pedy was converted into an exquisite specimen of an technological advancement, the systematist is faced with the extinct marine reptile. And problem of deciding how much weight should be given to there are more in store for those with the expertise and different structural or morphological evidence and that derived money to extract them. from molecular studies (see page 546). BY ALEX RITCHIE John Brackenbury, the author of the recent "Insects in 538 Flight" article (ANH vol. 23, no. 5, 1990), offers more of his superb photographs, starting on page 562, to illustrate the array of ingenious design principles that can be gleaned from the study of insects. Other articles in this issue deal with the evolution of haemoglobin and opalised Australian fossil marine reptiles. Mike Archer, after recently attending a US confer­ ence on the interrelationships of mammals, writes about some of the key players-the Platypus and her three direct ances­ SEARCH FOR THE tors. Also, Ralph Molnar and Glen Ingram discuss evolution at THYLACINE'S SISTER Where do scientists studying the level of the gene; Tim Low looks at some of the products the evolutionary relationships of the early acclimatisation societies; and Robyn Williams de­ of animals stand, for example, when morphological and lights us with the strange eating habits of Frank Buckland.