UNSURPASSED QUALITY AND ACCURACY YOU DON'T Front GET ANY Up CLOSER THAN THIS

If you were asked to name some of Australia's most beautiful native animals, it's more than likely the Numbat would not be among them. Why not? This striking animal certainly fits the bill, as the photos in this issue will testify. Well, it's probably because, up until recently, almost nothing was known of these secretive and highly enda ngered native animals. The Numbat is with us today only because the intro­ duced Red Fox is highly susceptible to the toxins of a certain genus of Australian plants. As a result, our only termite-eating marsupial was able to fend off extinction by surviving in two pockets of bushland in the south-west of Western Australia. And it took the near extinction of this ani­ mal before scientists were able to gain enough funding to carry out a detailed study of their day-to­ day life. What they Freycinet Lodge is have discovered so Tasmania"s award winning Two young Numbats at the entrance to their nursery burrow. far is quite extra­ Eco Tourism Lodge, situated on Tasmania's beautiful East Coast inside ordinary, but despite all the attention, the Numbat still has a few secrets left. Freycinet National Park. Antarctica in winter is full of secrets. Research at this time of year is restricted to Freycinet is truly Nature's playground, and we invite you to take part in our highly the areas around the coastal bases and what goes on elsewhere on that frozen con­ acclaimed Eco Encounters, tinent is largely unknown. So, it has long Close Encounters of the Natural Kind - a program of exciting activities including: been an accepted fact that whales migrate � Whale watching away from these harsh conditions, primar­ 6 Photograpnic workshops ily because nobody has been able to go � Diving and look to see if this was true. That was roTasmanian devil watching until the Australian National Antarctic � Bush food encounters Research Expeditions conducted its first � Ornithological encounters mid-winter cruise into the sea ice and, as a � Orchid encounters result of the trip, scientists are having to Make Freycinet Lodge part of your take another look at these astonishing Tasmanian holiday itinerary. There's so much to see and do, we can promise you - mammals. Take a look for yourself on one day just won't be enough. page 24. For bookings phone 0362 57 0 IOI It's a For more information and a free colour commonly pondered question: brochure, send your name and addres� to: how do other living things perceive the Freycinet Lodge PO Box 225 Kings Meadows 7249 TASMANIA world? What does the world look like to, · say, an insec t? Dr John Brackenbury won- See the world through a cicada's eyes! dered that exact thing and set about find- in wodd through g the answer. So, ponder no more, just turn to page 32 and see the Freycinet Lodge th FREYCINET NATIONAL PARK •COLES BAY e eyes of a cicada, or how about a dragonfly, maybe a moth··· A WORLD OF � NATURAL ACTIVITIES } -Jennifer Saunders

NATUR E AUSTRALIA WINTER 1997 Articles

Nature7 VOLUME 25 NUMBER 9 WINTER 199

Published by The Australian Museum Trust 6 College Street, Sydney, NSW 2000. Phone: (02) 9320 6000 Fax: (02) 9320 6073 Internet:[email protected] Web: http:/ /www.austmus.gov.au Trust President: Malcolm Long . Museum Director: Desmond Griffin EDITOR Jennifer Saunders, B.Sc. SCIENTIFIC EDITOR WHALES IN THE FREEZER Georgina Hickey, B.Sc. It has long been the accepted fact that whales migrate away PHOTO RESEARCHER fromAntarctica during the Kate Lowe harsh winter months. DESIGN AND PRODUCTION But do they? Watch This! Design BY PETERGILL PRINTING 24 Excel Printing Company ADVERTISING AND MARKETING Phone: (02) 9320 6178 SUBSCRIPTIONS Michelle Atzemis Phone: (02) 9320 6119 Toll-free (1800) 028 558 Fax: (02) 9320 6073 GOING, GOING, DUGONG These gentle ocean sirenians Annual subscription (4 issues) must eat seagrass and this Within Australia $A33 Other countries $A45 dependency brings them into Two-year subscription (8 issues) Within Australia $A63 Other countries $A83 conflict with people. Right now Three-year subscription (12 issues) their future on this planet Within Australia $A89 Other countries $A116 hangs in the balance. New subscriptions can be made by credit card on the BY HELENE MARSH NATURE AUSTRALIAtoll-free hotline (1800) 028 558 50 or use the form in this magazine. lf it has been removed, send cheque, money order or credit card authorisation to the address above, made payable to the 'Australian Museum' in Australian currency. All material appearing in NATUREAUSTRALIA is copyright. Reproduction in part or whole is not permitted without written authorisationfrom the Editor. NATURE AUSTRALIA welcomes articles on the natural INSECT VISION and cultural heritage of the Australian Region. Opinions When an object moves, how expressed by the authors are their own and do not does an insect know whether to necessarily represent the policies or views of the avoid it, eat it, or mate with it? Australian Museum. NATURE AUSTRALIAis printed on archival quality paper suitable for library collections. We take a close look at the Published 1997 ISSN-1324-2598 world through the eyes of an insect! NATURE AUSTRALIA (as ANH) ® is proud winner of the 1987, '88, '89, BY JOHN BRACKENBURY '90, '91, '92 & '93 Whitley Awards for 32 Best Periodical, and the 1988 & '90 AustTalian Heritage Awards. NUMBATS ON A JUNK FOOD DIET Front Cover Up until it was almost too late, A young Numbat Numbats had managed to hide (Myrmecobius their private lives from THE POLITICS OF fasciatus) emerges scientists. Now researchersare AN AVIAN from its nursery discovering an amazing PARENTING: PERSPECTIVE . . ds burrow. Photo by Jiri marsupial that, among other If you think parenting t1I bt� Lochman/Lochman things, has adapted to life on a is straightforward, then yottre low-nutrient diet. Transparencies. in for a surprise. BY TONY FRIEND BY MICHAEL MAGRATH 40 58 2 TER 1997 NATURE AUSTRALIA WIN - < > - � I Feat�es through. ' Nests· Redback S uict. "d e· Regular Seabirds Smell their Dinner· ' When Size Doesn't Count· ' I Useless Dik-dik; Insects a�d Elephants Follow the Same Scent; Pearls of Wisdom. I Bee!les Sh?ulder the Bu�den; Quick Quiz; Stay-at-home almon; Lizard's � Green Beret.

REVIEWS Australian Native Plants· Eucalyptus; How to Attrdct Butterflies to Your Garden. Wombat; Tracks, Seats and Other Traces; Australia's Lost World. 72 NATURALIST THE BACKYARD SOCIETY PAGE ROUSE p H O T O A R T Interested in nature but not HOUSE MOUSE sure what to do or where to go? Vermin they may be, but Columns 1 �ature Australia's Society Page their adaptability is definitely DESIGN BY NATURE impressive. Wesley Tolhurst takes a close-up is a great place to start. view of nature. BY STEVE VANDYC K 74 18 BY WESLEY TOLHURST 66 THE GUIDE Nature Australia's market place. 76

RARE & ENDANGER ED LETTERS Flat Food; Pandanus Palms· TINGLE TAILFLOWER Viva Sleepy Lizard!; Blindi�g A r�re fore�t dweller, the Tingle Cherry; Chinese Whisper; Why Tai/floweris a relic from wetter Do Native Stingless Bees , times. Fight?; Caring For Wildlife. BY GRANTWARDELL- VIEWSFROM THE FOURTHDIMESI ON 4 JOHNSON 20 THE LENGTHENING LIMITS OF LIFE Recently bacteria has been brought back to life afterbeing preserved in amber for millions of years. Now scientists are having to redefinethe notion of life and death. BY MICHAEL ARCHER 70 THE LAST WORD W I L D F O D D S THE FARMER AND THE , STROLLS ON FLOWER: A FABLE > STRADB What is the reward for trying to O ROKE save a rare flower found on n Stradb ke Island, " still there is your property? Is it money, NATURE STRIPS &A a tra/t1 ion Coprolites; Q · · of bush fame, the conservation of the Iguana Sex; Oldest Frog or Toad?; A Mysterious ined1cine. Aren't All Venom; species or... nothing? Snake Toxins Tail; It's A Rat!; Pie Teaser. BYTIMLow Magnetic Map Readers; Pass 22 BY BOB MESIBOV the Parcel; Ant Garbos; See- 78

80 3 NATURE AU STRALIAWI NTER 1997 repeated this with the second green foliage, none t � of h e bat before picking it up in its b re fruit. I thought P S dis­ erh. �Ps rn LETTER mouth, slithering a short this was a seasonal v a and eating it. This bu t no, th nation The forum for readers to tance away ey were dyin Th been regurgitated by cause? Som e bat had ebody livin;i o air their views about their another Children's Python ly had brought ca]. in a di·s eas d past articles and three nights previously. After and anus f_ro e concerns, r . n: somewher the snake had finished eat­ rop1ca l. sc1en t1st e interesting personal events. s don't. Yet ing, it returned to the other know what the disease IS the h I·t or dead bat, carried out ow wor ks. They are d motion with its p�rately same circular trying to locate th� head, and then ate it as well. d1�eased ' pa!m because identi­ This bat had been dead for fymg the disease is the o way n! Flat Food of danger for the five days. The whole incident they c_an stop it spreadin� shaft is full took about an hour. The up to Rambow to respond to bats as there are many Beach and I would like snake ate the firstbat without beyond. Pandanu the "Feeding on flattened snakes waiting to eat them. s take the bats return to any difficulty but had trouble aroun? 100 years to reach food" Nature Strips article in At dawn maturity t less than half getting the second bat's wing . I find it _difficult o Naturethe Wi Australia.nter 1996 issue of the cave and in �omprehend hour they are all back. On bones past its mouth. that m my life­ an On the evening of Saturday time, of 27 most occasions the snakes and I am only at the On the morning 29 January 1994, also at Bat quarter ma�k, 1991, while on a trip have gone or are on their way I will never see January Cleft, visitors witnessed a N oosa loo1?�g to Bat Cleft Cave on Mount out of the shaft. as it, did upon Etna to see the Little Bent­ On this particular morning, Children's Python consume a that first v1s1t. That s quite a (Miniopterus aust­ bat that had been dead for no statement and, alas, it's wingralis) Bats while standing at the ent­ true. returning to the cave at rance watching the bats dis­ more than 24 hours. Clearly our actions, no matter I hope the above will be of how seemingly innocent, dawn, I witnessed(Liasis a Child­child­ appear down the shaft, I wit­ still ren's Python nessed a Children's Python interest to your readers and need careful consideration. reni) those who are studying and -Merridy Cairn-Duff eat two dead bats. coming up out of the cave. Carlingford,NSW At dusk the bats spiral up When it was on a ledge just documenting these lovable creatures. Thank you too for the 30-metre entrance shaft, below where I was standing it Viva Sleepy Lizard! going out to feed on insects slithered over to where two a wonderful publication. -Dianne Vavryn Viva during the night. It takes dead bats lay. On reaching Rockhampton, Qld the Sleepy Lizard! And about three-quarters of an the firstbat the snake circled it will because, according to hour for all the bats to its head over the bat several Pandanus Palms Michael Bull's fascinating emerge. The flight out of the times as though smelling it. It article inNature the AustraliSpring a1996, I had always accepted issue of it reports on how many species lives for up to 30 years. Bull humans eliminate from the has vividly described a land­ Earth with some scepticism. mark in reptile research. In a recent interview with Until the appearance of this environmentalist David Su­ article, I had fruitlessly zuki he mentioned 50,000 searched the literature for species reach extinction each information about this fine day. I don't think I could even animal. My interest wase name that many animals. spurred last year by the pr s­ On a recent trip to Noosa ence in my garden of three National Park, alas the re­ lovely such lizards which, in • ality sunk in and I w�s able to response to my call, would see for myself just how deli­ come hurrying across the cate nature is. The pandanus lawn for handouts. palms in the Noosa-to­ So, viva all Sleepy Liz­ Tewantin area in New South ards... and viva Michael! Radford \Yales are -Rick all dying-every Camden Park, SA smgle one of them. When visiting the area in 1994 I had Blinding Cherry \ explored the Noosa National (Rhodo- Park and took roll afterroll of myrtusThe Fingermacrocarpa) Cherry \ scenic photographs, pan­ can. be danus palms being the fea­ included in the list of tropical ture of many of them. There Australian nasties. The l were so many s mon­ of the palms Queensland Museum'and am- ·· they Toxic plants really were the 1 0[ feature ographmats �h� coastline. On a recent (1987) indicates that the 1 n. visit m August I couldn't wait fruit should not be eate 1 to get more photos. But I Further, it indicates that didn't take one! There were ren who have eaten the "Child n- comparatively few pandanus r have suddeest t f uit in quantity · and mos had brown leaves ly become blind". It sugg or none at all, somewhat is caused by ed that injury ur­ resembling cacti. A lucky eating the fruit. However, d dozen man or so still had some ing a visit to the Mosse Que ns­ Healthy pan danus palms. Gorge northern rk 'an Aboriginal pa 4 land, 1997 - NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTER - . d us that the Finger ran tol ��\ is foodfor eating but Ch people � it is imperative 1h8 1 nds after eating ash ct eir ha w WI1en eh was a the fI ·ti • i·t the ranger W1tne• ssed h'ld per­ c �eial people become entlY blind �ter they had ��an the en this fnut a�d _n �at with their ubbed their eyes r the mecha­ hands. Hence, sm of injury appears to be ni bstanc�s contact between su Ill. 1e fruit and the eye. It 1s ct tl .. portant, then! 1at v1s1tors im m_ade to tlle wet t:rop1cs �re aware of iliis bot�mcal bh_nd­ er. Whereas caut10us tounsts may decide _not to e�t the fruit, there 1s poten�1al for injury simply by handling the fruit. The ranger described the fruit as being elongated in shape, and purple . in colour; however, the fruit can be other colours. For me, ilie rule is never touch the fickled Finger Cherry of fate. -Peter Gross Mossman, Qld

r Chinese Whisper A feral cat dines on a Galah (Cacatua roseicapilla). Michael Archer's article "Evolution after death" other. The latest massacre for their own hive butprotects its made (Nature Aust. Trigona carbonaria and enforced on an Spring 1996) my hives future by reducing the Australian-wide basis. If all was, as usual, good to read. occurred in late May 1996 in strength of competing hives. people concerned with cats However I think iliat the ref­ my garden, a few days after On the themes of selfish can somehow unite, this will erence to 'Chinese Whispers' the first cold snap of winter. A genes and kin selection what mean greater lobby power. I was probably hyperbole. In swarm of bees hovered out­ are the alternatives? Assume had thought of a name, Ernistine Hill's book, The ter­ side one of the hives. A few the workers decided to go "Group for Protecting Native ritory, she says that pairs of death-locked bees quietly, no fuss or fighting. 1 in 1867, Species", but would be ex­ on Port Darwin beach could be found on the ground They weaken their hive tremely interested in other Goyner and his surveyor� and the hive entrance looked (even if only for a few days) people's ideas for a name, were amazed when the Lar­ like city centre at rush hour. and leave it open to further logo and course of action. rakia performed a corro­ Next day all three hives were weakening if subsequently Alternatively, if there are boree for them. They sang at it-the ground looked attacked. The optimal strate­ already established organisa­ , '.'John Brown's body" and black with their bodies for gy would appear to be to tions, I would be very inter­ �e Old Virginia" word and weeks. attack all neighbours at once ested in joining. 1 pitch p_erfect. They had But why do they fight to the and for them to do the same. I would really appreciate \earned it from a neighbour­ death? Bees are all closely -Henry Drew any help or information that i�g lan�uage group who had related to their queen and Palmwoods, Qld readers could give me. I have picked it up fromFinniss' sur­ each other, and what's good also joined the Internet, so I v�y camp on the Adelaide for the hive is good for them. can readily access and dis­ \ �ver five years is Caring for Wildlife tribute information. My ad­ 18 before Such In fact the hive the organ­ the value of the ;poken ism, and it has to compete not I am extremely concerned dress is 218 Brilliant St, Mt wo� d, pre-print. But then with other bees but other about the plight of Australia's Isa 4825. agam, maybe Ernistine hives. This being the case, native wildlife, particularly -Debbie Bennion stor Hill's Mt Isa, Qld y was already a 'Chinese what happens when winter the large number killed or \ W1sph er'. finally arrives? The workers injured by both domestic and r I) -Beryl Marnane suddenly find themselves feral cats. I am also f ustrated NATURE AUSTRALIA to do welcomes Chillagoe, Qld unemployed as the hive with my own inability letters for publication and winds down and they become anything, hence the reason 1 ��y Do Native requests that they be limited to • ln gle a drain on the hive. The for this letter. 250 words and typed if possible. ss Bees to be able to ·1 F19 ht? queen does her sums-20 per I would like Please supply a daytime tele­ cent of current workers must form an action group for the 1 read Tim H , phone number and type or print \ art . eard s recent go! They could fly off into the protection of native species, your name and address clearly on icle on stmgless cats, Watu re bees great blue yonder, jump in initially focusing on the letter. The best letter in each _ Aust. into ·� W Spring 1996) fr of a passing truck or although also branching issue will receive a $20.00 gift ith n est. ont iliat bee � iK _ As a stingless they could go and commit other areas. I understand voucher from the Museum Shop us1ast some laws been f I also have suicide by attacking and there are already catalogue. The winner this issue b r ustrate? and puzzled of being passed in Victoria and y the r o killing as many as possible is Henry Drew. to ccasional tendency neighbours. New South Wales about cats, s warm an their nearest to see laws d fight each This reduces the demands on but I would like NATU RE AU STR 5 ALIA WINTER 1997 b The researcher s conc1� de that, in the face of d see l unbeatable competitio:�g y l�rger males, er the smal�lll Nature lizards had hit er upon a rath noveI strategy r · . : Prem aut e eJacu1 at10n. So prematu ips f�ct that the lizards act��,;n Str eJaculate before . they've e Y I BY come ven J COMPILED m contact with th female. Wikelski and Ba r]: HICKEY ? u GEORGINA bserved small non-territ . l 1al m�l�s exhibiting the ch��­ actenstic copulatory posture of a bent body and tail as f females passed by. When they captured e Iguana Sex Silke manage this miraculous feat? these mal s , Martin Wikelski and they all had fresh Max Planck Male reptiles have a pair of sperm in ex is a difficult business Baurle of the their hemipenes. penises known as hemi­ -

How do small non-territorial male Marine Iguanas compete in. th e matrng game? 6 TER J997 NATURE AUSTRALIA WIN - •

this view was revised when known animals from that time important when interpreting The Brown Tree Snake (Boiga Edwards and her team dis­ and leaves the likeliest con­ the behaviours, feeding strat­ irregularis) kills prey by constric­ covered that, in addition to tenders as millipedes. egy and evolution of snakes. tion. Its oral secretions were never other plant debris, some of -R.S. Consider, for example, col­ meant for quickly killing prey. the deposits contained fossil ubrid snakes in which oral spores from up to nine differ­ secretions are produced in ween the various biological ent plant species. Snake Toxins what is known as the Duver­ roles of oral secretions and As to what produced the Aren't All noy's gland. When most of not simply their pharmaco­ coprolites, which pre-date Venom these snakes hunt for food, logical qualities. other examples by 90 million f you were to inject your the Duvernoy secretions and -K.McG. years, that riddle is not so I saliva into the skin of the way they are delivered Magnetic Map easy to solve because the another person, they'd exper­ into the mouth prove to be only known local fossil ani­ ience symptoms such as very inefficient in killing Readers mals from the same period localised pain and swelling. In prey. ou may wonder how sea were carnivores. short, a toxic reaction. Nevertheless, it's been Yturtles manage to One suggestion is that the The reason why is simply widely accepted that the migrate across the thousands coprolite producers may be that human saliva contains Duvernoy system did evolve of kilometres of open ocean early terrestrial herbivores poisonous compounds. Yet to kill prey and its inefficien­ between their feeding grounds and the beaches on �hich fed on the nitrogen� we don't and probably never cy has led to it being known :1ch as the "poor-man's venom sys­ which they nest, without a _spores. An alternative have used our oral secretions idea is that the animals were to immobilise prey, and we've tem". Trus, according to Kar­ map. Well, according to detritivores, working their never considered ourselves dong, is a gross misinterpre­ Kenneth and Catherine ':'ay through leaf litter teem­ to be a venomous species. tation. Duvernoy secretions, Lohmann of the University of mg with spores. There is no The toxic qualities of our sali­ he believes, have not evolved North Carolina, not only do firm evidence for either, but va are incidental to our bio­ as a venom intended for, but the turtles have a map, but unsuccessful at, quickly kill­ they're pretty adept at read­ whatever the case, the spores logical success. ing it. 0uld have been hard to The same can be said for ing prey. Instead it's more "". likely that they developed for Scientists have long debat­ digest, and passed through some snakes, argues Ken­ ed whether or not animals the gut unscathed. neth Kardong of Washington other purposes such as swal­ lowing prey and preparing it can pinpoint their location J\nd where evidence of State University's Zoology using the Earth's magnetic their feeding habits is tenu­ Department. Even though for digestion, in much the same way as human saliva. field. For an animal to pos­ ous, that for the animals the oral secretions of many sess such a 'magnetic map' it snakes contain toxic com­ For this reason, says th�rnselves is virtually non­ Kardong, it is important in would need to be able to existent. The size of the pounds, they can't always �e detect two different features 0 considered venomous. This evolutionary studies of f Prolites (up to 3.3 x 1.3 mil­ snakes to clearly discern bet- of the magnetic field, both of imetres) excludes most distinction, says Kardong, is 7 NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTER 1997 At last researchers have worked out exactly how the Loggerhead Turtle uses the magnetic field to pinpoint its location.

which varied in a different young turtles to stay within inclination angle correspond­ Pass the Parcel direction across the surface the confines of the gyre. If ing to that along the southern rinking from mud pud· of the Earth. These features they go too far north they will edge of the gyre caused them Ddles may not seem to be would then act in much the enter cold water and freezeto to swim north-northeast, a particularly effective way to same way as our latitude and death; if they go too far south again into the safety of the prepare for a date, but that's longitude, giving each place they risk being swept into gyre. exactly what males of �ne on Earth a unique 'address'. another current system that So, the Lohmanns had American moth species The two most suitable fea­ can carry them thousands of demonstrated that, by using ( Gluphisia sepentrionis) do. tures are the strength of the kilometres from their normal the inclination angle, the tur­ These SO-milligram moths magnetic field andits inclina­ range. tles could approximate their have been observed drinking tion angle (the angle at which The researchers placed the latitude. But what about lon­ for several hours, pumping an gitude? For this study they incredible 10-50 millilitres of placed the hatchlings in a fluid through their gut and tank, but kept the inclination voiding it in jets that may be If they go too far north they will freeze to angle constant while varying squirted distances of up to the magnetic field strength. 40 centimetres. The total death; if they go too Again the hatchlings swam in amount of fluid expelled from far south they risk the direction that would keep the moth in one sitting ca,n them within the confines of exceed 600 times the i:noth � being swept into another current system. the gyre: east when they The functi�n ° body mass. _ ­ were in a magnetic field with this so-called 'puddling b� the same strength as that now been eluci­ haviour has at encountered on the western dated by two researchers magnetic field lines intersect baby turtles in a circular side of the gyre, and west in New York the Earth's surface). Cornell University d fibreglass tank filled with when they were in a field has long been su�gest� The Lohmanns studied the water. Around It ie the tank was a equivalent to that east of the that puddling, which is m? behaviour of hatchling Log­ computerised coil system gyre. in butt�rfb s gerhead Turtles (Caretta commonly seen � � that controlled the magnetic Together these two experi­ to do with caretta) that migrate east field strength and has something ed its inclina­ ments provided the re­ uptake of sodium. Inde d from their Florida birthplace tion angle. They found that searchers ey a towards the with strong evi­ when Scott Smedl � North Atlantic when they subjected the tur­ dence to support analysed e gyre-the circular current the notion Thomas Eisner s tles to a magnetic field whose that the turtles have . male motI1 system that surrounds the inclination the sen­ sodium I eveI s o f at angle correspond­ sory abilities they need those th . Sargasso Sea-where they ed to to they found that d that along the northern qualify as magnetic map had higher 5�./ feed and grow for several edge of the gyre, had puddled the turtles readers. than non-puddle years. It is critical for the swam south, into the gyre. um levels pu d An -G.T. But why do the males 8 1997 NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTER - d Wetland hirdc1 ducoJJered in new hahitat .

i se of the i mmense and d verse habitats. Not least b ecau Wetlands are e rld's most important among th wo , . . . s ecies close . e etlands finest bird p at b1rdlif . v iew some of th w e the y sup port. Now Aus tralia Post l ets you c e K ing fisher f e Jabiru, Ja ana, Littl range i an t images o th w ith our Wetland Bird.1 stam p issue . Br lli 10 s tamps all . ancl habitat· grace fou r · the A u s tra 1·ian Brolga in their natural -:i TV? L " . -:i TV? L stamp •iss ue , w et ano A perf . Lia - , 1"1.av k -ao u wet anrJd ect co mpan 1 0n to the Nature 0/ Au.1tra e 2, 1997, B s t Shop s from Jun ir'J0 ca Aus tralia Po t\PS650 Nt\ n b e found in pos t o ffic es and • Ant Garbos the spermatophore), and any it managed to die when the females don't? grab h l Acting on a hunch that it had from the females to the eggs. Talk about consorting of. o d enemy. Charles It's clear something to do with repro­ Smedley and Eisner suggest with the what the ant s out uet duction, the researchers that this 'gift' helps the new­ Clarke and Roger Kitching of of this association � t born caterpillars overcome the University of New Eng­ what's in it for released puddler and non­ the p-'leert h puddler males into a mating the low level of sodium in the land have uncovered a case P 1 a� t?. Th e rese �oticed archer8 chamber with a virgin fe­ leaves of their food plant. of an insect in collusion with a that when large y female foe-a carnivorous 1t�ms were re male. They found that the GluphisiaBut why don't traditional caught in Pth puddle directly? plant. As long ago as 1904Nep­ it pitcher they e bodies of puddlers had lower often went sodium concentrations after First, females are not entheswas suggested bicalcarata, that putn'd , eventually killin p g th e mating and that females, equipped with the greatly a carnivor­ lant.. Clarke and Kitch gut that appears ous pitcher plant found in mvest1gated this in after mating with puddlers, modified by placing I had higher sodium concen­ necessary for the passage of Borneo, was 'tended' by ants. dead member� of a partic of fluid and ly lar�e ula� trations than those that had huge amounts The ants make a nest in the species of ant into I mated with non-puddlers. the uptake of sodium. And hollow tendrils that connect c?lomsed and uncolonised Furthermore the eggs of second, for females whose the ends of the leaves to the p�tchers. They observed cost of reproduction is pitchers the / puddler-mated females were pitchers. It was assumed that, for five day s and found to contain higher lev­ already much higher than f�und that, . in the colonised ( els of sodium than eggs sired males, puddling is too ener­ pitchers, half of the getically expensive and risky, large by non-puddlers. dead ants were removed f These results suggest that as they must sit for hours at It's clear what the and only_ one of 45 pitchers went sodium is passed from pud­ the edge of puddles, often putnd. / On the other hand dler males to the females dur­ containing hungry frogs!-G.T. ants get out of this none of the prey items ing mating (presumably via was removed from the un­ association, but colonised plants and a quar­ ter of the pitchers went putrid. So, it seems, in re what's in it for the 1 turn for food and lodgings the pitcher plant? ants provide the pitcher plant with a garbage removal ser­ vice. -(j.T, See-through in return for sleeping quar­ Nests? ters, the ants ate the animals on and around the plant, mall birds often decorate thereby reducing the effects S their nests with lichen of herbivory. flakes and However, the white spidery full story has only recently cocoons. It is generall come to light. agreed that this is an attempt Clarke and Kitching stud­ at concealment from preda­ ied the pitcher plants along tors. an abandoned railway (Camp­line in Exactly how this works, anotusBrunei. schmitzz) The ants however, has not been clear. appeared to The idea that the decorative ignore any animals that visit­ additions camouflage ne sts ed the plant and instead for­ by making them blend into aged in the pitcher itself the branches upon which swimming in the fluid and they are built has been popu­ removing for consumption lar. But Mike Hansell, from any large prey items they the University of Glasgow, encountered. favours a different explana· When there weren't any tion. large prey items available Hansell examined 64 nests the ants turned their atten� of(Polyoptila the Blue-grey caerulea) Gnatcat, cher tions to mosquito larvae. 42 nes�s Two worker ants wouldenter of(Aegith thealos caudatus)Long-tailed �1t the fluid together and herd and sin· the _larvae into a small group gle from 50 other against nests the pitcher wall. One species, all of which used an� would then leave the spider cocoons. fluid, lichen and remaining just above He little support for the surface, found while the other the suggestion that the neStS would accelerate around the match the :nail were decorated to of the pitcher, slamming which they were mto the branches to larvae and carting off attached. In fact, in moSlo Curious bedfellows? cases the branches bore � The curly did, hollow tendril of this lichens and when they carnivorous ' ts pitcher plant (Nepenthes on the nes the lichens r bicalcarata) is same colou home to a weren't even the es. species of ant. as those on the branch o 10 Many of the nests were als 1997 NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTER W than the branch- rnuc h ider . j on, ma Iung 1·t When this uvenile male Redback es tJ1 ey were . . y were b eing Spider grows up, he will sacrifice un1i1 ( ely the himself look h· 1{ e tree 1im· b s. to the female during sex. de to But male suicide in Redbacks rn! stead, Hansell found sup- is the cheap. 01� for the theory that and cocoons worked hchens that females permit longer light reflectors to camou­ as decor�ted matings when they are flage nests. When engaged in eating their part­ ·t11 pale lichens or spider ?f ners. Females were also ;�coons, the nests, instead found to be dark s�apes in less likely to looking like_ remate if they had eatentheir tlle tree, dissolve 1_nto the first partner. background. ests with a !ew For males, whose the 1_llu­ life span ale patches crea�e is shorter than females' any­ �ion that light 1s passing way, the cost of being canni­ through them, making t�e balised is low because they nests look, to � potential are unlikely to mate again predator, like nothing at all. .. even if they do survive. The � -K.McG. tips of the male's mating ._, ..l palps always break off during � copulation, Redback adaptive and sexually select­ the female's rendering them hunger level. useless for any further mat­ Suicide ed. Andrade disregarded pater­ ing attempts. e love lives of Redback During copulation, males nal effort as the reason for n (Latrodectus has­ Many male arthropods pre­ Spiders somersault over their mate, the male's willingness to be sent 'nuptial gifts' to their seltt), in which males offer placing their abdomen above eaten, because separate labor­ mates, and Andrade con­ fuemselves as a coital snack, the female's jaws. Andrade atory tests showed consump­ cludes that the male are legendary. Suicide seems observed that, while all males tion of a single male does not Redback's willingness to be a high price to pay for sex, performed the somersault result in increased numbers cannibalised probably evol­ but new research by May­ manoeuvre (oftentwice-fir st of eggs or a greater egg mass ved through sexual selection dianne Andrade (now at with one mating palp and for his partner. for the most extreme mating Cornell University) provides then with the other), only She found, however, that gift. the first empirical evidence two-thirds ended up being longer copulation allowed the that male suicide is both eaten. Their fate is related to transfer of more sperm, and -R.S.

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11 NATURE AU STRALIA WINTER 1997 - LEICA BINOCULAR STOCKI STs NSW I ACT: Albury Fote Supplies 060-216 566 Artarmon L & p Ph t ographics 02-9906 2733 ° Bankstown Joe Newh ouse Ph 02-9709 5019 otograph� Blacktown Blacktown Camera H 02-9622 9832 ouse Bondi Junction Paictons Ph oto 02-9369 3315 graphics · Canberra Ted's Industrial 06-247 8711 · Canberra Fletchers Fotograph·ICS 06-24 7 8460 Caringbah Alderson Camera H ous 02-9524 9023 e Crows Nest Mainline Photograp h ICS. 02-9437 5800 • Kensington Peter's of Kensingt on 02-9662 1099 Merimbuta Double Creek Foto C ompany 064-951 899 · Sydney Binocular & Telescope Shop 02-9262 1344 · Sydney Fletchers Fotographics 02-9267 6146 · Sydney Ted's Industrial 02-9267 8856 VIC: East Hawthorn RAO.U. 03-9882 2622 · Melbourne All Teds Camera Stores 03-9600 0711 · Melbourne Michaels Camera & Video 03-9670 0241 · Melbourne Camera Action 03-9670 6901 · South Yarra Phototime P/L 03-9820 8701 Warragul Royaline Photo Plus 056-234 255 OLD: Ashgrove Accurate Instrument Service 07-3366 4495 · Brisbane Ted's Industrial 07-3221 9911 · Broadbeach Camera Town 075-538 1191 Cairns Sunbird Photographies 070-510 222 lndooroopilly Bentleys Camera House 07-3378 7133 Mackay Garricks Camera House 079-572 164 • MacGregor Photo Continental When looking for food, White-chinned Petrels follow their nose. 07-3849 4422 Redcliffe Ken Peters Camera House 07-3284 8844 The man-made slicks were When Size Toowoomba Cyrils Camera Centre Seabirds Smell 076-322 853 their Dinner very attractive to several Doesn�t Count Townsville Doug Kemps Camera House ...,-he smell of rotting sea­ seabirds such as Wilson's e all know how impor­ 077-714 745 Storm Petrel (Oceanites SA: l weed may make most of oceanicus), Wtant female choice can · Adelaide Photoco Camera House us wrinkle our noses in dis­ the Black-bellied be in deciding which males 08-231 5632 Storm Petrel (Fregetta tropi­ · Adelaide James Place Cameras gust. But to a seabird search­ ca), get to mate, leading to all 08-231 4811 ing for food in a vast feature­ White-chinned Petrel manner of male showiness Adelaide Photographic Wholesalers (Proce�laria aequinoctialis) 08-223 6777 less oc_ean, it's like a flashing (Dio­ such as long tail plumes and Adelaide Ted's Camera Store neon sign. and pnons. Albatrosses elaborate dances. But for the 08-223 3449 medea NT: Results of recent research spp.), however show­ ' male Black Wheatear (a type Darwin Bell Photographies by Gabrielle Nevitt (Univer­ ed no interest in the slicks ?f small thrush), mating is 089-815 769 sity of California) and col­ which tallies with their sus� Just the beginning. Even after WA: pected visual foraging behav­ • Fremantle Photo & Video Centre leagues support a long-held she's mated with him, the 09-430 5072 theory that seabirds forage �0�11: (they often find food by female wheatear still wants Perth Camera Electronic Services Jommg mixed feeding groups 09-328 4405 by using their sense of smell. her male to prove his worth. Perth Plaza Camera Centre In the waters around the of seals, whales and other Around two weeks before 09-325 3154 sub-Antarctic island of South seabirds). the start of egg laying, male TAS: But· the ability to detect Burnie Rettke Photographies Georgia, the researchers cre­ Black Wheatears (Oenanthe 004-314 126 a!ed sm�II slicks of vegetable DMS may not only help hun­ leucura) fly off in search not Hobart Walch Optics gry birds to find food. The 002-234 962 House 011 to which a chemical called of food, but of rocks: small · Launceston Stallard's Camera dimethyl sulphide (DMS) researchers point out that in 003-319 604 DMS concentrations tend to flat _stones that they pick up had been added. DMS is a their beak and carry back naturally occurring com­ b� highe�t in sea water asso­ • Duty Free ciated with upwellings and to the nest site. These 35-40- pou�d given off by micro­ gram birds carry on average scopic plants in the plankton shelf waters, and they sug­ For more information send almost two kilograms of or photocopy to: gest these featurescould help this coupon when they are grazed on by stones. Although these ADEAL PTY LTD small animals like krill. Krill the birds, known for sto es usually form the foun­ 3025 � Altona North Vic th�ir l�ng-distance seasonal 2 Baldwin Ad 11 are a favourite food of petrels fax: (03) 9369 52 dation f the nest, they have ph: (03) 9369 7811 cular migrations, to navigate their ? mation on: Bino and_ other pelagic seabirds, no obv10us function in terms Please send me infor way around an otherwise bar­ Name:, so 1t would make sense for of s pport, insulation or pro­ � . them to be able to detect ren landscape...... tectwn from predators Address:...... DMS. -R.S. Instead, it appears that th� B01 P/C...... N 1997 12 NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTER -

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c� Th e fr ee dom to see. Faithful parents don't always share the work load: for Kirk's Dik-diks, the male doesn't lift a hoof.

wat�hful for predators than their partners. In fact , whe n t h e researche rs played a ta pe o f _an Afncan . Hawk Eag (Hieraaetus spilogaster) le a predator of young dik-diks females stayed alert for up t� 20 times longer than their mates. Because the potential reproductive rate of males is higher than for females it is hard to imagine why �ales would remain faithful unles s it conveyed some advantage. Well, say Brotherton and Rhodes, there is intense com­ petition among males, and to stand any chance of re pro­ ducing, now or in the future, a male has to defend his mate year-round against ot her potential suitors. -R.S. Insects and Elephants Follow the Same Scent heromones are volatile that are pro­ the rock pile was National Park, Namibia. They Pcompounds females use the number of though many animals to bigger. looked for three separate duced by stones that their mates carry actually In some cases, So, for Black Wheatears at behavioural traits in males entice a mate. to determine his quality and molecules of the least, size doesn't matter. The that would indicate some only a few hence to help them make cer­ are all that is decisions about their females weren't interested in measure of paternal care­ pheromone tain to attract a potential reproduction. how big a male's pile of defending food resources for needed their mates, guarding off­ partner kilometres away. To test this idea, Manuel stones was but in how much insect spring against other infantici­ Females of many Soler (from the University of effort he put into building it. rflies -G.T. dal males, or sharing the bur­ species, especially butte Granada in Spain) and col­ a pher­ leagues manipulated the den of keeping watch for and moths, release omone with the active com­ numbers of stones in Black Useless Dik-dik predators. ace­ Wheatear nests and then n most mammal species, Unfortunately for the pound (Z)-7-dodecen-1-yl females, the only thing their tate (or 7-DDA forshort). observed how the females I the females look after their exam­ reproduced. partners were observed And in an amazing young on their own, freeing lution , Nest sites often contain males from parental duties. doing was chasing other ple ot' convergent evo stones from previous nests. As a result males normally When the researchers compete to mate with as removed these old stones it many females as possible. had no effect on the number But some (five per cent) are Why should such differentanima ls as of new stones the males car­ monogamous, with males and ried, nor on the reproductive females working together to moths and elephants hit on the same behaviour of the females. raise their young. In the case However, when they re­ of monogamous dik-diks to seduce mates? moved new stones, halving (dwarf antelopes), however, chemical the number of new stones males have recently been every second day, the males found to be completely use­ found worked harder to make up less to females and their off­ males away, although they researchers have now the deficit. The females spring-the first conclusive Asian Eleph�nt� were tolerant of foreign that female ac rewarded this diligence by demonstration of the absence f�mal (Elephas maximus) att, �s. Because this aggres­ ti:e laying their eggs earlier and of paternal care in a monog­ s10n 1s sex specific with exactly males their mates ed 10 producing more young. amous mammal. can't be considered compound, releas to be same s. Addition of new stones Peter Brotherton and Anna defending resources. the urine during oestru caused m th the males to reduce Rhodes from the University There was no evidence of Bets Rasmussen, fr? their effort and the females of Institu te 0� Cambridge studied 23 males attacking unrelated Oregon Graduate d followed suit, laying later and pairs of ogy, an Kirk's Dik-diks babies, nor were there any Science and Technol ,e producing fewer young, even (Madoqua kirkit) d ma in Etosha signs that males were more colleagues presen te

TER 1997 -14 NATURE AUSTRALIA WIN - range of sub­ Pearls e1 ep 1 1ants with a of nc es , including samples Wisdom sta concent. ! a- nta ining known t was the roi:nantic but m s­ c_o A, and unne � s of 7-DD placed belief of Chri t1on we11 as I s­ from oestrous, as topher Columbus that pearls oestrous, females. originated from dew drops non- to M le elephants were found which fell from mangrove t positively to samples leaves into open shellfish re!c not to containing 7-DDA, b�t where they 'crystallised' into the non-oestrous unne,_ and a solid, lustrous form. Of other co�1t:rols. Interestingly, course, we all now know that 7.QDA 111 water was less it is a grain of sand that stim­ ffective than the same con­ ulates the development of a \ntration in non-oestrous pearl...or is it? �ine, suggesting th�t some­ Whileit's true that both sci­ thina else in the unne (pos­ entific and popular literature sibly proteins) enhances the have definitely leaned in compound's effect. . favour of the sand grain theo­ But why should such differ­ ry, Swiss gemmologist Edu­ ent animals as moths and ele­ ard Gtibelin argues that there phants hit on the same chem­ is not a grain of evidence to ical to seduce mates? The support it. compound's volatility may be According to the popular of sand to reduce its irritation The popular sand grain theory to responsible, say the re­ theory, the formation of a nat­ to the animal. However, explain the origin of a pearl has searchers. And what effect ural pearl is stimulated when Glibelin argues that it would been seriously threatened. might elephant pheromones a grain of sand penetrates be extremely difficult for a have on local insects that use certain bivalve molluscs sand grain to penetrate this tie, thereby forming a skin the same pheromone? Pre­ between the shell and the region, unless forced. This is that seals off the space sumably there is little confu­ outer shell-building layer of because, when shell is between it and the shell. sion between species be­ the mantle (epithelium), formed, the epithelium pro­ Besides, of all the millions of cause of the different com­ which lines the inside of the duces the first and outer shell pearls that have been drilled pounds and secretions in shell. A smooth pearl (which layer (the periostracum) in or X-rayed in the past, no-one which the 'hot' compound is is essentially an inside-out the fold that runs right has ever come across a grain delivered. -C.B. shell) forms around the grain around the edge of the man- of sand inside a pearl.

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and Wildlife Eco Tours c ntact: Dr Ptn Needham Whales SOUTH AUSTRALIA 2;4 Greenhill Road, GLENSIDE 5065 0222 fax: (08) 8379 0229 AUST RAL IA N phone: (08) 8379 0203 or (08) 8379 Open 7 days. 9320 6065 6 College Street Sydney Tcl:(02) 9320 6202 Fax: AC N No 007 867 521 email: [email protected] home page: http://www.austmus.gov.au Supported by the Australian Museum Society and Hewlett Packard After reviewing biological research carried out in Germany between the wars, Giibelin proposes an alterna­ tive theory. He believes that natural pearls begin as a result of abnormal growths, such as benign tumours, from the mantle. As with the sand grain theory, the epider­ mis gradually envelopes the tumour, continuing to secrete shell material, with nacre being secreted last, and in this way forming a pearl. The repeated development of such tumours is presumably inherited in certain species of bivalve molluscs. Giibelin admits, however, without slowing down. that until it becomes possible Rhinoceros beetles are capable of carrying 30 times their own weight to directly observe the process of pearl formation, all animals, able to carry Why and how rhinoceros leagues from the University exactly how and why it more than 850 times their beetles should find large bur­ of Liverpool in the UK won­ occurs will remain one of the own weight, according to dens so easy to shoulder is dered how this apparently great mysteries of nature. some reports. To test this unknown. They don't carry lazy strategy could possibly -K.McG. extraordinary claim, Rodger any loads in the wild, but they pay off. The small fish, known Kram, a physiologist fromthe do use their strength when as parr, weigh only a minute University of California at burrowing through tough 0.15 per cent of the average Beetles Berkeley, measured how soil. body mass of the anadro­ Shoulder the much weight the beetles -C.B. mous males (which have Burden could carry and the metabol­ made the journey to sea and hinoceros beetles (fami­ ic energy they needed to do back) and must gain fertilisa­ Rly Scarabaeidae) are it. Stay-at-home tions by sneaking in and reputed to be the strongest of Kram built yokes for the Salmon showering the eggs with beetles which he velcroed hen male Atlantic their sperm while the big onto their backs. He loaded WSalmon (Salmo salar) anadromous males are occu­ QUICK QUIZ the yokes with lead weights reach a certain age many pied with the same activity. 1. What do sanguinivorous and put the beetles on a leave the streams in which What the researchers animals eat? treadmill in a special cham­ they hatched and head for the found was that the tiny males 2. Is Dutchman's Pipe ber. The beetles' oxygen use sea. There they feed inten­ pack a big reproductive animal, vegetable or was estimated by measuring sively and grow rapidly punch. Although their small­ the difference in the amount before leaping up waterfalls er size means they have mineral? of oxygen coming into and and dodging hungry bears smaller testes and produce 3. Which members of the out of the chamber. These etc. to return to their birth­ smaller numbers of sperm, as Animal Kingdom have measurements were used to place to mate. But when they a proportion of body size the largest eyes? calculate the metabolic ener­ get there they find that they their testes were actually 4. What are macropods gy required by beetles under have tiny rivals-male fish twice as large and they pro­ more commonly different loads. that didn't make the oceanic duced more sperm and a known as? �am found that, in fact, pilgrimage but instead re­ greater volume of ejaculate. 5. Where on Earth was the rhinoceros beetles can't mained at home, growing And, although the sperm two-kilogram meteorite carry 850 times their own little but maturing in comfort. sizes were the same, the parr known as ALH84001, weight. When they carry 100 Matthew Gage and col- produced a greater propor- and thought to contain times their weight, they can hardly move. Loaded with 40 evidence for life on times their weight, they can Mars, found? �lod for a while but soon get 6. What do mycologists tired. But carrying 30 times study? their weight, they can main­ 7. Name the huge flightless tain a steady pace. This is the birds that once lived in equivalent of a man strolling New Zealand. along while carrying a large 8. How many legs does a car. cockroach have? Not only are rhinoceros 9. Who is the author of the beetles strong, they are 1995 book The future cheap to run. For humans eaters? carrying a given per cent of body weight increases metab­ 10. What sort of plant is olism by the same percent­ depicted on the new age. But rhinoceros beetles $5 note? ca�rying 30 ti_mes their body (Answers in Q&A) weight only increased their Large male Atlantic Salmon mate find metabolism by four times. that return from sea to themselves competing with diminutive home bodies. 16 1997 NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTER The cran al garden erm and _ ! growing on . of motile sp this Mexican rainforest tion d I on�e, . th an lizard hose sperm I'ive ( Corythophanes cristatus) competitors. makes � se of their the lizard even harder to see. don't all sal�no �o 1why � e stay-at-home option. tak e tl - has ugh they ac h'1e�e . a h'_ig h stems and leaves) living Altho a on a vertebrate. proportion of fertihs �ons er ?e expected_ �iven The back of these than would lizards' tiny siz_e! the pa11 can heads are slightly concave their crea�ng l only fer tilise aroun� five an ideal spot for � stil ng a cramal garden. er cent of tl1e eggs dun Spores can wning. They are attacked easily lodge there and be �pa watered by the anadromous . males by rain drops and are not attractive to moisture dripping from the and trees,. females as mates. So, the lizards' immobility although it involv�s a lot ensunng nothing is dis­ more ef fortand a fair degree lodged. of risk, a trip to the ocean is Unfortunately when the still ilie best strategy for a liz�rd sheds its skin its vege­ male salmon that wants to tative headgear will probably maximise his reproductive be lost and the plants may not success and make lots of be able to reach sexual matu­ baby salmon. rity. However, because many -G.T. rainforest lizards shed their skin quite infrequently and Lizard's Green often do so incompletely, the Beret plants m�y well remain, giv­ that a rolling mg the lizard a little bit of They say added I stone gathers no moss camouflage and keep­ it seems that this piece of ing it at the top of the sartor­ and ial stakes. folk wisdom is true for the -G.T. animal kingdom too. The occurrence of epizoic plants (plants growing on thebodies Further Reading of li ving animals) is rare and Andrade, M.C.B., 1996. Sexual selection appears to be restricted to for male sacrifice in the Australian long-living, slow-moving ani­ Redback Spider. Science 271: 70-72. mals in the tropics. These Brotherton, P.N.M.& Rhodes, A., 1996. include giant tortoises in the Monogamy without biparental care in a Galapagos that have lichens dwarf antelope. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B growing on their carapaces 263: 23-29. sloths turned green by th� algae living on their hair and Clarke, C.M. & Kitching, R.L., 1995. various sluggish beetle; and Swimming ants and pitcher plants: a weevils in the forests of unique ant-plant interaction from Papua New Guinea that grow Borneo. 1. Trop. £col. 11: 589-602. a veritable forest on their Edwards, D., Selden, P.A., Richardson, �acks containing algae, fungi, lichens, J.B. & Axe, L., 1995. Coprolites as evi­ mosses and liver­ dence for plant-animal interaction in worts. Siluro-Devonian terrestrial ecosystems. Now the rather dubious Nature 377: 329-331. Kardong, K.V., 1996. Snake toxins and spring. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 93: honour of membership in this venoms: an evolutionary perspective. 809-813. lect �lub has been granted Gage, M.J., Stockley, P. & Parker, G.A., Herpetologica 52: 36-46. �� a lizard. Corythophanes 1995. Effects of alternativemale mating Soler, M., Soler, J.J., M0ller, A.P., Moreno, �nst. atus is a Cent strategies on characteristics of sperm Kram, R., 1996. Inexpensive load carry­ J. & Linden, M., 1996. The functional ral Amer­ beetles. /. Exp. Biol. significance of sexual display: stone car­ can rainforest lizard that production in the Atlantic Salmon ing by rhinoceros � es (Salmo salat): theoretical and empirical 199: 609-612. rying in the black wheatear. Anim. a very good imitation of Behav. 51: 247-254. a·� �Y bra investigations. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. t nch. It spends hours B 30: 391-399. Lohmann, K.J. & Lohmann, C.M.F., s1t mg motionless Rasmussen, L.E.L., Lee, T.D., Roelofs, 0 f on the side 1994. Detection of magnetic inclination a tree' wai·t mg for o An turtles: a possible mechan­ W.L., Zhang, A. & Daves, G.D. Jr, 1996. tr u · f od to Gradstein, S.R. & Equihua, C., 1995. angle by sea in elephants. Nature n die past. epizoic bryophyte and algae growing on ism for determining latitude. /. Exp. Biol. Insect pheromone Whil 379: 684. i e·m th rainforests of the lizard Corythophanes cristatus in 194: 23-32. southern � 265- f:'lexico, Rob Grad­ Mexican rain forest. Biotropica 27: Wikelski, M. & Baurle, S., 1996. Pre­ stein (U mv 268. Lohmann, K.J. & Lohmann, C.M.F., ersity of Gottin­ field inten­ copulatory ejaculation solves time con­ gen er 1996. Detection of magnetic in marine en � G T?any ) and Clem­ to turtles. Nature 380: 59-61. straints during copulations ti a Equih Gubelin, E.J., 1995. An attempt sity by sea iguanas. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 263: M ua (University of the formation exi o fou�d explain the instigation of 439-444. � lizar one of these of the natural pearl. /. Gemm. 24: Nevitt, G.A., Veit, R.R. & Kareiva, P., d� s) portmg sulphide as a foraging ful gre a very taste­ 539-545. 1995. Dimethyl n hat i:nadeup of cue for Antarctic Procellariiform Carrie Bengston, Karen McGhee, differe� four species of algae and Hansell, M.H., 1996. The function of seabirds. Nature 376: 680-682. Rachel Sullivan and Geordie a liver� Torr are regular contributors to the the latter being lichen flakes and white spider cocoons first� of birds' nests. /. Smedley, S.R. & Eisner, T., 1996. Nature Strips. corni. y ·ow· n example of a on the outer surface to its off- oph tic plant Nat. Hist. 30: 303-311. Sodium: a male moth's gift (one that 17 NATURE A USTRALIA WINTER 1997 - pet-shop blues, and 19 days later th pair AJT U RA LIST white Packham exceeded the e .1" ... selves in producing 18 pink, squirm·m­n jelly beans. The good ladies restrai� � their appetites and the birthday par� It is undoubtedly the most successful was a great success. and adaptable of all the animals I don't think I was being unreasonab] introduced into Australia. in expecting 18 naked pups to sprout 1� white fur coats at about a week old but hen bro nish-grey :"' � velvet_ began c�ver­ mg them, 1t all got a bit confusing. My father was_ �pproached with the HOUSE MOUSE problem of explammg the genetic engi­ neering going on in the tissue-stuffed ROUSE cutlery drawers. He deftly explained it in terms of his black hair and my brown ciously of ferrets and fouled bird seed. but when I later opened the cage and got BY SfEVE VAN DYCK Once installed in the Hilton, it took them a glimpse of an unmistakably wild brown about three days to cloy the whole mouse slipping out a hole in the bottom garage with that polluting, pasty mouse I put two and two together and started aroma (mostly male!) that reminds me worrying whether our friendly baker of a pate of garlic and boot mould. By the with the curly brown hair confined his fourth day the two males had gouged attentions to delivering just the bread. great hunks from one another's rumps Some Don Juan from the compost so I was forced to find other accommo­ heap must have found the perfume of dation for the old scabby male the pet Snow White and her sister so besotting T !NE YEARS OLD I shop lady had off-loaded onto me and that he risked life and limb chiselling in became suspicious of my parentage on stuffed into the bayoneted shoe box from west of the wall to pledge his troth account of some pet House Mice. The before I could tell her he looked mean to the two ladies. Maybe he just liked mouse cage was a Hilton edifice, a '50s and unhealthy and I wanted to choose Wheat-Hearts better than potato peel. kitchen dresser more reluctantly relin­ another. As romantic as it sounds for us city quished by my father to me for a rodent By the end of the third week, both slickers to refer to the small mice our house than it had been by my mother to females were as fat and shiny as cats bring in as 'Field Mice', there are no him for a tool cupboard. It had sliding Packham pears, and the memorable real Field Mice in Australia. They are all ripple-glass doors on the top floor, cut­ morning they synchronised births was the same smelly old House Mouse (Mus lery-drawer bedrooms in the middle, also the breakfast at which they tore musculus or M. domesticus, depending and a labyrinth of ramps and cardboard their little newborn pinkies apart and on the prevailing taxonomic wind) that pipes in the lower compartment. It was devoured them like a couple of frenzied arrived with the First Fleet in 1788, if not very high on 3-D, but low on ventilation. White Pointers. much earlier on other ships. That same I bought two pairs of white mice from The local chemist prescribed 'Wheat­ animal is the black-and-white pet shop an old Sydney pet shop that reeked deli- Hearts' to cure their post-partum-post- mouse, the white laboratory mouse, the

House Mouse populations often irrupt into plagues, during which they can number severa; thousand . ind" 1v1 "d ua Is h per ectare. 18 NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTER 1997

rd brown grain-shed mouse, the one that vention, we call rats. Some mice are The sight of a House Mouse loose in the dies in the bottom of the pot�to drawer, adapted to mud and mangroves, some to kitchen sends most people rushing for the the one that shorts out the dishwasher, harsh waterless deserts, some to wet mouse trap! and tl1e one that often coi:nes �nto !he heathland. A few are virtually indistin­ r Queensland Museum for identification guishable externally f om the House of prey's claws or a ditch alongside other inside hamburgers and packs of walnuts Mouse. None, however, has a distribu­ r exhausted relatives. Females character­ or dried f uit. tion that covers all mainland Australia istically become infertile in high-density It is undoubtedly the most successful (and most of its islands) as does the populations, the vagina permanently and adaptable of all the animals intro­ House Mouse. One island-bound popula­ closes and the uterus becomes thin and duced into Australia, being just as tion of the Lakeland Downs Mouse non-functional. In 1907 Dudley Le Souef, fecund inside functioning refrigerators (Leggadina lakedownensis) may be ° ° while Director of Melbourne's Zoolog­ and cold rooms (at-10 C) as it is in 40 threatened by irruptions in House ical Gardens, quoted the following news­ Cheat inside sun-blasted metal shipping Mouse numbers, but other species, like paper report: "For three months or containers. Its numbers may irrupt to the New Holland Mouse (Pseudomys more, the country around Merriwa and plagues in grossly disturbed habitats. It novaehollandiae), might push out and probably far beyond, has been subjected even occurs in Antarctic bases. It is defi­ thereafter exclude House Mice from to a plague of mice so numerous as to nitely not, however, the only mouse mined or burnt areas. beggar description. Recently on the foundin Australia. During plagues, which occur every premises of a general store 10,000 mice We have our own designer suite of four years or so in the grain belt, House were destroyed in four nights. Upwards around 30-35 species of small native Mice may number several thousand indi­ of 500 were captured while a cricket net mice, plus another 30 or so larger viduals per hectare. Life is predictably was being unrolled. Four bushels of oats species th at, following European con- quick, cheap and nasty, ending in a bird in a bag were appropriated by the mice in a night. A local well ceased to yield water and on examination it was found to HOUSE MOUSE contain a solid mass several feet thick of Mus musculus dead vermin... ". While House Mice are smelly nuis­ Oassification ances and a serious economic pest, the Order Rodentia, family Muridae. Considered by some to be Mus domesticus. other side of the coin shows that for just about everything we eat, rub into our Identification skin, drop into our eyes, inject into our Yellowy-brown to blacki sh with grey belly (more coastal populations), bi scuit-brown to muscles, or wash our hair with, it has all cr:'1my-fawn with pure white belly (central desert areas); head-body length 60-10 0 mm;_ been tried out on the poor old House tailabou t 85 mm; 10-25 g. Distinguished from native species by a notch behind the cuttmg Mouse, ad nauseam, long before it hit ed�e of the two upper incisors. This can be seen with a hand lens in living the market. ani mals. Females have 5 pairs d with 2 pairs in native mice. Native mice But royal food-taster or not, the ones lack of teats compare characteristic Mus stink. around our place still break their necks to get the lowly pumpkin seed from the Dis o ·trib. ution and Habitat trap every time we set it.• h n�mally from Europe and across the Asian steppes to Japan. In Australia occurs in most bitat s / types, but mostly in disturbed habitats and as a commensal of humans. The pre ent Further Reading ome d Watts, C.H.S. & Aslin, H., 1981. The rodents of stic strains are derived from both European and Japanese 'fancymice', which were bre as pets Australia. Angus & Robertson: Sydney. /c urios, particularly in Japan, in the 19 th centuryor even earlier. Behaviour Grzimek, B., 1990. Encyclopedia of mammals. Vol. 3. McGraw-Hill: New York. Nocturnal s u except when populations dense home range might be as small a JO sq are etres. d 19-20 ; Becomes sexually mature at 8 w�eks· 4-12 young per litter; gestation perio Le Souef, W.H.D., 1907. Wild life in Australia. p s ears s unds Whitcombe and Tombs: Christchurch. u to 11 litters per year. Average life span less than a ear, n:iax. 2 year . H � t:;P 4o,ooo y by ultrasomc ( ° Hz. Young pups in particular communicate with their mother Steve Van Dyck is a Curator of Vertebrates ::,.2 O,ooo d Products. Hz) calls well above �ur hearing. Omnivorous but prefers grainan grain at the Queensland Museum where he has worked since 1975.

NATURE 19 AUSTR ALIA WINTER 1997 - BJ;rr-· & E N D A N G E R E D The slightly pendulous, green and �urple flowers are just under a centimetre long with a faint unpleasant odour. TINGLE TAIL­ FLOWER BY GRANTWARDELL-JOHNSON

hectares, the Tingle Tailflow�r is thought to be the most geographically restricted species, in a genus notable �or restricted species, and is thus of consid­ erable conser vation interest. Each of the known populations is situ­ ated at the base of a granite outcrop. Similar sites exist as islands in the tall Karri/tingle forest throughout the Walpole area. However, given that there has been considerable botanical survey work in the region, the species appears to be genuinely rare. While it is possible THE liNGUl TAJLFLOWER that further populations await discovery, (Anthocercis sylvicola), a rare n�w particularly in the Soho Hills to the species from the potato family north-east and Sharp Forest Block to (Solanaceae), has recently been the north-west, the dense vegetation described from the high-rainfall tingle and poor access to these areas would (Eucalyptus jacksonii and E. guilfoylei) make surveying difficult. and Karri (E. diversicolor) forests of It is a spiny shrub up to 2.5 metres tall Walpole, south-western Australia. It is with stems up to 1.5 centimetres in the only member of the genus confined diameter. Its growth habit is unusual, to tall open-forest. The species name being sometimes erect but often fallen

Its unusual habit, the potential for many members of the new leaves start to shoot. A few species potato family to contain chemicals of major such as A. genistoides and A. gracilis are totally deciduous, losing their leaves pharmaceutical significance, and the possibly relictual during the warmer, drier part of �e year. Thus some Anthocercis species nature of the species, make it worthy of detailed study. share growth characteristics with many plants from the tropical north of Australia. sylvicola Flowering occurs from _S�pte�ber to (dweller in forests) is from the to an inclined or horizontal position with Latin sylva (forest or wood), and cola February and up to five d1stmctive flow­ erect branches. Thus it resembles a ers sprout in short cluster� near the (dweller), in reference to the habitat of small prickly version of Tasmania's the species. (Anodopetalum biglan­ ends of the branches. The sltghtly pen­ Horizontal Scrub dulous, green and purple flo ers �re The Tingle Tailflower was first collect­ dulosum). Although no evidence has _w ed in the 1960s but had not been relo­ just under a centimetre long with a famt been found of rooting from trailing unpleasant odour. Fertile fruits have not cated since that time, nor described. It branches, there is nevertheless some was abundant in a small area of been seen, although insects have be�n difficulty in deciding what constitutes an Stenle z Karri/tingle forest near Walpole during observed visiting the flowers. individual plant. fruits have been collected in Decem?e � a floristic survey of the area in 1989. The Tingle Tailflower has another o J � Subsequently another small population and February. The long flowering pen unusual growth habit. It, like several and moderate abundance of flowers sug­ � was discovered 30 kilometres to the other species of Anthocercis, is decidu­ e i north, and another 6.5 kilometres to the gest that the pollinator has become r�r ous or at least semi-deciduous. Al­ or extinct. It is possible that t�� specie le west. Being known from just three pop­ though there is no totally leafless peri­ J � ulations within an area of less than ten seeds rarely in unusual con�1tio�s � od, the old leaves are shed just as the that, like many other species m e

20 NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTER 1997 p

Bushwolking Holidays Kakadu-Kimberley-Red Centre

Put on a pack and join us for a different kind of holiday. Experience the wild in wilderness. See wonderful places where no vehicle can ever go. Enjoy the sights, sounds and scents of the natural world around you. View Aboriginal rock-art in situ. Swim in clear, tropical pools. Camp in beautiful, pristine sites. g enus, it has long-lived, soil-stored seed. relicts from former wetter times. Its See no one but your own small If that w ere the case, the species may unusual habit, the potential for many group of companions for days or well become more abundant following members of the potato family to contain fir even weeks at a time. e. Although the damp substrate that chemicals of major pharmaceutical sig­ forms around Relax by the campfire as you r the base of granite out­ nificance and the possibly relictual c ops of known populations naturally of'the species, make it worthy of enjoy a delicious three-course prot� nature cts them from frequent fire it is detailed taxonomic and ecological study. meal. re itable th at they are burnt done we will be i!1 a � occa�ional­ Once this work is With more than 50 departures, l' _!early the response of this species position to manage the s ec1es, re s w to better � we offer you most comprehensive i orthy of examination it holds its own m the The a· ensuring that of bushwalking holidays 1Scovery of a species forests of the south-west.• program A nII is· of Karri/tingle iocer� co� fimed in Australia. of th to tall open-forest High Ramfall Ask for our Its �O .zone is significant. Further Reading A cl�sest relatives (A. genistoides Macfarlane, T.D. & Wardell-Johnson, G., 19�6. brochure. and · anisanth species a),. also from the south­ Anthocercis sylvicola (Solanaceae), a rare new wes t re s forests of Walpole, south-western Ra nf � pecies of the Transitional from the tingle i a zone Australia. Nuytsia 11: 71-78. anoth . Although A. gracilis, ! e end mic, is t speci:; 0� t � also a forest Dr Grant Wardell-Johnson ha� ex ensive r . t e H gh occu 1� i Rainfall Zone, it in south-western bzoge_og:aphy s the experience t e �ore seasonal environ- and undertook he florzstic sur­ lll nt of e D and ecology re : It. arhng Scarp vey ofthe Tingle Mosaic in the Walpole q, � IS PO s.b t ty O;i Phone: (08) 8985 2134 re � i le that the Tingle Tailflower He is currently based at �e Unwers� prese s an out a bzogeo­ n oc early lineage in the Namibia where he is carry!ng Fax: (08) 8985 2355 A th enrcz s genus . and that its populations are graphic overview of the region NATURE AUSTRALI 21 A WINTER 1997 aret Iselin. As a Marg child in the 193 was one of five or six 0 8 WILD FOODS she girls take bush walks by two elderly 0 'grannies� 1?iv. ing at Myora Mission. Although she longer gathers many plants, Marga�o How a South American weed remarkably clear has recollections 0} came to be used in such like ways how they were used. in such distant places is a puzzle to me. Margaret showed i:n� dozens of plants used for food, medicine, weaving and dyeing. If much of what she said w familia_r, a surprising amount was new�� �ou1:d 1t remarka�l� th�t I could be with­ STROLLS ON in view of Australia s third largest city �he 199�s, recording . significant n'e� STRADBROKE information about Abonginal culture. In a patch of heathland Margaret showed me "tittybottle", a (Leucopog n leptospermoides)heath shrub BY TIM LOW ? with tiny cream fr_u1ts, sweet to taste, and vaguely resembling teats, hence the name Growing beside it was "citronell (Leptospermum juniperinua" ate� tree m) with Aborigines, who plied them with fish :fragrant foliage that was placed under and sustaining starch of Bungwall Fern mats to repel fleas and other insects. (Blechnum indicum). Other plants nearby were a They were later (Gahnia sawsedge rescued by explorer John Oxley, who sp.), once strung together to make brooms, and "honeysuckle" (Coast was helped by Finnegan to discover the Banksia integrifolia) Brisbane River. Banksia, with bark More than 170 years later, Stradbroke that was boiled in drums to tan cotton N 1823, THREE TICKET-OF-LEAVE Island still supports a large Aboriginal fishing nets to make them stronger. convicts-Pamphlet, Finnegan and Par­ community. There are older Aborigines These plants were typical of many I was sons-were caught up in a storm and who still know their wild foods, and they shown, in having a name or a use that shipwrecked on Moreton Island. They are still hospitable to visitors. On two wasn't completely traditional. borrowed a canoe and crossed to recent trips to the island I was privileged Yet some of the plants were less tradi­ Stradbroke Island where, for 39 days, to go bush with perhaps the most know­ tional than this; they were weeds. they enjoyed the hospitality of island ledgeable island resident, 'Au_ntie' Margaret showed me White Passion-

Madagascar Periwinkle, according to Margaret , was a remedy for diabet · d d ru nk · es, d.,arr hoea and stomach problems. Leaves were boiled and the liqui

22 WIN T[R I 97 NATURE AUSTRALIA 9 . (fassiflora subpeltata) and Guava fi·�ii_ ulll guajava) with their edible di ytolacca octandra) (! · kweed (Ph b uits , In for dyeing reeds, and Redhead , us d (Asclepias curassavica), �t 11 Bush o _ (Catharanthus � ad�gascar Periwinkle , roseu s) and Blue. B1llygoat Weed ) , w h'1c h . (Ageratum _lz_oustonianum se1 - ved as medicines. . . Whenever I vis1� . the less-remote I _a�n Aboriginal commumties usually 1own a few edible and medicinal weeds 1 Aust Spring (see Nature _ : * 1993 on Tasmania's Abongmes) . Even so, the

I never expected to actuallyme et someone who would remember this food.

extent of weed usage always surprises me. I was certainly wide-eyed when Margaret told me that in times past the "witchdoctor of the tribe" crushed the seed of the Castor Oil Plant (Ricinis com- 11uwis) as a purgative. A witch doctor doling out castor oil-what an image! Another interesting remedy was Blue ' Billygoat Weed, which was crushed and applied to stings. This South American weed (or the closely A. cony­ zoides) related was used by Aborigines at Innisfailand along the Daintree River to treat scratches, wounds and sores; simi­ lar uses are recorded from India and igeria. How a South American weed came �o be used in such like ways in such distant places is a puzzle to me. Of the native remedies, I was curious :Vh;nMargaret told me about "sarsapar­ illa (False Sarsaparilla, Hardenbergia vi�lacea), a vine with , b leaves that were oiled to m�ke a blood tonic. strongly susp I ect this remedy originated in ydne Succulent stems of Blue Billygoat Weed were � y, among white colonists, who are Margaret's amazing bush lore is thus a nown crushed and applied to stings on Stradbroke to have substituted False potpourri of old-time white and black S s pa Island. r � rilla for Sweet Sarsaparilla usage. ( !lax glycophylla), a Of the native foods Margaret showed �f �1 scurvy treatment �t F!eet convicts. Aborigines me, I was especially delighted to be a tradi­ report that the 'Goompi Trail' is up and �; _ Y did no� boil medicines, nor did shown Climbing Maidenhair Fern t 'fhtalk of (Lygodium microphyllum). running. It is pleasing to know that ton�cs or treating blood. Only one Margaret's expertise will not be forgot­ e use of (Sida rhombi of Aborigines eat­ fol' Sida Retusa - doubtful record exists ten; that it has passed to a new genera­ (cia) to treat starchy underground stems on asiatica)· diarrhoea · ' Pennyweed ing the tion. Now white Australians visiting the entella Moreton Island over 160 years ago. I M d for arthritis island, like Pamphlet, Finnegan and :�scar _Periwinkle for stomach never expected to actually meet some­ the chance pr�b s Parsons long ago, will have , diarrhoea and diabetes one who would remember this food. Aboriginal culture, Strad­ Cas t or 0·1 , to experience i seed as a purgative and My second trip to Stradbroke Island Island style.• Co on S (Sonchus broke as �m owthistle oleraceus) was sponsored by Redlands Tourism, b : ble on the or are. also, I believe, uses which is promoting tourism Reading ro !�� om a Further were white Australians. They island. The company has employed Colliver, F.S. & Woolston, F.P., 1975. The Aborigines of r bably Burns, to Island. Proc. R. Soc. Qld 86(16): 91-104. Abori i�troduced to the young Aborigine, Matthew Stradbroke gi� f com_mumty tours, and I was asked to -or wh by mission staff run wild foods Brisbane-based enviromnental it� reside The real teacher, of Tim Low is a - - nts of Stradbroke. help train him. writer and consultant. He has written four 'Pre vi - ous/y ANH course, was Margaret. books about wild foods and medicines. That was a few months ago. I can now NATUR E AUSTRAL IA WINTER 1997 23

111111 One can only marvel at the blow of a whale issuing from an apparently unb�oken field of heavy ice extending to the horizon.

NTARCTICA IS THE MOST seasonal_ly influenced of all the contments. Summer sun­ light and warmt� stimula�e biologicalA activity on a massive sc_ale m its surrounding seas, as the covenng of sea ice shrinks to its mjni�um. Baleen whales return from their winter 1:>reed­ ing haunts, drawn by �he promise of ( Antarctic Krill (Euphausza superba), and bull Sperm Whales (Physeter n:i,acro­ cephalus) and beaked whales dive to astonishing depths for abundant squid. Seals, most pen- guins and other seabirds rush to complete their bre­ WHALES eding cycle during the brief summer months. By early April breeding is IN THE finished, and mig­ ratory species are moving north. This seasonal activity is FREEZER not just limited to Antarctica's animal TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHY BY PETER GILL life. Most Antarctic research also takes place during sum­ mer, and there is now a broad under- standing of the timing and dynamics of summer's biological processes. At summer's end, however, a curtain comes down on the lives of the fauna that remains in the far south. Winter bio­ logical research is usually limited to ani­ mals that are easily accessed from coastal bases, such (Leptonychotes as Weddell Seals weddellii) or Emperor Penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri). What happens out at sea, where sea-ice* cover nearly quadruples in the winter dark­ ness and cold, is largely unknown. We ence cruise into the sea ice to the s u� know that krill, the staple food of much � Antarctic wildlife, winter of Australia, principally to c�n °.� here, as do oceanograph(c 1 • species such as glaciological and Adelie Penguins search As involved with �n (Pygoscelis adeliae) and . biologists (Lobodon carcinophagus).Crabeater Seals ANARE program to survey �hales But the hand­ Thiele and'1 ful of mid-winter Antarctic waters, Deborah voyages into the sea ice berths aboa rd have been confined to were able to obtain the region of the Aurora Australis, ANARE's �,000· Weddell Sea, below the tip �;�� America. of South research icebreaker. Our bnef w In 1995, record whale and seal sightings. however, Australian National t all Antarctic Research While it was long assumed th a · Expeditions (ANARE) . Antarc tic conducted its first mid-winter whales migrate away f. rom marine sci- waters by late autumn, m recent years (Balaenoptera acuto * 'Sea ice' is a general term encompassing Minke Whales ;: 'pack ice' (drifting trata) have been seen in ice near frozen sea water) Jast . . were ice' (frozen sea water atta Weddell Sea dunng w1!1ter. We. shore), ched t; the curiou red in 'our' and floating,freshwater ice of land s to see if they winte origin, such as icebergs. part of Antarctica and whether any . · Researc h 24 other species were' p1. esent 97 NATURE AUSTRALIA WIN TER 19 ,' .,

...... ,,.. .,._..,,..,., --- . • - 41, - ••--� :---� -

Two young Killer Whales spyhopping, ha ticularly to deter­ of s also s hown that many female global warming, and par apparently inspecting the group Hu formation in heat on the m b k Wh�les (Megaptera novaean­ mine the role of sea-ice Emperor Penguins seen resting gliaef and the are d�cno migrate to winter breeding transfer between the ocean nearby ice floe. In the background grou . � made water nd 1� t e Southern Hemisphere. Do atmosphere. The water sampling stranded icebergs, and the open the of the Southern them with y s;Y 10 the Southern Ocean to feed for a very slow crossing formed as pack ice flows past taki ' voyages south ng a rest from th eir· breeding cycle?. Ocean, yet in five summer wind and current. Do o rcas Orcinus the sea so calm. Soon orca) or Kill er Wh ales ( I had never seen a · ' te no leaving Tasmania we encountered abu d ��g�� rth, or stay to feed on after but the n a h, seals and penguins? No- large group of Sperm Whales, � one knew. marine mammals seen on the only other pods of south were two exuberant cru­ HE AU way (Lagenorhynchus RORA Hourglass Dolphins T1995 d LEFT HOBART IN MID ]ULY ciger) high fifties of latitude. Pr ' _began an oceanographic in the slip­ ogram s: open sea at 61 ° 45' S, lect PPmg every few hours to col­ We left the A wate� samples fields of open pack ice. the b at varying depths from ping into leptonyx) w�s our otto h Seal (Hydrurga Was to r ��l majo� cruise objective Leopard m the e e � marine mammal to be spotted ance of Ynam1cs and heat bal- first Southern Ocean water masses to ice, soon followed by Crabeater (really 25 NATU RE AU STR ALIA WINTER 1997

1111111 A group of Adelie Penguins tobog krill-eating) Seals. Then, 185 kilometres gan tow ards an open lead, under a winter moon into the ice, a Minke Whale raced along- . · Pen9U lns and seals must remain fasting side. on the ice Whe . leads are closed n The first week in the ice was surpns- by winds and currents. an Antarctic winter (air ingly warm for _ ° temperatures were just below freezmg). tently below -?0 C. Strong winds sts large reas of blew However, the bemused glaciologi � ice together, so seals and cheered up when a cold south-east wmd_ pengums not only had to leave the while it wate caused temperatures to plummet. Once was still possible, but had t� we were well into the sea ice with the remam_ exposed on the ice, in very temperatures low influence of ocean swells far behind, the and high winds some­ seascape changed from the smallish times for days until leads opened again floes of the outer sea ice into the increas­ Unable to leave the water, whales fac� ingly larger floes of the inner sea ice. even more dire problems. They either hav to avoid. Finally it resembled a vast wind-sculpted � _areas where the ice packs snowy plain, with the Aurora creeping up tightly dunng strong winds, or some­ across it like a giant orange tractor. how find sm_all leads in the packed ice. Then a seal or a small group of penguins Mmkes_ continued to appear in the thick­ would remind us that we really were at est of ice as faras 370 kilometres south sea, above 2,000-3,000 metres of water. of the ice edge. It is now clear that at The Aurora Australis carves a path through From the pink colour of their seats on least a proportion of their population is the sea ice towards the southern end of the the ice it was apparent that many were quite at home deep in the winter sea ice study area. In calm conditions the ice has feeding on krill. probably right around the continent'. spread to allow the formation of many leads. It was now August and we were deep One Minke in the Weddell Sea Antarctic sea ice is generally less than a year was into winter, with only six hours of light sighted 1,300 kilometres south of the ice old, and easy for icebreakers to penetrate. each day and air temperatures consis- edge. \,

..It.. - -11>' ·------�-

How do whales find their way under Deb and me, and we flew back to the ice? Cetacean orientation and navigation area of the sighting. Many icebergs were is a mysterious area of their biology, but aground here on a shallow bank, each one nowhere can this skill be more useful creating an open lead where pack ice than in heavy ice. Bowheads (Balaena flowed around mysticetus), it with wind and current. the most ice-adapted whales This formed a mosaic of icebergs, open of the Northern Hemisphere, are sus­ water, newly formed ice and drifting pack pected of using reverberation of their calls ice, 30 kilometres long. Nearby was a large to 'read' the underwater surfaceof the ice. coastal polynya, or pool of permanently Minkes may do like- open water. wise, or they may use A group of Killer shafts of light enter- Whales was clus­ ing leads, or other tered around an ice cues. However they floe. They were spy­ do it, it is a truly phen­ It resembled a vast hoppi ng-bo b bing omenal ability. One their heads vertically can only marvel at wind-sculpted snowy plain, out of the water­ the blow of a whale eyeing off some issuing from an ap­ with the Aurora creeping Emperor Penguins parently unbroken standing on the floe. field of heavy ice We landed on a large extending to the across it like a giant nearby ice floe and horizon. wallced to its edge. August 10 was our orange tractor. Then a seal About 20 metres big day. While on an away the whales con­ ice reconnaissance or a small group of tinued to spyhop, trip, the helicopter now also casting pilots spotted some­ penguins would remind us their eyes on us. thing astonishing to Adult males, con­ the south of the ship: that we really were at sea, spicuous by their tall a large pod of Killer dorsal fins, remained Whales. Killer Whales above 2,000-3,000 several hundred were first recorded in metres distant. Most the Antarctic winter whales nearby seem­ in 1955, when a large metres of water. ed to be youngsters group was seen in rel- of various sizes, accompanied by two atively small open or three adult fe­ pools in coastal ice, males, one with a near the tip of the This calf was exciting news Antarctic Peninsula. It was assumed at the 11 calf a; it had long been a cepted th�t time that those whales had been !Tapped. f��ed, � species breeds 111 f\-nt�rctic In scientific literature t:1:e VJew has no whale _ the Yet here was calf 111 mid w111�er, been firmly adopted that Killer Whales waters. � of with nearly 450 kilometres of ice migrate to warmer waters at the ons: _ is, between it and the open sea. If ne�born winter. No-one has really challenged c sea loo! . Killer Whales can survive in Antarc� because no-one has been able �o : rema111s at ship to pick up water, whose temperature H Thepilots returned to the 41UR[ A USTRALIA 27 WINTER 1997

FA.STICE

( 0 100 ° 135 E km 140°E 145°E §M@!ffiidle V;Ml?4§i@k. aro o und. -1 s c th roughout the lnfrared satellite image of the Antarctic sea th ere . . . year' apparent from the ship. Satellite 1s no · ne ed 1�oi: a wmter m1grat10n, ice, taken in August I 995. The coast, includ­ as th imagery showed extensive leads occur­ · eir prey remams present during ing the Dibble Iceberg Tongue, is shown by winte ring on a much larger scale as well. The r. picture emerging from the glaciological the fine black line near the bottom. Extensive e ad little time to spend with lead systems are seen throughout the sea ice, be! ta with these research was extremely dynamic, u l predators, so after taking off ice constantly forming, thickening, which is obscured by cloud north of about w e flew ° around the area and could see drifting with wind and 64 S. The dark band along the edge of the at ! east breaking up and 40 wh a 1 es. It was easy to see current. It is this constant opening and fast ice is a large polyna or pool of perma­ where th Killer Whales were Y had been_ -their breathing closing up of leads in the sea ice that nently open water. The holes doJ sighted at the spot marked 0. Minke Whale ed �he skin of young grey ice make it possible for whales to remain in that for by black crosses. m ed m the leads. Research in Antarcticwaters during winter. sightings are shown McMurd O Sound has shown that Killer It was now the end of August and, What s can for . surface through newly although conditions remained comfort­ me� up to Flyin ��\ 15 centimetres thick. able inside the ship, temperatures out­ g b to the Aurora ° with see th allowed us to side dropped as low as -30 C, often e u ber and extent icy fog, furth�r the main \ � of leads in strong winds and � Y of sea ice, which were not fuelling my admiration for Antarctic the winter solstice now A Young Kil wildlife. With ler Whale spyhops and forme through newly well past, there were between seven d ic e, stu of dyin 9 eth author and a group of light each day and, Emperor p . eight hours enguins nearby. although the nights were actually get- NATU RE AU STR ALIA WINTER 1997 29 -

Earth or Mars? Glaciologists and biologists conducting research on the inner sea ice resemble astronauts on some icy planet. One night Minke Whales surfaced in a narrow lead in such heavy ice, beside the workers.

our wonder and respect for_the�e ani­ m als whose existence is mtncately bound' to one of the harshest and most unforgiving environments on Earth.I Further Reading Nicol • S ·• 1994 Antarctic krill-changing perceptIons · · Pp 144-1 in of its role in the Antarctic ecosyst em. · . 6 6 Antarctic science, ed. by G. Hempel. Springer-Ve rlag · Berlin. P otz, 199 i l J., Weide/, H. & Bersch, M.,. \: ���:-��:\: gations of marine mammals and birds in ern Weddell Sea pack ice. Polar 810/. ll.. 305_309. . Habitat Ribic, C.A., Ainley, D.G. & raser, WR l991 F h · � nal ice zone. The least-studied selection by marine mammal s in t e m rgi and most rarely seen ting Antarctic Sci. Antarctic shorter, they appeared to e 3(2): 181-186. pinniped, a squid-eating Ross Seal b length­ ening. It's calle ( Ommatophoca rossi) raises d cabin fever, and it sig­ cies its head in a nalled it Taylor, R.J.F., 1957. An unusual ecord f three spe characteristic gesture was time to turn north. Within ; -ic. when disturbed. A few an initially of whale being restricted to poo s in A�tarctic sea e Ross Seals were rough but otherwise seen among the outer ice, unevent­ Proc. Zoo/. Soc. 129: 325-331. where ful week we were back (Land.) ocean swells break the ice into in Hobart. The voyage had smaller floes. given us an opportu­ . . w 't and photo· nity available to few: Peter Gill is a bzologzs�, n to penetrate the iso­ grapher who has been Zf! O ;ie1 in cetacea lation of the Antarctic V V 198 _He sea ice during the research and conservation sinc e ? bitter south · 011, ern winter, and to gain would like to thank the A_ntarc t 1 Divts/ insights into \tots of the the lives of those animals the Captain crew and helzcopte that inha �a ?ia n Nature bit it, particularly the Aurora Au;tralis, the Aust whales. W· V · Scoff Although we didn t see Conservat ·on A gency and trte · ' any Humpbacks, i 1 port //I Minke and Killer Estate for logistic an4 financia. sup Whales are clearly at Debora h h�me in the Anta this project, and his collea rctic winter, and every­ m��i tment that thmg we learned about Thiele for the energy and co them increased made it possible. 30 TER 1997 NATURE AUSTRALIA WIN ature Australia readers! N Here's your chance to give someone the perfect gift of a subscription to Nature Australia magazine and, in doing so, be automatically entered into the draw to win optical gear from Leica. All you have to do is give a gift subscription (youcan use the form in the back of this magazine) or renew an existing gift subcription and you'll automatically be entered into our competition to win one of three spectacular prizes. Frrstpriz.e is a Leica straight view Give a spot scope and a 20x60 Leica zoom eyepiece together valued at $3,700. Secondprire is a pair of gift subscription to Leica 10x42 Binoculars valued at $2,500. Thirdpriz.e is a pair of Nature Australia and Leica 10x25 Binoculars valued at $1,100. You can enter as many times as you like, as each separate you couldvvin one of gift subscription you give will mean another entry for you in the three pri7£s of exclusive competition. It's that simple! Entries close on 7 November 1997. Nature Australia is a Leica optical gear. non-profit quarterly magazine published by the Australian Museum.

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CON t� all on,ON 2. 'l11e competition is open . Au S. OF - EN1 renewal (o_r copy) together with payment. will stralian r. 1iv: 1 Co . . u ion coupon or gift e enter. 5. ·nie winning cntnes i m .i on entry e e Au5 ra . a g'f1 � b�cri l e ompames are not I gible to be es dcnts. 3. Entr J>Cl li .1s aclu. ved by returning the fully completed appropriat Nature l h i � � fa c suppliers and associat c . � ·e ble for cash 8. ·n1e prizes ies I on tea, I r 1 nili s e anc �re 1 deema i.re the last mail, Friday e e the Australian Museum, be taken a offer d a n0 ovcmb 7th Nov mber 1997. 4. Employ es of � . 1 7. ·nie prizes nmst � iece.·�cond prize is crcJ�; e e o e �: 2 1997' u 1 ��/,ozoom' eyep · 6. Tli winners will b published in The Austral_ian n ws a r id 7 straigh vie ) pl s � I Entrant e notified by mail and � � �� . : ,:i ,: S Sc�pe (APO Tclev 7 - _ � ,� N\��; l S Permit No. TS0&.1. s und. r 18 _ye Ftn:;I J nze s' c pot cnmt No. O . A ar. Thir .. � ars of age must have their entry authorised by a parent/guardian. 10. � i Pcnnit No. TP96/2•115. N rl d 1) nzc . 15 3 ued on 91,1197 ACT Lcica 10x25Binoclula r. 11. NSW Permit No. TC97/2132. Vic. P ermit No. 97/53()i ss

The surface of the. compound so repeatable that we hastily improvised eye is fret ted MIDDAY BREAK FROM A LONG, w1' numerou. . s ' ' th ind 1v1 d ual corneal len journey through cen­ an experiment. Zena stationed herself ses ea h hot car supply. ing a single dot of light to a happy directly above a subject, ready to moni­ the i. ma' g ce tral Spain provided mosaic. The larger the eye and two heat-worn tor every swivel of its head, while I gath­ ' the greater diversion for the number. of lenses, the finer Zena and I pulled off ered up a handful of bone-dry sheep pel­ the gra . in of travellers.A My wife the image produced. the road onto a rough track bordering a lets, a perfect set of near-identical mis­ gleaming stubble field. Stretching siles for use in a systematic drop-test. huge, at the edge of the visual our legs, our attention was drawn to Starting from a point about half a field can b e n Dragonflies metre from the dragonfly, I retreated in tred onto the most sensitive part th ­ large numbers of Darter � ( e (Sympetrum striolatum) clinging to the small steps, dropping a pellet each time ey the fovea) _with a flick of the h :d This allows the image e dried grass stems with their abdomens to test the reflex. Finally, at a distance of to be exam·me d .in · pointing up towards the Sun. From their about 2.5 metres the drop failed to trig­ greater detai ·1 and tracked against b�ckground. Any th perches these creatures then proceeded ger a response. For humans this would kind of movement will to lend themselves to a neat demonstra­ be equivalent to a tennis player losing tngger the reflex, as in our drop ex men_t , b u t I on . pen- tion of the qualities of insect vision. sight of a tennis ball 20 metres away. y genume prey will relea se Choosing an individual at random, it was Although not brilliant by human stan­ a stnke. easy to show how a small pebble dards, it is five to ten times better than dropped from an outstretched hand most other insects. HROUGHOUT EVOLUTION ONLY 1W instantly produced a flick of the insect's Our impromtu experiment highlight­ T. kinds of 'sm�rt' eyes ha;e ever bee� highly mobile head. The behaviour was ed one of the main characteristics of mvented. One 1s the vertebrate e insect vision: sensitivity to movement. which works like a single-lens cam!r:: The head of the caterpillar of the Spurge Motion sensitivity is particularly well the other is the compound eye of insect' Hawk Moth (Hyles euphorbiae) is made of two developed in predatory insects such as and crustacea_ns which has numerou! bulging domes resembling large compound dragonflies, praying mantids and tiger­ lenses a�d, as 1t w�re, wears its retina on eyes. In fact caterpillars have extremely poor beetles. A flexible neck, as in the drag­ the outside. Despite the differences in vision, and the true eyes are tiny single-lens onflies and mantids, is a great asset, r�ti_nal architecture and the electrical structures lying at each side of the jaws. because any object suddenly appearing wmng of the brain, insect and human

NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTER J99l

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eyes use similar ground rules. For fore the brain, needs to be exposed to a example, both are designed to keep a messy, blurred image. stable image on the retina: as with drag­ How do insects and people compare m onflies, our eyes will automatically fixate their perceptions of the visual world? and track any object that suddenly The truth is, we do not yet know enough appears at the edge of the visual field. about the computer behind the eye, the Also, both eyes have a dual tracking sys- brain, to be able to visualise exactly what

Male butterflies have been known to attempt to mate with fallen leaves, male ladybirds with small rounded pebbles and, most curious of all, male jewel beetles with discarded beer bottles.

tern. If the background is plain, like an an insect sees. Many insects, particular­ open sky, the object is tracked with a ly bees, butterflies and flies, are known smooth motion. If the background is tex­ to have good colour vision, and we can tured, the tracking is performed in a make reasonable guesses about the per­ series of quick step-like movements or ception of shape and movement. Even saccades because this minimises the the simplest eye, such as the tiny ocellus time during which the retina, and there- that guides the wanderings of a caterpillar,

can take rudimentary clues from its visu­ al environment, such as bright = day, dark = night, bright-up = sky, dark-down = ground. So, although a simple eye can­ not form an image, it can provide its owner with enough information on con­ trasts of light and dark to be able to navigate. The compound eye is a huge leap from �his, because it generates a detailed image from which information can be drawn about shape and movement. Insect compound eyes are not as sharp

An insect's-eye view of a praying ma ntid, Mantis religiosa, gives an impression of the enormous field of view of the compound ey es. Mantids are hunting insects, with best vision in the region directly in front of the head es, where the most sensitive spot of the tw o ey the fovea, converge. 7 NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTER 199 as their verteb ra t e counterparts because fly In life, the eyes of horse flies are often th h l weather balloons. A species of tsetse � ve on y a f�w thousand photore­ brightly iridescent with either plain, mottled ce; or! e associated with domestic cows respond­ ach of w�1ch contributes only a ed to crude cut-outs of their hosts, show­ or striped colouration. The source of the iri­ single ci t t o o �he image mosaic. In con­ ing at least an inkling of shape recogni­ descence lies well below the light-collecting trast th e · e r tma of our eyes contain elements of the eye and does not interfere appr�x l s tion; but a second species specialising in t at� y two with normal vision. The function of the eye tors � million photorecep­ wart-hogs could easily be duped by the P cmg a much ornamentation is not known, although it may ture' f/ u finer-grained pie­ sight of a four-litre drum, draped in a se t e raw be a secondary sexual characteristic. an i�se��, u � image formed in coarse sacking to represent hide, and s ye so poor, recognise � !f its ability to towed along on a wheeled chassis. se eta1 s of �hape must be Inability to recognise shape can per­ lured into pursuing cut-out models of the verely lim. ited.· on th There 1s good evidence haps be understood in insects that rely female spun round on a carousel. · 01 t from that t��i 1 the various models heavily on smell and touch to identify Repeated trials made it possible to ea entomologists have have expected reduce the female to her bare bones, as oped fo se devel­ their hosts, but one might � as decoys against all, the var­ were. The ideal paramour turned out suckin/ l blood­ better from butterflies. After it (rap, f The Manitoba horse fly ied colours and complex markings on to be four times normal size, of indeter­ name·� er tn whi �ft the Canadian province their bodies must surely reflect a height­ minate shape, and plain orange in ch t wa developed, on the upper nothing � 1 consists of ened sense of pictorial awareness. colour. The grey streaks ore t an a r experi­ wing, which to our eyes seem to stand Pe. nded black sphere sus- Apparently not, to judge f om r i fr om at·npo d , and out so prominently f om the background nspired b its design was ments carried out on the European the the simple observation (Argynnis orange, are evidently of no interest to flies /ere that Silver-washed Fritillary attracted to dark-coloured paphia). The male butterfly can easily be the male. The conclusion that he is NAT URE A USTR ALIA WINTER 1997 37 b - aroused simply by the sight of a large orange blob in motion lends credence to anecdotal reports of strange visual behaviour in other insects. Male butter­ flies have been known to attempt to mate with fallen leaves, male ladybirds with small rounded pebbles and, most curi­ ous of all, male jewel beetles with dis­ carded beer bottles (see Nature Aust.* Summer 1988-89). Early German work using small rotating striped drums a� lures, showed that male butterflies were also attracted to objects that flicker at the same rate as the wingbeat of the female. A slightly rosier picture emerges when we look at Honey Bees (Apis mel­ lifera), perhaps not unexpectedly since it is well known that they recognise flow­ ers mainly by visual cues such as colour and shape. Mandyam Srinivasan and col­ leagues at the Centre for Visual Sciences at the Australian National University in Canberra attempted to quantify shape recognition in Honey Bees by training them to associate vertical, horizontal or oblique striped patterns with a reward of sugar. Even a rudimentary awareness of shape, or at least orientation, could help a Honey Bee to recognise the arrange­ ment of petals on a flower. It could also explain how Honey Bees build up a short-term memory map of their forag­ ing territory by taking a 'snapshot' of lines of trees, footpaths or woodland edges. Even in Honey Bees however, it is still the motion of images, not their shape, that dominates visual behaviour. Naturalists have known for many decades that bumble bees (Bombus spp.) and Honey Bees prefer wind-blown flow­ ers to stationary ones. This happens despite the fact that bees, like most insects, normally perceive rapidly mov­ ing objects as threatening and therefore

• Previously ANH

Above: The rainbow-striped eye of the immature stages of the Egyptian Grasshopper (Anacridium aegypticum) is an enigma. The bright colouration of the body provides perfect camouflage against the /nu/a plants in which the younger stages are normally found, but this cannot be said of the gorgeous eye.

Right: Silver-washed Fritillaries recognise one another from the bright orange colouration of their wings and bodies. The fine etching of darker colour on the upper wing surface is not important in intraspecific recognition. This is not surprising since, even at close quarters, the compound eye is unlikely to be able to discriminate this level of detail.

38 NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTER 1997 I ____. >

spherical eyes of cicadas give arge, hemi The l alerting the insect to r nd' vision, •wra -a ou " . predators from any d1rect1on, rpo h by directly behind. japocplU d��gI

� them. On a windy �ay, be�s t need to overnde their V�\I ng flowers S: ition in the same way that n ·al inhib 1� ed�tory insects have �o make the dis­ tine� tion between· JI and obJect· thats moved s d is potentia . y ang�t ou , an �n an but 1s a object that moves potential source of food. HY HOULD THE MOVEMENTS OF Wob jects be so much 1:1ore impor­ tant to an insect than bemg able to recognise them? Image movement enables the . insect to reconstruct_ its tliree-dimens1onal world. By noting the speeds at which images move within the visual field, the insect knows which ts are ne�r to it, _andtheref?re need objec 1 to be given mmed1ate attention, and which are more distant and can be ignored. For a flying insect it is vital to know whether objects lie in the fore­ ground, middle ground or the far dis­ tance in order to avoid collisions. So how does the brain of the insect translate the speed of movement of an object into an estimate of its distance? We can answer this question by reminding ourselves of the subcon­ scious logic that we use every time we cross a busy shopping mall or struggle through the rush-hour traffic on the underground. As we walk forward our own motion makes the images of the people that are nearest to us sweep past our eyes more quickly than those that are fartheraway. The horizon itself hard­ �Y seem_s to move. You get the same 1mpress1on by looking through the win­ �ow of a moving train at the objects flow­ mg past outside. Everything is moving past at the same speed but the things that are . closest seem to be moving fa�test. . . Like. us, msects avoid colliding with obiects 111 the foreground how by noting fast their images flow across the background. �is notion of parallax was used by Snrn vasan and colleagues Further Reading t in Canberra There could be no more graphic illus­ o explain how Honey Bees tration of the insect eye in action than Franceschini, N., Pichon, J.M. & Blanes, C., 1992. From fl e manage to � xa_ctly t�rough the middle of a gap, the robot recently designed by Nicola insect vision to robot vision. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. b l ancmg distances B. 337: 31--42. B ees to either boundary. Franceschini and co-workers from the were trained to fly back and fort National Centre for Scientific Research along a corn h r 'dor made of perspex walls in Marseilles, France. Roughly the size Horridge, G.A., 1992. What can engineers learn from nki ng the feeding insect vision? Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B. 337: + wo site with the hive of an electric kettle, the robot was essen­ moveable panels of vertical stripe tially a horizontal ring of photosensitive 271-282. w:l unted � w l: � behind the transparent elements mounted on top of a trolley, . en the panels every direction of Srinivasan, M.V., 1993. Even insects experience visual the bees were stationary permitting vision in _ _ flew exactly down the middle the horizontal plane. The task given to illusions. Current Science 64: 649-655. them dor of in �?'1 . If one of the panels was set the robot was to negotiate a route i; tow�rds lo�ic Srinivasan, M.V., Zhang, S.W. & Rolfe, B., 1993. Is pat­ in the !he hive, bees moving through a forest of poles. The only me direct10n flew closer to the built into the machine was an extens10n tern vision in insects mediated by 'cortical' processing? movi nel opp �IT/J_ , _but those moving in the of the law of parallax: if an object is �e�r, Nature 362: 539-540. o irectt 1t. tionar on flew closer to the sta­ it will appear to move fast, so avoid_ y pa el. The blind to everythmg Dr John Brackenbury is a zoologist and lec­ rectly c 1 Canberra team cor­ The robot was in the Department of Anatomy at one_ ud�d that the it except the movement of edges turer ing to ma bees were try­ around Cambridge University, [!K. His ma:in the mtam equidistance between yet it triumphantly slalomed through the interests are animal locomotion two s by hour! As research speeds 0;�� balancing the apparent forest at seven kilometres per and vision. e two sets of stripes. they say, seeing is believing! • NATUR E AUSTRALI 39 A WINTER 1997

at low numbers in URVTVING IN JUST A FE\,\' SMALL Foxes have remained Aust­ these areas, apparently suffering sec­ areas of south-western the stom­ ralia, the only termite-eating ondary poisoning after eating marsupial was an enigmatic ach contents of either their native prey life history. or poisoned rabbits. Even so, the surviv­ creatureS with an unknown to at but hard to catch, ing Numbat populations continued Beautiful to look trend hid their private lives from sci­ decline. Recently, however, this Numbats by an entists until it was almost too late. has been dramatically reversed out during a concerted intensive campaign against the fox by Research carried r campaign to save the species f om the Department of Conservation and extinction has revealed how these ani­ Land Management (CALM). mals have adapted to life on a very poor While many aspects of theNumbat's biol­ diet. ogy were discovered through the meticu­ Once encompassing much of southern lous work ofJohn Calaby between 1954 and Australia, the distribution of the Numbat 1956, it took near extinction in the late (Myrmecobius fascia- 1970s to generate the tus) contracted at an urgency and the alarming rate after funding to carry out European settlement further detailed re­ It now appears that search on this fasci­ the spread of the Red Numbats are active nating animal. Be­ Fox (Vulpes vulpes) sides showing that following its introduc­ and feed from about two foxcontrol is the key tion to Victoria played action needed to pre­ a large part in the dis­ hours after dawn until vent imminent ext­ appearance of this inction, our studies beautiful little marsu­ noon, then retire for a have revealed many pial. Having vanished glimpses of the from its entire range Numbat's private in arid and semi-arid siesta until the late life. Australia,the Numbat A remnant popu­ hung on in just two afternoon. lation ofNumbats in pockets of bushland Dryandra Wood­ in south-western land, 170 kilome­ Australia where high tres south-east of densities of poison- . Perth, provided the ous plants kept its extinction at bay. subJe ts . _ � for_ our research. This was the Native . ammals in south-western area m :vhich Calaby Australia had shown, by have evolved a tolerance to flu­ obse vatl n and by identifying oroace ate, the toxin � ? insect � found in plants remams m their seats, that Numbats belo�gmg to the genus Gastrolobium feed almost exclusively but mtroduced on termites, and species such as rabbit; th t they eat the 25 or so species and foxes are highly susceptible � of ter­ to it. mite found there in roughly the same

proportion that they occur. Many details of the Numbat's reproduction remained unknown. However, by following radio­ collared individuals over periods of months and sometimes years, we have b�en able to build up a comprehensive p�cture of the production, growth and dispersal of young Numbats. This infor· mation has been supplemented by observations of Numbats breeding in captivity.

UCH OF THE NUMBAT'S BIOLOGY IS M dictated by its diet. Surprisingly t? many people, Numbats are small am· mals, adults weighing only 550 grams s). Unlike (females) to 700 grams (male lossus Short-beaked Echidnas (Tachyg

ra The author radio-tracks a Numbat in Dryand woodland. By following the activities of g individual radio-collared Numbats over lon periods, researchers have been able to gain detailed knowledge of the biology of the species. 1997 NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTER aculeatus) e ! th y ar� not Numbat habitat in Dryandra is typically to e strong enough The availability of termites in the top break mto t rmite mounds Wandoo (Eucalyptus wandoo) woodland, Numb . to feed . few centimetres of the woodland floor ast can only obta·. m termites from where there is an abundance of hollow logs shallow varies with time of day and with season. and termites. The open shrub understorey fe d'i g gallenes that radiate out in the soS : Numbats are active only by day because provides cover from birds of prey but is m. the mou�d or under­ that is when the highest numbers of ter­ ground nest. Dunng interspersed with open feeding areas. Nu e a feedmg session a mites are present in their shallow feed­ mbat mov s arou no ened an open area ing galleries. The daily activity periods se to th un_d, S(o e ev ry now and the� of Numbats change during the year to about that later. In spring, termites i pping t� :i st�gat a spot, then often availability of reach their greatest abundance in placese dgging ra i l coincide with the greatest sittin with both forefeet while food at that particular time. The pres­ where Numbats can reach th m. g on lti � small aunches. After making a ence of termites in the upper soil layers, Consequently, the timing of reproduc­ excavaf n to that weaning mite g �� breach a shallow ter­ where they are available to Numbats, is tion in Numbats ensures allery Numbat at the time of peak food availabil- tnto the � e puts its snout highly dependent on temperature. In occurs ho]� xtracts ity. Pushing its the insects by summer, the soil surface heats up in the r�pe fn g tongue rapidly and day and termites retreat The few species of mammal that can ated]y into middle of the and pen­ Within hk gallery. Termites Numbats are active and detect the presence of termites reach / downwards. are rewarded with tongue, ic to. the Numbat's two hours after dawn etrate their defences and ar! feed from about and dependable food sup­ 0Pen m eP� lled mto the slightly until noon, then retire for a siesta until an abundant outh. Th However, the down side is that most d t�e eJh ws �re then closed the late afternoon, when they emerge for ply. � insects termites in a colony are either e ndg p re eld m the mouth by another feeding bout until dark. In win­ of the e t ed a]a , workers or soldi rs, both of which are udect eas the tongue is pro- are not active until mid morn­ ; again Ti� ter, they in fat and high in non-digestible mat­ o a g x action of termites ing, when soil temperature rises and ter­ low to � alle�y m �� ter. Except for a few weeks each year, e end f f e · e first excavation mite activity increases; the females feed high Sec o o e dmg, can dark. when termite colonies produce nds. take only two continuously from then until alates ('flying NA numbers of fat-rich winged TURE A Males are less active in winter, but more US TRALIA WINTER 1997 43 for Numbats as Hollow logs are important d a tors ' but nests o f daytime refuges from pre . . also built in grass and Shredded bark are used as s 1 eepi • ng carefully selected logs and displays the red quarters. This male Numbat chest gland. stain that signifies an active

e to make do ants'), termite-eaters _hav 1 many with a relatively poor diet. Al� ough t g Numb t termites are eaten (a la� atI� � tes day), it will eat up to 20,000 ten:ru _ m_ a h le els is still not enough to mamtam hi� � t ph s1olog1cal of efficiency in cer ain f _ functions. For example, s tudies of ant­ and termite-eaters have s hown them to be poor temperature regulators: The Giant Anteater (Myrrnecophaga tridacty­ e goli_ns (Manis la) and some of th p�n_ spp.), cope with this by hvmg �n the trop­ ics where temperature stress 1s low; oth­ ers have developed behavioural adapta­ tions. Numbats, for example, put a lot of effor t into building elaborate nests in their logs and burrows to prevent loss of body temperature on cold nights. But perhaps t he mo st significant conse­ The apparently limited supply of ter­ their winter home ranges. At this stage quence of the Numbat's poor diet is the te t l l t e mi s in he upper soi ayers is reflec ed a large sc nt gland on the male's throat extremely low growth rate of their t e t t t t in h fact ha Numba s guard heir becomes active, exuding an oily liquia young. Whereas t he young of most ee t f ding grounds jealously. Throughou that leaves a long red-brown stain down omnivorous bandicoot species are wean­ t e he y ar, female Numbats occupy home the animal's chest and stomach. This liq­ ed less than three months after bir th, ranges that are exclusive of other uid is smeared on sticks, rocks and logs and carnivorous marsupials like the females. Over winter, males occupy very quolls wean their young at four to s s ix mall home ranges (about 25 hectares), Right: Young Numbats will spend time mon ths, young Numbats are not weaned s t lo ted in between the larger home together near the nursery den during the until t hey ar e nine months old. To s range (30-70 hectares) of females, all of weeks leading up to their dispersal, when ensure t hat weaning occurs in spring, which are suckling young. From Sept­ each one moves away to establish a new Numbats give bir th in January. ember, the males begin to move beyond home range.

IN TER 1997 NATURE AUSTRALIA W d

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Photographed in the middle of July, these young Numbats are almost six months old and still remain attached to their mother's teats as she forages for termites during the day. They will not be weaned until October, when they will be nine months old.

as the male travels around, presumably early January. In captive animals, micro­ to signal his presence in his enlarged scopic examination of urine samples has range. As the height of the mating sea­ been used to detect the onset of oestrus, son approaches, the male's testes when there is a sudden increase in the enlarge, reaching maximum size in late number of skin cells shed from the uter­ December. The male cloaca! region ine wall. If mating does not occur in the swells noticeably with the associated 48 hours following this event, young are gl�ndular enlargement. By January, not produced. Female Numbats do not male Numbats are ranging widely and possess pouches; they do not even traversing the home ranges of a number develop a rim of skin surrounding the of females. young as found in many carnivorous Females come into oestrus during marsupials. During the second week fol-

NUMBAT Myrmecobius fasciatus

Classification Family Myrmecobiidae. The Numbat is the only member of this family.

Identification Red-brown above, p�ler below, with darker rump and prominent, white, transverse ba�s. Narrow head with sharp snout and dark horizontal eye-stripe. Tail with long hairs often erected to look like a bottle-brush. Head-body length 230-270 mm tail length 170-210 mm. Females weigh up to 550 g, males up to 700 g. Habitat and Distribution Open forest and woodla_nd usually with open shrub understorey. Previously occurred Each morning during October, the young across southern Australia from n _wester N�W to the west coast and to the southern of the Numbats emerge from the nursery bur row NT. Now found only m several isolated population �1. s in the south-west of with their mother and remain near the entrance after she moves off. Their daily Reproduction forays from the burrow cover greater n distance as the month progresses. Mati g occurs in January. Up to four 10-mm-lon g young born 2 weeks later y, ng weaned in O_ctobe�, disperse in Nov�m�er-December. Females breed in thei� fi�; lowing swellings year, males m their second. Longevity m the wild is about oestrus, however, five years. develop on the abdomen just in front of Diet the mammary area and behind it on the e Primarily termites, and some ants. inner surfaces of the thighs, so that �� four tiny pink teats are temporaiI Y Status enclosed within a depression. The ge�t h t Listed as 'Endangered' due to large tion period is about 14 days, �er w ic historic range contraction and con remna�t �opula�io tinuing loss 0 f the young hairless and ns. This �ituation is being reversed due to conservatio are born-pink, and rehstmg n actio n , measu res long­ as Vulnerable may soon be warranted. ring about ten millimet and attach themselves to the teats. Birth in Numbats has never been observed, so we don't know w hether 46 NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTER 1997 p -

furred and fein·a1es, by which time they are lightly e than f�ur young are ever born. In interaction between males and long. The female ;�� until the time lead­ about 45 millimetres Y carnivorous marsupials the or males and young, her young in a nest (usually in a N b This deposits u�t's close_st relatives, the n�mber ing up to the next breeding season. burrow) in late July or early August and ot; b to be an alternative and far less b g orn is often greater than the seems num f teats present. Ho_wever, as over 8� P� r cent of attached litters con­ sist of f our young, it is likely that more never been observed, so we don't than fo young are produced, and only Birth in Numbats has the stri�geSt four attach successfully ever born. At D r . than four young are yandra all young are b orn m. the know whether more second half Of mating se J nuary. After the ason th_e ma fes drop out of the pie- ture . T'he1r t t them each night. In b es es shnnk, their chest die-off seen continues to suckle glands ecome inacf . extreme strategy to the male September, the young begin to of ive, an d ht eir range marsupials Both early burrow movem� nt once again very in some carnivorous . emerge from the entrance of the s n becomes males from frmall tD � ng strategies serve to remove morning and remain outside after o winter, males may emerge lactating females. each o the day. m he nests for o food competition with their mother has departed f r day, pp�� . only f ur hours each young Numbats are they do not a e tly ust to feed Meanwhile, the During the first week or so, and � J long enough female's teats until July, maintam themselves. There is no carried on the 47 NATURE A US TRALIA WINTER 1997 - - ·------�------�------·-

e move mor than a few centimetres from settled in their new home ranges. The A radio-collared female Numbat emerges from the burrow mouth, but as time goes on first-year females breed during the next her nursery burrow. theyv enture further afield, learning, e by month, but males are not sexually trial and rror, to dig for termites on the mature until their second year. understanding of the Numbat's finely way. By mid October, the young tuned relationship with its food re­ Numbats e e ar supplementing their moth­ URING THE COURSE OF RECOVERY OF sources will be vital to the orch stration er's milk with termites from their own of a successful recovery.• foraging e Dthe Dryandra Numbat population, fforts, moving up to 100 the tenuous nature of the termite metres from the nest but Further Reading e within their resource became clear. In 1993, after mother's hom range. The female often Calaby, J.H., 1960. Observations on the Banded Ant­ moves he e growing steadily under the protection of eater Myrmecobius f. fasciatus Waterhouse r litt r, carrying them on her an intensive fox-baiting program, the back, to a succession (Marsupialia), with particular reference to its food e of nests in logs, Numbat population in the largest block habits. Proc. Zoo/. Soc. Lond. trees or oth r burrows, particularly after 135: 183-207. the of Dryandra Woodland reached approxi­ loss of any young to predators. Friend, J.A., Myrmecobiidae. Pp. in e e mately 900 animals. This is about twice 1989. 583-590 In Nov mb r, some young Fauna of Australia. Vol. 18. Mammalia, ed. by e start to the number calculated to be supportable D.W. est away from th mother Walton and BJ. Richardson. Australian Government li e and their sib- occupies 50 hectares, as ngs, within th if each female Publishing Service: Canberra. maternal home range. predicted by radio-tracking studies. Later that month or in early Decemb all e e er Within a year, the population had drop­ The numbat Myrmecobius fasciatus young l av their maternal Friend, J.A., 1990. e e horn� back to half that value and has since (Myrmecobiidae): history of decline and potential for ?nge and disp rs . ped e It is clear that the level. recovery. Proc. Ecol. Soc. Aust. ood resourc s in an occupied remained at that 16: 369-377. e area can- Numbats have evolved the means to ��� pport th young fasciatus. :� e as well as the successfully exploit the junk_ food 1:ich�. Friend, Numbat Myrmecobius Pp. sh d adults. At J.A., 1995.The mammals of Australia, ed. by R. the lar e Dryandra where We have shown that, if their habitat 1s 160-162 in g st block of woodland Strahan. Reed Books: Sydney. metres e is '20 kilo- intact and introduced predators are con­ n long , th 1ongest m t e dispersal move- trolled, these beautiful animals can convergence Tu t far r corded is 11.5 kilometres. McNab, B.K., 1984. Physiological make it. Now the global Numbat popula­ amongst ant-eating and termite-eating mammals. 1. r � i�hlsal movement is quite rapid, a program of ar ly ng e tion is increasing, through Zoo/. Lond. e mor _ than a week from of 204: 485-510. departur to e reintroduction to thegrowing number e stabb�hment in the area under fox a Principal Research where th u areas in Western Australia Dr Tony Friend is its ]if N f!!bat will spend the rest of has been one rei�troduc­ Scientist in the Weste�n Australian �B hnstmas, control. There and Land most juveniles are tion to a fenced and baited area m South Department of Conservation When active-young- -Numba------­ Management at Woodvale. He has been fluffy a ts appear very and we hope th�t the repara­ . e' guard Australia, p working since 1980 on the conservation �I th hairs in their coat stand suitable sites will_ allow eI r .e c �.is a tion of further threatened marsupialsin WesternAustralia argt' 1 m kes the sma II an. mals appear to begm !he er and may i more interstate transfers, and currently heads the Numbat recovery Pte possibly help to deter to its former wide dato rs. return of the species program. range. Through all this, however, an NATUR E AUSTR 49 ALIA WINTER 1997

feeding on Halophilpioneer se gr e a a �ss sp cies especially H aieo du/; SJ?ecies, �hich are lowe!fd in fi � di' br_ and are like the h1g i est m nitrogen an g in the tusks, which r dependence estibilify The growth layers The on sebr sses that Dugongs have an a o msean; have a life span o i t r a s show that Dugongs ation with coastal habita a y_ oci. rings in a tree, ' owhich growth vulnerable to the impact s eare years or more. a f extr me and can live for 70 weather events and to hu m n similar to our own oa activi ies such as hunting fishing s et opment and b � a �] d ve� un�ustaina l gncultur practices. zj of these marine flowering m been dis­ 14 species In the 1970s and 1980s though it has recently distribution is depen- aer te� i of Even their plants and their entists at James Cook U�i e sci­ covered that Dugongs supplement availability of light. Thus in :S li tyl d b animals dent on the George Heinsohn and m y seagrass diet with invertebrate of high turbidity, seagrasses may salvaged worms, sea squirts areas region; in and dissected more than 15i D u such as polychaete be limited to the intertidal tssonge . shell.fishat the subtropical limits of in deeper waters. Most had been killed in mesh g s and seagrass other areas they occur a etst y their range, they are essentially my former PhD students commercial fishers or in sh rke setb is why they are also Research by for bather protection. Othe g specialists, which y Janet Lanyon and Lem r uegong cows. In the Great Barrier Ton Preen, parts were donated by known as sea Aragones indicates that Dugongs prefer ind' Reef region there are eight genera and g s ------1 nou I iJiC"�------�---- - ote communitie t rs from rem s in Australia. Examination of all hu��01 ern 0 . rial demonstrated that th15 mate ongs are vulnerable to extinction onlY because they are dependent on �:l because they are slow seagrasses but breeders. . . I developed a m ethod of es�mating the age of Dugongs by counting the rowth layers in their tusks. All male gnda female Dugongs have tusks, lthough these are often not obvious as tlteY do not erupt until after puberty in males and only in a small proportion of older females. The g:owt� layers, which are like the growth nngs m a tree, show that Dugongs have a life span similar to our own and can live for 70 years or more. Females do not have their first calfuntil theyare at least ten years and

A scattered group _ of Dugongs over seagrass in Shark Bay, Western aircraft. Australia, as viewed from an Shark Bay supports an estimated 10,000 Dugongs. sometimes up to 17 years old. They bear the reasons it was inscribed on the on!� one calf at a time, after a pregnancy lasting World Heritage List in 1981. If we cannot about a year, and suckle the calf manage to conserve Dugongs in the for 18 months or so. On average, females Gr�at Barrier Reef region, then it is produce calves only once every three to fiveyears. unlikely thatthey will survive anywhere else. Computer simulations show that, if Y COLLEAGUES AND I HAVE BEEN Dugong numbers are to be maintained, conducting aerial more M surveys in the than about 95 per cent of the adult Great Barrier Reef region since the females alive at the beginning of each 1970s as part of our studies of the distri­ year must still be alive at the end of that bution and abundance of Dugongs in year. The maximum sustainable mortal­ Australian waters. The early surveys ity from all human impacts is only about essentially consisted of counting Du­ one to two per cent of adult females per gongs during flights parallelto the coast. year. If Dugongs do not get enough to We made no effort to estimate the size of eat because of deterioration in their the population, merely presenting our habitat, they will calve later and less sightings as uncorrected counts of the often, and the sustainable mortality will Dugongs that were seen during the be even less. surveys. Since the first international Dugong There were several problems with this workshop held in Townsville in 1979, it method, however. It did not take into has been recognised that Dugong con­ account Dugongs that were invisible due servation is largely dependent on to the turbid water, nor those that were Australian initiatives. Although Dugongs missed because the aircraft was moving occur in the waters of over 40 countries, much faster than the Dugongs. By flying all except for Australia are developing parallel to and close to the coast we also countries with limited capacity to con­ missed Dugongs in offshore waters. tain impacts on Dugongs within sustain­ This simple technique was good for able levels. In contrast, Australia is a identifying important coastal Dugong developed country with a relatively habitats, but unsuitable for monitoring small human population, particularly in trends in abundance. the north where Dugongs occur. Our In consultation with a mathematician, capacity to conserve Dugongs should be I developed a more elaborate aerial sur­ greatest in the Great Barrier Reef vey technique in the mid 1980s. We now region. The Great Barrier Reef Marine count Dugongs in 200-metre-wide strips Park is the largest multiple-use marine of sea on either side of the aircraft as we protected area in the world and a Wor�d fly at a height of 137 metres and a speed Heritage Site. The importance of this of 185 kilometres per hour along pre­ region as a Dugong habitat was one of determined transects that are aligned perpendicular to the coast. The Dugong When Dugongs feed on small delicate sea­ counts are converted to population esti­ grasses, they dig up whole plants and create mates using sampling statistics and feeding plumes from the clouds of disturbed mathematical corrections for perception sediment. They prefer low-density, delicate bias (the proportion of animals visible in seagrasses as opposed to dense strands. the transect but missed by observers)

53 Young Dugong calves never venture far from their mothers and often ride and availability on their mothers' bias (the proportion of one of ar 1t I backs. animals below the most important in Au ��g the surface that are invis­ supports 10,000 gr s ible due to water an estimated ug turbidity). Because the and kilometres of s gras s availability correction 4,440 square � I factors are conser­ The surveys indicated that he ng vative, the population estimates � utt�rn ( from obtained Population is stable when t e n� r r these surveys are probably . O de ed · estimates. under­ reg10n as a w h l e 1· s cons1 I Nonetheless, they should e was be a reliable index still However, the survey tec · of changes in Dugong ����o-scale I numbers between designed to detect only d surveys. trends accura e I y etect We have now conducted and cannot � uld three sets of small changes on a local sea · lt wo surveys of Dugong habitats ! use Barrier in the Great be inappropriate, for exam ' to Reef region using this tech­ &! sustain· nique. For logistical these surveys to eval�ate e reasons, the sur­ b memb rs veys have been conducted ability of Dugong hun_ti_ng in two series: s wliose activi· one covering the of Cape York commurntie r g n· remote Cape York th an a e io · coast, the other ties occur at a local rather v sug the more urbanised the eys coast south of Cooktown. al scale. Nonetheless, t:e gong carried We have also gested tha� the �rosp�c s ou out a third series 1�11 life Hervey of surveys in surviving m this nOI t_ � e_ region Bay immediately unb�g the Great to the south of good. This is because tI �ditio nal h Barrier Reef region. maior The northern in a few localised areas _is t h only region was surveyed fo tr is loW 1985, 1990 and in impact. The mesh-netting_ cl d 1995, and it was shown d coast an con�ain �h� most to relative to the more urbamse he habitat important Dugong o rnent. T w1thm the Great Barrier there is little co_astal dev � � most of 54 Reef and marine-park zoning ensur: at NTER 1997 NATURE AUSTRALIA WI A male Dugong rubs its back on the substrate, perhaps to rid itself of external DUGONG parasites such as barnacles. The dolphin-like Dugong dugon tail of a Dugong is distinctive. Manatees, by contrast, have paddle-shaped tails like a Classification Platypus. Order Sirenia (sea cows), family bers of Dugongs were found between Dugongidae. Only four living species of Hinchinbrook Island and Townsville sea cow: 3 manatee spp. (family and_ �n the Shoalwater Bay Military Trichechidae) and the Dugong. The other Training Area, the latter being the most modern dugongid, the 7-m long Steller's important Dugong habitat in the south­ Sea Cow, was exterminated by sealers in ern Great Barrier Reef region. the late 18th century. The status of the Dugong is also seri­ ous in Hervey Bay. In 1992, more than Identification 000 Externally distinguishable from manatees 1, .square kilometres of seagrass by their whale-like tails and more were lost from this bay, one of the most streamlined appearance. Adult Dugongs important Dugong areas on the east between 2.4 m and 3 m long and up to coast of Queensland. The most plausible 400 kg. Newborns about 1.2 m long and explanation for this loss of seagrass is up to 30 kg. Eyes and ears at sides of that it died because of lack of light head. Ears lack pinnae. Vision apparently resulting from a prolonged increase in equivalent to diver with face mask. turbidity after two floods and a cyclone Hearing acute. Nostrils on top of head and occurred within a three-week period. equipped with valve-like devices that Although the cyclone and floods were prevent water entering during diving. t�e coastal seagrass beds are given a natural events, their impact was high level of protection. poor increased by soil erosion from Distribution Our surveys in 1986/87, 1992 and farming practices in the catchments 1994 Shallow coastal and island waters of lndo­ demonstrated that the situation draining into the bay. Pacific from east Africa to Vanuatu, uth of ° ° �� Cooktown is very different. The Aerial survey estimates indicated that between about 27 N and 27 S. m�ers of Dugongs sighted between the Dugong population of the Hervey Historical distribution broadly coincident C-00 town 2 200 and Dunk Island were insuffi­ Bay region plummeted from about , with the distribution of seagrasses. In c� t to 00 2 �h eStimate the population size in in 1988 to 1,1 at the end of 199 and many area, only relict populations remain. :� : 198?/87 or 1992 and was not 800 in 1994. The proportion of calves e pte 22 two d m 1994. Our estimates of the declined from per cent in 1988 to Biology D g ng population 5 in 1994, l l � between Dunk per cent in 1993 and 1. per cent Life span 70 years or more. Pre­ s nd Bundaberg because the Dugongs that yrs for th::: g _ declined by more presumably reproductive period min. of 10 5 cent from 3,500 Dugongs in remained in the region were not getting both sexes. One calf every 3-5 yrs after 1986/slrO 1,700 A total of 99 Dugong car­ Lactation d animals in 1994. The enough to eat. gestation of 12-13 mths. ecline ":'asspread throughout were recovered. Most Dugongs mths. Feed primarily on the much of casses approx. 18 region, but was most serious died between six and eight months after seagrasses but may deliberately forage betw e as a �: Townsville and Rockhampton. the floods and most were emaciated on invertebrates at subtropical Du s were Some Dugongs trav­ p � gene_rally sparsely dis­ result of starvation. limits of range. erse� t :0_ugho 00 kilometres before dying; not ut this region. This is elled up to 9 surp nsmg as the known Dugong carcasses were found insho area of four Status �eagrass_(about 550 square kilo­ south of Sydney. Tony Preen conducted Listed as vulnerable to extinction metr;s) is sn:ia of Moreton Bay near no ll m comparison with the an aerial survey by IUCN. a rth n gion, 1993. He counted 664 ls o r � t and individual beds are Brisbane in April a ive 1Y small. The largest num- Dugongs during this survey-substan- 55 NATURE A USTRALIA WINTER 1997 Supported by its flippers, a Dugong di gs up its seagrass food. Dugong flipp ers ar e ca1. I use d d an stame. d on the inside where the support the body during bottom feed ------l ng. y duced in the 1960s, 541 Dugongs ha bee_n caught i!1 the Great Barrier R reg10n, most m the early years of program. A total of 241 Dugongs we caught near ownsville T and 161 0 Cairns, an area where there are now few D�gongs that the population cann be estimated.

HE DECLINE IN DUGONG NUMBE Talong the east coast of Queenslan is embarr�s_s!ng for Australia, which h a respons1b1hty for conserving Dugon under several international convention We also have a national responsibility conserve Dugongs for future gene tions of Australians, especially indigen­ ous Australians for whom the Dugong has special cultural significance. It is widely recognised that Dugong meat and oil are among the most valu­ able traditional foods of coastal Abor­ igines and Torres Strait Islanders in northern Australia. Most people assume that traditional hunting is the most seri­ ous human impact on Dugongs in Australia. But the situation is clearly much more complicated than this in the tially morethan the maximum count of 569 bers means that the Dugong qualifies for Great Barrier Reef region. Dugongs are recorded dwing his 28 previous surveys. classification as 'critically endangered' vulnerable to two broad classes of This result suggested that some Dugongs between Dunk Island and Hervey Bay. impacts: those that kill animals directly, successfully relocated to Moreton Bay Anecdotal evidence from scientists and for example netting, traditional hunting from Hervey Bay. Experience from other traditional hunters suggests that this or large-scale losses of seagrass; and areas suggests that the seagrasses in decline has been occurring since the those that decrease the calving ra te by Hervey Bay will take a decade to recover. 1960s or even earlier. reducing feeding opportunities, for Dugongs, being slow breeders, will take Statistics collected by the Queensland example smaller-scale habitat loss or much longer. Shark Protection Program reinforce this boat traffic. This massive decline in Dugong num- conclusion. Since shark nets were intro- Since they became aware of the

Hunters at Mornington Island in the Gulf of Carpenta · . ria prepare to butche th · as an import ant extension of their Aboriginality. r eir catch. Aboriginal peoples regard Dugong hunting

56 97 WIN TER 19 NATURE AUSTRALIA Ougongs have flippers (and tail flukes) that resemble those of dolphins but, unlike most is hoped that attendance at this program property may threaten the survival of dolphins, they lack a dorsal fin. will become part of the Trainee Master sea cows grazing on submarine pastures Fisherman's course and compulsory for many kilometres downstream! • Master Fishermen who wish to use decline of the Dugong in the southern mesh nets. Progress with this initiative Further Reading Great Barrier Reef region, most of the is important as many fishers do not yet Lee Long, W.J., Mellors, J.E. & Coles, R.G., 1993. Indigenous Councils of Elders that con­ appreciate the seriousness of the Seagrasses between Cape York and Hervey Bay, trol traditional hunting in this area have 'Dugong problem', nor the way it threat­ Queensland, Australia. Aust. 1. Mar. Freshw. Res. 44: decided to 19-31. n suspend Dugong harvesting ens the future of mesh netting as a com­ a d _there is currently no permitted mercial fishing method in the Great huntmg Marsh, H. & Corkeron, P., 1996. The status of the south of Cooktown. The Barrier Reef region. Dugong in the Great Barrier Reef region. In Darumbal- oolar Murree Aboriginal The Queensland Shark Protection Corpo Proceedings of State of the Great Barrier Reef ration for Land and Culture of Program is also being reviewed to Workshop, ed. by D. Wachenfeld and J. Oliver. Great R?ckh_ampton also recently signed an address by-catch issues. Baited lines, Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority: Townsville, hist�nc agreement with the Great which do not catch marine mammals, Queensland. �arner n Reef Marine Park Authority stat­ have replaced nets at many beaches in i g_ that it would be Barrier Reef region in recent Marsh H. & Rathbun, G.B., 1990. Development and inappropriate for the Great radio-tracking digenous hunting to occur but nets are still used at five lo_ca­ applic�tion of conventional and satellite _ �h within the years, techniques for studying Dugong movements and habi­ °a\wat er Bay Military Training Area. tions near Cairns, two near Townsv1lle 1t 18 tat usage. Aust. Wild/. Res. 17: 83-100. o now up to other stakeholder and three near Mackay. A decision to gr ups on o the Great Barrier Reef to replace all nets with baited line� wo_uld Marsh, H. & Sinclair, D.F., 1989. Correcting for visibili­ ;hsp �d to 1 1 the challenge of reducing be controversial as some sCJentists ty bias in strip transect aerial surveys of aquatic fauna. i� pacts on are J. Wild/. Manag. 53: 1017-1024. 19 fu Dugongs. In October believe that nets as well as lines t e Federal shark numbers are to m d Minister of Environ­ needed if inshore aske all risk Preen, A.R. & Marsh, H., 1995. Response of Dugongs im parties to identify and be maintained at a level where their n;1 e�ent em rg is acceptably low. to large scale loss of seagrass from Hervey Bay, ve � ency measures to pre­ of attacking people Res. 507-519. t e d clme consider that any by­ Queensland. Wild/. 22: south of Dugongs in the Other stakeholders ern Jreat Barrier Reef. mammals in shark nets measu These catch of marine Smith, A.J. & Marsh, H., 1990. Management of the tra­ s are being developed. is unacceptable in a World �eritage (Dugong dugon (Muller, Queen�fa d The ditional hunting of Dugongs � Commercial given the extremely low nsk of a Northern Great Barrier Reef. Environ. 0rgani s t Fishermen's Area, 1776)) in the inc � {°n has acknowledged that the bather being attacked by a shark. Manag. 14: 47-55. id ent cap will be Dugo . ture and drowning of The greatest challenge ahead ngs m of in�hore Helene Marsh is Professor �f Etfvi�onmental This t �sh nets is a problem. to ensure the conservation in Tow'f!-5- or ntsation Expe:1ence Science at James Cook Un�verszty develo has supported the seagrass beds in the region. leader in the Coope�atwe p�ent of a hard to convince a ville and a program educatio code of practice and an has shown that it is Research Centre for the Ecologica{ly c fi hn rogram to that a resort may the Great Barner ial s eri inform commer­ prospective developer Sustainable Development of serv o aspects of Dugong con­ have adverse impacts on Dugongs and Reef She has been stud):ingthe ecologyand con­ ati n biiJ°0� 1974. on d �nd_ management, their habitats. It will be ev�n harder \ servation of Dugongs since metho s to and h � mm1m1se Dugong take. It convince a farmer that eroswn from NATURE 57 A USTRAL IA WINTER 1997

in some TO PARENTAL and male of a breeding pair and, HEN ITCOMES by additional care, the male Emu species, may be aided (Dromaius novaehollan­ helpers. So why do male Emus, and the single diae) is made of sterling males of other species with Cass­ by the female with a clutch of fathers including the Southern stuff.W Left casuarius) most and up to 15 eggs, he will incubate, almost owary (Casuarius on the continuously, for a period of eight button-quail (Turnix spp.), take weeks. Only rarely, if ever, will he ven­ responsibilities of a lone parent? ture from the nest to forage, and during In part, the answer lies in the develop­ this period he may lose as much as eight mental mode of their young. While the kilograms. And his diligence doesn't end Emu chicks require their father as an there. When the chicks hatch, the male escort, they are capable of foraging for broods them beneath his feathers at themselves almost as soon as they night and escorts them for a further six hatch. Young that are mobile and can, in months in the inhospitable semi-arid species like the Emu, even forage inde-

hese females actually compete among one another for devoted dads, and have consequently become larger and more colourful than the males.

regions of inland Australia. pendently after hatching are referred to Such displays of lone male care are a� 'precocial'. AIi ducks, geese, shore­ uncommon among birds, and indeed b1rds, rails and quail produce precocial occur in only about 2.5 per cent of young, along with other notables like �ustra�ia's 740 or so native species the Brolga (Grus rubicunda) and Black _(mcludmg ".agrants). In by far the major­ Swan (Cygnus atratus). In contrast the ity of our birds, parental care is a more hatchl�ngs of most birds, including all collaborative effort between the female songbirds (passerines), parrots, birds of

prey and most seabirds, are completely helpless and totally dependent on their parents for survival. Most of these 'altri­ cial' young are naked (and rather ugly) on hatching, and remain in the nest where they are provisioned entirely by their parents until they can fly. This 'nestling period' may vary from as little as a week in some pigeons, up to an extraordinary nine months in the Wandering Albatross (Diomedea exulans). . Generally, escorting precocial yo�ng 1s a f less demanding task than fe�d!ng _ � smg altn�ial nestlings, so it is not surpn to discover that all species with lone young. fathers produce highly precocial l· Indeed, male Maileefowl (Leipoa oce A�stralia has the highest percentage lata) eys of 'helpful' bird s in the world and Australian Brush-turk Miners are reared by both parents ' . These fledgling N . with as many as 20 male o1sy (Alectura lathamz) even required to the young. helpers, most of wh' are not _ ich are related to supervise their young after hatch1�g. These birds belong to a very exclusive 60 NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTER 1997 ------.-... �-�� ______

� �amily �����: Megapodiidae), whose 'role reversal' has gone a step further in The male Emu escorts the chicks and broods b te t e r egg them under his feathers at night for up to six earthen a��? � � i s inside an a number of other species, such as the main eaf-htter 1:1ound that is Comb-crested Jacana (Irediparra galli­ months. tained a a r ture r app opnate tempera­ nacea; see Nature Aust. Spring 1995) by th mar e. After chicks ar 1 hatching, the and Painted Snipe (Rostratulabenghalen­ tion of the Emperor Penguin, Apten­ e eft com�letely to odytes forsten), devices and their own sis), where the female may lay a separate the male contributes to few any will perish in the r this task in only about half these species. we�ks ttroug first clutch fo each of several males. These tion. h predation or starva- females actually compete among one However, the male compensates in a have con­ range of birds, including most birds of The high! d ev another for devoted dads, and cial Y eloped state of preco- r and more prey and many parrots, by provisioning Youn result sequently become la ger tively s partly from the rela­ colourful than the males. In these the incubating female with food, reduc­ la/ d n �hich th �\�� utritious eggs from species where egg production may not ing her need to leave the nest to forage. 1� e h r req . And b�cause less care the opportunity to pass on This practice is taken to the ext eme in uired a r be a problem, size ft� hatchmg, the r willing some hornbills of South-East Asia in s of Preeoc clutch pa ental duties to a series of also larg 1al species are usually males is too good to pass up. which the female is actually sealed into a er tha n r Parts. Pr thei altricial counter­ Even among the majority of Australian nest hollow before incubation, remain­ e oductn· � a lot to ly. ver, can b of large eggs how­ birds in which the feeding of young is a ing there until the young are ready f I e u1te en r r from her atten­ ng on th i e getically de�and­ collaborative effort, other aspects of She receives all he food e e ema, e, r r narrow opening. xplains w and this probably parental care are not always shared. For tive pa tne through a ca h r the chances of clutch re in so �Y the r1:ale provides example, while females incubate in all This tactic educes rni0 r tree-climbing f ese species. But such 'biparental' birds (with the single excep- or b ood predation by NA JUR[ A U STRALIA WINTER 1997 -61 A male Malleefowl rakes his mound. He will incubate and care for the eggs until they hatch.

mammals. The males of some species sphere. Without the peak in food avail­ lings or previous offspring) of the breed­ also adopt a greater role in nest building ability associated with spring in the ing male and female. By participating in and territorial defence, so overall partic­ Northern Hemisphere, it is argued, the care of relatives, these helpers are ipation in parental duties may be more pairs will often find it difficult to fledge indirectly enhancing their own (inclu­ equalHE than YOUNG appears OF MANY at firstAUSTRALIAN glance. BIRDS young successfully without additional sive) reproductive success, because(Mano rinarel­ help, especially if they are inexperienced ativesmelano sharecephala), a high proportion of the T at breeding. More recently, however, same genes. Noisy Miners not only have the services of two Eleanor Russell of the CSIRO's Division for example, live in dedicated parents, but will often benefit of Wildlife and Ecology showed that groups where up to 20 males will �ssist fromthe attentions of additional(Malurus helpers. many of our cooperative breeders in providing food to the young of a smgle Species that(Pomatostomus commonly have helpers belong to a large group of passerines, nest. Genetic studies indicate that usual­ include the fairy-wrens spp.), known as the Corvida, which radiated in ly only one male will sire all offspri�g. babblers spp.), many Australia some 30-50 million years ago. However most of the other males assist­ ing turn �ut to be either sons or(Malurus brothers cyaneus)of the genetic father. Assistance is all well-and-good The Superb Fairy-wren is another cooperatively breed­ for the breeding pair, ing species in which additional males help feed nestlings. The motivation for but what's in it for the birds that help? these helpers, however, appears to be somewhat different. While all appears harmonious in the wren troop, it has been found that most young a�e not (Dacelo novaeguineae) fathered by the primary male, or m fact honeyeaters, the (CorcoraxLaughing melanorham­Kookaburra Since their origin a disposition to coop­ by any male in the group. Ind�ed, "' Phos; Nature Aust. and the White­ erative behaviour has persisted among typically the young are sired by a neigh· winged Chough these birds in a diversity of habitats so bouring male. Consequently, beca�se � see Autumn 1997). In �heyarticular factors leading to the high there is a high turnover of breeding; lI fact, Australia has a higher percentage of incidence of cooperative breeding femalA Pacifices, Bazahelpers or Crested are commonly Hawk (Avic unedarela t- " 'helpful' birds than anywhere else in the remain unclear. chicks world. This high incidence of coopera­ subcristata) with its nestlings. These Assistance is all well-and-good for the will be cared for and shown hunting tive breeding is thought to result from breeding pair, but what's in it for the the low degree of seasonality in techniques by both parents for birds _that help? I_n most cooperatively several months. Australia's eucalypt woodland compared bree_dmg species 1t seems that helpers with forests of the Northern Hemi- are m fact close genetic relatives (sib- 62 NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTER 1997 ed to the young they feed and defend, paternity of the group's communal unrelated to most young in their neSt. and hence stand to gain no genetic ben­ brood. Ideally males should only care for While an association between reduced efit. In this species, experiments indicate young of which they are the genetic male care and low paternity ha � been im that helpers may contribute primarily as father, but there is no evidence that reported for some species, th� p��j a form of rent payment to the primary birds can distinguish between related tance of paternity on parenting st pair for being permitted to remain on the and unrelated young in the one nest. remains contentious. al s0 territory. Good territories are at a pre­ Instead, males may assess their likeli­ A male's dedication to care ma� mium and, by remaining on the home or hood of some paternity in the brood, ed by his opport�mty be compromis i� 'natal' territory, helpers are in the box possibly by how frequently they mated mate with females other than his soc seat to inherit the plot upon the demise with the group female, and adjust their partner (extra-pair mating)· Beca�se ng of the dominant male. participation in incubation and feeding female birds are capable of ston The social arrangements are some­ accordingly. Reduced care in response in reproductiv� tract fo sperm their _ �i�� what different in another group of coop­ to low paternity has been reported for extended period, the duration �or w s su erative-breeders that includes the Purple some Northern Hemisphere species but a female will be sexually receptive i u ­ (Porphyrio porphyrio) u t0 Swamphen and is not apparent in the Purple Swamphen, ally over a week and may be p re Tasmanian Native-hen (Gallinula where male contribution . ( see Natu is fairly equal months .m some ' spe�1e� n mortierii) Rather than a breeding pair and unrelated to paternity. Perhaps this Aust W1thm a popula tio . . Winter 1996). or- with helpers, these groups comprise sev­ species has a more egalitarian nature. or colony of breeding bird_s, the eral, often unrelated, males that all mate A similar dilemma also with ad /1 tlbnal confronts the tunity for males to mate f with the one or two group females. males of monogamous species, such the n mbe as females will depend on � (; e Consequently, the males will often share the Superb Fairy-wren, that are often females that are sexually receptive a

TER J 997 64 NATURE AUSTRALIA WIN A male Black-breasted Button-quail ( Turnix melanogaster) on his nest. Although both sexes share in nest building, it is the male that incubates the eggs.

female distributes her eggs into the !em, a rather clever detection mecha­ nests of other 'host' species. Australia nism has evolved. Coot eggs are strik­ has a large contingent of 11 parasitic ingly variable in shape, spot pattern, and cuckoos, including the world's largest, background colour between females. the Channel-billed Cuckoo (Scythrops novaehollandiae) However, they vary little within an indi­ of northern and east­ vidual's own clutch. It seems that ern Australia. This species appears to females are able to employ these mark­ specialise on parasitising crows, ravens ings, almost like a personal signature, to and currawongs, although there are identify eggs that are not their own. even records of chicks being reared by Once detected the host female will birds of prey (not the sort of host you'd either toss the 'bad egg' out or, more want to discover your secret). Unlike commonly, bury it down in the nest lin­ most other Australian cuckoos, in which ing never again to see the light of day. the cuckoo chicks evict their host nest Cruel, perhaps, but indisputably fair.• mates, the host eggs or young are often thrown out or even eaten by the adult Further Reading Channel-bill. Clutton-Brock, T.H., 1991. The evolution of parental Less well documented is the practice care. Monographs in behaviour and ecology. Princeton of laying eggs in the nests of same­ University Press: New Jersey. species neighbours, often referred to as Cockburn, A., 1996. Why are so many Australian birds Purp egg dumping or, more formally, 'conspe­ le Swamphens on a nest with the chicks. cooperative: social evolution in the Corvida? Pp. ci:fic brood parasitism'. As with cuckoo 451--472 in Frontiers in population ecology, ed. by places the bur­ Australia: time · · parasitism, this strategy R.B. Floyd and A.W. Sheppard. CSIRO · On e species m which males skimp den of parental care onto the unsuspect­ Melbourne. on car� m when ating opportunities are ing (or at least unwilling). Unlike the eir andbook of (k�h gre�test is the Fairy Martin cuckoo however these conspeci:fic para­ Higgins, P.J.& Davies, S.J.J.F. (eds), 19�6. � nd0 New Zealand and Antarctic birds. Vol. 3. ru. aneC). These birds nest in sites will usually' also lay a clutch of their Australian, co ies Press: Melbourne .. Jn _ of up to several hundred pairs own. This behaviour occurs in a wide Oxford University an 'd�nng b the course of the four-month range of birds including some swallows, . ree d mg season, Marchant, S. & Higgins, P.J. (eds), 1990-1993_ there are times when finches, and waterfowl. of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Y f the fem (Fulica Handbook ��� t ales are simultaneously Several coot species spp.) birds. Vais 1 & 2. Oxford University Press: Melbourne. iv Males contribute bati: \ less to incu­ engage in such brood parasiti�m, often en more Bird life. ed. Collins: Sydney. sugg� females are fertile, laying some eggs in ne1ghbounng nests Rowley, I., 1982. 2nd s;m g a trade-off clutch. As the ing c are between provid- before initiating their own ' i and sor1c1 ·t· mg add itional mat- of chicks that a pair can raise to Russell, E.M., 1989. Co-operative breeding-a ngs. number 89: 61-62. independence is limited, this tactic Gondwanan perspective. Emu female to increase her total IRDS allows the Magrath is a graduate stu�ent [n Q;�: � _ AVOID THESE DOMESTIC However, _for the Michael n reproductive output. the Department of Zoology a_t the Un!versity i g . Ph cations altogether by dump­ it also confers a _d1sadyan­ sts include the are same reason, of Melbourne. His research inter� oth � ntal responsibilities onto the host because parasite chicks and mating systems ers· e m tage on the parental behaviour bir ost well known of these be reared at the expense_ of the ds a re th e may of birds. cuckoos, in which the host's own young. To counter this prob- NATU RE AUSTR 65 ALIA WINTER 1997 Ill - \" ' > ;""-�.: ., • ·o ·:· p H O T .. ,,'-'·

DESIGN BY NATURE B Y WESLEY TOLHURST

66 1997 WINTER NATURE AUSTRALIA tl -

NA TURE A USTRALIA 67 WINTER 1997 DESIGN BY NATURE

68 I 991 WINTER NATURE AUSTRALIA -

p H O T O A R T

NATURE AU 69 STRALIA WINTER 1997 - beyond, the tiny crustacean D ptomus sanguineus kno ia whose chitown as have been found ered eggs to be ablov.e to survive at least 35 0 years buri ' may soon ed in Pood The search for a Jountain of yout� mud, and deep-sea colonial s of the cell. anemones (Gerardia sp.) ea findan end in the complex machinery that have b een estimated to live at least 2,000 years all animal . But life spans are tri;1a11 short compared with the. life spans ofSey.Y era1 f ar 1 ess ag,·1 e organisms. ENING , Recent ct·is. THE LENGTH covery of the frozen body of 'Otzi' hunter th�t died in the Alps 5,300 ye�r! LIFE ago , provided more than a shrivelled LIMITS OF human __to contemplate. Hay taken fro BY MICHAEL ARCHER inside Otzi's boots was found to conta� spor�s of two species of modern fungi" p�sp,t� thousands of y�ars in the alpine fndge , they grew without hesitation when p)ace? in trays of nutrient agar. Cons1denng greener things, some (without having died!) at the age of 365. lichens (blends of fungi and algae) have Methuselah reportedly lived 969 years. life spans several thousands of years Larnech, son of Methuselah and father of long. Tree-ring data and radiocarbon dat­ ing have demonstrated that Bristlecone Noah chalked up 777 years, and Noah (Pinus aristata) didn't give the game away until he was Pine trees in North OR CREATION 'Sc!ENTISTS', 1l-lE 950. The rest of us mortals would count America can live for at least 5,000 years. ourselves lucky if we racked up a tenth of Even better, the North American chain of descent recounted Creosote Bush (Larrea divaricata) can in the Bible from one Old Testament these times. patriarch to another, provides all the 'sci­ Life spans are a curiously little-under­ live for more than 12,000 years. ence' they need to draw the conclusion stood part of life. For bacteria it can be And on the topic of long-lived plants, that the Earth is less than 10,000 years hours; for many insects it's a matter of what is the natural life span of the rose? li old. Compared with the calculation of weeks; for small mammals it is common­ all of the last few centuries of beautiful about 4.5 billion (x 109) years provided ly no more than a year; and for bigger roses have been grown from cuttings by geologists and physicists, the esti­ beasts such as elephants it is rarely over taken from a few ancestral plants, with­ mates of Creation 'Scientists' seem just a 50 years. In general, for animals, there out the genetic renewal of seeds, will tad on the improbably young side. But appears to be a correlation between there come a moment at the natural end conversely, the Bible tells us that these absolute body size and longevity-the of the rose plant's life when every culti· same Biblical patriarchs whose lives larger you are, the longer you live. A few vated rose in every garden in the world measure the short Biblical history of striking exceptions to the rule stand out, suddenly turns black and drops dead? Or Earth, lived improbably long lives. such as some small insect-eating bats (equally intriguing) are the cel ls of the Enoch, the father of Methuselah, is said that live for more than 30 years, humans rose plant cuttings immortal? to have been 'taken to Heaven by God' who not uncommonly reach 80 years and Equally surprising are what biologists

Insect DNA recovered from amber is challenging our definition of life.

70 ER I 997 NATURE AUSTRALIA WINT - ,4 then of fossil DNA? ut the life spans of If it can be success­ t abo o ­ fully transplanted into a living genome re finding ou use one of the purp � eds. eca young md1- and churnsout proteins in the way it for­ SPEND pa !ant se _B enable the f seeds is. to . hostile con- merly did in the prehistoric creature es O vive pei ·10 ds of A FASCINATING al to sui· ating, perhaps it isn't this DNA alive in the same sense a� 0du i·e ermin tions befo surprise that some a transplanted organ? He suggests that HOLIDAY IN di af no the definition of life should be 11ould com3 is for extremely long expanded a 0 th found to include "any entity that can grow THE SNOWY seed· s c n ag nolia seed was o ds A m · gra· s. Wh en and/or reproduce when placed in an pen · (}00 ear-old nee m MOUNTAINS among 2, amazement the optimum environment, or any entity that t �eryone's watered, o ptly germinated to pro­ can direct protein synthesis pathways by seed \m Join an 'fossil' fu t-petalled form of itself or in another organism". intimate group, beaiti l eigh r . duce a _ differs f om the s1x­ At the extreme end of life spans, how- staying at beautiful magnoha that "Q1LJIEIENS C01rTAGIE" Khancoban, NSW 2642 er of anti-ageing pills and rejuvenating Phone(060)769511 The growing numb Fax (060)769496 expensive testimony to the fact that we humans creams is JOY FRIENDLY COUNTRY STYLE hospi­ E tality in an alpine setting of spectacular of ageing and want to beauty. are obsessed with the signs reject Native forest lies at the back door a fertile valley unfolds from the balcony. ' Magnificent views and breathtaking lot in the lottery of life spans. scenery pro­ our natural vide a perfect setting for the ultimate escapeto Australia's Snowy Mountains.

D,light in a fascinatinglool- tit the intrig11i11g world petalled form that su�vives today-pos­ ever, is still the four-dimensional, time­ of the flora a11rl fa1111a fo1111rl on the westem slopes sibly an extinct species come back to travelling, shape-changing Bioblob that I of the Snowy,l/011111ains. f Wheatseeds 4,500 years old found described in an early article in this li e. (Nature Aust. fVI uch of Australia is characherised by relatively in the pyramids of Egypt have been suc­ series * Summer 1988-89). 0 000- At last count, it is already at least 3.5 bil­ flat, wide open expanses, our country seems to cessfully germinated, as has a 3 , consist of big chunks of everything - kilometres lion (x 109) years old. In this view, all of year-old lotus seed. of dust, woodlands, mulga, bluebush and However, even these colossal life the longest life spans noted above shriv­ spinifex, and massive areas of cropping and graz­ spans pale in the faceof results of more el into mere twigs on the immense tree ing land. recent and controversial research. of life. All branches are eternally con­ Not so A11stmlias highro11nt1y. Microbiologists Raul Cano and Monica nected and biological death becomes no Borucki (California Polytechnic State more than an illusion of limited vision­ owhere else in Australia does the altitude vary e the result of our incapacity to see the so greatly. It's geology provides a massive variety Univ rsity) have successfully kick-start­ of topography, climate and aspect - the perfect ed bacteriaback to life after being pre­ Bioblob, as it really exists, in four dimen­ habitat for a wide range of plant and animal served as spores in amber for 25-40 mil­ sions. species all in a relartively small area. Alpine li on years. They are now attempting to Despite this biological reality, the Herbfields, Heatherlands, Sphagnym Bogs and do the same forbacteria found in amber growing number of anti-ageing pills and Fens, F eldmarks, Wet Forest, Sub Alpine up to 135 million years old. Already a rejuvenating creams is expensive testi­ Woodlands, Dry Forests or the Montane form of company called Savanna Woodland, the Snowy Mountains area Ambergene has pur­ mony to the fact that we humans are contai11s them all. chased 16 'revived' bacterial cultures obsessed with the signs of ageing and a�d secured the rights to any commer­ want to reject our natural lot in the lot­ Richard Cooper and Julie Golds experience 1111d c13J benefits that might arise. Although tery of life spans. The search for a 'foun­ insight i1110 11a1t11i gives 11 11ew di111e11sio11 i11 the t�e r�search w appreciation of the e11'1)iron111ent. Yo11 'IIsee _vo11r arrants cautious scepti­ tain of youth' may soon findan end in the worldj,vm 11 totally11ew perspective/ cism, it has already sparked concern in complex chemical machinery of the cell. 0�� quarters about whether or not Thomas Johnson (University of Col­ Write now for details, dares and prices. r�vivm� ancient 1 beasts like bacteria is a orado) has found-and slowed down­ �se thmg � PLEASE TICK ACTIVITY TIIAT APPEALS TO YOU �IOST to do. What if they ques­ control ageing in a - one 'clock' genes that � d tongue in cheek, a' revi late instead of its retac ved nematode worm such that, D BIRDWATCHING e?us bacterium turned out to be a usual life's run of ten days, it now lives ean microbe Dick Cooper, Co-ordinator, Nsw Atlassers will � that in its day took out the long. Perhaps the Biblical explore many "Bi,rl Co1111111111ities m? �aurs? six times that help find and Similar unease followed their calls, excit mg - . the patriarchs will soon have to watch their & Their Habitats" by understanding · annou ncement by behaviour and habitat preference in this gist a m1crob1olo- wrinkledrears.• · Ger ld G 0 I · diverse sercing. Uni . ds t em (Ohio Wesleyan ver· sity) tha t h e successf b n ully cultured NATURAL HISTORY act eved fro Further Reading D of : f{��i m the gut contents Revival and identifi­ Join Julie Gold for a fascinating overview of the e r Cano, R.J. & Borucki, M.K., 1995. -old mastodon (see to 40-million-year-old flora, geography, and geology of the Snowy Nature A�st· /W � cation of bacterial spores in 25- e mter 1994) Dominican amber. Science 268: 1060-1064. i'vloumains. G orge Poi r · nia na (Umver · s1ty· of Califor- at B er k eI ey), The quest for life in To: has· been who with colleagues Poinar, G. & Poinar, R., 1994. lintm4 i recovering m· ta et sequences amber. Addison-Wesley Publ. Co.: Reading, 9p,yMf PtrJ. nsect DNA of P.O. Box 7, KHA COBAN a from 25-million-year-old Massachusetts. 1 SW 2642 AUSTRALIA mber h use? chall � /� these discoveries to lectures in biology e g Professor Michael Archer ...... Eve � �imple concepts of New South Nan1e: ...... , ryone w ul of life. and geology at the University tha agree, he points non-teaching hours are ...... t an or out Wales. Most of his Address: ...... , ...... , , · · n successfully tran_s� devoted to the study of the fossil faunas of �?m a df lanted ...... Postcode: ...... a v a� P�rso� Queensland...... li e-if it fu to a rec1p1ent is Riversleigh, north-western it o ns Ph: Bus ( ) ...... Home ( ) ...... nce did in ��LO m the new body as . e now-dead donor. What * Previously ANH IATURE AU STRALIA • WINTER 1997 71 Field guide to eu�a­ Jar with a one track mouth" entitled the lypts, which cov�r all spe<:1es and adult butterfly that fuels up at flowers least at the time of pnnt­ to sustain (at the hunt for mates REVIEWS ing). and food The book is of a manage- plants. size to carry aro�nd the This is a book ideally suited able to the suburban bush but one disappomtment naturalist is th;t there is so much blank the school teacher, or th� 170 line drawings, on most of the pages. junior or senior amateur. The vars over space raphs and ' the names have b�en With one species per page, photog are exquisite. A updated to the time of pnnt­ there is room to have had number of eggs, larvae and ing. another photo of some other pupae are pictured, and feature. For example, the fea­ instructions on how to rear ture from which Eucalyptus them· and their food plants (the are included. These are urnigera gets its _name . tried shape of the fruit) 1s not illus­ and tested examples, as trated, only the b�ds, and yet Densey has limited her dis­ there is space available! cussion to those species with Although sizes of bu�s, which she has had some fruits etc. are in the descnp­ experience. tive text, the illustrations of Attracting butterflies to a these features do not have a garden is a simple process scale nor are all the photos of once the appropriate lures the ' same magnification. and attractants are known, Some species have photos of and this book is full of clues fruits and no buds, or buds and tips. It is worth empha­ and no fruits, and no habitat sising Densey's message: picture. The next, but ambi­ that is, animals need appro­ Australian tious edition could hopefully priate habitats in which to Native Plants: cove� all 800 species, with breed. Sometimes these can Propagation, photos of all the features of be created in your backyard, Cultivation each that are used in the but there are thousands more and Use in Eucalyptus: an illustrated 'key'. However, despite the species out there that need a Landscaping guide to identification is a limitations referred to, I con­ whole undisturbed forest (4th ed.) very different book as it con­ well enough Fagg. sider this to be a very useful before they feel By John Wrigley and Murray tains no horticultural infor­ at home to breed. Reed Books, Vic., 1996, 696pp, little book that can only assist mation. It is simply a guide to -Shane F. McEvey $85.00rrp. users in the bush. the identification of 200 of the -Don Blaxell Australian Museum Eucalyptus: An 800 species of Eucalyptus. Royal Botanic Gardens Illustrated Guide The simple and well-illus­ to Identification By Ian Brooker and David Kleinig. trated 'key' to groups of spe­ Reed Books, Vic., 1996, cies covered in the book, HOW TO ATTRACT $24.95rrp. using visible characters such as bark type, fruit and bud �uttbflr« These recent publications shape, leaf colour, number from Reed Books will be used and position of buds on the to you,Yiiidm and enjoyed by thousands of twigs and the plant's habit, Australians who are interest­ allows the reader to get down ed in this country's unique to a 'short list' of species with flora. Both books contain a particular combination of excellent photographs and features. This book will be information and clear line most useful in the field. The drawings. distribution maps show the The first edition of Aus­ approximate natural occur­ tralian native plants was pub­ rence of each species, but try­ lished in 1979 and each sub­ ing to identify plantsin culti­ sequent edition just keeps vation will be most frustrat­ getting better and better. ing and probably futile. This Apart from updating names, I is not a criticism of the book, am not sure how subsequent as it was not intended for this How to Attract editions could be further purpose, just a warning to Butterflies to Tracks, Seats improved! Essentially a prac­ users. One major disadvan­ Your Garden and Other Traces: tical book on growing Aus­ tage of the book will be when By Densey Clyne. Kangaroo Press, A Field Guide tralian plants, the horticultur­ users are trying to identify NSW, 1996, 88pp, $16.95rrp. to Australian al information is the result of one of the other 600 or so John Wr Mammals igley's own experi­ species that are not included. This beautifully By Barbara Triggs. Oxford ence with illustrated most of the species Many of these species are guide introduces University Press, Vic., 1996, treated. For those readers the reader closely related to one or more to the pleasures of attracting 340pp, $29.95rrp. who already have earlier edi­ included in the book and butterflies tions, I would to gardens. With recommend could 'key out' the same way. Densey's characteristically enoug this 4th edition; there is so Reference Anyone fortunate � should then be lyrical style we are reminded to had the tracks an much more in it, including made to the have ! 5 three volumes, that there are "two mouths to Australian mamm over 360 species and culti- also by Brooker and �igns of t Kleinig, feed"-the "sexless caterpil- mterpreted for them Y

1997 72 NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTER Gondwana) to give a bal­ rig­ understanding of. Australi�n ularly Ab� their apprecia­ anced and more rounded s, artic ciate mammals and expert ? will appre bush treatment of the subject. 1 e1s , ed tion of the Australian-Sandy lngleby. -Paul Willis ·oal e]d n be learn. ueh ea e Museum Quinkana Pty Ltd ow m rally secretiv Australian h ou1. ge ne the ab out I una from na fa Th'is nianu eave behind. . tracesth ey l. earh er ersion of an eV.Is e d v . ok t1'tl e d r inning bo s a awa rd .,v .r cks and sign : , ft{a111111a� t fo r south eastern field gttt �� an essential com­ At1s!ral1 curious �0; anyone · panion . racks seats u t anim al t '. ab o . or other signs m ...... (droppings) sh ORDER ilie bu . has been This editio_n ' to include mam­ ext ded lia tfr om all over Austra . any OF i sec­ ria: divided into four tracks, scat�, o�her tions: signs signs (shelters, feedmg THESE other traces) and bo ne� and en (skulls, lower jaws, hun: The Wombat: section titles and femurs). Each_ Australia's Lost Common general mtrod�c­ includes a . _ World: A History Wombats in tiona key to assist 111 1dentifi­ of Australia's Australia (2nd BY introduced mam­ post cati�n andi Backboned ed.) mal spec es Descriptions and . Animals By Barbara Triggs. UNSW Press, ...... plates of signs that may be By Patricia Vickers-Rich, Leael/yn NSW, 1996, 156pp. $27.95rrp. confusedwit h those of mam­ Suzanne Rich Thomas Hewitt Profits from I mals Oike those left by some & Rich. Kangaroo Press, NSW, 1996, Wombats! Muddle-headed? the A us/ralian reptiles, birds, amphibians or 128pp, $19.95rrp. invertebrates) are also pro­ Far from it. This book will dis­ Museum Shop �ded. pel most of those myths you The new format of the Two of the authors, Patricia have heard about the help to fund guide and the addition of Vickers-Rich and Thomas Common Wombat because colour photographs make it Hewitt Rich, will be familiar what Barbara Triggs doesn't research by easy to use. Photos of seats to many people through their know about this marsupial the Museum's from 128 mammal species are previous publications on probably hasn't been discov­ z interspersed with their dist­ Australia's dinosaurs and ered yet. This book is the Scientists ributionmaps . There are 73 extinct mammals and birds. second edition in the very colour plates of mammal shel­ In this publication they team useful Australian Natural ...... < ters, feeding signs and other up with their daughter, History Series. Each book in traces, as well as 40 black­ Leaellyn Suzanne Rich, to the series deals with a single and-white plates showing MUSEU�l GIFT skul produce an inexpensive vol­ species or group. In this case ls, lower jaws, humeri VOUCHERS IN and ume aimed at the interested there are three species of fe�urs of 38 commonly high-school occurn student or other wombats in Australia, howev­ OE 10i\llNAl'IONS ng species. Mammal non-specialist readers. tracks are er most of the book is devot­ depicted in the A number of OF $25 AND $50 form of lin steps have ed to the Common or Forest e drawings and been taken to reduce the cost (Vombatus ursinus). photograp Wombat ARE ALSO hs of footprints in of the publication, d. e pho including a Greater use has been made of � r tos are particu­ soft-back cover and mostly AVAI LAlll,E r y elpful as photographs in this edition; ou few tracks black-and-white photographs new ones have been added nd in the wild are lY c l ear perfect- and illustrations. Unfortunately and those from the first edi­ . and th ey vary cons erably f 1d- these detract from the book's tion enlarged. A very useful ...... m orm depending on the subs visual appeal, and the lack of section of the book is the Please post or fax orders to: 11 trate ' age , c conct·t·o n 1·1ma tic an index is infuriating. appendix, which deals with i s etc. Surp The text contains a MAIL ORDER SHOP r sing]Y there . wealth the rearing of young wom­ ack is no of detail AUSTRALIAN now] ed g ment presented in a clear bats in captivity. These days, !re of the MUSEU�I A m t narrative style. The coverage as wildlife rehabilitation is b ki?� skil 6 COLL£GE ST e 1o::t�� �� ls to of the history of Australian taken up by an increasing ongmal SYDNEY munities th com­ vertebrates is, however, some­ number of people, it is impor­ ffl l ugho ut Au SW 2000 nclusion �� stralia. v.:hat idiosyncratic, featuring tant that the job is attempted Wo V such mat uld h erial sites and specimens that the with the full facts at hand. Fax (02) 320 6066 he e tly add Phone (02) 320 6150 ! Va]u� �r � ed to Rich family has had extensive Having seen for myself what Introdu th is guide and i ced � experience with (forexample damage a wombat can do in a detal to new level of the nter Riversleigh and Murgon) '. suburban backyard, I would 1 am i pretation Payment <,hould be made 111 � ma! si_ gns of Overall the book contains advise everyone to think s only a . However this Amtraliun dollnr\ b) Vi,a, B::m�card, minor many useful facts and some carefully, and to read this ;\la,1ercard. A1m:rican !:,pre.,.,, or strongly criticism �nd I fiel gu comm excellent presentations, but book, before taking on these by personal �hoppmg only. Po,tagc d jd/� end this should and packing (<,urface mnil only): est i o an be read in conjunction furry bulldozers Up to S29.95 - S3.50 ed n h yone inter- with . -L. Gibson en ancing other books (such as Pat S.'.1010 S49.95 = S5.00 N their Australian Museum S50 10 $69.95 = S6.50 ATURE and Tom Rich's Wildlife of AUS T S70 10 S89.95 = 58.00 RALIA W INTER 1997 590 10 $109.95 $9.00 $11010 Sl50.00 = S12.50 CIETY PAGE SO . . exist to further the cause of the subject that you hol . a d s mall local and national which d dear Australia there is a network of active societies, large groupo f animals there's a society foryou. Get involved! Across soence, na t1ona I Pa;ks , bushwalking 0( a particular Whether your special interest is conservation, birds, Ph: (02) 9929 0253 $25.00 (double); $30.00 (family); GEOGRAPHIC ANIMAL WELFARE $5.00 (junior under 18) The Royal Geographical Contact: Mrs B.]. Stoddard Fauna Rescue of South Societyof Qld hie. •• MembershipFee: $50.00 Australia hie Tasmanian ConservationTrust 112 Brookes St, 7 Ormsby Avenue, 102 Bathurst St, Fortitude Valley, Qld 4006 Mod bury North, SA 5092 SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH Hobart, Tas. 7000 Ph: (07) 3252 3856 Ph: (08) 8264 4958 The Australian Entomological Ph: (002) 34 3552 Contact: Ms Kath Berg Contact: Mrs Sheila Burbidge Society hie. Contact: Suzi Manigian • Membership• • Fee: $30.00 Department of Entomology, Membership• Fee: $30.00 (Family); Membership• •• Fee: $25.00 p.a. (concessions available) University of Queensland $20.00 (Single); $10.00 Qld 4072 (Pensioner/Student) World Wide Fund for Nature INSECTS Ph: (07) 3365 1564; The Societyfor bisect Studies fax: (07) 3365 1922; email: Wildlife Wormation & Rescue (WWF) PO Box 528, 4/54 Coogee St, [email protected] Service (WIRES) Randwick, NSW 2031 Contact: Dr David Walter PO Box 1457, Sydney, NSW 2001 Ph: (02) 9299 6366 Ph: (02) 9399 7921 Dubbo, NSW 2830 Contact: Mr B.L. Brunet. MembershipFee: $45.00 Ph: (068) 844 995; Contact: Angela Peteren, Thanya Scott mobile: 015 459 008 Membership•• Fee: $15.00 Australian& New Zealand Contact: Helen Taylor, Secretary; Scientific E loration Society Robin Taylor, PublicityOfficer Membership Fee: $35.00 xp MOLLUSCS hie. (ANZSES) Membership• • Fee: $37.00 EDUCATION The Malacological Society of PO Box 174, CSIRO's Double Helix Australiasia Ltd Albert Park, Vic. 3206 Ph: (03) 9866 8699 ANTHROPOLOGY Science Club cl-Australian Museum, Division Anthropological Society of WA PO Box 225, of Invertebrate Zoology, Contact: Ms Colleen Lazenby University of WA, Dickson, ACT 2602 6College St, Membership••• Fee: $30.00 Crawley, WA 6009 Ph: (06) 276 6643 Sydney, NSW 2000 + Nature Ph: (09) 380 2853 Contact: Lynn Pulford Ph: (02) 9320 6275 Australia di,scountedmagazine Contact Jane Mulcock, Secretary • Contact: Ms Alison Miller subscription= $20.00 Membership Fee: $25.00 ••• Membership•• Fee: $40.00 Membership Fees: $30.00 ZOO KEEPING (professional membership); $25.00 ENVIRONMENTAL for Aust. & NZ members Australian Society of Zoo (full membership);$10.00 The Societyfor Growing Keeping (ASZK) (students, pensioners, unwaged); Australian Plants(NSW) Ltd MUSEUM PO Box 248, $15.00 (corresponding membership PO Box 744, Queensland Museum Healesville, Vic. 3777 outside Perth metro area only) Blacktown, NSW 2148 Association Ph: (059) 62 4022 Ph: (02) 9621 3437 PO Box 3300 Contact: Michael Taylor BIRDS Contact: The Secretary South Brisbane, Qld 4101. • ••• Bird Observers Club •• •• Ph: (07) 3840 7632 MembershipFee: $35.00 (full of Australia (BOCA) MembershipFee: $32.00 (single); Contact: Mrs Carol Middleton membership [Animal Industry} and PO Box 185, $36.00 (familyand concession) •• • associate membership); $45.00 Nunawading, Vic. 3131 Membership fee: $25.'00; $30.00 (overseasmembership); $60.00 Ph: (03) 9877 5342 Queensland Conservation (family);$20.00 (cone. & country) ( corporate membership- Aust., NZ, Contact: Mrs E McCulloch Council PNC); $70.00 (overseas corporate •• •• PO Box 12046, NATURAL HISTORY membership) MembershipFee: $48.00 Elizabeth Sth, Qld 4002 LnmcestonField NaturalistsClub and various cone. Ph: (07) 3221 0188; PO Box 1072, fax: (07) 3229 7992 Launceston,Tas. 7250 Newsletter/Journal, • Monthly meeting, Contact: Danielle Nelson. Phone Victorian Ornithological Ph: (003) 34 1820 • Bi-monthly meeting, Annual for details regarding meetings. Research Group Contact: Mr L Hord er meeting/conference, • Weekly meeting, PO Box 1000, • • Quarterly meeting, • Field outings/Tour,, Blind Bight, Vic. 3980 Memb�rship Fee: $20.00 (single); • • Membership Fee: $15.00 (single); • Conservation/Working programs, Ph: (059) 987 996 $25.00 (family);$15.00 (non-wage $20.00 (family) Contact: Mr Arnis Dzedins earner); $300 (life);$22.00 • Discounted Goods, Magazine, (groupl50) c/- SA Museum, $20.00 (family) North Terrace Are you a Club FROGS Adelaide, SA 5000 CONSERVATION Tablelands Frog Club hie. Ph: (08) 8223 5360 Secretary? FAWNA Mail Bag 71, Contact: Dr Ole Wiebkin (Hon. NATURE AUSTRALIA's Associate PO Box 41, Yungabw-ra, Qld 4872 Secretary) Society Scheme is designed to help Beechwood, NSW 2446 Ph: (070) 953 282 • your club or society with free Ph: (065) 856 470; Contact: Lorrie Davison MembershipFee: $30.00 fax: (065) 856 528 •• publicity, funds and member Contact Meredith Ryan Membership• • Fee: $15.00 (family); Llnnean Society of NSW benefits. Contact Michelle $10.00 (adult); •• $5.00 (associate PO Box 457, Atzemis on (02) 9320 6119 Membership fee: $20.00 (single); children) p.a. Milsons Point, NSW 2061 for more details.

74 NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTER 1997 THEBROAD HORIZON Australian Academic Tours Science based nature tours for 1997

- -- -= Mexico - Anthropology and Geology Oct 11 - 29 1997 $2760 ex Mexico City

Western United States Dinosaurs and National Parks 6 -21 Sept 1997 from $5545 ex Sydney

Lord Howe - the other side of the Island 7 - 17 June 1997 l-9Novl997 $2070 ex Sydney June $2405 ex Sydney Nov

Kamchatka - Arctic Volcanoes and Siberian Wilderness + Alaska 2 -22 Aug, 1997 POA

Short tours around Sydney Indigenous Austral ians: Australia's first peoples. Opens 29 March 1997. include Blue Mountains, In this new, perm Pirates Caves, Astronomy anent exhibition, you will see life through the eyes of Australia's first peoples as they share their sites, ask for programme. w� common experiences and diverse � s. I n d 1v1.. dual accoun ts are interwoven with contemporary history to explore and expl Contact Dr. David Roots ain the importance of For the land, family and spirituality. details on all Ph: (02) 9979 9813 Museum activities phone the Museum Alive ooss 294 Line on 08 (35c/min. ) or Freecall: 1 800 810 921 M use contact our Internet site: www.austmus.gov.au um entry: $5 Fax: (02) 9979 5561 adults, $2 children (5 - 15 years). Open 7 days 9.30am - 5pm. email: [email protected] web site: AUSTRALIAN,. http://www.academictours.com.au

�o�eg� � }!d,� ,,_-""'L 1�1"-1 PO Bo" 907 .�DJG A NSW Government Cultural A11ractionBI W � h N en O U MONA VALE NSW 2103 W � as the last time you saw the changing face A.C.N 006 673 489 of the Australian Lie No 2ta004092 NA Museum? SWHSPMUS"'' TURE A USTRALIA WINTER 1997 75 VICTORIAN HIGH . A COUNTRY -- � ��'\�\��· '\ !Se=_:,-.�;:��\,J�. ':lt='-"';--.=a:..'-'.-��\�t-' =. ,.;-:'\i.::,- .l . .• � ;;�;,,;-:�·c� Quality Ecotours exploring National Parks and Wilderness areas.

4WD tours featuring easy interpretive walks and a choice of accommodation or camping.

Wilderness Bushwalks for the serious adventurer with a desire to experi­ ence the ultimate challenges of trekking in remote Alpine Wilderness.

With expert local guides, small groups minimise impact on the envi­ ronment and maximise your opportu­ nities to experience the solitude, rugged beauty and diverse flora and fauna.

On selected departures, join naturalists and participate in Wildlife Study Programs.

For your free brochure write: Gippsland High Country Tours P.O. Box 69, Bruthen, Vic, 3885. Phone: (051) 57 5556

(Accredited Member of Victorian Tourism Operators Association) r------I Gipsy Point Lodge -,I I I I I ..,,' I I e. I I <-, I I U) C C -, I I 0 CD I I C) "' Situated at the head of beautiful a:s I I CD"' Mallacoota Inlet and surrounded by C I Croajingolong National Park, the I "' Lodge provides a relaxing, comfortable I base from which to explore a unique, I .... hatched at � "Bauple Mountain a. I unspoiled area rich in bird life, flora I a. and fauna. Package holiday for bird Fairy Gallery" < I observers and field naturalists. I Other in Pottery and a I activities include fishing, boating, I CD swimming, surfing and T-Shirts.... also all other OJ I bushwalking. I U) "'I � Magical and Heavenly "' First class, 0 I all-inclusive accommodation 0 necessities available in the Lodge or self-contained cottages. I I I Ill Just off Bruce Highway For further details contact between Gympie and I Alan I Robertson - Marybourough OLD I Gipsy Point Lodge a:s I .... Lot 11 Willets Road Bauple Gipsy Point, Victoria 3891 .'\ustralia U) I Telephone: (051) 58 8205 I � Ph: 071 292 422 , I I ...______. 0 Hop in and see us sometime O Readers please mention ents Nature Austral/a when replying to advertise rn , much more I WANT TO INVEST WITH CONFIDENCE , 50 t;rage than the av, AUSTRALIAN tour. .. e s el with expert lead r_ Trav est m share your inter ethical whO . the natural world Agribusiness or ludes: reafforestation. TRUSTS • Feed the wild 97 program inc 19 lsla d dolphins nightly May: Lord Howe � Mining or recycling. Investors by Air • Do a photo June: outback Exploitation or can choose study of pelicans, July: The Pilbara, WA. sustainability. Through the AE Trusts you cormorants and Whale watch kookaburras August: Nu/larbor _ Greenhouse gases or sh1re can invest your savings • Moreton Island August: Wales and '.ork solar energy. Arctic Alaska and superannuation in National Park for Sept: Kodiak & AutJamenK or great bush walks Wildflowers . over 70 different Sept: WA community enterprise. "DOLPHINS Oct: Kangaroo Island, S.A. enterprises, each expertly IN PARADISE" Oct: Little Desert, VIC. selected for its unique 2 night minimum combination of earnings, stay packages ex Summer 1997/98 Brisbane include environmental return launch Antarctic and Subantarctic travel, 'Continental' , expeditionary voyages sustainability and social breakfast and 1998 responsibility, and earn a accommodation. May: Galapagos & Ecuador competitive financial Sept: Labrador return. for full details 5 nights/6 days from $324 For more details make a free call to valid to 31st Mar 98 contact Bronwen Tel (03) 9670 6988 1800 021 227 Fax (03) 9670 6185 Investments in the Australian Ethical Trusts can only be CONDITIONS APPLY made through the current prospectus registered with the BRONZ DISCOVERY TOURS Australian Securities Commission and availablefrom: PHONE RESERVATIONS 3RD FLOOR, 118 QUEEN ST AUSTRALIAN ETHICAL INVESTMENT LTD & Canberra Business Centre Bradfield St, Downer ACT 2602. �a�a!Lllw�h��sti�l!� ln���i�nal ENQUIRIES ON licence no. 31567 (07) 3268 6333 TOLL FREE 1800 812 512

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Outdoors Information Centre Our experienced guides will show you the 240 Victoria Parade art of trapping, handling and studying a East Melbourne VIC 3002 range of wildlife. Call 03-9412 4795 for more information and a free poster catalogue. Choose your "ECO" adventure soon, and join our competent, friendly staff at ECO NATURALRESOURCES EXPLORER for that different holiday. AND ENVIRONMENT (03) VICTORIA phone 5157 5751 (Accredited Member of Victorian Tourism Operators ---' Association. Ccr1ifica1e or Ecotourism Opcra1ions. '-----�- Cenifica1e of Remote Area First aid)

Reader s please mention Nature Australia when replying to advertisements The major differences between Cane Toads (Bufo marinus) and native frogs are that toads have distinct bony ridges over each eye, and Q venom glands n enlarged � their shoulders. A warty skin and short legs are not neces­ sarily signs of a toad as many & similar fea­ native frogs have tures. If you look closely at the frog's hands you can make out a series of black A spines along some of its fin­ gers. This indicates that the Frog or Toad? individual in the photo is an . This photograph was adult male. Breeding males Q • taken in our garden in also develop powerful, muscu­ Seaforth in 1953. What sort of lar forelimbs, as you can see frog is it, or could it be a Cane from this photo. This com­ Toad? bination of an Arnold Schwarz­ A Southern Leaf-tailed Gecko, with its tail still attached. -John Street enegger physique and spiky Middle Cove, NSW hands is probably used for Hawkesbury Sandstone areas. It is the broken tail of fighting off other males dur­ Their complete range stretches A •• a Southern Leaf-tailed Although it may have ing the breeding season. from the central coast of New Gecko (Phyllurus platurus). A.• a toad-like appear­ Male Giant Burrowing Frogs South Wales to the east coast of These lizards are common in ance, with a rotund body and produce an owl-like call to Victoria. The species has suburban gardens around warty-looking skin, this ani­ attract female frogs. Around declined greatly since this Sydney. Leaf-tailed Geckos mal is definitely a frog. It is a Sydney, the Giant Burrowing photo was taken in 1953, and are mainly nocturnal, and Giant Burrowing Frog Frog is usually found in Sydney-siders would now be feed on insects such as cock­ (H eleioporus australiacus). sandy creek banks m very lucky to see one in their roaches and moths. They gardens. The species is now have a broad tail that tapers regarded as vulnerable and to a thin point. Like many rare. lizards, including skinks and As you can see from the legless lizards, geckos can photograph, the frog is res­ drop their tails if attacked by ponding to the threat present­ a predator such as a cat, bird ed by the inquisitive cat by or snake. The broken tail stiffening its legs and puffing writhes around for a short up its body to make itself time in a very life-like man­ appear larger. Cane Toads ner. This distracts the atten­ will do a similar thing when tion of the predator while the threatened, but may also tilt lizard's head and body make their body side-on towards good their escape. It appears their attacker to present their that you came across a very venom glands. Like that of recently jettisoned tail that the Cane Toad, the skin of a was still capable of move­ Giant Burrowing Frog also ment. contains toxic chemicals, so -Michael Harvey perhaps this cat is being wise­ Australian Museum ly cautious. -Michael Harvey It's A Rat! Australian Museum think I have a native •. mammal/ visiting my gar� A Mysterious Tail den.Q Perhaps it is a baby Rmgta1/ . Ple�se identifythis animal, • which I found in my SydneyQ garden. It looks like a minia­ ture stingray, with a broad Answers to Quiz in body, Strips (page 16) and a small pointed tail. It was Nature about 5 millimetres � long, and pale L Blood grey in colour. Its surface was smooth on one side and rough on 2. Vegetable the ot�er, and was not slimy or 3. Giant Squid wo :m_-l1ke. When I found it, it was 4. Kangaroos w:ithmg about, obviously in some 5. Antarctica distress. 6. Fungi -s. Hunt 7. Moas Oatley, NSW 8. Six 9. Tim Flannery A male 10. A eucalypt Giant Bu rrowing Frog responds to its feli ne threat. 78 1997 NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTER a young It may be cute, furry and clean, It is about eight centime- This animal is Possum! . (Rattus rat­ but don't be fooled, it's a feral long, brown with a white belly, • Black Rat . tres Atus), a Roof Black Rat. big round ears, quite a round fa�e sometimes called tail is long with a white Rat. A Ringtail Possum of the and the rats are shorter. tip. I have seen it hopping and size you mention would still tails of native l(Jmpering about the yard and be in its mother's pouch or on Black Rats can climb well dimbing trees. It comes out in the her back, and would not be and may appear quite tame. If daytimeto eat the bird seed and fully furred. A rat's tail is their home (nest of grasses, the cat's supper, and it isn't scaly with sparse hairs all rags or shredded paper) is a�aid of me. I live in Be/levue around it, while a possum's destroyed, displaced rats may Hill. I know it isn't a rat because tail has a strip of naked skin be seen in the open during it looks so cute and it's very on the underside but is quite the day. Native rats such as dean-I ha ve seen it grooming thickly furred along the the Bush Rat (Rattus fuscipes) i�ell.Could you tell me what ani­ upper side. The tail of the have not been recorded in the malitis! Black Rat is very long­ inner city for many years. -E. Noli longer than the head and -Liz Cameron Bellevue Hill, NSW body combined, whereas the Australian Museum

PIC TEASER

Do you recognise this? If you think you know what it is, then send your answer to Pie Teaser, Nalwr! Australia Magazine. Please d on't forget to indude yo ur name and address . Th e first correct entry WI- 11 Win a $20 gift voucher for the Museum 5'.1°PCa talog ue. Autumn's Pie Tease r w as a proto­ zoan (StJlr ost omum sp. ) feed1n g on algae.

N) TUR[ A Usr RALI A WINTER 1997 79 - of experts, i� was s_om� time before the Department s apphcat10n was process­ THE LAST WORD ed._The result was favourable. Theap pli­ _ cation was short-hsted for funding, an d One day the farmer found a strange and beautiful after severa_l more years the Depart­ flower in a patch of scrub on his property. The farmer had ment received a Royal grant. A Consultant was then hired to determine never seen anything like it before. precisely what additional information was needed in order for the rare flower to be effectively conserved. The Consultant worked quickly and prepared a detailed report, which THE FARMER AND spelled out exactly how much money would need to be spent on additional THE FLOWER: fieldwork and management studies. The Department referred the report to the Interdepartmental Working Group on A FABLE Threatened Species and to the Royal Treasury Liaison Unit, which advised BY BOB MESIBOV the King on how government resources could best be allocated given the various there was no scope for such a visit in constraints on expenditure. years had passed since the farmer what remained of the financial year and, Ten owing to cutbacks in travel allowances had made his discovery. In the mean­ and the need for a reassessment of trav­ time, the farmer had put a stock-proof el priorities, no visit was possible for fence around the rare flower, and a little another two years. In the third year, an colony of the plants had grown up and Officer visited the farmerand confirmed prospered. The farmer got a great deal the existence of the rare flower. of pleasure each spring when he saw the With the Officer's report in hand, the blossoms and smelled their perfume. Department proceeded along its The farmer believed he had done the NCE UPON A TIME, sequence of conservation management whole kingdom a service when he put in0 a faraway kingdom, there lived a sim­ duties. It listed the rare flower on the up the protective fence, so he wrote to ple farmer who loved birds and butter­ Government's Official List of Threat­ the Department$100, of Nature Conservation flies and blossoms and all things natural. ened Plants, and it entered the name asking for which was the cost of One day the farmer found a strange and location of the flower on the data­ the fencing materials. and beautiful flower in a patch of scrub base of rare flora. A number of sophisti­ The Department replied with a long on his property. The farmer had never cated studies were begun in the and polite letter. The officials explained seen anything like it before. He took a Department's Environmental Resources that, while they would like to help the photograph of the flower and sent it to Section, which sought to relate the farmer cover his fencing costs, there the Professor of Botany at the flower's location to rainfall, day length, were still some small, mainly adminis­ _ University. s01l type and__other environmental para­ trative obstacles to spending Royal The Professor became excited when meters. $100,000money on private land. Besides, nearly he saw the photograph. He wrote to the The Department also raised the issue had already been spent on the farmer and said that the flower was so of the rare flower at a meeting of the rare flower in Department Officers' time, data-processing, publicity, interde­ partmental meetings, consultant fees etc. and there was nothing left in the Ten years had passed since the farmer had made his budget for that particular item. The offi. cials were sorry, but there was nothing discovery. In the meantime, the farmer had put a the Department could do at the present time. However, the matter would cer· stock-proof fence around the rare flower, and a little tainly be raised at the appropriate meet· ings in the next financial year. colony of the plants had grown up and prospered. The letter concluded, 'TheDepartm ent greatly appreciates your efforts in helping the Government to conserve this priceless rare, everybody had thought it was Interdepartmental Working Group on feature of our natural heritage." • extinct. He asked the farmer to take Threatened Species. The flower rose very good care of the rare flower. higher and hi her on the agenda at suc­ Dr Bob Mesibov is a Research Associate at The Professor also wrote to the _ £?: cessive Working �roup meetings, but the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Government's Department of Nature ai:ter a few years 1t was displaced by Gallery, La,unceston, Tasmania. This fable Conservation. Officials in the Depart­ higher-priority species, and the Working was born out of frustrating experiences the ment were very happy about the Group never actually discussed the author has had with the conservation of rare farmer's discov�ry, because it gave flower or what to do about it. species. He believes that successfulconserva­ them a chance to implement nature con­ tion requires much less bureaucracy and E�rlier, however, the Department had much more community goodwill. servation policies and to targetstrategic applied to the Royal Court for money to conservation objectives. conserve the flower under the King's The first thing the Department did Threatened Plants Rescue Program. 111e Last Wor piece was to direct one of its Flora Conser­ Because the Program received many d is an opinion vation Officersto visit the farmer's prop­ and does not necessarilyreflect the views such applications, and because each one of the Australian Museum. erty and write a report. Unfortunately, had to be carefully evaluated by a panel

80 NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTER 1997

cd LE VAIUAl'IT'S PARROTS lfhWYf 1,a..-...i •• 23/10 24/1 23/9

23/6

24/8 24/6 24/7 24/2 24/4 24/5

24/9 24/10 24/11 24/12 25/1 25/2

25/3 25/4 25/5 25/6 S U P P L E M N T S

Nature Australia's Library box holds twelve issues of the magazine. Finished in durable, dark green PVC, it will ensure your copies 25/7 remain in mint condition. SI 25/8 S2 Pieces of Paradise r o Tracks through Time u s e t h e f o r 0 p 0 s i t e