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NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTER. 2000 1 I ( (
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that the door opens very digestive cavities. The ap on their web · Spiderv Herbs s Th e st pendages have fine hairs that droplets ick Having recencly photographed quickly when triggered, suck on the web f Y s O orb- ing the triggering insect in produce sticky droplets . These eav1ng spider four species of carnivorous � s and the sti droplets glisten in the sunlight cky ., with a rush of water. The door g ob u l es of the b . native herbs in the Popran and oias spiders then closes and the insect is to attract insects. Once the seem. to consist l3risbane Waters National of a flUI .d very digested. One common insect is trapped in the sticky like that used by J)arks (N W), I found l3rian . the sund ews species 111 the Sydney District fluid, the hairs close over the to form their sticky Chudleigh's Letter (Na/111'1' drop 1ets . It is Fairies Aprons (U. rlic/101- insect, pressing it into the cen appears that bot A11st. Winter 1999), on the h the s p1.d ers 0//la). tral digestive cavity. The plant and the sundews rapidity of closure of the . use prote- ' I also found sundews (Dros then secretes a fluid contain olyt1c_ enzymes Venus Fly Tr ap, interesting. to digest the era) interesting. The Pale un ing an enzyme, which con prote111 The traps used by our own 111 their insect p rey. native bladderworts ( Utrirnlar dew (D. peltata) and the Ta ll verts the protein in the insect Sundew (D. a11riwlara) are into a soluble form that is ia) act very quickly. These -TED H1, o plants grow in seepage areas. similar and common in the absorbed by the plant. AVOCA BEACH, SW The traps attached to their Sydney District. The traps It is interesting to compare roots consist of small hollows used by these sundcws arc the actions of these herbs with Native Wildlife 011 r with an entrance closed by a very different fom those used those of spiders. Some spiders the Menu trapdoor, activated by a trigger by the bladderworts. Append feed on the same insects as the I have been a regular sub of hairs or glands. The hollow ages on the ends of their stalks sundews. Spiders also trap scriber to Nature Australia and, is under negative pressure so act as both insect traps and insects by using a sticky fluid until the Spring 1999 edition,
Spiders and carnivorous herbs such as the Tall Sundew have more in common than we think. �j)I 4 EIl A WI T NATURF AUSTRAL I to n delightedC read reconsider the direction your tio11 is 111y re,e.ret, but Nature I ,I aVe bee ne. However, I magazine is taking. Na111re 1 you1. nia -MICHAEL ARCHER AUSTRALIA MUSEUM Sleepv lizard Shambling up the garden trail, Contented is the Stumpy Tail. Finding sunlight in her track, bandy-ban d'ies. ? She stops to warm her The Arizona Coral Snake-a match for Australian shingled back. Desert Museum, I was told The spring night air begins marsupials, are under extreme and mewing. Elvis the baboon they eat mainly small snakes, to chilJ, pressure. The last thing they sat on a chair at the breakfast namely (Slender) Blind Snakes She ambles once more need is to have publications table with us and ate his Corn and down the hilJ like at11re Australia (which I Flakes and milk with a spoon. (Leptotyphlopidae) (Sonora sernian refuge of her sleepy mistakenly believed to have Ground Snakes To the nulata) In ideals higher than the hip -H. NEVILLE GREENBERG and perhaps others. hollow, pocket) providing feeble justi BALMAIN, NSW captivity, the Museum's Coral Resting, for the trek fication to the continuing Snake is also fed Black-headed tomorrow. Ta11tilla) practice of wildlife exploita Bandv-Bandies and Coral Snakes (genus and tion/extermination.Our wild Snakes baby gopher snakes (Pit11ophis -PAUL SCHAFER. life needs a voice to speak in its I greatly enjoy reading ature spp.). It also accepts thawed TRATHALBY , SA r defence. The queue of A11stralia-originally a gift f ozen snakes. r exploiters squabbling over subscription fom some mates And how about the other Easter Bilbv tor All ways to make a killing is quite in South Australia-but the articles' "Thorny Devils and R.obert G.B. Morrison's claim Nature loud enough! I hope Spring 1999 issue was excep Horned Toads", "Fire, Seeds (Nature A11st. Summer Australia has the decency to tional! Good on ya, mates! & Parrots" and "A First for J 999-2000) that the Founda run a counterargument to this Sarah Smith's article Norfolk" are all appreciated. tion for Rabbit-Free Australia view. ("Banded Burrowers") was Wo w! What a great issue! l is a national conservation -Cis.AIG BAR.ls.ASS incredible, as her description shouldn't forget the great por organisation would be more MULGRAVE, VIC. of the bandy-bandies almost trait of the longicorn al o beetle in convincing if he did not _ exactly describes our Arizona Nature Strips. You can even claim a re trictive ownership Purring Cheetahs (Micmroides euryx Coral Snake see the fourth tarsal segment Bilby. If the ant/111s)! of the Easter I am writing in response to the Well ... except for tucked be in between the two Easter Rab. bit is ever ro Letter in the Spring 1999 issue colouration (see photo). lobes 111 the This of the third. It wa a replaced . A ust1. a 1· ,a by on whether or not big cats can individual was about the diam truly awesome issue. Many, nership of the purr. Easter Bilby, ow In June 1994 my wife eter of my little finger (about many thank to . latter must be extended and I were visiting a residential 13 millimetres) and 50 cen -AL GUHL every Australian. park at 1 each and Okijima in Namibia. timetres 11 length With TUCSON, f_° . ARIZONA, USA A narrow restriction ofit Living there and mixing freely 1 1 research showing bandy orga - with the the trademark of one : guests were two adult bandies only eat blind snakes Riversleigh Insects . for sation w1 · 11 raise illon e)' Cheetahs, a Warthog and a (Typhlopidae), . I wondered if I would like to correct an error . bu t will also baboon called Elvis. I have that orgamsat1on a the Coral nake's diet was sim in my at11re Aust. y rh� video of article ( prevent its ad optwn · b my wife patting the ilarly narrow. After a phone . at pring 1999) regarding the as a w h O Ie. W h male Cheetah called aesar. chat with the community 1 I�eptile Depart discoverer of the first . . · . ·ow con - He is distinctly heard purring fossil a pity surn1 ar na11 ment of the Arizona-Sonora insects . . not from 11...iversleigh. It mcrcial 1 11terests �,,er e 6 ?()IJII R - NATURE AUSTltALIA WINTE hen the Easter Rab parents, arout ld w and teachers. I used to 1 cess. Could you please in your li11e specimens . b ·c·arne common property promote l<-FA's work, of Gilbert's Potoroo btt e ' by giv next issue set the ing the record (Potorous gilbertii) capt11red for organisation a 'dona straight, yea or nay? //'lore rhan a century. Gilbert's -ELEA OR STOl)AIU tion' (not 'royalty', as Morri Pororoo had been sy11onymised CURTIN, ACT son said, which is very differ -PETER WILLIAMS with the more common Long ent) from each of the copies Ull..ANXTON, NSW nosed Potoroo (P tridactylus) Easter Bilbv's Mine! sold, but I no longer do this. I support from the easr, and so the two Foundation for llabb1t the survival of the fr 111as 1101 The rhe Broad-faced Potoroo frapped animals were originally Australia (l<-FA) may Bilby through the Queensland that Free was redisco11ered i11 J!Vesrern assigned to this species. 1-Jowever, the trademark Easter Parks and Wildlife ervice. Australia con tl·ol .. i11 I 994, bur Gilbert's recent genetic and molewlar work but it did not or1g1nate Morrison also says RFA sup Potoroo. l3ilby, Tl,e Broad-faced Pororoo by Sinclair and N!ike Westerman concept. llobert G.B. ports and promotes my book, is co11sidered the exri11ct, as the lasr from La 11'obe University Q. (RFA), in at11re but why, when I state quite livi11g speci111e11 Morrison was take11 fro111 Mamm. Evol.4(3): ·/47-161; 1999-2000) clearly on the front cover that Ausi. (Summer the wild in 187 5. In December ·1997) has shown that they are a created the I first created the concept states that I only of 1994, Elizabet/, Sinclair of the distinct species-P gilbertii. A my book "Aussie the Easter Bilby" concept in l 997 (in in U11i11ersity of Western Australia capti11e-breeding program has since Adelaide in 1979? Billy the Aussie Easter Bilby). trapped two 11n1-1Sual ani111als ar been initiated by the Departme11r Morrison is correct 111 say111g Ii.110 Peoples Bay Nar11re Reserve, of Conservation and Land Man -R.osE-MAP that the book was not regis .. IE Du TING east of Albany on the south coast agement . tered with the National MACl nd C>C2000 sThe 2 Southern Hemisphere Expression of Interest Form Ornithological Congress, hosted by Birds Sponsorship Australia is the premier forum for bird 0 Exhibition enthusiasts in 2000 to present and consider 0 Registration/ Programme current and future issues. O o Call for papers/posters Birds Australia Membership For further information, please contact our o 0 Add me to your mailing list Secretariat for details of how to become involved in the largest ornithological Mr/Ms/Mrs/Miss/Dr congress in 2000. . Given N ame.... ··· ··· · ··· ····· Surname...... ········ Congress Secretariat PO Box 4044 Position...... ············································ ST LUCIA SOUTH QLD 4067 Ph: 07 3870 07 3371 9514 ····· 8831 Fax: Organisation...... ·································· Email: [email protected] ··· Register before Apn ·1 30'" lo Address...... ·········································· enter t h c d raw r110 1· an all ...... inclusive stay a Binnaburra City...... Postcode...... Country Mountain Lodge in Lamington National Park...... Te I ep I 1one.... · · ·· · ·.. · · ·· Facsimile...... Accommodation for two people B hts, including meals Mountain:\ Lodge for two nig ...... ······· and activ itics. Email ...... 1 NATURE AUS7 llALIA WINTER 2000 - strips ( natureBY GEORGINA HI KEY COMPILED the substance was formerly that young quee ns Fungus-farming . 1 eav1. n g thought to be secreted by the colonies to start new Pharmacists . ones car- cuticle. Instead, the coating ried the bacter ttine ants, like the tropical ium with th em turned out to be a bacterium (as well as some leaf-cutters, are renowned of th e c1un A 111 the genus Streptomyces. garden gal as Nature's 'horticulturalists'. stock). rela Many species of Streplonryces Human use . In a mutually dependent . of antib1ot .1c s 1 produce metabolic by-prod over Just five tionship, these ants maintain decades has led to ucts that kill specific fungi or a worry111g gardens of fungus that they array of antibiotic bacteria. In fact, most antibi resistant microbes RICHARD FULLAGAR., cultivate and harvest as their · Ho\" ants otics used by humans come have anaged KARINA HOLDEN, primary food source. New re _ m to successfully from this group of 1111cro ma111ta111 KAREN MCGHEE, search shows they are surpris antibiotic use over organ1sms. millions STEPHEN RJCI-IARDS, ingly sophisticated 'pharma of years could prove to LORELLE SCHLUTEll, cists' as well, having exploited Currie and his team investi be critical to human health. RACHEL SULLIVA A D antibiotics for over 50 million gated 22 different species of ABIJIE THOMAS ARE years. attine ants, all of which were -K.McG. REGULAR CO TRIBUTORS A team of scientists led by found to carry this same bac TO NATURE STRIPS. Cameron Currie (University terium. They showed in lab Cherrv Cures of Toronto) revealed a crucial oratory experiments that the ext time you bite into a third organism in this highly antibiotic by-products specifi N piece of Black Forest cake, evolved symbiotic relationship cally suppressed the growth of don't feel guilty. The cherries while investigating a powdery a virulent parasitic fungus within could help stave off grey crust that forms on the (Esco1Jopsis) which, if left pa111, or even prevent cancer. hard outer cuticle of the ants. unchecked, destroys the ants' Muralee air and colleagues r R.eferred to as a 'waxy bloom' , gardens. Field studies revealed fom Michigan State Universi- The white hac t erium grow ing on this f ungus-farming Acromyrmex an t protects the all-important fungus gardens from disease. 8 ,01111 TER - - NATUll..E AUS I ll..Al IA WIN ..... (M U ) have discovered that ries contain pharma rr.ya1 C c·her active levels of anti ceu Cl. cally, -infla111111ato- oxidants and anci ' There has been ry SLlbsta nces. �e Cdocal• evidence chat cher- relieve the pa111 of n· es }1elp aoll t " 11d arthritis, but no-one MSU re- knew why. The now point the searchers can fincrcr at anthocyanins and ounds that nat cya�idin, comp_ 111 urally occur cherries to deter predators. Using a fluorescent com pound chat detects the pres ence of anti-oxidants, the researchers found that antho cyanins extracted from just I 00 grams of pitted cherries (about :W cherries) produced anti oxidant activity that compared favourably with two commer cial anti-oxidants. The cherry anti-oxidants also curned out w be even more effective than vitamin E. Anti-oxidants play an imp ortant role in breaking down free radicals, produced in the cell. Free radicals are single oxygen acorns whose high energy tate can severely damage D A, cell membranes and proteins. The body does produce its own anti-oxidants but sometimes not enough to keep up with the m1111ber of free radical around. There is growing evidence that free radicals are associated with car diovascular disease, arthritis, variou cancers and Alz heimer's disease. The researcher also tested cyanidin extracted from cher ries for its anti-inflammatory than some anti-inflammatory Nni11re A11sf. Summer For relief of pain, take a handful of properties. Anti-inflammatory drugs. 1998-99). 13ut one group of cherries. drugs work by inhibiting cer So next time your joints are birds, the African buffalo tain enzymes to convert an aching, don't go to the weavers (B11bnlomis spp.), has a acid (arachidonic acid) to chemist; try the greengrocers stiff phallus-like rod that sits prostaglandins, which is what instead. just outside the bird's vent. In produces the inflammation. In -A.T. an effort to understand the this study, cyanidin showed function of this organ, Tim better anti-inflammatory Bird's Orgasmic Organ Birkhead and colleagues from act ion than aspirin, although nly three per cent of bird the University of heffield, not as good as two other com 0 species have a penis or UK, studied l�ed-billcd Buffa ll1e rcial drugs, naproxen and intromittent organ, which is lo Weavers (B. 11(�er) in captiv ibu profen. They also found kept inside the bird when not ity. Males of this species have a that the cherry-derived chem in use. The others make do 1.5-centimetre-long phalloid icals had less adverse effects with 'cloaca! kissing' (see organ, and females also have NATu 1u AUS I RAI IA WINTER 2000 9 towards him. This . , o1. gasn1 state, which • ic' . has not b describ e e ed for any oth . . . er birdn, was 1mmed1ately fo . . llO Wed b CJacu lat1on. In fact ' Y as the stu fficd model con firmed, eJac- • uI at1on · only occur re d after orgasm, which • als 0 only occurred after prol onged stun u lation. - 13i rkhead and coll eagues speculate that the . bird's stimu- latory organ may have evolved 111 response to their promiscu ous lifestyle. l<..ed-billed Buffa- lo Weave rs are communal nesters, and DNA work by the researchers confirmed that in the wild most broods were fathered by more than one male, indicating intense sperm competition. Just how a stimu latory organ would increase a male's reproductive success. ' however, is not clear. Perhaps, as in some rodents and pri- 111ates, prolonged mounting and stimulation before ejacula tion may increase the chances that a female will u e that male's sperm. But this would 1 only apply if the female was also stimulated . . . which makes 111e wonder, do female buffalo weavers, with their smaller phalloid organs, also experience orgasm? -C.H. Highbrow Chimps a t ome Chimpanzees use · c: awa,,· leafy twig to 1an S an- , annoying flies. Some e by ' nounce their presenc the nearest hard knockino-t, on term.1re1 . \ surface. Some fish for . rin"o- their 1 Culture vultures: Chimpanzees have one, although it is much long, drawn-out affair, lasting with short stic k·s, ea ers ·1cct1- a remarkable ability to invent new smaller (half a centimetre). nearly 30 minutes. At no time p rey singly, w l11 · 1e otlI 1a- w:1nd. customs and to pass these on They placed 13 males, six was the phalloid organ used rnulate many on a I 01" socially. . 1 e mouth I females and one stuffed model intro1 11ittently, as was once sweeping them mto tl ven1enr. of a female, complete with assumed. l<..ather, it was with a sing• 1 e 1ianu J 1110 panent / artificial cloaca, into an aviary, rubbed against the female's A frer decades of f unit' and sat back to watch the cloaca! region. TO\,vards the vation, a team o obser dre11 . u ) An show. They were rewarded end of each mounting session, researchers le J b, . 1 , o I with 57 copulations between iten (University f the 111ale experienced what Wh tll,' aucl J males and females, and 34 can only be described as Andre\\'s, UK) 1 rrc,11. instances of males mounting 'orgasm', during which his Coodall (Colllbe . T:1nzant.11 _ the model. wing-beats slowed to a quiver, llesearch Centie,� , , 1"t, ol t l iat t I 1e r,·11 " · As far as nor111al bird his whole body shook, his leg now ,1grecC 1, cxhibite• d ) mounting goes, mounting in 111uscles spasmed and his feet behaviours ';) ;ro�/o,/ )' It · these buffalo weavers was a clenched, drawing the female Chimpanzees (/)nll 10 NAIUIU· AUSIIU\llt\ 111 be summed up one Malaria-infected mosquitoes drink can more blood and ure. bite more people word: cult than uninfected mosquitoes. They compiled an exhaus list of the various habits of tive r \\11·id hirnps f om the seven ety of culturally transmitted 1110.S t Iona-termt> field studies. beh:iviours among Chimps is Rcinoving ecologically ex- unparalleled. And this raises plainable differences, hke another concern: deforesta where high Leopard or Lion tion means not just the loss of predation forces the animals to different Chimpanzee popula sleep in the trees rather than tions, but their cultural diver on the ground, left the sity as well. re searchers with a list of 39 -R..S. behaviour patterns, relating to cool use, groo1111ng and Malarial Manipulators courtship, that vary across nyone bitten by a malaria African Chi111panzee co111111u A carrying mosquito could nities. consider themselves unlucky, While genes determine given the chills, fever and general abilities like tool weakness associated with the usage, there was no evidence disease, and even death if left that habit vary more untreated. But luck has noth between, than within, the ing to do with it. Infected three existing subspecies, so mosquitoes are more likely to t,aenetics cannot account for bite people than uninfected the var iability. The evidence is mosquitoes, because the para conclusive: Chi111ps have a site makes them do it. remarkable ability to invent The ability of parasites to new custo111s and technolo manipulate the behaviour of transmission by increasing the occupants, and found that the gies, and these are passed on their vectors is well known, number of people bitten. mosquitoes infected with the socially, not genetically. and is presumably a mecha To investigate this, Jacob parasite not only consumed Many ani111al species learn nism to increase their own Koella and colleagues from the larger blood meals, but tended fundamental survival skills transmission . Laboratory stud University of Aarhus in Den to bite more people each from their parents, with their ies have shown that mosqui mark examined the feeding night than uninfected 1110 qui habits differing depending on toes infected with malaria behaviour of the malaria toes. where they live. Songbirds, for (Plasmodium falcipan11n) in transmitting 1110 quitoes A110- Koella and his team believe example, learn local dialects of crease the rate and duration of p/1eles J/a111biae under natural the malaria parasite inte1-feres their species' song. But, as the probing, but to date these conditions in Ta nzania. They with the phy iological mecha researchers point out, these studies have failed to demon analysed the blood meals of nism involved in host-seeking cultural variations are for sin strate whether this behaviour mosquitoes collected in hous behaviour, by increasing the gle behaviours only. 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I ( l [ l r ( I I The spiny, scoop-like genitalia of which mosquitoes stop feed stored grain. They gather on mate with a female had a two- t male flour beetles enable males to r chance of fertilis- fertilise the eggs of females they've ing. If disturbed, rather than the surface during f enzied thirds better 1 never met before. ino" the eoQSbb than her first part- being satisfied with a half 111ating sessions, copulating as e Male flour beetles us empty stomach, an infected often as once a minute. Com ner. e mosquito will continue its petition among sperm is as their spiny genitalia to scrap i \ search for food, leading to an fierce as among individual out the sperm deposited by · before I increased number of host con insects. previous maI es, . \ JJ1 a tacts and more efficient disease Eric Haubruge and col depositing their own. But r uvre, ( transmission. Such informa leagues fom the University of brilliant counter-manoe tion on the biting behaviour Agricultural Sciences (Bel the ousted sperm, by continu may of infected 111osquitoes under giu111) and Matthew Gage ino to tick to the spines, r "' . • c. male. natural conditions is vital for fo111 the University of Liver be carr1ed to the next ,e survive· fiOr 'a t future planning of effective pool (UK) discovered that Such sperm can e . on an otb r malaria-control programs. male flour beetles have some lea t five 111111utes a . enou h ingenious ways to get their male's gen1ta 1·1a, I ong "'. cuoll> -S.R.. sperm to the eggs first-with for the highly promis mate. out even having sex with the beetle to find his next rb;it Mating hv Proxv female that eventually bears The researcher found n1ales n many grain silos around their young. about ten per cent O f fe \VJth I the world, a fierce sexual The researchers tracked the a re ferci Iiscd t I.11s way, , r ey vt' battle is being waged. The mating outcomes of genetical sperm fo111 a ma Ie th· flour beetles 7h'boli11111 cns/a11- ly marked flour beetles. They never met. e11111 1S arc a common pest in found that the second male to Such '111acing by proxy 'jy 0il ER ;t1 12 NATUll.E AUS rRALIA "" !INT p in er been reported other crcnce ·'sa 111 P I c nev . arc plotted indi- regression analysis. genetic studies Application oraanis111s, but vidually or as' ' oa a scoret t I . of their '13aycsian' methodol reveal it to be a corn- against the actu co:dd al known age at ogy could for other animals death. well remove much 011 strategy A line of b est fiIC IS r 111 r . of the grey fom part in equally f en drawn through . these areas as I rhat cake . , these 1c fieren ce well. cing scrambles. po111ts, which � zied 111a allows estimates of age at death to be made l -R.. F. -A.T when only skeletal or dental data are known. However, the Just Passing Through e-old Problem researchers have shown the Au 11 island archipelagos it is our early and even quite method to be inherently o id quite common for lizards nt human ancestors biased, undcrest1mat1ng old rece to tuck into the fr D adults uits of par die young? Convention and, to a lesser degree, really adise. As a consequence, fruit om has it that not only overestimating the young. The al wisd eating reptiles play an impor died young, but few bias was found to be particu rhe good tant role in dispersing seeds on lived beyond the age larly strong when the age indi humans a local scale. H owever until the last fevv cators used are not highly cor- of about 40 researchers working on eh; new re centuries. However, Canary Islands have found that in search has highlighted flaws plants rely not only on reptil- che traditional methods used 1an consumers to spread their co estimate age of death from seeds, but also on the con skeletons. It now seems that sumers of reptiles. 1 the dead have grown older Conventional The red berries of the One of the first hints that thorny Lyci11111 i11tricat11111 shrub something was wrong came wisdom has it are the only fleshy fruits avail from an important study of that not only able on the arid island of Ale 18ch- and I 9ch-century burials granza, and so they are vora in Spitalfields Church, Lon the good ciously consumed by the local don. This study, published in lizards, Callotia atla11tica, as a 1993, showed that the age-of died young, vital source of moisture. And death estimates based on skele but few humans so too are the lizards vora tons was way out of whack ciously consumed by the resi with the documentary evi lived beyond dent birds, most significantly dence obtained from the the Great Grey Shrike (La11i11s gravestones, underestimating the age of exwbitor). By prey111g on older ages by up to 30 years. about 40. skinks the shrike unintention The skeletal evidence had ally takes on board the fruit been carefully compiled and load devoured by the lizard, was based on known changes forming a secondary stage of 111 many variables including dispersal for the plant. As these tooth wear, cranial sutures, birds travel large distances, this pelvis, ribs, joint degeneration related with actual age at may allow plants a far greater new and microscopic bone surfaces. death. David Lucy, one of chance of colonising So what went wrong? By the Bradford archaeologists, islands. and col comparing similar sets of unre devised a new method to Manuel Nogales University of lated data, a team of reduce this bias, based on a leagues from the Spain collected researchers has recently shown theory of probability known as Laguna in and shrike that, yes, some of the age indi Bayes' theorem. Together the lizard droppings rom the island, and cators arc less than perfect but, researchers have demonstrated pellets f viability of seeds more importantly, we have all that application of this method tested the been precise esti in germination experiments. using the wrong statistics. provides more r the seeds fom University of Leeds 111athe mates of age, compared to Interestingly, shrike pellets were more n1aticia 11 I''-O b crt Aykroyd, and classic regression analysis of the the (64 per cent) in ger archaeologists data. successful 1 from the Uni- same rom • ve that minating than chose f rsity of 13radford, identified The authors point out (50 per cent). an inherent accepted estimates of lizard droppings _ problem in the sta- widely under tist Although it is not fully ic'al tec I1n1quc called regres- age, and also Earth's climatic . it appears tliat, for sion anal history, stood why, ysis. In this method ' and environmental shrub, a ed, the �ccds of the Lyci11111 s it ap P Iies" to the age-at-death may similarly be flaw guts arc better than one. p roblem, they too have depend cwo the skeletal and/ or because highlight the d t of Such findings cn al v 31.. ia bi f,cs or a given ref- ed on the same technique 13 NA·1 U RE AUSlRAI IA WINTER 2000 What determines the size of the importance of secondary seed The researchers studied a mines the size of the badge. black male House Sparrow's 'sexy' Perhaps, for example, those dispersal and the role predators population of House Sparrows bib? Nature or nurture? may unwittingly play in island on Lundy, an island in the fathers that are able to keep biogeography. Bristol Channel. The island's their nests free of parasites will -K.H. 100 breeding adults were raise the most sexually attrac Move over smokev Bear marked and introduced to tive sons. (Parasites could the . r achieved 1 Badges of Fatherlv Pride artificial nest boxes where they either chew offthe badges, or mokey the Bea I a s amo t has long been thought that could be easily observed. suck the birds' blood making leoendary" sc m ng I S · 10c rest folk I sexual ornaments (phy sical To test how environmental them weak and reducing North American I ell smoke. [ characteristics that do little to variation might affect the badge condition.) Early for his ability to sm . cL1e wood- aid survival, but are used to expression of sexual orna hatching sons also tended to locate fires an d ies onen ' rs that had g attract mates) act as indicators ments, the researchers per have larger badges. Clearly land critte . I1 or under \ of genetic well-being to formed cross-fostering experi environmental factors affect themselves a I.itt I e 1e1. far' ]t'SI prospective partners. Now ments, so each chick had an the size of these sexual orna the collar. Now otI rni, of Simon Griffith (currently at identifiable biological and fos anuna. 1 s, 11. i re / ments. impressive. ' aratus ' lr'l" \ Uppsala University, Sweden) ter father. Surprisingly-and Although genetic factor size rather than app , vin" r1it and colleagues have shown contrary to the 'good genes' 7111se d as I1 a' "' probably also play some part in been reco•o · . t''. nian I I v that in House Sparrows (Passer model of sexual selection determining badge size, the potential to save hu ·t . to derct do111estiws) the quality of the they found that badge size of researchers strongly suggest through their ab 1T ity sexual ornament, in this case a sons resembled that of their any future models for sexual smoke. cretl 111· bib of black feathers on males, foster father, not their biolog o f ticI , "' · selection should take both Jewel beetles tJl ed ,vi has less to do with genetics, ical father. The researchers genetic and environmental Irla11ophila are equipp· !I . eil1s and more to do with fatherly suspect that it is the quality of y S· )'st· factors into account. two special sensor n ic, in o love. the parental care that deter- -ll.S. that they use to I 1on 11 rEIL ., 011 14 NATURE AUSTRAi IA WIN fiu.e.s more than a kilo should J\;/c/a11op/,i/a r0 1·e st, have sciously. Th is 1 Not only do they evolved characteristic asked volunteers to identify rrc awa y . this remarkable plays 111e r an important role in sex the most attractive pa ir of inf a-red recep- smoke-detecting talent? of each 1 1a ve a It is ual selection across the r t I1at I I 1c ps pr natural pair. On average, the twin Oil ClI cir tho ax obably related to the oi·s r fact world. Studies in r fom distant that animals as with the most symmetrical 1 d ete-et heat the larvae of this genus diverse r hei1 as l3arn Swallows and face was regarded recent work b y can only develop in as more fires, but the wood apes have revealed symmetry t r attractive than his or her Schlitz (Univcrsita of f eshly burnt trees. (Newly to s��n be an attractive, even cru counterpart. . , Germany) has s I1own fire-damaged trees are unable G1essen . cial, quality in a mate. How r ·k 111 did the researchers I es e recepto s wo1 to produce the defensive resin It's chat ti . , been a difficult trait to measure facial symmetry? b. a tion with the beet I es that would normally drown study con1 in in humans, however. Before starting the tests, they which can 'smclI' a the feeding larvae.) a' ntennae, . The problem has been that created computer-manipulat 1 ,d found 111 woo d Understanding how these there con1pou . are other physical char ed images of the twins. For ' "'aua1acol. The ' mokey the l3ear' beetles s1110 ke called acteristics that also contribute each individual, two images make-up o f 1tie detect fires could help in the ex. ac t chemical to our perceptions about were produced-one by com development ·. oI varies depcnd. mg on of more effective attractiveness, such as skin crua=- 1,1c bining the right side of the be111g burnt, smoke-detection systems for the type- of tree tone and eye colour, and these face and its mirror image, the rchers suspect the use in buildings and homes, obviously var and tIie 1-esca . . y between peo other using the same proce a s1gn1fi- and early-warning systems for beetI es, which show ple. But in genetically identi dure for the left side. Then, re-dam- forest fi res. cant preference for fi cal individuals these kinds of for each set of siblings, volun r (Pi1111s -LS. aae d Pine. t ees traits are constant, making teers were asked to identify ·011estris), may even be able to twins the best subjects for the pair of images that :dentify the species of tree on The Attraction of comparisons regarding sym appeared to be most alike, fire. svmmetrv metry. indicating the twin with the Other beetles tested for ew people would knowing And so a team of re most symmetrical face. rlieir moke-detecting status Fly select a partner because searchers, led by Linda Mealey The reason symmetry mat failed to exhibit the levels of he or she is symmetrical ... from the University of ters, speculate the researchers, sensitivity to guaiacol exhibit and yet we probably aU do to Queensland, photographed 34 is because it conveys informa tion about the individual's ed by Mela11ophila. So, why some extent, albeit subcon- sets of identical twins and w h a e W a t C h n g + Guaranteed sightings: of the rare Southern Right Whales in the principal nursery area at the Head of the Great Australian Bight + Close up whale watching and � photography from cliff-top vantage points + Participate in a whale study that has operated since 1984, fully escorted by a leading whale researcher + Great photo opportunities Exp outh AuStralian + lore the Nullarbor National Park & the S_ coast, see spectacular cliffs, caves and wildlife + Ex: Adelaide, 3 days 2 nights. Exclusive tour, maximum of 4 participants + Departure Dates 2000: June 20, July 25, AuguSt 22 and September 17 or by arrangement Tours Contact: Dr Pin Needham Whales 8" d W'ldlife Eco 294 Greenhill Road, GLENSIDE 50G5 S�UTH AUSTRALIA 837 90 229 Phone (08) 837 90 203 or (08) 837 90 222 fax (08) A C N No 007 867 521 15 NATU I\.E AUSTI\.ALIA WINTER 2000 . The mud-dauber s wasp ce 1.lp Iaetum 1s fussy about hro 0 the spi. d s he chooses ers to stock her pot. fit, or is she more discer n1. n Usmg. g) ( tweezers , Elg ar Jebb an· d ( removed spiders· firo . n1 the 1• J pots while the wasps . were away hunt111g. The wasps did not compensate by . . capt, u nng more spiders. Instea' d, tli ey stopped hu nting after collect- ing the specified weight of spi- ders. But how do the wasps \ know they have reached their quota? Withou t a built-in set I of scales to keep a tally on the cumulative weight, the wasps may respond to their energy i' expenditure, and simply give ) up after they have done enough work. Flying back and · J forth with a few large spiders 1 may be equivalent to making more frequent flights with ( smaller spiders. ) By providing their young with a carefully controlled diet of selected spiders, these cle ver caterers ensure they have a ba-ood chance of survival. -CATHRY CUTLER the genetic q uality. Uneven facial fall. Once the larva has eaten within the pot. Typically, r EmPtV seeds features can result fom an all the food, it pupates and, as first spiders in the chamber are 1;Qiope cheap- ) interr uption of the normal a young adult, eventually drills the soft-bodied A or eeds don't come Neosco1rn. Gastemca11tlrn speaking, developmental processes, such through the chamber wall. are S physiologically . r r e high cost as may occur if an individual is Apart f om the odd spider more f equently located that is. However, th usually has exposed to toxins or infection, leg, no food is wasted. The toward the entrance to the of producing them \!)OLIS LI! I [I a' plant. , and may be indicative of an mother wasp seems to have pot, being suitable meals for o b . ret . ,s cor yos 'in inferior immune system. the catering worked out to a older and larger larvae. Just After all, seeds, as embr ( ge nera- T. What's her secret? how this mud-dauber wasp has ·wait', represent a new -K.McG. To investigate, Mark Elgar acquired its skill in spider tax tion. . , mber of and Matthew Jebb (University onomy is a mystery. And yet a large nu l Sceliphro11 /ae . u t time and Clever Caterers of Melbourne) opened the Intriguingly, plant speoes p . . . 1nviable \I. magine waking up inside a pots of the Australasian wasp /11111 also manipulates the num energy 111to creat 1no. a- . e w1rh spidery tomb, and having Sce/ip/1ro11 lae/11111, while work ber and size of spiders cap 'empty. s ed s . I I to or � e \ u . roducnv eat your way out thro gh a ing in Madang, Papua New tu red. The pots contain absolutely no iep 0 Fuenres maze of legs and hairs. This is Guinea. They found at least a between three and nine spi Potential. MareeI" 111 u oru1i,1, the lot of yo ng mud-dauber dozen difTerent species of orb ders; the smallest weighing as (Univcrsidade da ene cht1PP wasps. web spiders, particularly those little as one milligram and the Spain) and Eug k j The female wasp builds of A,;�iope, Neosco11a Utah) loo ·el her and largest 30 milligrams. Each pot (University of l1 Cas/emca11tlw. the U1,1 offspring's nursery chamber The latter spi contains roughly 440 mil for a reason w I 1Y 111. 11111· p ,ull. . · o,l1\ '0SJll'f· out of clay. She then captures ders are a curious inclusion in ligrams of spiders, comprising Juniper tree U and paralyses a spider, the first the mother's mixed 111<1). dozen as either a few large or several _ . ·()!l' , J nut l of many, and places it at the they possess a hard exoskele small spiders, or somewhere in This tree prouucc s· f set'd s \ base of the pot. She lays a sin ton; tough chewing for tiny . . ., p1. d ictive between. How does the wasp cam ma non-1e o l · .•1 \ gle egg on this larvae. ' "'. ident1l hapless spider However, Elgar and provision her pot with the intcrrn1n<>led win· I e seet1· ; (the larva's first meal), fills the Jebb showed that the wasp same total weight of spiders? contaming via. bl . fruit " . . ic.11 1 i1 pot with similarly stunned spi overcomes this problem by Does anc. e. rhe she simply stuff spiders In ideal C1rc. um5t r,· ders, and seals it selective wI1 e before night- placement of spiders into the pot until no more can drops to the ground Oil -?() I NT E !l 16 N AT U R E AUST R A L I A W ,ft, p and hares devour it f:l bb.tI s a by-product of their in this part of the world a 'n d , a s a . spanner short of a tool · at't' disperse fertile seeds box, or (oragu 1 parent trees. But A large number of plant did they simply use archaeo ,1w,, 1Y from species logically invisible technologies l·ccJI e bird with a taste for put one time and energy into (like seeds throws a prover bamboo)? The findings Jun1p. er · . _ , !11 ie wo1 ks . creating on Flores offer new insights. bial 'spanner d 'empty' seeds. (Panis This work appears to con The Plain Titmouse r firm an older idea, first floated • away the f uit (//()1.111 //l1') rips . in the 1960s, that stone arte expose the seeds, worth the effort and pulp to were bet humans over 840,000 years ter facts from Mata Menge (cen 11 it then breaks open and left alone, opting instead ago and \\ll!CI . therefore the likeli tral Flores) were found in asso ys with its sharp beak. for trees that gave them a hood descro of remarkably early sea ciation with an extinct fauna seeds conta111 a nutri higher strike rate. The odd crossings. Fertile r These discoveries (fossil elephants and others) . ucec d but inviablc seeds f uits that did contain viable help fill a nou s r gap in the fossil thought to be about 750,000 f ustrating seeds were thus left to be eaten are discarded-a record of ouch-East Asia. years old. The idea was reject and energy. by less-destructive animals. waste of time Although skeletons thought to ed at the time because few assessed And so, it seems, Fuentes and Schupp the Utah be 1-lolflo erectus have been archaeologists accepted that Tit Juniper has evolved 1 the impact of the Plain a seed found in Java and dated to over the stones were definitely of trick mouse on a population of where less means more. a million years old, there were human origin, or were the Utah Junipers. They found no other secure indicators of same age as the fauna. Howev -K.McG. that the trees with the highest human presence in the region er, Mike Morwood (Universi of empty seeds suffered until after 40,000 years ago. ty of New England) and col levels Ancient Mariners ? the lowest predation and 11ice The virtual absence of con leagues revisited the area and ,,crsa. It was as if the birds had tone artefacts on the firmed stone tools prior to this have now published details of learned that trees with high SIndonesian island of Flores time presented a bit of a prob at least 20 stone artefacts levels of inviable seeds weren't indicate the presence of lem. Were the early hominids found i11 si/11 (14 from Mata Davidson' s Arnheinland Safaris. 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Casuarina NT 0811 Davidson PO B ox 4 1905 Max & Ph 1· llippa Contact: 8 2 o 9 1 9 ( 8) 9 7 240 Fax: (08) 8945 Phone: O 5 com.au is@onaustralia. ema1:'] dassafar 11 NAl'U I\.E AUSTRALIA WINTER 2000 Archaeological work on the Indonesian island of Flores ind· umans arriv- 1tates h ed there betwe 0 en 8 0,000 and 900,000 years ago. to get there And they would have have had_ to made substantial sea cross ings, arms to escape (autotomy), II th 1s 1s seen as a sur vival strate gy, with the arms he aling Or r regenerating without any adverse effects. However, the self-mutilati on occurring in ��-, Budelmann's �'- study population -,t: resulted in death i of the indi- ..,_ . viduals / within one to two ; , :>" -r' _,....,,_ e days. Sci ntists in the past h I ../ ,.;_,.-, ave put this behilviour down to hunger or stress, but , Budel .,.. mann suspected •., something more sinister was forcing the 1 octupuses to gnaw off and I ;· consume their own arms. • I V .. ,. .,_ > Budelmann noticed that the ·. . � --- f' . . onset of self-cannibalism was l usually preceded with trem- ( sapiens bling arm movements, which by Homo Menge, six from nearby Boa Sea crossings easily replaced led him to believe the octo Lesa). The researchers are con on their way out from Africa, puses' nervous system was vinced that these are in fact demand as argued by one theory of involved. Yet this still didn't ( origins? It stone tools. And age estimates intellectual modern human explain why the whole popu (based on fission track dating makes one of the alternative, lation succumbed to the ! of sediments below and above less violent theories more e abilities not bizarre b haviour. { the artefacts) demonstrate they appealing. The Flores data, Although individuals were e must be between about normally together with new evidence of kept separately, th �ame sea ( I 880,000 and 800,000 years at interbreeding between Euro water was being orculaced associated with Ho o e Mata Menge and older than pean Neanderthals and m between tanks. Bud lmann 840,000 at Boa Lesa. sapiens to Homo erectus. (see next issue), make it identified a time lag of one Even with the e lowest sea more likely that modern two weeks betwe n st11c1dal ) levels imaginable, Bali appears humans had their roots in a him think cases, which made ° never to have been connected e bein mixed ancestry. that the a111111a- I s we1· . 11 to Lombok, nor was -R.F. of Sumbawa by some kind e 111,. cec t e d · connect d to Flores. There or bac- • e aoent possibly a virus fore th new findings from Self-eating Octopus o e ner- teri um, that attack e d th Flores, although e still not int resting implications. First, · o this. 1ncu- l e 0 ne of the most bizarre vous system dunno acc pted e unequivocally, sug som archaeologists While t he e have causes of death known to bation peno. d gest that who ver made the · I argued that substantial sea science has to be self-cannibal 'bi e ofi r self-can artefacts Homo erec aocnto respons1 (probably . to d, we tus) crossings demand language ism in octopuses. Entire study is yet be foun I would have had to nibalism have and intellectual abilities e in,ectc: l·o us, made not populations of laboratory-kept can only I ,op this two sea crossings: 25 e re normally associated with Octop,.1s 1111/garis have been · . i,ar 111. 11•ar u kilometres from Homo deadly dis· ease is · \I Bali to Lom erectus. Ll111 . es. I Second, if early known to mysteriously kill to J. P speci bok (which was probably and unable /I e hominids really made it to themselves by eating their own join d with Sumbawa -K. H- at low Flores 840,000 sea years ago, how arms. Having witnessed 161 levels), and 19 kilometres e far could th y have gone? Pre , from Sumbawa to such cases of 'a utophagy' � Flores. vious arguments Molhs SIDS While the e for early neurobiologist Bernd Budel & t chnology and hu for rhe mans in Australia, even I cncounte1_s s11 { production of the stone arte mann (University of Texa ) cxua Utethi'1 prior to 100,000 years ago, ( facts do not attest to any extra was desperate to know what S R.attlcbox Moth et seem less outrageous. Third, tter-S\\, e ordinary skills Homo erectus, if was turning his laboratory omatrix) are a I b · for Homo erect1.1s e ck.- were a lot smarter . e s rll1 pa affirmed sea crossings 840,000 charges suicidal. experienc . The P 1s than we e rnale e thought (or more like to the fe years ago would hav several While some octopus species aac0 pres nted us), could they have us c ow been so may voluntarily amputate their laced with a po1so· no 18 1111 ER?(1 NATURE AUSTRAi IA WINT .. is FURTHER coction, yet this not an act READING ae. Proc. R .. Soc. Lond. B265: ialice. The chemical gift Aykroyd, 11 Tl11i11, C.E.C., Wrangham, of n R. C. , L c)1, D., JJ I 0 - 763-768. r male actually bestovvs R. W & Boesel,, C., 1999. Cul fom the lard, A.M. & Roberts, C.A., fl.1res i11 1 1 female with a lifelong I 999. Nasty, 11 cl1i npa 1zees. Nature the brntish, b t 1 1ot Mealy, L. Bridgstock, sexually transmitted 1 R., 399: 682-685. ·sTD'- 1ecessarily short: a reco11 1 1 sideratio11 ·i 999. Sy1 111 etry and percei11ed against predatory 19 N11Tu ll.E AU ST ll. A L I A W I NT E ll.. 2 0 0 0 b LIST YAJ"lD NATUl<.A THE l)ACK mental1 tdrumsticks fit for a Wa g operah I 's alway ne r1. a . . s been too h �d n t e s1tuat1on �as s . . h objectivh ely ess fir om u picnic benc wit nde r a an uptur ned my head. eskYo n It's a different stor , kick . y when th ey . a re with remember httl KFC chasmg e. , down a y to form large . oung c to eat practically anything, _ I ong ago near hick i The £11 H ,s . cap.acit, h Boulia, wester '. mainly . n Qu ee k.,/Ilg holes' and to communicate I an d e. 1c k s run 111hard ns - a re(!aflons arounu� d,.· 11n for a wh·] ( ,cat,on. as . i e the compensated in its quahif, plankt themselvest . n gn111c t·111 n,, /1as more than h the grass and' ybrgg. L . . . .sit Per- em blem fect ly s ill, oping their str AHstralia's national bird ipes w111 . . hem m. to the backgrou rnelt nd · Wor .n e its welfare . d for t th during the cold nigh t, 1 s1e pt wi h e chick pushed halfw ' ay do wn inside my sleeping bag. . ht . t After. a re H� I nig trymg no to squash t t it, it was to rny grea relieft (and i s) to find it alive and well in he morning. And as t if to thank � me for my concern, i had t t managed to \ empty he en ire overnight contents of its very loose and h h palpably voluminous bow els t roug out my bag. Not-so-reluct t antlyh l turned it over to ourh hma t ernalh s aggy black Dog into w ic he c ick would nuzzle and bur row. It tookh thto having its head and neck licked twit h e same total confusion it 1 exhibih edt w en lurching after the Dog to t' elp't re rieve a balJ.t As it grew, it consis 1 enh ly failedth to wig why, at four times the size of e Dog, tit could no longer ) s uffle under its 'mo her', legs bent and b / movino forward tlike t a pair of pronged wi hou _practicalJy disen fork-lift tines, t : he poor Doo. I bowelling andh eggfhppmg to raise I For me it ast always beent hard to conclude Emus, and no be tempt ed t h h \ tha t eir eads con ain one of the more_ t h in. evoI ut .i on °ht modes ac ievements tthe 0 t , ma ter. For unately1 ' thoug ' I A male Emu supervises his thavian orey offspring. Emu chicks are raised by their father and usually stay with him for c·cally any- seven to eight months. e Emu's capacity to eat pract h t around 1 t ing, o form Iarge aggre. ,, oa ions . mcate I N THE DAYS l3EF01li OR.AL SAl31N, holes, an d to commu h drinking t . . 111 ]arly in mat- ' h t and mind by orun ing part1cu, t t e bags. th tmainly t ( an com1-.I.I \- tchildren ad o be dragged screaming ha ore th t t t As t i is, if I am ever coaxed past e ers rela edo to t sex), I t t ' · A usrra ot those grim li tle vaccina ion cara icke in i s qua I.1 fiicatIOt 1 as t h office,h he momentt he Emus inside pensatedt 11 0 vans hat materialised ou side Coles for r m. . wn ear t e clicking of he turnstile, and na ional bird emble · 1 shopping mothers 111. t11e t toth trip over. Today, smell om c1e nces and h theh fear pumping out of my panic But away f f potwiths na shorr o I t anding the inning of my air glands, wild Emus a1e. no thi h t t ey, like Pavlov's Dogs, run sali domain, t ng : and o her landmarks . . are" stt··di t , tof c ronological I1 e h et they va ing to my side. The great shaggy spectacular. t W e 1 maturity, t out on th getting me in o a wildlife park b anO k sias,. or far snoopers,t half-crazed by he gleam of among' coas al . t, where 0 on De11s1er tEmus roam free is no less a scream . � t- the S1111ps 110 swea on my brow, start gawking over my cracklino- ed t ges rt' ing ma y o t ch. If I couldt wear a full-face b e fired b hel shoulder, and probing through my pock the imag111a tonh tcan O - me , an t Enius lop overcoa , Harley gauntlets, a mob f . andh ets, bags and picnic baskets prehis oric sig t than ltll D t t like conscien 0 "' t ss skir tcarry a rake, I'd feel comfortable . 11· very-g1a 1 " enoug tious cus oms agents on o a junkie. ino a Iona vvt h 1 ,·. I S- � o enjoy a walk oaettwy 1tr I1 i uh h or maybe a picnic. How 1 've around th etr· nu,,,, " us· never reallyt been sure what sort of Pulled up . A ever, the t reat of heat stroke ]"nk 1 and police serious a demonstrabt I e t of damage hey could do with their t Such iry arrest leave me content . t d1v. e rs ]j[[t' to wait outside great snapping beaks. ralia' past, w1t1. I i s area I And those monu- " ' one h birds, has d e Jarh oe fliohtlcs.t ' ir ro th e " BY t ough o endear E mus :tfOJ ' STEVE VAN DYCK "' . II reg o t1' a d1t10. na Y 1(10\1 Australians w h o I 1avt, · il • 20 WI NfE N ATU It E AUST RA LIA d them poorly and treated them accord al �i y. As payment for the inability of the l Emu Ei�u's cwo-mil ion-year-old brain co l Dromaius novaehollandiae niniediace y appreciate the deep signifi- 1 i l cance of wire fences that sudden y criss grasslands, Emu Classification ! crossed its eggs were l Family Dromaiidae. � habitua ly smashed by boundary riders or raken back home for souvenir making. I Identification And because the Emu couldn't appreciate l Big, unmistakable, that Sheep and Catt e had exclusive rights flightless; adults up to 2 m high and weigh 30-45 Shaggy, grey- kg. to every green blade of grass on the con- _ brown-black, three-toed, sparsely feathered bigger _ neck, female ent, it faced the Lewis guns of the infa and wider across the rump, but sexes generally tin apart. difficult to tell mous I 932 'Emu War' staged in Western Can run up to 60 km/h. Naturally inquisitive. Australia. Distribution Emus might be exceptional for their Almost anywhere primeval appearance, but under that hoary _ in mainland Aust. (outside dense, wet forest) where l there 1s access haystack of teased-up qui ls lie two sub to suitable food and water. Exterminated in Tas. Nomadic, following stances of even more bizarre signifi seasonal food abundances over enormous l l distances (e.g. cance--mind-a tering hormones and oi . 500 km). Courtship begins around December when l Emus pair up, ma e and female wandering Food together, putting on fat (until they might Green vegetation, fruit, seeds, insects and flowers. Fleay (1972) weigh around 60 kilograms). While the documented the following from the stomach of a shot bird: grass, l l (sma ler) ma e stays calm and passive, the general herbage, fruit, grain and coarse grit, 1 carpenter's steel-pointed female Emu bristles with hormones that plumb-bob, 2 three-pin plastic electric wall plugs, 1 wash-tub plug, 1 catapult her on a course of strutting, spring and 3 solid rubber door stops. In other birds (captives) he noted drumming, propositioning and seduction. tastes for paper, ice-cream cups, bottle-tops, keys, coins, broaches, However, around April or May when she cement powder and broken glass (which eventually emerges smooth edged ! ). presents him with nine or ten large dark green eggs, he does a psycho-flip and Reproduction becomes so aggressively possessive that he Nests in the winter so chicks hatch to graze on spring-rain-induced may not even let her finish laying the 7-12 eggs laid in rough nest of twigs, grass, leaves and bark built clutch, and she is forced to lay the cough grass; on ground, and incubated for nearly 8 weeks by male. Chicks stay with shelled remainder elsewhere to the ingen male up to 18 months but usually 7-8 months. uity of hungry Dingoes and goannas. She either wanders around until hatching and helps defend the area and the clutch, or l kicks up her hee s with other runaway l l l fog wives to form arge wandering flocks.She bird's slippery bits, which, ike Dugong, ing my luck I'd get Ju y male oil, l of the commjc may even go offand breed with a differ goanna and turtle oi , were godsends in a bound with the secretions l ent male. The male sits closely on the eggs hot dry continent fu l of lean-meated ted incubator. Stagnating indolence and l up drink are no real for nearly eight weeks, getting up only creatures. The Emu's skin was plucked, reso utions to give co me, but to go to the green occasionally co slink offfor a drink. In the cut into strips and then boiled to produce strangers l l o-rocers0 and be less interested in what you incubation process he might lose up to ten around seven litres of ye low oi that was can eat .. . than what you can sic on and kilograms. The young stay with him for used for burning in lamps, on the locks of hatch ... is a bit of a worry. Thank good- up to 18 months. firearms, as an ancirheumatic and for rub for Dencorub! So taken with into sprains and bruises ofEvestock. ness the house-husband role is bing l l the sitting once et slip the fo male that, if his precious clutch Ludwig Leichhardt l FURTHER READING is sma l l truth: "Severa times, to shed or sto en, he might pretend to lowing litt e homer . Fleny, I E11111s sto111nc/1 it .fro111 A l D., 972. carry on as suffering fom excessive fatigue, I Brisbane Ncwe111- usua by incubating any other when l z ... 27 a l over the Courier Mail, suitable eggy objects at hand, whether rubbed I Emu oill into the skin ber I l l properties 972. they be jam melons, pumpkins, oi fi ters body, and its slightly exciting or stu ll beneficial" (!). Olsen, )., bbies. And if chicks don't eventua y proved very Olsen, P, Cro111e, F. I 993. l recommen & cheep from under if his Whi e the great explorer's 11111s. Pp. his shag pile, or ll 177- 8 I i11 Birds of prey and p be careful about E I ademelons or lager bottles don't hatch, dation is compe ing, I'd A11g11s and Robert.1·011: Sy dney. t l the cxerc1 e. ground birds. hen it is impending starvation that fina ly rus 1 1111g . ou t and repeating dr Leichhardt may have ives him from the happy home-cum Without knowing it, DR STEVE VAN DYCK IS A SENIOR. l rubbed him- garbage tip. been ucky enough to have r CURAT011.. OF VERTEBRATES AT THE l l the l March' oi drawn fom MUSEUM WHERE HE HA 0nccrning the matter Emu oi (sec sc If cI own w1.t 1 ' l. . QUEENSLAND Nature A of l wit 1 1 ust. a fema e Emu and sizz mg 1975. Autumn 1994), great use was soft bits of l WORKED SINCE 111a l long- egged lust.Know- de during early colonia times of the the I 1ormones Of 21 NATU J\. E AUSTRAL I A WI NT ER 2000 RAR.E & ENDA NGERED fishing vessels a mclee of seabirds p. 1y compete . iratical. for the smking. baits' · H ere S Alb atrosses are not shy hy at all·, inde ed arc one of the the . most aggressive . Y sometimes . species plunging . seven metr Shv Albatross . es b elow the surface and. rema111111g 111 under wate t/,e S/1y Albatross co/011ies 20 seconds r for It will take long and rnref,d 111a1f(li/e111ent before pursuit of prey. The . se sk· ill s Tas111a11ia ca11 return to t/,eir Jorrner splendour. make . them _particularly vuln around erable to long-l111e-fish111g operations around Tas mania and throughout the Southern Hemisphere. While the rate of alb atross capture may seem low (0.4 birds 111 per 1,00(] hooks some areas), over one billion hooks are set worldwide per . annum As a result, thousands of albatrosses are killed every year. In 1998 a Threat Abatement Ah! 111ell a-day! 111hat evil looks Thomson remarked that the birds had Plan designed to minimise the by-catch Had J Jro111 old a,1d yo1111g! increased in numbers. There were 670 of seabirds during long-line-fishing ope lllstead cf the cross, the Albatross nests in 1960; 1,505 in 1973; 2,000 in ra tions, came into effect. If everyone fol About 111y 11eck ivas 111111g. 1983; 3,000 in 1991; and by ] 995 there lowed the recommendations (such as -Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1798 were over 5,000 annual breeding pairs on deploying hooks under water or at night), the island. by-catch within the Australian Fishing 9 DECEMBER 1798, THE SAME Shy Albatrosses-the only albatross to Zone should be reduced to below 0.05 year oleridge rote his mag breed entirely within Australia-nest on 0 � seabirds per J ,000 hooks by 2003, and nificent poem Rime. of the only two other islands, Mewstone and may ultimately be elim.inated. However, Mariner", George Bass and Pedra Branca, both 20 kilometres south Ancient several other factors also affect Shy Alba a precipitous and Matthew Flinders found of Tasmania. The number of pairs breed trosses, including accidental mortality in north of forbidding islet 30 kilometres ing at both these sites has increased dra trawl fisheries, intentional shooting by to be almost Ta smania that "appeared matically in recent decades, indicating fishers, over-fishing of albatros prey white with birds". While Flinders stayed chat they too had previously suffered at species, marine pollution and chemical aboard their boat fighting the raging cur the hands of humanity. To day, 7,000 pairs contamination. For these reasons a rent, Bass landed on the island and had to breed on Mewstone, and 250 on tiny Recovery Plan has been drafted that aims literally fighthis way through the seabirds. Pedra Branca. at minimising all anthropogenic threat, The 33-hectare islet accommodated While the increase in Shy Albatross not only to hy Albatrosses but to the 20,000 pairs of nesting Shy Albatrosses numbers is encouraging, their continued other 21 albatross and two giant-petrel (Thalassarche cauta). It is little wonder that recovery is jeopardised by numerous species that visit Australian water . Signif Bass christened it Albatross Island. modern threats. This is of particular con icantly, the plan stipulates chat co be effec Flinders recalled that the albatrosses, cern as Shy Albatrosses, which probably tive requires cooperation of all Southern "being unacquainted with the power or live for decades, take at least five years to Hemisphere nations. disposition of man, did not fear him: we attain sexual maturity. In addition, It will cake lono and careful manage- taught them their first lesson of experi � although they breed annually, reproduc ment before the Shy Albatross colornes ence". tive output is low-on average, one around Ta smania can return to their for- Their 'education' certainly continued: . fledgling is produced every two to four mer splendour. When we cons1 cl er how sealers and guano traders promptly began years. Consequently, populations are close we came to exterminating these taking eggs and chicks for food, and e imperilled even by small increases 111 remarkable creatures, I hope it is w killing adults for their feathers. After vis mortality rates. humans who have learnt a mo5t valuable iting the island in 1832, George l"tobin 1 n recent times the greatest threat to lesson of experience. son recounted that the gruesome stench albatrosses has been long-line fishing. of thousands of rotting albatross carcasses The birds' extraordinary ability to under FURTHER READING was intolerable. The population had R., 1998· e take epic voyages (one juvenile hy Alba Robertso11, C. & Giles, Th . . · Slim')' already been halved. In 1909, Albatross tross was recovered over l0,000 kilomet oon. albatross: biology and conse1 va , Island contained only 250-300 albatross res from Ta mania), combined with the Bently rr11d 011s: Chippi11g or/011, N II. es. global expansion of long-line fisheries, � 13y this time, the treacherous journey to means that every albatross is likely to CHRIS BOLAND IS A PHD STUDE TI I � the essentially barren rock was no longer interact with long-line-fishing vessels at THE DIVISION OF l30TA Y A I) i worth the risk, and steadily, slowly, the some stage of its life. Sadly, many of these ZOO! OCY, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL 5 colony began to recover. In 1927, D . F. interactions are fatal. 13ehind long-line- UNIVERSITY, AND TI IE CONSULTA T TO ENVIRONMENT AUSTRALIA ON T\\E llECOVERY PLAN FOR. ALBATROSSES BY CHRIS BOLAND AND GIANT-PETRELS. ' 1JO 22 NATURE AUSTRALIA WI N 1.E,I' 21J r calenrlula), an Af ican pest that was prol WILD THING erating alarmingly, if_ that a remarkab le bU t terfly plague struck Victoria i s · Pa1·n ted Lad e darkened the skies, lan ding on ships miles out to sea. According is r to biol- og t Frede ick McC butterflv oy, "The newsp bV, ape r Flutter mentioned the r s stoppag e of t ains in . . s the IIJJ i11 s11c/1 awesome numbers tunnel on the Ca tlemaine Railw ' Pa111te d Ladies bred ss ay, fron, !11 1889 A11stralia11 . . the ma es of bodies of these i ,,n p la g ue struck V,ctorw. ri nsects that a re111arkable b11ffel),)' crushed, lub cating the whee ls to such an extent that they could not bite the rails as they turned, and came to a standstill I until sufficient supplies of sand could be sent." l s / Mo t of the butterflies we see flutteri i i s ng about n our cit e and towns have prob developed i ably on exot c plants. Indeed, exotic plants are so abundant and reliable they are probably now the main foods for s the larvae of ome species, the Glasswing for example. Such butterflies may benefit s when fore ts are felled for housing, since suburban gardens and parks carry more food plants (mainly exotic) than eucalypt forests, and certainly more nectar, pro duced by garden shrubs such as pentas and buddleias. [ t is probably true to say that suburbia is now the optimal habitat for many of the common butterflies; and that many are truly urban insects, no ' longer dependent upon natural habitats. � Exotic plants have allowed some but- I r terflies to expand their fontiers. The ( Orchard Swa II owta1·1 dan Dingy" Swallow- i / ta l (Papilio a11act11s) have spread weSt by followino- citrus trees growmg around , I outback l1omestead ' and today they flut- 111. i ! ter about gardens Al'ice pr nQS." More spectacular I1ave b een the ranae' " expan-· 1, r called. pa 1 m- sions of two tiny butte flies / O I darts. Palms have come t symbolise the . 110\\ S A WAY OF ATTR.ACTING WILDLIFE i aardeners other reasons r s o-ood" l. fe 111 Austra 1 1a,· and o' , ( Orange and lemon t ee . t into the subu r . h ez·e they don rbs, the planting of p ovide excellent fare "o-row them 111. reg10ns w for Orchard Swal r o f I larval food plants for butterflies is i naturally occur, to t I ,e g eat advantaae' ' " · Ai lowtail larvae (Papilio aegeus), wh ch . e s . O ' t x t becom ng popular. Sometimes it works i r s i the e insects. Accor dmg t the classic s mim c bi d dropping ; and the Austral an e I wonder . Last year I planted a Red Pas 1 I ? ( I OJ'J)"/ - ' the Orang Crow Butterfly (E 1ploea core) is so fond of [111/,a/ b111terfly. is I ,a/. sionflower 1 ·) occurs in I (Passijlora ci11nabarina) and a oleander hedges that many Palmdart ( Cephre11es a11_1! .a dc; Native people know . ey, \ Mulberry (Piptums s r c. uth as Sydn a,Jlenteus) in it a the 'Oleander Butte fly'. Blue Trian eastern Australia as iai. so my garden, r s . I and within a fo tnight Glas 1 1 and the Yellow Palm da1 t (C. 11'ir/1opep a) 1 r gles ( Crap/ dote " wing cate pillars ium sarper/01 ) on Cam ou"'h (Acraea andrornacl,a) were 1 1 1 1 on. But alth phor Laure] (Cin1 10 south to R..ockhampt · e demolishing the Passionflower a11 01111 11 ca111pl m) 00 caiJJ t (almost 11 11 that when the b k first . \ leaves, Palegreen Triangles ( C. held true II 1 killing it) and a couple r e rypyl s) out f of months late , to r 1 1 1 1 ca now dart ab r r love Custa d Apple out, Ol·a110-e, " Palmdarts· my g eat surp ise, the Native r (A1 1 01 a 1111 ri ta) Pa' Iin -· Mulbe ry foliage, and Pea 1 suburban Melbourne, a11d Yellow ' was r s Blues (La11 pirles boetims) s attacked by cate pillar of the White a . What go for bean and pea leaves. darts have reached 13yron 13 Nymph ' erth, (Mynes geo.ffroy,), a butterfly I ve s colonisey d P ( r s ur There are other r more, both insects have . neve seen in my ub pecies that p efer . 1 e,1s r- ,. b before. r . I ern or weeds. In 1889, Aust alian hitchhikmg across from noz t d Butterflies Painted Ladies • orre 5 have been benefiting for a 1 r ern Austra I.1a wit I1 t·1 uc·kloads ' of P ( va1 essa kersl,aw,) b ed up in such awe · iE long time from the sowing of . 111. west has planes for some numbers 1( palms. Their arnva I the on Capeweed (A rrto// :ca . - · fie,- proved 110 blessing, for tI icii,·· larvae' c115 "' r both u e the folia(.)'e of ornamental palms ( . BY TIM LOW nd a,c. too small ,1 native. and exotic).. They , 1 24 "' 20111 - NATURE 1\USTRAI IA WINTER p dd much colour and bland to a charm to a:irdens. years, books "'' In recent have come out native plants to grow to attract that list omc of the butterflies. advice seems able. I don't see much poin quest. ion t in . to help butterflies that are already ny1·na' . . " ustralian Crow 13utterfl1cs have (11I .1 ·\,in::,·a A Jllore than enough oleanders and man- devillas to munch on. As for Glasswings, they faring very not only arc well, but cheir caterpillars perform good service by browsing down Corky Passionflower (Pas siflom s11/Jcrosa), a smothering weed, and this taste for exotic fare should be encour aaed. There are other butterflies that can't b; helped because they won't enter cities and towns. Many of the browns, for example Bank's 13rown Butterfly (Het crouyu1pha /Ja11ksi1), require humid shady meadows, and planting their food planes 1Von't lure them into cities, no matter 1Vhat the books may suggest. The butterflies to target are those that are declining from loss of native food plants, and which have no exotic subsci tmes to cum to, and no scruples about vis iting suburbs. There aren't huge numbers of these, but showy examples include the White Nymphs I mentioned before, the Eastern Brown Crow (E11ploea t11/lio/11s), and the celebrated Richmond Birdwing (Omithoptera ric/1111011dia). Richmond Bird wings, native to northern New South Wales and southern Queensland and now very rare, seldom visit inner-city gardens, but they will occasionally breed in gardens some distance from bushland, and they have been helped along by a concerted campaign to plant their food plants (see Nature A11st. Summer 1996-97). But even here, a word of caution. The Richmond Birdwing Vine (Pararistolochia prae11e1,osa) is patchily distributed, and the integrity of rainforest remnants should not be com promised by planting it in valuable rem nants where it never grew before. FURTHER READING Co 1 1111110 1, I.J:B. & Waterho1,1se, D.F, 1981. Butterflie s of Australia. 2nd ed. A 11'(! IIS & R obertso11: Syd,,ey. (Above) The Glasswing is one of several well IS AN ENVlll..ONMENTAI TIM Low known butterflies that often complete their life NATURE WRITEll.. CONSULTANT ANI) A cycle within suburban gardens. Eichler J 1999 , , ·, . -,,11e ora11,l!e paI 111 d art s k.•1p- WI 10 ONCE WOIU NATu 25 RE Aus·, RAI IA WINTER 2000 WITH ITS BEAUTIFUL BLACK-AND-WHITE COAT AND LONG, EXPRESSIVE TAIL, IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG FOR ME TO BECOME TOTALLY HOOKED ON STRIPEYS. STRIPED POSSU S: the bold and the beautiful BY KATH HANDASYDE A BIOLOGIST FROM r the heavily populated south-east corner of the continent, my fi st a 12 encounters with Australia's northern rainforests were a total buzz. � !;; Shipton's Flat, about 40 kilometres south of Cooktown, Queensland, was i ;;; so different from anything I had previously experienced. Wonderful birds � that I had never seen or heard before, huge buttre sed trees, antipersonnel � In general body shape and posture, Striped Possums are similar to other petaurid possums, such as the Sugar Glider. However Striped Possums do not possess a gliding membrane. NATu1, E AUSTRALIA WINTER 2000 21 . skin, Ni<>hts would pass without even a tralia. They belong to the that b u, nt and core at your family P . plants "' · handsome, dark dae, I w 11c. h e taur1 . e co Iour d an ",mpscI. of orie of these a 1 so . includes ·•ces fontascic in siz , r the end 111\lt'I' ·· ceb, " . "' . ec time Leadbe angere an d a111111a l s. However our l3ennett's-f ater's Possum ( C mno d shape, and some of the strangest y beiide r beaten) us 1ead .. Is I had ever was certainly not wasted, fo there were and most of the glide ( most foscinatJJ1g·. mamma . rs su h a e r animals to be Sugar Glider ' c s the oth r nocturnal ainforest (Peta11n1s brevice encountered. ps) and 11 . a SC C, extraordinary one low-belli ( v1s1t. 1n::, C11SI · 1 For me the most ed Glider (P s The reason I was . au tralis). T�: e was the Striped Possum (Oactylopsila petaur,d possu 1 11 ·y place was chat my f llow ms are generally extrao ·d·1 ·1" ' _ regarded . r 1 t ri11i1;r{afa), with its beautiful black-and rather soCial anima as �' . Iog1st an d partner, R oae.. ' r Ma tin,· I d a _ . ls, often living bw ' " · in srnal] first ecolog,ca1 whitc coat and long, expressive tail. It family groups. Most species just launch ed into c'.1e . feed on I _ ' become totally exudates Pant O Bennett s Tree-kanga100 didn t take long for me to (like nectar and sap), scu dY f _ but supple- e on Stripeys. ment their diet ro a,Q11S be1111ettia1111s), a little-known hook d wrth small (De11d l invertebrate r r of Oact Leadbeater's . r es chat spends much of its There a e fou known species y Possum, thought rainfo est speci to be ths py. This habit makes it lopsila. All occur in Papua New Guinea Striped Possum's closest time in the cano relative, is regard� see, lee alone study. and only one extends its range rnto Aus- ed as more insectivorous very difficult to than the glidin petaurids, feeding mainly on crickets an� other arthropods that live under bark. Most information on the diet of Striped Possums is anecdotal, but suggests they are Striped Possum generalist insectivores (although they have Dactylopsila trivirgata been reported to occasionally eat fruit, leaves and honey). Wood-boring Classification insect larvae a re thought to be a particularly Order Oiprotodontia, family Petauridae. important food for Striped Possums, and the animals have several distinctive Identification mor phological characteristics that appear to Slender, medium-sized possum, with longitudinal black and white be adaptation for excavating these ener stripes. Stripes of subadults sharply delineated into areas of blac and r � _ gy-rich morsels fom the trunks and white; adults black and greyish-white fur with less abrupt transItIons branches of trees. Their lower incisors are between contrasting p atches, particularly on rump. Tail tip black or very large, and they use these to gouge white. Elongated 4th finger and very long tail. Does not possess a and dig into wood. Their skull is also gliding membran very e. Adult weight range: males 440-545 g, females rounded, making it structurally more 430-455 g; hea l d-body ength about 270 mm; tail l ength about 340 mm. robust to cope with the stresses imposed Distribution and Habitat when the animals lever up chunks of hard Rainforest and a a wood with their teeth. The other notable dj cent open woodlands in north-eastern Aust. from Townsville to tip of Cape thing about Striped Possums is their elon York, however in coastal areas Stripeys may occur gated fourth finger, which they use to in woodlands in the absence of rainforest. Also throughout ir PNG-lrian Jaya, and on winkle out fat beetle larvae from the Aru Islands, Japen and Waigeo. cosy tunnels in the tree trunk. They also Behaviour use their long finger for tapping on wood Bold, agile and very a to locate cavities containing insect larvae. ctive possum, which may rove rapidly around in a · · ed tree when feeding. When All these characteristics mak e the trip excavating branches and trunks . invertebrates, to obtain a t its presence is often Po sum remarka bi y convei"· e nt wi h betrayed by the sound of chewing into wood a t011 ia ,,111dt1- nd the accompanyin a Madagascar 's Aye-aye (Da ll lic,, g r in of debris to the forest floor. .. Frequently moves through . to spec1ahse the canopy along vines, or by The black and white stripes of the Striped couple of papers on the biology ofStriped (Above) Possum may look obvious under a spotlight, but Possums. There had been no detailed field probably serve as camouflage in the dark. studies of their habitat use or social life. So we decided to conduct a study on (Right) Striped Possums have a typical petaurid foot (top), but their front foot has an elongated Striped Possums at R.oger's established hind fourth finger, which they use as a probe to extract field site, where there appeared to be a wood-boring beetle larvae from tree trunks. No re asonable population of animals. Bold other petaurid possum possesses this unusual idea! feature. s and HE FIRST STRIPEY we caught was a used an area of around 20 hectare T changed subadult male that happened to be proved to be quite mobile. He . . located him Sitting about two metres above the dens frequently and when we hundred ground in a small sapling. A vigorous at night he was often several had slept in that shaking by Charlie R.oberts , a local natu- metres from the den he of his activ ralist who k d . day. While he confined most . wor e wit h us, brought the sur of rainforest where we prised an d somew I 1at angry little pos- ities to the patch s ventured out um to th e g1oun. d . These animals arc caught him, he occasionally renow rounding open eucalypt for . ned f.or h av111g a fearsome bite ' and into the sur it black and white took a numb er of very wary attempts est. His longitudinal o e difficult to n our par t b e1 bag. stripes mad him extremely co re 1t was safely in the the I . cally oriented foliage of ( have rar eI Y seen C harl1e accord such a see in the verti small a Eucnlypt11s tereticomis, which dominated n·1111 a I so much respect!) We took s es o mused that trip ur prized possum fit- this open forest. We back to camp and camou ted e the perfect night him wit· h a rad10-collar so we could s emed co be . . such as owls, 111on1tor his movements. flage against visual predators e We common in th area, and foliowe d t J 11s· a111mal for 38 days, which were 1 0 . . On the 39th day cat1ng l11111 very fond of possum each night when he was out possum (I fie e cti· n s unable to locate our g' tiI en check111g during the l"toger wa e him Melbourn for d ay to fin to return to d out wh ere he was denned. He had had 29 NATu ll, E AUSTil.ALIA WINTE!l. 2000 b: �� ------s e t t n s a s were weets r ethings. On a nf w oc · n ed, al hougho weo casi'. o ns ' en ture ra e i creas iv o d ya cap ob e v d them feedin g on the eaxt cwt prop rtione f theere d e nectar c . nd th for o ie. to dart a' malls and chinnag), a . l r onn I y a bs e nous Australia s say I tea pars icu a captur s w Inh ig ne e that th' . ng frI m ted a mant y . y . I wase, comis a 1ma. l w sigh t . c eat 14 his s1g s for uch r Whtie t e ho yns of nativend be s. Locals in gI tl yt odd . ul o oatteermpt. n north. . fo re t tr ea, 1 i· ni �mpIy too diffic. .to ( ra!ll e wing thday s rt . . g em Quee la htold us stories· f S . I ie. re folla o e an th n f dust1at1n o t ani. m l.a 0e . we. ssi·an, sin re s . Krtpe �d mobilo a _ da o mge . . 111 n Amn ty s es1g e hPossues ms raidingh oney from dome rli capa,11etu td a im.edply ot d ed st· b I ge1. nd Ch(Morelia pr bl m: po treum r � c tR e 11s11· ·11 ) i oshi to rugg . iv left t e forest (after tearin / ugg ore un n g ah l Pythone e � - out of es,e d e ine p falle the wooden hive), and rad10-colla1 and to hang o r, in a n newly cau\ t p1I t with' ays se m to b abls le 0 g tr e, comn e (Thr ey alwd d s aw, o twildr animr ls swe nheld i cages soon r, s ) ng by a mgd c rgot sum i sids a e ev nte from falli d '. ' we t1. - p o hei no mal hy ess and rapid s of tieI e et u d s o a branch.)s t e ly devour thi e rlye phao h at·1 loope aroune d ed l ne e tle th ate I tthen g n r wa s sli s wa he honeys w nprovided for them. Str . r as n we oy tht e d to g t them own ipeys cov ri d ttheon Oft n o ly hway ' . . p· Pos umt : or are al o know to raidh sugarcane, labl en S 1 ·i and cut the d banal nas info ma i r reavai . oge1. 01 . C ar·lie tor climbd r h difficul to ,c R h tans, w ich 1 does w re fairly o a c ew woulde ane e rambu r not a ways not na , theey e the g oun n w ile branch,o w ich e ult t cs tch. nd ar them to farme s I extr, m lye ediffic t e of ettmg. Ev ry e e pmpom. r. t a, d t e a larg piece animal 1 d catch n s r d the possums we cau on r es wh r h s W fitt s ght with I set t eaps t n 1:�- capture wa a t iumph. -bonnge 111er ectrese nt radio-collarl ande, as with our first ani xcava i ag woodere h mal ( been t l t e vth-p we would ocat them at night and � l c ughtr n w st r r e t als vae,n bu alle ats ( eyo filledht them to th ir dens (usually ree a d num rous ai fore t ack r t hol- to sp tlig - he day By doing every night).ere Back e . lows) du ing e . this we \ my . traps t 0 not asy to find, able to map th home range of each 111. (J'I While S ripeyse wed were r \ e iem.I skill at nlocatmge t e individual, and plot thei dene lsites within ) we b camed mor e e n p n WILD some distad ce, sth n NEWLY CAUGHT range. D ns were gen ra ly scattered W woull walk h this e ea lamp a dd listenn home range, with odical y turn offt our d through the possum'se e l e t soon forgot soun s ofe istae animals f wer d ns than males car fully forro he faint r adult femal s using . th fors st1 d ppinge deb is to in the number of dens possumsr he shyness Thee differencel into the trunk 11 their normal floo as t y chis lled n us d by ma es and femalese may ebe related ally we would search of food. Occasior e ed the fact that mal s ranged ov r consid o e e rapidly devoured toer l er sm ll. Strip Pos and females l cat rth m byed thei t ab y larg areas of forest than but a e reput o smell like Skunks,h Striped Possums cer sums t honey we and subadults.r d Male have a the no disagree more!t Tt ey e of covering large I coulde tainly p oveer capabler d e hin of poll n, sw et muskyt smell wi h a n api ly, as w sometimesl \ provided for them. distancesd v y l r persist o your s. and while his smellr mayr n foun out whi e t acking our anima dling them, hands for a day o so afte tha e t e one of our males, Dave, Occasionald de ly, foul abou it. thP rhaps h em therer is nothinge t site overd a kilom woul t e partd for a e pe sistenc of he smell and ee Skunk d racmg from h e ge of th stu y area, n white stripes hav cause nd like black s and thee ca opy a crashinge noisilyt through d er this confu ion. e T WAS SLOW WORK r s we were huge l aps. A these htim r . but g aeeually, ov a with Locatingt a possum (aboutn once a w ek r ou way I left behind, thras ing e round of field trips betw en 1990 and often if we spo lighted every ight)n turnedh out numbee n . th e s r on ths g o a pic throu(J'h the thickr lantanas 1 do you 1998, w bega tot piecese tog ther r n "e to bet r e a y pa t.s Howt o Eartt e . ome ther also p ov1d e d u witt· 1e I o01 lives of he extraordinaer y a i Dave e cap u e a possum i ting 10 e o 30 metre s ture of the r h s ov of mto l t eco\e vation unexp ct ds 1ns1g· · s h ts · probl m was th ir mals. Afte manya ourt of obse h t r up a tree' Our emaine e n e Of 1 en xtreJl\ely ssion t a St iped Pos um . He was s d ns foliag a d network on camere awdy with ndhe impr d d mobility. Thehe d d nt · ht ,ve. woul to locate. rManyd n1g . they we bol , alert a verynd active s(they ifficult e of vinesen in t rainforestnd provi n e ple ty r r in vain to the hi(J'h st ri ges trying , of av ues for escape, a a y attempt o we e ce tainly not dull a esluggi h as climb s . . t e n r s e . . " his ta. d10- collar. I rver). Our pick up a wnale r f om climbn a tr e to capture a animal esulted de dcrib d by one earlyd obs h r e e " . . lly fi as we· inina xtrem ly ustratmg,ere e i the possum disappearing rapidly into fiel data supporte the idea tr ats St ip d was n d a, h n G,!, ·ad ualoly, of wh h was.r 1 the canopy. (Once or twice w en a imals Possums were indeed insectivo e : mosts of hade eo i ea re e e ed h e er d r vitng c 1 wic. 1 his O b came mo 1ream1· ·ta e s weren located in small trees wen v tn trin s t e animalse w obs ve at Shipton' Flatd w s s 1ie wa L1sin° 1 , di cove d 1Ie cutti g the whole htree dow , bu nvi e wered fe ding on arthropodsn living ins dea rwayd s wed reh from ( r (J'e an steep (J'ul11· so away - usually prevented t e treen fromh falli g alls wooe en, under bark, or i nvine stem n. We t i " r " nan ng th e An u I the way to the ground, a d t e possum main galle y forestse al e t n n f nqu tly saw them rovi g aboute i he r . . p s n1 \r . dly 1.a 1111co ie.s t on . alwaye es seem d o vaheishr i to thin air.)t We ca opy, clearly catching invert brates. sl<..1ver. Out suppoe " t e out spe d1n,, no qualmso ab s n n ed de to reducee t i mobility,h n s bur how?n Woo I-boringr e beendle olarvaer wer particu eemed or hav n .. i"', 11 h i· ti 1e foi, , l l<..og r had be n catc i g hi t ee-ka lar favou it s, a u captive animals a conside able amou et fon a t s n s er n e e r e ::, n t reSt on n ir b rk fo garoosn using a dranquilli r er gued andd dart n, wn e certai ly vs ry fondd of thes e. F e s ino-t i he stuntedr r dope but o-one ha eve attemptr e to art at ran gings animal repeatea ly ndvi it ds trees he top of a d ye i g ! ,1 . beca111et each n1gar h t animale as smalld as a St ipey ob tfore t (adule s ir fedted withn beetle lervae,e a then e trees s Findingt Dav s s '. he . )arly Ill k', p cice u'e r w igh aroune 450 grams; ab u hee siz d of api ly begae tos res mbl a mi inge ite, omewha arduous 1 ta o was h t a guin a pig). on w l en t h e w a che t However,on miniaturnd arts with larg hole excavated all ov r their late dryh sea h s s hei whenn i thern tim s t seemed o be our e ly roption,d r a they trunks. d o e r and n umid.n heT noi 1 e F 1. o 1eo worked! Once w sta ted a ting, our Stripeys also appeare t hav a taste fo cou try i t rth bu s. 0 WINTER 30 NATURE AUSTRALIA ?()Oil p fairly elusive animals S oespite being , triped always shy. They possums are not will often sit k at you from quietly and peer bac a safe spot in the canopy. frot11 the south-east, where bush fires arc n catastrophic infernos, fires in the for , ofte est around hipton's Flat initially made me extremely nervous. However these north ern fires are fairly cool, moving slowly through the country, mainly along the We went out to track Dave one "aro und. ni"ah t when a fire had finally reached one of the ridges high above the river. His sig- r nal was coming fom the direction of that ridge, and when we located him he was out foraging happily as the fire burnt through beneath him! Since other petaurid possums are renowned as somewhat social animals, we were interested to see whether Stripeys spent much time in groups . We found lit de evidence of this. During spotlighting we rarely saw Str ipeys together, and the � home ranges of the different individuals did not overlap as much as one would expect if the animals were highly social. Despite this we made occasional observa tions that indicated there was at least some level of social interaction. For example, one night Roger and Charlie caught a male Stripey, which vocalised loudly in alarm (a deafening and unsettling sound if yo u are close by). Within a short time, two other Striped Possums appeared, obvious ly in response to the distress call of the captured male. Alarm calls such as this appeared to be a common response when some months later we found him (or R.D. Martin, CA. Doyle a11d A.C. Walk the animals felt threatened. One evening, rather his remains) and his radio-collar in er. University of Pittsb111g Press: Pittsb11rg. as we were sitting around in our camp, we a python scat close to his favourite den heard a Stripey calling repeatedly. When tree. Maybe sleeping in the same spot is a Fla1111ery, T, l 994. Possums of the world. we investigated, we found the animal dangerous thing to do when there are Ceo Prod11ctio11s a11d 77,e A11stralia11 J\!flls baled up in the entrance to a tree hoLlow wily predators such as pythons around: a e11111: Syd11ey with an _ Amethystine Python poised above costly mistake for a naive young possum. It 111 striking position. R.oger climbed the Our field work has come to an end for Ha11dasyde, K.A. & Martin, R. W, 1996. tree and managed to shoo the python the present, and as always, we have gen Field obser11atio11s 011 the co111111011 striped µos away, but we were beginning to suspect erated far more questions than answer . s11111 �)actylopsila trivirgata Cray) i11 north tha . t pythons we1e. a maJor predator of our How long do Striped Possums live? Are Q11ee,,s/m1d. Wild!. Res. 23: 755-766. possums. they territorial? What is their mating sys The fate of Mickey, one of our subadult tem' How often do they breed? Hope f/41 1 Dyck, S., I 995. triped Poss11111. P males, 222 in The mammals of Australia, ed. by _ added to our suspicions. I had fully we, or others, will be able to con noti R. Straha11. The A11stmlia11 M11sm11i/Reed ced that most of the adult possums tinue the study of these spectacular ani ch Books: Syd11ey. anged tl1e11 · · den trees regularly, and mals in the future. With their large brains w ondered why. In contrast, Mickey used and bold, fascinating behaviour, they arc very l)R KATH HANDASYDE IS A LECTURER few dens and had one favourite tree certainly a worthy subject for more that IN THE DEl'ARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY he seI pt 111 day after day. Being a research. I AT THE UNIVEll..SITY OF MELl30URNE. subadult wit· h a relatively small home rang HER MAIN RESEARCH INTEll..ESTS ARE e, 1 thought that perhaps he had few FURTHER READING de THE HAl31TAT REQUIREMENTS, CENEll..AL ns available to him. We had monitored Cartel, /\II., l 974. l)aubcntonia, Dacty Mick Pp. ECOLOGY AND CONSEIWATION OF eY c I ose I y through to the end of a lopsila, woodpeckers and k/inorl1yncl1y � el ed. by MAl<.SUJ>IALS AND MONOTREMES. H d t··11P- o n our return to the study site 655-670 in Prosimian biology, NATu RE AUSTllALIA WINTER 2000 31 THE WET ACH EVENING DURING by the danger Despite unpopularity is amplified substantial anecdot . �I . . . a 1 infor111 outposts in posed to children and Dogs by the venom t1on, good sc1ent1fic dat a- season, at 14 lonely . a' are I ack. i ng I . secreted from large glands behind their technically very · t 1s the Northern Territory, com difficult to 1 1o . 1 n1tor th in tall polesr ears, and by beliefs that they have done a number of goannas, or e puters mounted death a dd e E damage to native fauna. Snakes, black snakes, rs or of topped by solar panels listen out for fog lot or quollsAlso , before ' and aft er been trained to recog goannas and quolls arer thought to have the toads move in. , the calls that they've dat a th at hav and suffered, presumably fomr naively eating been collected are e nise. Every pole has its own sweaty . equivocal U · npub- /1 all worth it Cane Toads and dying fom the poison. hshed data collected 1 frustrating story to tell-but . by Bill F ree of . 1 and find what we're looking for. You There are many compelling accounts now with the Parks and Wildli 1 if we fe C 0111-' are on their way, having population declines following the arrival mission of the Northern ) see, Cane Toads Territory , sug- over the border from Queens of the toads. The deeply entrenched gest that goanna populations . marched suflier llltt1· . a1 _ land, and are now quickly spreading in abhorrence of toads extends even to an ly, but that enough individuals survive the the Northern Territory. We hope to find apparent community acceptance of driv onslaught and, in due course, the popula r they have any impact on the ing over them, and using them for tions recover. Bill out whether also tackled the ques fog fauna by monitoring the frogs impromptu soccer matches or to practise tion of impact on \ native the native frogs, in the before and after the arrival of the toads. your golf swing. Gulf country (Buja , but was unable to find an l The introduction of Cane Toads Toads are painted as villains, even to the effect. Absence 111ari111-1s) of evidence, however, is to northern Queensland is a extent that Bob Hawke made it a 1990 not evidence of absence and, even if some familiar story to most Australians. So is election promise to provide funds to pre !J scientists think that Cane Toads are not their failure to control the beetles they vent Cane Toads ever reaching Kakadu. really a problem, others accept that toads were brought out for, and their subse Part of these funds were used by CSIRO will more likely turn out to be another quent spread north, south and west at to set up the now-defunct Cane Toad biologically as well as aesthetically unfor rates of around 25 kilometres a year. As Research Advisory Comm.ittee, of which tunate and damaging import. Non-scien such Cane Toads are bad news. Apart I was a member. tists, of course, have already made1 up from their perceived ugliness, their But are Cane Toads really such villains? their minds-they want toads out Perhaps if there were really goodgn data to show that Cane Toads are si ificant pests, governments would be more likely to provide money for their control. But how to get the data? This question was pondered by the Cane Toad Adviso a ry Committee in December 1994 nd newspaper advertisements called for research proposals with the promise of ttee, funding. As a member of that commi a d a I was prompted to revisit an idea I ah e couple of years earlier. I reckoned th t th ry overall variability of things in the wet-dn for tropics meant we would be looki gna '. what might be a very small s1g I'· caused by the arrival of the toads, 111 a t very large 'noise'. I already knew abou nce this variability, from personal experien g a in Cape York. l recalled driving alo a lld road on sequential humid evenings e , seeing on one night hundreds of the larg 1 . c. Ci1c/omot1 specta11011aeltolla11diaecu ar b urrowmg 1rogs, n. , while on t he nex' t 1uhr" e . none. Clearly comparative surveys befor d - and after toads could easily be confoun ed.* . high The trick would be to have a vet Y • ork sampling rate, preferably daily. field w · soot! can be good fun at first, but it <1 I. tl ,I 34 becomes tedious and daily samp 111" t ,01HI il - -I NATURE AUSTll..ALIA WtNTE • the wet. Poles along the Roper Valley A 'toad pole' showing a microphone pointed to a gravel pit (obscured by the trees) that floods in _ its solar panel and Alonzo Church). The High or biologists; this one is called Church (after the great logician wa� have been given nicknames, based on famous computer scientists cooling _ of the pole is painted black to promote a convective, monitoring equipment, powered by batteries, fits into a canister that hangs inside the pole. The top flow of air. finalise remote area, for months at a time is a tall (Right) Maurizio Bigazzi and Les Fletcher on the solar panel before the pole is order. We needed something au�omatic. the wiring lifted and bolted into position. What could we monitor daily and auto matically? Frogs were the obvious candi and (Left) Frank Seebacher (kneeling), Tim Jessop dates. It is easy to imagine that frogs might Andrew Taylor install a programmed monitoring to suffer whe n t oad s arrive;. b oth eat 111sects system into a pole, where it is connected gauge and and have aquatic batteries, temperature sensors, the rain tadpoles, so competition by a rope betw the microphone, and pulled into position een toads and frogs is likely to occur flooded over a pulley, high enough to avoid being when the rains come. *T h·15 problem IS exemplifod by a CSI RO study by Peter Cat . hng and c O11 cagues,• funded at the same rime as ours, in wh·IC h abun Cyclorana /ongipes. Automatic recognition of frog calls The familiar frog sounds we hear on wet summer nights are the calls of male frogs, advertising for female partners. Typically, all the males of a frog species use the same advertisement call and this call is different from that of other frog species living in the same area. The calls have distinctive patterns in both frequency and time, which allow females to recognise the calls of their species. It also allows our computer software to identify the species of advertising male frogs. Shown here are spectrograms of the calls of three different frog species, each recorded from a single frog calling only centimetres from the microphone. These spectrograms clearly show the distinctive patterns recognised by the female frogs, and by our software too. However, frogs don't usually take it in turns to call, nor do they always 'speak clearly into the microphone', and there is often other background noise, like rain, wind or insects, to contend with. Thus the sound coming into our systems is a lot more cluttered. Identifying frog species under such conditions was the major challenge in developing our software. It is accomplished by breaking sound into brief fragments less than a tenth of a second long. Some fragments will contain parts of frog calls without interferences from other frogs or background noise. Although these fragments are too brief to allow identification of the frog species with certainty, when we combine many such fragments we can reliably identify the call as belonging to a particular species. rough Every ten minutes, between 8 pm and midnight, the software logs the identity of any species heard with a lyse all estimate of their abundance. Temperature and rainfall data are also logged on an hourly basis. Once we ana ges in the data over consecutive wet seasons, we should be able to determine whether there are any chan abundance of native frogs after the arrival of Cane Toads in the area. lor -Andrew Tay Wales University of New Soulh 111 -,01 NTEil 38 AUSTRALIA W 1 NATURE d r build and deploy them. when complete, look little different fom The Long-footed Frog I Cyclorana longipes), a Thanks to Les Fletcher and Bill Sta any number of installations along road burrowing species of the tropical woodlands of the Top End, breeds in temporary ponds. The blum, stalwarts in the University e e e e e of sid s ev rywh re, so th y attract littl prolonged nasal moan of advertising males is Que ensland's Zoology workshop, a suit attention. heard only early in the wet season on nights after able system was devised. For each of the Ten of the pole stations were installed in heavy rainfall. stations, the monitoring equipment, January 1997 with a great deal of help comprising two computer boards, power fro111 Les and fro111 volunteers, particular supply, pre-amplifier for the microphone ly Frank Seebacher, Tim Jessop, Peter etc., is mounted within a s ection of PVC Kind, Ti111 Schultz, lda and Maurizio water pipe. This 111etre-long canister Bigazzi and Jan Grigg. The toads were hangs from a shackle attached to four 12- already well west of Roper Bar, so we had volt e e batteries in a frame, and the whole to abandon the two 111ost ast rly planned asse e e mbly hangs fro111 a pulley in the top of sites and replace the111 with two n w sit s a hollow steel six-111etre lighting pole. farther w est, closer to Mataranka. We The e canisters and batteries can be insert- spent 111ore than a w ek digging holes, d. : Into the poles through a panel at the mixing concrete, and lifting and bolting Otto e i m and pulled up, on a rope over the the poles and their solar pan ls into pos pulle y, higher than the water level likely tion. Hot work. duri ng the wet season. Solar panels are We hoped to catch the end of the l11ou to get nted at the top of the pole, along 1996-97 wet season, and managed Wit e t e mo t east h te111perature sensors, the 111icro four prototype syst 111s in o th Pho e down ne and a tipping-bucket rain gauge, erly poles. Wh n Tim Schultz and c everything had ables run within the poles to con loaded them in May, nect e for a minor everything appropriately. The poles worked beautifully exc pt are -call identification bolted onto concrete footings and, glitch in which the frog NATU I\.E A USTRALIA WINTEll 2000 39 - software was not turned on. We had love 1 ly data on temperatures, rainfall, sampling times and battery voltages, but no frogs Andrew assured us it was a simple error, easily fixed, and so it proved, because we got a full run of data for the 1997-98 wer season, from November to May (see rbox). roMeanwhile, I approached Piers Ba row. P ject Officer at Kakadu National Park, ,l to see if he was interested in getting sonie baseline data there before the Cane Toads nwas, arrived, in::,0 maybe five years time. He red ' so we a ain headed north wirh io • · . C · inwiktht' poles, and more 11concreting, and ins ,our more s, bring g record 1g system ' 0011 total to 1--1-. J � After downloads in April 999 we 51 I iave goo d data sets in cwo areas oveie-� I 1 vvet seasons. The toads have engulefr d � 0- out o f the ten sites along the Rop ' rintt' ley Highway, from the east. By the - NA r u ll E Aus r R /\ LI A WINTEll ,oo" ___...... tl . a, rticle 1s published, after the which rhtS might be able to be Catli11g, P. l-lerfo,<;,, A., wet season, we wi II spread through C., B11rt, 9 9- -?()00 have the populatio RJ., 19 , . · n by an insect vect Wo111bey, J.C. Forrester, I 999. T/t e oug, , ta for senous analyst to begi or, offer a & R.I., ,,n I da - c ...... n. possibility. H f owever, especially after the s/tort-tem, �fect of ca,ie loads e co collect data 101 sever al more f(Bufo marinus) I io P PI\. disaster with 011 11ative We the l(.abbit Calicivirus, fm111n tl1e C11! Co11ntry of t/te . if we can find the money. community i11 ye:11S, pressure may prevent the Nort/1em Territory. 26: release of any Wild!. l<-.es. virus, even for the much 161-185. I ILL CANE TOADS reach Kakadu? maligned . toads The Australian Animal < WYou can bet on it. What biologi- Health Laboratories at Ceelong, in Victo 7avlor, A., Watson, Grigg, d will they do? No-one knows. C., C.C. & a!11,ac,ae ria, pursued some promising McCa/111111, f., I 996. Monitori cal lines of /-f. ng frog y measure what they do to the investigation ccm11111111 We ma as part of the C I RO's l3ufo · ities: a11 applicatio11 of mac/1i11e learn . as ve 11c.. 0"' , but rt wtll require collect1011 Project, but that stopped when i11g. nan . . the funds /11 Proceedings of the 8th Innovative . I1e1 . b"a·se line data to determ111e possr- dried up. of 0c . Applications of Artificial Intelligence 1111· pa, cts on other biota.' However, The best hope is for ble ' the discovery of Conference, Portland, Oregon August ·ople believe that JUSt hav111g toads some sort t 111any pc of hi-tech magic bullet or, per 5-7, 1996. T/ eAAAI Press: LosA/amitos, ' would be damage enough, haps, some Cal!fomia. 11. 1 I(a kadu . sort of control by unsightly and foreign. pheromones. because they are' Rapid advances in biotech Toads be eradicated? Prob- nology offer Tj1/e1; MJ., 1989. Viking Could Cane at least a tiny ray of hope, for Australian frogs. t , ex. cept I think it would be worth this and for all our non-native O'Neill: Melbo11me. abl y no . pests. Oth .II spen d 1ac, money to try. Hand collection erwise, along with several hundred other ...... II. kil11n"a 1s obv1ously 1111p1 act1cal species of deliberate but or d eet . . r deleterious biot PrtOFESSOR GORl)ON GRIGG IS A . . V1ruses specific to the family Bufon1dae, ic imports, f om grasses to vines and from ZOOLOGIST IN THE DEPARTMENT OF R.abbits to Camels, we will have !Left above) Giant Frogs ( Cyclorana australis) in to be ZOOLOGY AND ENTOMOLOGY AT THE amplexus. These frogs bree� at the start of the resigned to Cane To ads in Kakadu and, UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND. HE wet season in shallow, static water. probably, just about everybloodywhere HAS A PARTICULAR FONDNESS FOR. else. Cl"l..OCODILES,ECHID AS, KANGAROOS, Andrew Taylor and Graeme Watson !Left below) FROGS ANI) FLYING, AND HOPES THAT compare reference material with sono�rams on FURTHER READING _ NEXT TIME HE GETS A MADCAP IDEA LIKE screen from the previous night's record1 g session � Barke,;)., Grigg, Tj1/er, MJ., 1995. near Roper Bar, Northern Territory. The library of C.C. & THIS ONE, ESPECIALLY IF IT INVOLVES Surrey advertisement calls collected were then used to A field guide to Australian frogs. CONCIUTING, SOMEONE WILL QUIETLY 'train' the monitoring equipment. Beatty anrl Sons: Sydney. STI"l..A GLE HIM. . boring squark, repeated endlessly. advertise w1'tl 1 a harsh and rather Th e D . . in many an' d areas · Males esert Tree Frog llitoria rubella) 1s w1despread an d ° ccurs 41 NAT U Ill: AU S ·1 R A I I A W I N T E R 2 o Oo s n AND MALE by far the mo t intrigui g adders, Taipan, Tiger ALE SNAKES, strange, but nake et C. ) ' Utb penises for me is their inc I udes around 200 al too, have extraordi thing about snake species fio ' so lizards n . r rn o th se s diversity. The parts o f the world, er peni s. To tart treme dous anatomical such as th nary n e n e Afi. 1 e x copu and Asia rican ch y have cwo! evolution of a atomically compl cobras, African with, n . n . rnarnb 1 / n e n Amer ica n a e e d' or latory orga s is o e of the most wide and Asia coral , \ to be eith r 'right-ha d snakes an 10 MalMs cend e d a 1 enis e e p spr ad themes across all sexually repro sea snakes. 'left-hand d' with resp ct to which e n n on duci g a imals. However, it has proven Part of my recent resear lllVO Ved they use, although it also dep nds . ch - 1 e to understand why such comprehensive a s of th female they end up on very difficult descriptive su which ide s e . rvey of e n In this article pe111s morphology n e d cisio comes up. But complexity ha com about. for early all . when ch critical n . . ' species of will outline some of the reaso s why Australian elap,d snakes. 00 to put your mind at ease, a male can use I It t k n n r rnan e e thi k this fa tastic diversity has months, but I searched o Y only on of his penis s at a time. bioloo-ists" th ugh h u e . . ndreds are cwo of chem 1s volved. of Jars 111 all the museum colle . The fact chat there ct. ion s in e e n e Australia. to find 11 only ch b ginning of what is stra g them . I the e AM A 1310LOGIST n . nd I ,' s e es s e a d much of my exam111ed over 700 c. about nak penis . In nak s the sperm I . penises 1rorn 63 n e e e s e e g to figur out species that i not transmitt d through the p ni in a res arch involv s tryi were each scored for n e n n i 14 tube (as in mammals) but rather dow a the volutio ary relatio ships of ven aspects of the r morphology. Why n did 1 o-roove s en n n n conce trate in the ide of the penis. Wh ot omous s akes. I ge erate familytrees that on the snakes' penises) " ns Well es are carried inside-out illustrate the relatio hips between species part of what makes snake I in use, the penis r penises s� / e When mating based on data drawn fom both anatomy bizarre to_ look at also within th base of the tail. _ makes them very I e good for 111fernng tak s place, the appropriate penis is evert and DNA sequences. With these trees, evolutionary relation- n n n n ( Once mating is com ot o ly do we get a better u derstandi g ships and taxonomy. For J ed and expanded. example, dis- , e covered pleted-and it can tak several hours in of the snakes' evolutionary history but we that there are eight different e e e som snakes-the male pulls th penis also can generat classifications and tax types of penis, which are each unique to e n back into its inside-out stat by small o omies that reflect these relationships. individual groups within the Australian e n muscles attached to the insid of the Much of my recent work has been o the elapid snakes. Thus those snakes that n e e penis. Of course this mea s th muscl s venomous elapid snakes of Australia and share a hem.ipenis type are also thought ( are attached to the outside of the penis New Guinea and their relatives. The fam to be closely related, and these results are when in the inside-out state-it's compli ily Elapidae includes virtua!Jy all of Aus corroborated by D A sequence dat a. cated1 tralia's 90 or so species of venomous [n scientific circles the male copulatory These n attributes are interesting and s akes (brown snakes, black snakes, death organs of snakes and lizards are referred to ) as 'hemipenes'; right and left hemipenes, � that is. There is a tremendous diversity in size, shape and what only can be call ed ornamentation Herpetologists describe Double . trouble this ornamentation using such terms as spines, barbs, fleshy protuberances, How did snakes and lizards end up with two penises? We don't know for ridges, terminal awn , apical caps, nude n 000 sure, but thebest disks a d hooks. There are almost 3, explanation is probably that the ancestors of snakes species of snakes in the world and these and lizards gave up having n and a penis for a while and reverted to 'cloaca! species display hu dreds of strange e place kissing', uniqu hemipenes. P erhaps the best that is simply touching the two cloacas ) together to exchange to start is to simply outline the tremen- I e sperm. Most birds (with a Nature Aust. dous diversity that exists in snak few exceptions; see Summer r hemipenes. 1998-99) mate without the use of any penes { sort of penis and it works just fine. Many pythons have bulbous hemi with convo Iunon · s 'an d ) There is some support for this idea many complex if we look n e nd at the New Zealand valleys o the surfac . l3ut pythons re Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus), e e e s 1' a primitive to have v ry smooth h mipen s. Thi lizard-like animal thought to in snakes that hav<' be a member contrast to most other of the ancestral group n e e in that gave rise to lizards and the e tire out r surfac covered snakes. . J · / Tuataras n e ines . It aivt'S have neither a single penis umerous sharp, calc,fi u sp ·" nor hemipenes; they e . . · "brW l are cloaca! the h m1pen1s. a rough texture sulll kissers. At e s some later stage, the ancestors that of a at's cono-L�e. Th se pin es can 1 of lizards and snakes must . . "' . ecies. 1 n i i een sp . have then re-evolved vary 11 de s ty and s ze berw intromittentorgans 1 s ar)' "' • but this t·me they were f ree to but more intere tin o WHY DID THIS diversity in penis both hemipenes are protruded, it looks s 1 Smorphology evolve' One of the oldest like the male has four peni es The c and most favoured hypotheses for the sperm-transmitting groove (the sul us evolution of complex genitalia is what is spermaticus) on the outside of the c called the 'lock-and-key' hypothesis. It's hemipenis is also split in two and ontin e pretty simple. The male copulatory organ ues to the tip of each lobe. The femal represents the 'key' and its anatomy is reproductive system of most snakes also is such that it will only fit into the right made up of two tubes, the left and right 'l k' oc , the reproductive system of the oviducts. The division of the hemipenis the females of his species. Thus evolution is into lobes is thought to facilitate female's thought to have favoured a system where transfer of sperm to both of the i it s difficult or impossible for matings to oviducts. to lend take place between members of different This sort of arrangc111ent seems e sp ecies. Females are able to make sure so111c evidence to th 'lock-and-key' i there is other they '1ea. · mat ng with the correct male by hypothesis for snakes, but . it. Female his possession of the appropriate 'key' . co111pclling evidence against . 'locks' This the c c e don't really see111 to have ory ne essitates that a new 'lo k' snak s e e e in f male and 'key c 'keys'. Th diversity ' evolve ea h time one species that fit th a c way co111p cs to evolves into two. reproductive tra ts in no r hc1111penis With diversity observed in 111alc regard to snakes, it is easy to sec the e s ecies e can compar ten p why this hypothesis might seem plausible. J11orphology. W _ e e co111plctely diff r nt In most species, each individual h cmipe of snake, each with i es e eproductive s is bi of hemipen , but th r � lobed. This means the top of each types ese e females from each of th niipenis is divided into two parts. In tracts ot the e s to look very much th o111e spc c1cs· th. 1s 1s· so pronounced that, 1r·c species arc likely NAT 45 UllE AUSTllAI IA WINTER 2000 b - (Above) Western Brown Snakes (Pseudonaja nuchalis) have prominent basal hooks and spines ) on their hemipenes (left). These are used to 'lock' I the male into the female once mating has started. (Right) This plate illustrates representatives of all the major types of hemipene shapes and ornamentations found in Australian elapid snakes. Note the diversity in spine distribution and size, the pronounced 'basal hooks', and the exaggerated ornamentation. ale same Further, it implies chat a fem . must actually go as far as mating with '1 , male just to find out if he is of the sanit' . . JCt' species, and that can be dangerous Sil rt. sI 1e may b e wastmg. reprod ucnv. e effo 11 Thus the 'lock-and-key' phenomenon . volu- pro b a bi y not what 1s fuel1 .11 1g th e e i tion of complex genitalia in snakes . '111 d Another argument is chat males nf]Jcr 1 rce males may have a rcproducn· ve t·o d rh11 o f interest, .111 evolunonary terms, an . . . ' \\'Ifh may translate 111to an , arms 1ace on1 . . n1ra1 13· fr . respect to the evolution of ge . · . ' . fernhst a male's point of vievv' he wants ro boil' as many ith 11· s a' ego,bs . as possible w 1 1 d · 11ith· ' ant sperm and that means manng ,. 11(1 ER -,0 - NATURE AUSTRALIA WINT Scale bars= 3mm. 47 NA ruRE AUSTRALIA WINTER 2000 many females as possible. From a female's scutellatus) e gaged ' large basal hooks. This may be useful for A pair of Taipans (Oxyuranus � uses one his point of view, she needs to make sure her males for a couple of reasons. First, the in mating. The male only ever 01 few hemipenes during mating. Which one he uses eggs are fertilised by the best male basal hooks would make it very difficult depends on which side of the female he ends up possible. Because males and females have for another male to dislodge the mating on after courtship. different interests at heart, it has been pro male. Male combat is fairly common in posed that this . could lead to different evo snakes and it is often the case that a male b I I ks Thu. s 111 I) evolvmg even larger asa 0 · lutionary forces acting 10 e . • on male and female utwnai v 111 will try and compete for a female even this arms race, each evo .)' 1110 copulatory organs. l . . other j after mating has started. econd, these one sex must be dealt wit. I 1 111 the With regard to reproductive organs, we I hooks can cause some superficial damage sex on a continual basis. . could predict that males should oints ro evolve to the female's reproductive tract and it Hem1pen1s. . morp I Iogy als o p structures that make sure the females 10 . e pro 1i- ) will may be that males have evolved the hooks oth er evolutionary. solut1ons to th use their sperm. There is a good acu I·,1r example for just that reason. The female may not !em of male combat. A racber s ect \ of this in snakes. Some snakes have two or P.1 s repr e· f be willing to mate again soon, ensuring example o f cvo I ution. goi ,e wild more exceptionally large spines at the base e Af·Ill•: -1n I that the male that inflicted the damage sented in· the he1111pen· es O f ch . of the hemipenes. These are called 'basal . spet·ie , 1 also will be the one that fathers the off 1 raua · This ,' Mole Snake (Pse11dasp1.. ) . ,ut hooks'. During mating, these giant hooks nnpt 'I spring. We can speculate that the female has what may be tieI I ai·a ,,, c'St he are lodged directly 'h ell into the wall of the evolutionary counter-attack to this male Sna ke·" relative to body size of any d female reproductive tract and, while mat w-·s 11,1,. n e reproductive strategy could be to evolve extended, each cor k sci·c ing is taking place, it is virtually 01· rht' impossi ci. cent tougher reproductive tracts that arc not as hemipcnis is up to ten p , t' ble for the female, or the male for that be rh easily damaged by the basal hooks, thus I Wl1at would sna k·c's b d o y I cngt 1. ' ong matter, to quickly break up the engage usly \ preserving her ability to mate again with purpose of such ·c1·icu. \o h ment. All seven ri , 111ir species of Australian another male soon after copulation. Of to n1att hcmipcnes? If fem aI cs ten cl ft" brown snakes (Pseudonaja spp.) have very 1"1 1 t r n course males could respond to this by more than one male, then we 111. ,0110 48 TE' ll. NATURE AUSTRAL IA w1N " t .. male Mole nakes should e doe et chat hav s this prob abi y a fite r she di has used other ences can translate a mipenes to make sure it is their cues (such into evolutionary I0 n :, he as large body size·• or fighting r r . cha ge in males because the preferred rl11 chat are used fo fe tilisation if they abili ty) to decide to 111ate' . n sp e w1·th I11111 . 111 tieI attributes of their ky enough to get a 111ating (assum- fii1st. pI ace hemipenes have a are luc genetic er r basis · Th- Lis a maI e 1 t 1at possesses • · 1a at it is the sp 111 placed fa thest up But why would II :, ch females use copulator y some new and preferred c: ductive tract that fertilise or 0 h e1111pe111s. . Lea- cbe repro the oans as a way o fc I ioos111g. a good male? ' · ture will father more offspring and, even a� -But there arc lots of other snake Wouldn't they be ns.· !I et,(j ) k"111g t 1 1e1r. reproduc- . . tually, this feature may become estab cies whose fe111ales mate with more tive effort if they mate with a spe male that lished as the no r m male that have s111aller turns out for the species. What than one not to be so good?· W,e II , t1I e1e. makes - all this wo rk is that female prefer- ipenes. Perhaps male Mole nakes are two important points to keep in hem -· mind. ences evolve and change too, fight for Fi rst, . oc.tue n quite o have to physically matings. copulation and fertilisation gener als al q�1ckly, and as they do the male anatomy ugh, when we look at Mole ly do not occur at Sure eno the same time, so a will be altered over successive generations ake mating behaviour it becomes clear fe111ale can 111ate with a male but Sn _ not nec as those males with the preferred varia they are ferocious co111petitors. They essarily receive any sperm if that she ends the tions will have greater success in fathering engage in brutal battles for females that young. e lacerating each other with often involv This same theme, sexual selection by and inflicting debilitating their teeth female choice, is common to all sorts of battles go far beyond what DURING MATING, wounds. These biological attributes that females rnight other species engage in. male snakes of use to assess a male's quality We see its this? Female these giant hooks . Why do they do Mole by-products in the exaggerated horns of Snakes have very large litters of up to 95 are lodged directly male ungulates, the gaudy colours of male , babies and that's a lot of reproductive birds, and large male body size in many potential to lose if your hem.ipenis is not into the wall of the pnmates. It is an amazing and pervasive up to the task. le may be that hern.ipenis biological theme, yet it is also a highly length is an alternative to basal hooks in complex one-the study of sexual selec ; female reproductive male Mole Snakes. Whatever the case, tion always leads to more questions. We evolution has probably been acting very tract and it is can ask the ubiquitous question "Does strongly on both fighting ability and size matter?". Sometimes it does, some hemipenis length in this species because, if virtually impossible times it doesn't; the answer will always ., you can win the brutal fight, then you had depend on which female you ask and to better make sure your hemipenis is going to quickly break up what species she belongs. to secure a large number of fertilisations. the engagement. FURTHER READING HESE PARTICULAR. CASES may provide Arnq11ist, C., 1998. Co111parati11e evidence 1 1 1 by sexual selec Tpartial explanations for why basal for the e11ol1 tio 1 of ge 1italia 1 784-786. hooks and long hemipenes have evolved tio 1. Nature 393: in some snakes, but they cannot explain 111ating early; and if she does receive W I 985. Sexual selection the evolution of the multitude of other sper111, she 111ay not necessarily use it to Eberhard, C., and animal genitalia. Har11ard Uni11ersity more subtle structures 111 snake fertilise her eggs if she mates with other Press: Ca111bridJ!e. hemipenes, or indeed the tremendous 111ales afterwards. Thus, copulation can diversity in copulatory organs found in all serve as a sort of 'internal courtship'. 1 Eberhard, WC., 1993. E11al11ati11g 111odels of sexually reproducing animals. How can Second, for as yet unexplained reasons, sexual selectio11: J!Cllitalia as a test case. Amer. we explain fleshy protuberances, ridges, fe111ales do tend to prefer some aspects of Natur. 142: 564-57 /. spmes, apical caps or nude disks? he111ipenes over others and, importantly, Another preferences are generally quite arbi hypothesis is arguably the best these 1 11s Keo,e_/1, . S., I 999. E11ol11tio11ary i 11plicatio supported and trary. Moreover, a p referred hemipenis J offers us the most wide 1 1 the terrestrial into of /,e,11ipe11ial 11orpholo,rzy i1 reaching explanation-female choice. does not necessarily have to translate A11stralia11 elapid s11akes. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. The argum the male being good at other things such ent goes so111ething like this. 239-278. rowing big; the 125: Females are generally the choosy sex with as catching food or g resp for a particular type of ect to picking a 1 1 because their fe111ale preference 1 ate DR j. SCOTT KEOGH IS A LECTUR.ER reprod may be there just by chance uctive invest111ent comprises only a hemipenis 1310LOCY IN THE even contradict IN EVOLUTIONARY few pre 1 alone and indeed may cious eggs co 11pared to the 111ale's OF BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY cues. This is easier to D1v1s10N many sperm, 1 other male quality , thus fe 11ales need to have AT THE AUSTR.Al !AN NATIONAL some . by using an analogy. We all knovv wa'Y of evaI uating a 111ale's potential explain HIS MAIN AREA OF t prefer chocolate ice UNIVERSITY. o make r 1 that some people su e s I e gets the best one possi- RESEARCH CONCERN THE bi rs prefer vanilla. In our e to father 11 cream while othe _ her offspring. The fe 1ale EVOLUTIONARY RELATIONSHll'S OF c h in icecream we make oice hypothesis for the evolution of case, the choices AFRICAN VENOMOUS ival or repro AUSTR.ALIAN AND elabor ate . . have no bearing on our surv ma 1 e genitalia suggests that a SNAKES AND HE USES 130TH MOLECULAR. fem . . yet there may still be ales d1scri111inate. among potential ductive potential, DATA TO re With AND MORl'HOLOCICAL at for our prefe nce. m es· b ased on r r genetic basis preferences fo particula prefer- ADDl<.ESS THESE 1'11..0llLEMS. aspe , . . hemipenes, arbitrary female cts· of t I1e 111ale s genitalia-and she snake 49 NAT URE AUST ll.. A LI A WI NT ER 2 O Oo " FEW YEArl..S AGO organisms, have been fighting throughout e moved to Wollongong evolution. Th discovery of antibiotics on the New South was a remarkable achievement in human Wales south coast, to history. But over the last couple of decades micro-organisms have fought study for my doctorate on the medicinal back, through the evolution of multi properties of marine organisms. Hemmed in by a majestic escarpment and a rugged drug resistance. Coupled with the desire coastline, what better environment for a to discover safe and effective drugs against young, enthusiastic student to test some a wide range of diseases (including HIV ideas about life. One of my university lec and cancer) we are now forced to search turers had taught me that the answers to for new sources of potential pharmaceu many of the problems that plague human tical agents. And it is not surprising that populations could be found in the rich many researchers have turned towards the store of knowledge that is available in sea. nature. The creatures and plants with The world's oceans represent the largest which we share the Earth provide a untapped reservoir of biologically active library of successful evolutionary strate natural products. The ocean is said to har gies an d the greatest bank of resources bour more biological diversity and a available to humankind. But what I didn't greater diversity of chentical structures know was how little we understand and than terrestrial ecosystems. Yet research appreciate our natural resources, nor did I on marine natural products lags a long realise the e tru magnitude of the pleasure way behind the equivalent research on and satisfaction that can be gained from land. This is primarily due to the difficul studying them. ties associated with working in the marine e nvironment and confounded by ONTAGIOUS DISEASE is an unavoid the lack of traditional medical knowledo-e able consequence . b C of living in high on marme _ organisms. Nevertheless, the density populations. It is a problem that majority of natural compounds that are humans, and other colony-forming now showing promise as anticancer dnio-sb l Jli N ATU ll E AUSTll..A1. I A WI Nff:I The serene rock pools at Bass Point, come from below the surface of the ocean. Molluscs (slugs, snails, cephalopods (Above) Shellharbour, provide the perfect breeding habitat In the search for new drugs from the sea, etc.) comprise the second largest phylum for a large diversity of intertidal molluscs. researchers have made the most of clues of invertebrate organisms, with over from the natural history of marine organ 80,000 living species described. Never (Left) One of the predatory cone shells, the Textile textile). isms. Medicinal research has concentrated theless, the chemistry of by far the major Cone ( Conus on soft-bodied, brightly coloured, slow ity of molluscs has not been explored to is moving or sessile organisms that appear to any degree. This is partly because it · pro req uire toxic· compounds to protect them- assumed that the physical protection · · the selves · Mai··111e species use toxJC com- vided by the shells of snails prevents pounds to compete for space, keep their need for toxic chemicals. Notable excep r r lls, mem surfaces f ee f om fouling organisms, and tions are the predatory cone she Co1111s. of these ward off potential predators and bers of the genus Many on worms pathogens. Through their long history of mainly lndo-Pacific snails feed . ev . about 70 species are I , olu. tio na1 y wanc a re many so-called or other molluscs but These fish-eat Primitive' invertebrates have had to fight specialised to feed on fish. a sophisticat off ever more sophisticated predators and ing cone shells have evolved that involves har competitors. The chemicals that have ed hunting mechanism e . with a poisonous volved to protect t 1ese marine 111verte- pooning their prey _ br I . deadly mixture ot ates are often highly biologically active barb. The poison is a to kill a and arc t1I cre1co re the compounds we seek nerve toxins, powerful enough for lock onto receptors in I11e d .1c111al · purposes. human. The toxins 53 N ATU RE AUSTltAI IA WINTElt 2000 Many nudibranchs like this Spanish Dancer ri,1 nerve and muscle cells with remarkable eel fr specie. s of ip/,0,ui (Hexabranchus san uineusl. shown here with its om Australian g . . . as being egg mass. embed their eggs in fragile ribbons precision, and for this reason the 'cono have ant1b1ot1c properties,, as\v eil in. 11 that are firmly attached to boulders. toxins' arc regarded as valuable research toxic to fish. .Thus some mari· ne snai' . l tht' tools by neuroscientists around the world. require chemical. protection. cles pitc Conotoxins arc also being researched for presence. of a shell. tural use as strong pain killers, as well as poten Most research into molluscan na' e! 1- tial drugs against epilepsy, depression and product has concentrated on rI 1e, sh , sut·I I schizophrenia. less marine r ugs , · One snails o sea s I . Limited chemical work has also focused I "1c1· species is the la rob e intertidal slug OIIC ". . 11b � on shelled molluscs 111 the family In /Ji1111eyi from ,alifornia. This ampI . cre- Siphonar iiclac. Known as false limpets, ous anunal produces a milk. y w I·1i tc s·e these snails usually inhabit the upper . .s . Th< t1011. to deter potential preclatoi . , intertidal zone. Several compounds isolat- . . . u•1;t1) clc 1cc ns1. ve secretion 1s. pnman 1Y " s 11011 54 NATUltE AUSTRALIA WINTER 2 pa molluscs arc the bright! y co I oured nudi- treat a variety of diseases. After bran cl is, I.iterally meaning ten years . 'naked gills'. of research hese an anticancer agent isolated T sea slugs are adorned wit. I 1 a b . . eau- fiom this sea hare is now in t1 fiu I cluster of feathery . _ _ final-stage gi·11 P Iumes, which cl11 . 11cal trials m the United States. in some species can be rapidly withdrawn . Another group of molluscs well into a cavity on their backs. They bold] known in ancient times, are snaiis from display colour combinations such as p in: the family Muricidae · Also red and ' k nown as t h e o ia· nge an d the result is < 1 a 1·1v · 11g purples or murexes, these marine whelks artwork . It has been suggested that nudi- were the only source of a natural dye branchs use these bright c o I ou1s _ . to warn called Tynan Purple. The rarity of this potential predators of their toxic nature. colour from other natural sources meant Indeed a great variety of toxic chemicals that the murexes were a highly valuable has been isolated resource for nearly from the nudi- 3,000 years (from at branchs. Many nudi least 1400 BC to branchs appear to ONE INTERESTING 1453 AD). ln sequester these toxins Roman times some r f om their chemical shell-less mollusc ) pecies of murex ly endowed prey, were even offered as such as the sponges, the sea hare, gifts to the gods and ascidians (sea squirts) many Mediterranean and anemones (see harbours the most centres grew rich Nature Aust. Winter from the harvesting 1986). These com potent anticancer and production of pounds are often too com ound known the dye. During this toxic to be used p period it is likely that directly as pharma to humans. many species of ceutical agents but murex were overex they do provide ploited. The murex important leads for es produce the pur- it the chemical synthesis of drugs. ple compound in a small gland and obtain Another interesting shell-less mollusc is takes 1,200 large individuals to of the dye. However, by the sea hare Dolabrifera dolabrifem. Sea only one gram Tyrian Purple became hares graze on algae and their name around 380 AD laws that restricted its use to reflects their ecological role as hares of the protected by and members of the clergy. ocean. With a plain olive-green coloura the emperors is likely that this was the first law that tion and wart-like projections, these crea It was ever passed to protect a natural tures have been unfairly described as the manne resource. ugly sisters of the nudibranchs. l3eing well Until recently, there has been no expla camouflaged among intertidal algae, most . nation for the natural function of Tyrian mucus but would walk straight past one of · 1't aI so contains a compound people that the slip on its slimy Purple. In fact it has been stated called one I1 1·d· 1a 1 . Onchidial not only these sea hares, or perhaps _ l3ut purple dye is of no advantage to the snails. deters intertida as it ejects a mucous defence. _ l predators, but it irre surface on the Australian of great potential However, my research versibly 1· 11 h' 1b its an enzyme involved in these creatures are · Dirathais orbita indicates that the · · r is the unstud murex mammal 11 eurotransm1ss1on. The specific value. Dolabrifera dolab ifem . purple compound is actually the break biol another sea hare, Dolabclla ogical activity of onchidial means that ied 'sister' of that is the most down product of a novel antibiotic it could have potential applica a11riwlaria, which harbours medical used to sterilise the egg mass of this tio compound known to ns in the relaxation of overactive ner potent anticancer Tyri this cos species. Two co1 11pounds related to vous sySt The toxic nature of ems. Several species of 011c/1idella humans. arc found in the egg mass and has actually been an Purple and its r e I · mopolitan sea hare at1ves occur 111 the mangroves fact, these elTeccively inhibit the growth of an over two 111illcnnia. In d est uarics around Australia, and these known for pathogens. One were used as both marine and human would fi-0111 the species certainly be worth investigating. extracts to of these compounds is at least as potent as by the ancient Creeks Some of the most appealing marine early as 200 l3C 55 NAT URE AUSTll..AI IA WINTEll.. 2000 - THE ADHESIVES USED BY OYSTERS TO ATTACH THEMSElVES TO THE ROCK SURFACE have been investigated and it is thought that medicine may find a use for thewi, such as sealing wounds in internal organs. for protect amounts of material (less penicillin and is considered to be a useful The compounds responsible than 500 grains). ino- these ego- masses have not yet been Once 1dent1fied, active compound drug lead. ::, b s can mol- often be chemically Many marine molluscs, both shelled identified. Thus Australian marine synthesised or pro duced by a variety of and shell-less, deposit egg masses that are luscs offer a novel source of natural prod other artificial means. This prevents devoid of any apparent physical or ucts and enormous pharmacological the need for large scale collections parental protection and yet they don't potential. for clinical trials or phar r appear to have any major natural predators Other possibly useful products fom maceutical sales. or pathogens. This suggests that shelled molluscan egg masses include the adhes Nevertheless, some marine organisms molluscs may provide a much greater ives used to attach the eggs to the substra are likely to be vulnerable to even sinall r opportunity for the discovery of useful tum. Glues fom marine sources have the collections and care must always be taken chemicals than was previously thought. In ability to stick under water and are resistant to prevent overcollection. My research on fact, my studies on a wide variety of mol to corrosion. The adhesives used by oys the egg masses of marine molluscs is a case , luscan egg masses has shown that most ters to attach themselves to the rock surface in point. Because the distribution and molluscs protect their eggs with antimi have been investigated and it is thought abundance of many of the pecies I chose crobial chemicals. that medicine may find a use for them, to study was unknown, I conducted sur The egg masses of marine molluscs such as sealing vvounds in internal organs. veys to ensure that only a small proportion come in a great variety of forms. Some of the populations was collected. Thus hang like droplets from the bottom of a HER.E HAS BEEN SOME concern over natural-products research has stimulated boulder, such as the delicate capsules that Tthe exploitation of marine biological studies on the natural history of marine enclose the next generation of the tall, resources for medicinal purposes (see molluscs and this should ultimately con slender, black mitre shell Mitra carbo11aria. Nature Aust. Autumn 1997). While these tribute towards their conservation. In gen These eggs, like those of the murex concerns are definitely justified, collection eral, however, bioprospecting for pharma Dicathais orbita, undergo rapid colour of large quantities of marine organisms for ceuticals can be environmentally sustain r changes in sunlight, fom white through pharmaceutical research is fairly uncom able, as long as natural-product chemists orange to a deep magenta. Others, such as mon and mostly unnecessary. Over the pay attention to the importance of biolog the nudibranchs, embed their eggs in last decade we have seen the miniaturisa ical data. colou1-ful, gelatinous ribbons. These are tion of biological assay systems and the Of greater concern is the disappearance attached to boulders in an anticlockwise development of sophisticated analytical of organisms, and the destruction of habi spiral, then left to defend themselves with techniques that permit the identification tats, before anyone has had the chance ro nothing but the help of toxic chemicals. r of many natural products fom fairly small explore them. Biopro peering has no long term potential unless there is an intensified effort to conserve biological diversity. The continued discovery of useful medicinal compounds from the sea depends on the maintenance of large viable populations and appropriate habitat. My research on temperate Australian marine molluscs indicates that, for many species, suitable ( by. Only breeding habitat is hard to come ( h the toughest species can survive the hars e living conditions on the open coast, wher crashing waves can toss enormous botil 1· ders as if they were pebbles. Many mol e luscs deposit their egg masses on th s underside of boulders and for these specie rni the chance that an unpredicted ro . . [00 could destroy the next generanon is .. es great a risk to take. uitable breeding sir for many different molluscs on the sourb h . sea a'.e D olabrifera . be ::: d_olabrifera is well camouflaged eas• t ern appea1 to . h amongst intertidal algae but may still coast o,c Austra 1·1a ic c emica 1 s to protect 1t iiroduce ot from predation. largely restricted to the northern side 56 111111 NATURF AUS'I ll..t\LIA WiNTEll 2 !he ancient dye Tyrian Purple is the breakdown product of antibiotics that are used by murex snails to sterilise their egg masses. Similar compounds are found m the egg capsules of the common Australian murex Dicathais orbita. large headlands. The e are the only spots extends far beyond the acquisition of 316-3 21 i11 The other 99%: the conserva that are suitably protected from the pre commodities, such as food and potential tion and biodiversity of invertebrates, ed. dominantly south-easterly swell. pharmaceuticals. It encompasses ecosys by W Ponder a11d D. L111111ey. Royal Zoolog Along the coast of Wollongong, New tem services, recreational and aesthetic ical Society of New South Wales: Syd11ey. South Wales, sheltered reefs are rare. One value, as well as the knowledge that can of the most pristine and biologically be gained through the study of the evolu Be11ke11do1ff, K. & Ayre, D., I 998. S11b111is diverse sites occurs on the northern side tion of life. To ask the value of important sio11 Jro111 the A11stmlia11 Flom a11d Fa1111a of Bass Point, Shellharbour. Here, pro marine habitat, like Shellharbour, is like Research Ce11tre regarding the proposed Shell te cted water-filled hollows provide the asking the worth of an irreplaceable Co11e boatharbo11r/111ari11a de11elop111e11t. perfect refuge from the onslaught of the library or art collection. How can we put http://www. uow. edu .au/ science/ sea and it is here that many molluscs come a price on a living artwork� And what is research/affrc/ heUcove/sheUhome.htm.l to lay their eggs. However, the marine the price of a cure for cancer? To effec area al surrounding Shellharbour is current tively conserve our natural marine Fa11lk11e1; DJ., 1995. Che111ic riches fro111 ly ce n Sept. threatened by the approved develop resources we must appreciate the inherent the o a s. Chemistry in Britain ment of a 350-berch, open-water boat value and vulnerability of marine biolog- J 995: 680-684. har b our. The extent of environmental ical diversity. deg OBTAINED ra danon that could result from the OR KIRSTE BENKE DORFF conStru PHD FROM THE DEPARTMENT ction of this boat harbour is FURTHER READING HER. unkn e IE CES AND own. l hope that it does not become Bake,; j.T, 1974. 7}ria11 Purpl : a11 a11cie11/ OF BIOLOGICAL anot AT THE UNIV ERSITY her example where thoughtless plan dye, a modern proble111. Endeavour 33: HEMISTRY nmg WOLLONGONG, WHER.E SHE I and the undervaluing of natural 11-17. OF ecosySt CUR.RE TLY A R E.. EAR.CH FELLO W. ems lead to the loss of a priceless 610 e l SEARCH I O THE I ogi· ca I reso e . Co11senmtio11, 1m 11tio11- 1-JER RE urce. B attie, A J., I 994 We c ical A TIMICI<.OBIAL PROPERTIES A D . need make no excuses co preserve ary biology a11d the dis o1m·y ofJ11t11re biolog b1olog . . . in Aus CONSERVATION STATUS OF 1cal d'1vers1ty; 1t 1s. . 111tr111s1. caII y va Iu- resources. I11 onservacion biology able . alld AUSTRALIAN MAl<.INE MOLLUSCS . HE · B ut c Iear ly, the need to conserve tralia and Oceania, ed. by C. Mori!::: J. . . b1odiv . ea n Sydney. WON THE YO UNG AUSTl<.ALIAN OF THE ers1·ty 1s more l'kI e Iy to b e appreciat- Kikkawa. nrrey B tty So s: ed if YEAR 2000 AWARD I CIE CE A D people realise the wide variety of resour resources: TECHNOLOGY FOi<. HER WORK 0 ces that nature provides The Bell k"Cl/ d 01'.u, .. IT K ,, /999 Moll11sca11 . 1 reso a J11t11re 1 al11e. pp. MAl<.INE ORGANISMS. urce va Iue of natural ecosystems their past, present 11d NAT UllE AUSTR ALIA WINTER 2000 57 - :::, levels and ICTURE1 YOURSELF DRIVING assistina to maintain water-table 1 d ough the countryside. reducing erosion, we wondered if these The view is an endless lone, isolated tree had any conservation expanse of paddocks, value to the fauna of the region. With the punctuated by the occasional nature aid of a grant from the Australian re erve, a bu h remnant on a farm, or a Research Council, we set out to answer strip of vegetation along a watercourse or this question using sites on the New Eng road. Our forefathers did a good job of land tablelands of New outh Wales and clearing the bush-they cleared alJ but in the Western Australian wheat belt. around seven per cent of it in the Western HE STIMULUS FOR Australian wheat belt, and in Queensland this investigation came and New South Wales we are still cutting Tfrom our previous work on insects it down. and birds in uncleared forest in Western Looking across the paddocks you see a Australia and New South Wales. We sam lone tree that escaped the clearing. l n pled insects, spiders and other arthropods some regions, as on the Northern Table by hanging circular nets in the tops, or lands of ew South Wales, the density of canopy, of tall trees and then spraying the paddock trees is quite high, often blend trees with a fast-acting pyrethrin pesticide. ing into the trees of remnant bushland. From a total of only 40 tree of each of This is called a 'variegated' landscape. four species spread over the four seasons, Elsewhere, as in the wheat-growing areas we identified more than l ,600 species. of eastern and western Australia, there is This is almost as many as ther species of an abrupt transition from the dense vege birds, mammals, reptiles and f ogs on the tation of the bush to the paddocks with entire Australian continent. their lone, scattered trees-a landscape Analysis of the nutrients in the leaves referred to as 'fragmented'. The paddock showed that trees with the highest nutri trees in such landscapes can range in den ent levels supported the most arthropods sity from over 100 per hectare down to and the greatest number of species. These none. in turn attracted more birds. Also, the Apart from providing shelter for stock, New South Wales soils were richer in . nutrients than those in Western Ausrralia e leadina to hiaher nutrient levels in rli tree sp:cies fr�m the east and richer, au 62 ,0011 NATURE AUS rll..ALIA WINTER - t t This is also t rue Wales t . t yse some the remnan s hemselves. shows hat the big, popu I ano1 ,s , we wen 011 to anal . . old a d . t in the east, but the t p dock t level. I t is for he paddock trees trees wi h ht e1r numerous the orders at he species . hollo ws of . t them and the trees in use t are o the enm_'e differences be ween d as nes ing and resting p impor tant to d this becau_se laces b o1 y the remnants and corridors suggest that rots and owls, as well y Par- 1 t animals within a given categ as poss cou n . Of o uins and o ' ' even a small increase in isolati n has a sig bats. consist of one r a few wee dy , could o t a diverse nificant effect n the kinds of insects cosmopolitan species, ra her than USt REES IN PAl)l)OCKS o Takrng J the found on a tree. array f native species. and a I on of Birds also used the trees we sampled. corridors have values g beetles as an example, the total number T . far b e l ond t o o visiting paddock those y in the four growing si uati ns We c unted 16 species attributed to them by far species iners as o trees in the west, compared with 36 in the windbreaks and shelter were .J-3 on Wand o and 49 on Yellow for stock F o t . · or trees supported as diverse remnants and 26 in the c rridors. Abou one thing, they provide food Box. Paddock . · and s h e1 te r ot visited an array of beetle species as trees in her the same number of bird species for birds that move across the land . . K�e t o with up to 12 and 31 paddock trees in the east as in the west, Birds mov111g between growing situa i ns, bush rem.. ,nants Box pad but t he eastern remnants and corridors can rest and feed on species on Wandoo and Yellow such trees, in effect 1 t t o t with 20 had more han twice as many species. using hem as a lunch d ck trees respec ively, compared stop. Where the and 28 species on Wandoo and Yellow Paddock birds were generally the larger abundance of invertebrates is eleva . f, . y ted b 1 I Box growing in blocks of remnant vege and more aggressive species, like Magpies, raise. d I f ea nutrients, ood 1s t plen iful. In [ tation. hawks, ravens, parrots and large hon providing this resource, paddock and / Western Australia, the eyeaters. Many of these feed on the corridor trees are However, in a vital link in the high- \ and corridor trees supported a ground and use the trees for nesting and ly d11rnn1shed paddock matrix of native vegeta- ( different beetle fauna to that in the rem shelter. The smaller insect-eating thorn cion. 1 nants. By contrast, the corridor trees in bills and warblers never visited paddock Even lone trees in paddocks contribute l ew South Wale supported a similar trees or the narrow corridors of the west, to the maintenance of invertebrate bio- { beetle fauna to that of the remnants, but the tiny pardalotes and the large, diversity in the farm landscape. An iso although it differed from that in the pad insectivorous cuckoo-shrikes were regular lated tree is a 'living zoo', supporting docks. These differences cannot be visitors to paddock trees in both the east many of the elements of the invertebrate explained by differences in nutrients. and west. fauna that formerly occupied the land Instead, it seems likely that the differences These differences in bird species help scape. Of cour e, these animals are nor between east and west are the o result f explain why paddock trees can be so rich confined to a single tree. Like the birds, land-clearing patterns. The � corridors in in arthropods-basically there are fewer many of them fly, or are blown; ac ross New South Wales are wider and o t less is birds eating hem. Nevertheless, paddock the land and interact with other trees and lated than in the Western Australian trees are still important for birds. Work the fauna on those trees. Even the spiders t whea belt, and are therefore more like t done by o hers in northern New South are blown about on silken threads. By promoting a network of trees on our farms, we help to maintain the legacy of the original fauna. Paddock trees and those in corridors are not a substitute for at o laro-er::, remnants and conserv i n reserves, but they are invaluable. They con,plement conservation reserves and enhance the ability of reserves to protect Australia's unique plants and animals. In many agricultural areas, the oppor t tunity to retain trees has gone--1110s e have been cut down or have died. Th _ ar t 1 insects that are such an impor tant p 0 these trees may even I1asten tI 1e11· · death . by feeding too heavily on foliage and_sap It w ould help to encourage more birds. especially the smaller insect-eaters, by . ubs plant111g no t only more trees, ub r shr . · and and ground vegetation for s1 1e I r.ei nesting. . , ' .. i' our With the current move to g1ee1 . hll1 road vero-es and reve brate fauna, while beautifying the land plants to grow. If the number of trees is A sawfly wasp (Perga sp.) with some recently hatched larvae-an example of the hundreds of scape and arresting erosion and salinisa already so low as to be inadequate, a species of arthropods that can be found in the tion. Unfortunately, many trees used in revegetation scheme should be drawn up canopy of Wandoo trees. revegetation programs are not native to and implemented. If land-holders do this, the ric/11,ess. 85: region, often not even to Australia. they will not only contribute to the con Forest Ecol. Manag. 177-196. Our observations show that non-Aus servation of our flora and fauna, but they tralian trees have a poor invertebrate will have more sustainable farmlands. Stork, N., Adis, . Didha111s, R., 1997. fauna. Even Australian trees that are not Many studies have shown that trees J & Cliap111a11 a11d Hall: local are sometimes unable to sustain the actually increase farm production by Canopy arthropods. Lo11do11. diversity of arthropods and birds found on moderating the climate and the force of plants_ native· to tI 1e region Planting winds, and by lowering water tables. PROFESSOR jONATHA MAJER IS A exotics, even though they may . be beauti- Planting trees is not only beneficial for ENTOMOLOGIST IN TI IE SCI-IOOL OF ful and easy . . to g1ow,. 1s a waste d opportu- wildlife, it is good economics. However, E VIRONMENTAL BIOLOGY AT Cu1u1 1 nity and really should not be done unless restoring Australia's farmlands is an enor t U IVERSITY OF TECH OLOGY, PERTH. hey are to be a commercial crop. A mix mous challenge-and not just for farmers, - AN EXPERT O ANTS, HE I IAS TUDIED of native sp· ec1es,· w but for us all. . . h"1c 11 w,LI support a THE RECOLO ISATIO OF Ml E SITES, wide d1vers·ty . ' o f native· animals,· together AGRICULTURAL LANl)S AND FORESTS BY With a rich FURTHER READING . P Iant un d erstorey, is a much IN. ECTS AFTER DISTURIJANCE , AS WELL wise ,e, 1Haje1; J.D. Ca11esl1 , S., r option. Rec/ ; H.!:, & T 1 1 e co111- AS CANOPY AR. I IROl'ODS AND THE Next ti I 996. Seasonality of canopy i 1 1ertebmt me you drive · through one of INTERACTIONS IJETWEEN IJIRDS AND our e11calypt forests eastem a11rl ag ncu. Itura I areas, look 1111111ities in c!f at the lone 6-1-80. INSECTS. PROFESSOR I-IARR.Y RECHER IS trees out 11 111estem A 11stmlia. J. 21: tlic, , .e 1 the paddocks and Aust. Ecol. AN E VIRONMENTAL SCIENTIST IN THE rememb 1.11 er tliat th ey arc an ·important link e 1111111/Jle CHOOL OF ATURAL CII: CES AT our . Recher, H.F Maje1;J., /996. On conservation estate ' one that & EDITH COWAN UNIVERSITY, PERT! I. siI ' species. ould b e · J.illlll tree: /,0111e to 1,000 CEO .. maintained- and, where needed, l3ESIDES 111S WORI< ON CANOPY FAU A, rc h abii, . 18(6): 20-29. b . tated · a If tree 1s suffer111g from MOST OF 111S RESEARCI I IS CO CERNED ei . ng ring-barked by stock, it should be /,, S., WIT! I FOREST A IMAI.S AND TI IE I I PACTS Prot 1 , Maje1; J.D. ' Canes ected·' w Iic,c . trees Rec/ e1; J-1.F are age111g, young 1 1 tl,e OF LOCGINC AND FIRE ON FOREST one 1 artl,roporls a1 rl birds: 01 s shou Id be I I 996. Ji 1calypts, P antcd. Fences should be 1 s ecies ECOSYSTEfvlS. Lis ed 1. . e een foliar 1111trie1 ts a11rl p to cstnct grazing relation b tw . and allow native N ATu ilE 65 AUS'I llAI IA WINTER 2000 - Wheu washed up on the Australian coast, pumice presents a natural puzzle. UMICE 1s A well-known floating rock and often washes up onto shorelines. In some countries it _ is collected and used fo, all mannerP of things from a body cleanser for the bath to an industrial abrasive. Released by volcanic eruptions, the light weight rock floats across oceans driven by winds and currents. When waterworn, this light-coloured rock can look just like hazelnut kisses, a popular sweet sold at confectionary and chemist counters. Unlike that treat, though, pumice is made of volcanic glass peppered with crystals and is quite inedible. The rock floats because it is buoyed up by myriad cavities and internal bubbles of trapped gas. Several different volcanic rocks form pumice, which is simply a frothy variety of these rocks. Most pumices are rich in lightweight minerals such as quartz, feldspars and feldspathoids. Examples include rhyolite, dacite, trachyte and phonolite. Other volcanic rocks like basalt that contain large amounts of heavier 1nin erals will not float even if they are well charged with gas. When washed up on the Australian coast, pumice Pumice presents a natural puzzle. Where did it come from and when was it erupted? In late 1963 to early l 964, there was a profuse influx Puzzles of pumice along southern BY LIN SUTHERLAND Australian shores, and the source was pinned down 2,500 metres over an area between ° to a huge volcanic erup 158-163° E and 27-30 S. Clearly. tion near the South Sand pumice may eventually become warer ss rbe wich Islands off South loo-o-ooed 'and sink durino- its drift acro America . . "' . wirh in 1962. This meant eastward sea and ,t 1s only the pumice travel hes by the pumice on the circumpolar enouo-h sealed eras bubbles that reac We b ::, st Wind Drift current, for over 8,000 Australian shores. kilometres. The pumice . L1S eolog- was prevented P um1ce strand 'mo-s are no t J· t oa • from spreading or up the eastern Australian ical curiosities; th; also deliver imp coast by the south-travelling East barna Aus tant biolobo- ical elements. Goose ' tralian Current. Pumice f O1 y- strandino-sI:> are cles, serpulid worms (a type O P , prevalent along 1 the New South Wa les and chaete) and JUven1. ·1 e coraI s c o111111on l Queensland coasts, but these mostly i . ce. A r encrust the underside of drift pu rn . come f o111 eruptions in volcanic · . R.eC 1 island study along the ,reat Barne, . chains between New nt..t Zealand and New showed that with each influx of ptni . Guinea. Pumice is also arc pro111inent on the many thousands of cora I coI O nies Tasman Sea floor. Jim ... ·ea1on, Lowry, a marine t ansported from the Tonga-F biologist at the Australian r . � This Museum, for v,a the South Equatorial C111 ,'!e' n · example, reported pumice . ·fic:uir- in many sa111- massive arrival of corals adds s1g111 ples dredged r · fom depths of 1,000 to ly reat Bar to the coral budI:>o-ct of the G 1 66 il '?() 11 1 NATURE AUSTRAi IA WJNTE p stranded on a beach. l ague Jane A close-up of pumice pieces al detective h ats, my co le rier R..eef. logic holes and dark mineral crystals. Geodiversity Note the gas p umice deposits were uncovered 111 Barron (Australian Museum I set out t o solve excavations of an Aboriginal midden at Research Centre) and moral pumice. Balmoral Beach in Sydney Harbour 111 the puzzle of the Bal 992-1 · . . . 1 993 . A -1c I iaeo I og1caI mvest1gat1ons r r pumice pieces fom by Val Attenbrow fom the Australian lll..ST WE TOOK layers and characterised Museum, and studies of the beach profile the different F the embedded crystals by R.iko Hashimoto from the University them by analysing feldspar, of atrix. Crystals of Sydney, sl1owe d tI 1e main· pumice layer and glassy m iron oxide minerals were as 3, 3oo years old and was deposited pyroxene and ; la s. This in a silica-rich g s efore the dunes had grown across the usually present in dacite sh ation often found ore · Th e dat111g was based on radio-car- forms a combin island arcs. M ost bon meas a lavas erupted in volcanic . ' urements on charco l found min Wit a two types of pyroxene hin t\ ie pumice bed. Pumice also pumices h d clearly . some only one, so appeared in d un er I y111g. deposits dated erals in them, pumices. b et ted among the ween 3,300 and 3,500 years old and in variations exis crystals ove I · also contained quartz r ying deposits dated between 1 800 One pumice a rhyo t1 Island of New Zealand. The Balrnoral pumice puzzle now appears tor be resolved. When the Abo 1 rigines fist saw these pumices being l washed up onto the beach, they we re � witnessingr the end of a 4,000-kilomerre journey fom Tonga. Such pumice jour- ) neys are not unusual, based on the few I Australian studies, but many pumice puz l zles remain. Where, for example , did pumice washing up on Kangaroo lsla11d � in April 1997 come from? Was it from all d eruption off sub-Antarctic Mc Donalh Island around the end of 1996? A neig e bour of Heard Island, where Big Ben (th only other active volcano on Australiall territory) occurs, McDonald I land liehs . 4,500 kilometres south-west of Pert Western Australia. It is ideally placed ro caSt pumice on southern Australian f ald shores several months later. McDon rat1d Island pumice has been recovered foill 68 analysed, and is quite distinct 1 211111 • NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTER p pumice from the Pacific rim volcanoes. When the Kangaroo Island pumice is studied it should solve another pumice The World's Best puzzle. FURTHER READING J Bushwalking! okiel, PL., 1990. Ti-ansporf of reef corals i11to the Great • Spectacular scenery with North Australia - Barrier Reef. Nature 347: out huge climbs. 665-667. nowhere else can • 20 000 years of rock art. give you the lot. • Clear tropical pools, per Melso11, WG.,Jarosewic/1, E. & Lu11dquist, fect (or swimming, Willis's Walkabouts - pure enough to drink. C.A., ·1970. Volca11ic emption at Metis 14 years guiding bushw�lks S/1oal, Tonga, 1967-I 968: description a11rl • Predictable weather and in the Top End of Australia. light packs. You'll need petrology Smithson. Contrib. Earth Sci. a tent or a sleeping bag, We offer short walks of 4-5 4: 1-18. not both. days, long walks of 3-5 weeks; easy walks, hard • Abundant firewood means small campfires are better walks and everything in S11t/,erfa11d, FL., The 1995. volcanic than stoves. between; walks we've done Earth. Uni11ersity f dozens of times, exploratory o New South vf/ales • Walk for weeks without Pre walks charting the unknown. ss: Sydney. seeing a soul. • One of the world's least S111herla11d, disturbed ecosystems. FL. & Barron, BJ., 1998. Bal /I/oral Beac h Aboriginal shell 111idrle11, Port Jackso11, A11stralia: p11111ice petrolo_fty a11rl 5011rces. H.. cc. Aust. Mus. 50(3): 24 /-262. l)Jl.. LIN Sun,rn.LANI) IS A Pil..lNCll'AL R.ESEARC! I SCIENTIST AN!) LEAl)Ell.. OF THE GEOl)IVEil..SITY R.ESEAll..CH CENTil..E AT THE AUSTil..ALIAN M useuM. N ATURE AUST RA I I A WI NT Ell 2 O O0 69 a:... Cl: c:::t c:::t... :z: a. frostbite BY TONY KARACSONYI N AT UR E AUSTRALIA 11 .,,, WINTER 2000 l a:: =Ill I- z= a. I' l2 ?(1(111 R . NATURE AUSTRALIA WINTE frostbite 73 NATURE• AUSTRALIA WINTER 2000 .... a: Cl =.... =:a: Cl. frostbite 11111 R -,1 NATURE AUS f'IU\I IA WINTE 74 _....-. p + 15 NATU 11- E AUSTRALIA WINTER 2000 reviews Australia Wildlife of ·29.95rrp. e111 Hol/mw,,J J\TSIVi' 1999 ' J44pip. By De11sey Cly11e. . . . and well-expla1ned t LIKE excellent wildlife photos with easy-to-read text, his book is OR. THOSE WHO u _ r _ r a u i r o b t a few are by ]1111 F azie and Glen Carr u . s pl otos a, e m stly by l)ensey uthers, b ot h F m st. TI1e numero o r o r u r r u All the phot s a e go d, clea , and sually tI W ,ave WOI·k ed v 'lith he 011 1/a' io s projects. have artis · C 0f I I 10m r i_ . o u ortrait. o t r 0 st bemg. p sh ts. behaviou. . nstead f J show in e estino- - • ment· .. Th ey, also often- o o u r ro t r r o ns all ve1 A st 1·1a, fi m slug o 30 chap e s 011 a va iety f wildlife obse vati � s to kangaroos, The bo k has r t _ u _ u t u u r o this is wn ten Densey s 111q e s yle, o tback A st alia t the n,jddle of Sydney. All m which is both and from t r i r o . 0 . u J te deals with fam lia an1111als, r at least tho t . an d 1nt,· c 1 1,,ative . Much of the s biect ma _ _ _ _ se hat we enterca111111g r o i t . t r e ften revealed 11 1 a d ffere o l1k 'e l y o l,ave hea, d of, althouo-ho even these a111mals a n light. The are m re t _ _ o _ _ t r resul 1s a u111que lo k at wildlife through t behavioural observa ions a e largely Densey's own. The he eyes of t r o to any naturalist's library. a keen obse ver. This book w uld be a welcome addi ion -MARTY RoBI so AUSTR.ALIA MUSEUM Goannas: The Bioloov of varanid lizards 1 By De1111is Ki11g a11d Bria11 Cree11. A11stralia11 Nat11ral History Series, UNSW Press, S flV, 1999, 116pp. 29.95rrp. Sea Snakes By Harold Heat1110/e. A11stralia11 l\/at11ral History Series, UNS W Press, NS W, 1999, J 67pp. S2 9.9 5rrp. or OANNAS AND SEA S IAKES ARE THE 1<..EPTILIAN component of the Australian Natura] Hist y Senes pub-;- _ _ t r r _ o Sea rnakes Glished by U111vers1ty of New S outh Wales Press. Bo h t1tles have appea ed p evi usly, 111 1987 Coa1111as ar r { and in 1993 under simil series titles. The revised format for the two texts is parallel in p esenta tion, with the additi on of 12 pages of colour plates as a centre block. The 1999 version of Sea snakes, while adapted from the original 1987 text, is extensively rewritten and recent research has been incorporated into the text. Sea snakes are an um1sual group of reptiles and much of the information is published in scientific journals or texts not read- 1 o t y ily available to m s people. This book has succeeded in bringing t ogether information on a number of aspects of the biolog of I Coau· these reptiles in a very readable style, while still containing sufficient detail to satisfy a m ore intense interest in the subject. ( 11as, o r on the ther hand, is similar in presentation and style but suffers fom lack of depth. The 1999 edition is essentially a reprint t r mg of the original, wi h an extra chapter on parasites. While the suggested reading list has been updated to include mo e recent references, this _new information has not been incorporated within the body of the text. Although both texts are excellent intro i t ductions to the r respec ive groups of reptiles, someone interested in goannas would r to the goanna chapter 111 r be advised to efer G o Biology and evolution of Australia11 lizards. o eer's 1989 bo k Even though this book r prior t the first edi t Commas, was published fou years ion of r r it provides a mo e comprehensive app eciation of this group of lizards. -R.OSS SADLIER AUSTll..ALIA1 MUSEUM The Best of Australian Birds By Dave Watts. ew f-lol/a11d, N flV, 1999, 128pp. 29.95rrp. d. r I A r r r e 110 VE WATTS I ONE OF AUSTll..ALIA's premie wildlife photog aphe s. As the photo , l Nat11re A ·t ra 1· 1a u t work D for -115 an d A s ra 1·1an Museum publishing, watched D avi'd 's I I have , blossom over many . . r r needed . yea<1s, eage1· I y I ook '111g t1rough1 h1 photog aphs wheneve I' ve pictures for one publication or another. The vest A11stralia11 nl- pict uies· 111· T1 ,e '- C!J,r birds u r cher, nar u' . t are superb. Whether yo ' e a twit , his ory u Tht b ff or j ust someone w1I 10 t1111k- . r t . ointed · i. _ s birds are att ac ive, you won't be d1sapp · book u n h,1, ( s well designed and be au t'fiI i. . . . ·ons, . . IIY s1111p. I e. Th e text, wh ch 1s 111a1nly extended cap an introduct1on to each section (for e.) th· example Wetlands, Coasts and Islands, Forests er :'. � helps to create i tui. . . il� 1 'an ove1' ·all p· c e o ft 1 1e 1 t ve t ry to tlu i. 1ab1 at 111 which the birds li . I is necessa o fb rds as part u r bk· of 'an ecos yst e111 d d an to t r r da p'n t n e s and that, while some bi ds a c highly a I o 11e1 , . s i. . t arc so spec alised tha any t change to their habitat is disas rous. I was happy to be t i. hailk i . . . . able to review his book , b u ty t o r l)ave. .fo1 . h s bnlliant. work 111 ri u eca se it gave me the opportun b nging the bea, ty of b11' · ds to everyon e. L ..--K. - 10 16 ,-01 TEll NATURE AUS rRAl IA w1N jiP ralian Anis: Their B!�loov and lden1m�alion usr 11 . � 5J,'.1rr (k. CS/RO 1:11b/,s/1111,1!, I 1(. 1999, 2:!6/ fJ, S 9 9 5n )' Srcl'CII 0. . : _ i 8 . . p. 1 1:. I TRODU( 110 I O Au�n .lii.lll ants . . III� ATl RA( Tl\ IS designed r,01 . l)Ot J 1 J · ...... , . '. tie specialist and the T usia' st usmg m1111m,1l tLdlllIL,1I l.mgu.1gL ,llld L'Xtens· ive il lustnt·· ' ions. einh · ' . ' _ TI1e book contains ,· . - . ' , , , . . l . an secn. on "1th 111to1111anon 011 thL gL11c1,1I b1o o")'"' . of I . dL 1 ·tor)' lilts. , L 1 isli. ··t)ut1on co u1no. L . . , -, , . " . . . patterns, lon life cycle, ntsts. fecd111g. pest st,ltus.. ,lilts as. e11v1ronmcnol' in L I'ica. t . . strUL·cu re ...... 01 s, t 11 e1r classifi. cation Y ' l . . . . canon, col ectmg ,1nd p1ep.ir.1t1011 of specimens. For those. . 1 an d i ·dentifi . . wlio w1s 1 to identify ants to the subfamil1es. ,111d the I 0 "' ' ' . 15· an illustr,1tcd key 3 <>en era of ants· known to occur . t1eI 1e , _ . . 111 Australia rams of the characters used 111 1dent1hcat1on. _ . . The bulk of the wi. t1 1 dia<, ::>, _ _ . . . . . book 1s· d,cta1 .1 cc 1 notes 011 all d Ill . l rrc of ants toun Aust1,1h,1, 111c ud111g more details to n . e "' nera . aid, idc t1'fi1cat10 11, b'10 ]o nI . . ,.·_.. _ gy, . and habitat, and a hst. of spLuLs ,md subspecies. Each "Cnus ' . . dIS. tI· ibu· twn . . . has' a dIStJ _I6 ut1011 map . l . n .i , . n ::, . 11a wn c o lecno s tes, and most h.wc scm mg' electron i li sI 10, \,1· ::, kno • . microg, ·ap ' s of work er ants. to i l 5111all glos ary define the tew techn ca terms used and a useful n l There is a refere ce ist . h i d n i . 11i is a great introduction to t e d verse an fasci at n<> ant fa Liiia I. . ,,., · Trclli,111 ,11/Ts ':. . . ::, ' , of Aus t a1 1a. 1 t 1s an urce t r anyo11e 1nterested 111 the ants of Australia. h l ill\·aluable reso � _ . It is t e on y book with a of the ennre Australian ant fauna, the first to show h n n · omplete over\'iew t e k ow dist·r1b · ut1on o f a nll k o . c . . . . wn Australian ant genera' ll described speoes and su b specie of Australian ants. The use . ,an d lists a the of line drawings t o I ·11u strate o . . t h e k eys t subfalll1lies and makes them amoung the easiest-to-understand keys I have ever used. The use aenera of scan, rnng · e 1ectr on m1crographs for o " . . , . . each f not only 1111p1oves. the appearance of the book, but illustrates the nch. di i h · rhe "O'ener a vers ty of t ese amazlllg 01.gan1s . ms .Ill a way that .io i. the line drawin. gs of_ prev us books could not. I h ghly recommend this book. -DEREK SMITH AUSTrtALIA MUSEUM Animals and Nature: Cultural Mvths, Cultural Realities i11 By Rod Preece. Disrrib11red A11st. by U11ireps, U11i11ersity of le111 S011t/, ltllales, / 999, 305pp. .J5.00rrp. /J:,:1.\1...tLS .4,,;o 1,·,,ffuRE Preece juxtaposes how humans really behave towards the rest of the I natural world (cultural realities) with what humans regard as ideal behaviour (cultural myths). He is at great pains to show chat reality falls far short of the ideal. To do this, he has drawn on the literature of various disciplines to provide the reader with many intriguing and sometimes disturbing accounts of cultural practices in both contemporary societies and those of the past. He mainly addresses himself to readers who have grown up in the Western world because, he argues, many Westerners have been convinced that mistreatment of t he natural world is embedded in Western modes of thought. This self-denigration has been a part of Western thought for at lea t several centuries. Preece, although no apologist for the West, wants to dissuade Westerner from l dismi ing their own intellectual traditions. His argument is that there is a con iderab e gap s future between the ideal and the reality in most cultures, and that in searching for a way coward a to s h clear view of both the that minimises or eliminates cruelty to other species, it is best tart wit a o only adds to the public positive and negative aspects of one's own traditions. A11illlals and 11at11re n t h o s o insights into t e very debate on environmental and animal-rights issues, but ffer s me interesting author' nature of intellectual debate in contemporary Western society: you may want to argue with the -MIRIAM CHAP lAN AUSTRALIA MUSEU I Whale Watching in Australian & New Zealand Waters By Peter Gill a11d Cecilia Burke. ,'\'ew Hol/a11d, 1\:SvV, 1999, /48pp. 24.95rrp. ood d ly warrants sollle g HALE WATCH! C, IS a million-dollar industry in Australia an right · c · c ·101 1 is· needed to WA ustraI. 1an b ooks and literature on the subject.· What sort o f ·1111 01 111a e b and dolphins also na le people to gain more or indeed make sure the whales ' from the experience, b i ld de and natural 'gain y a better-informed A combination of min -fie gui human audience? i. hist b O · - , is· the answer Th s ory ook , 111c· I u d. l to go am I Iw t Lia s''L' . lllg practic. . a . 111format1on. on w here . bo . · , l(l wlnt whales arc and ok do es a II th at an d more. It 1s a wcll-wnttcn, easily unc1 crsto I ot guic Ic how . ng witched' ' ,rnd s0111e they 1·ive. 1 t prov1' d cs lllformat1o. . n on how to 1c 1 cntuy·c. cie1 I w ,a I.c t, c·i hales guide nown J Ol,·itio ns where w t0 un dcr stan dlllg. whale behaviour. It also docu111<.:11ts aII tieI k ... ' h .is can b l .,lV,ll . ·1 1• blc f.icd1t1cs' suc e see• n, speci.es that arc likely to be observed there, ano, I lL. . nl' 11 NAI URI AU', f RAI IA WIN f JI( 21,00 ' - in 23 Chapters Genome: The AutobmgraphV of a Species · Alie,, U,1111111,. NS w' I 9 9 9' 3 36pp. $ 4 5. OOrrp. By Iv I art ,,r11·11ei1 & t t WI L ll o dl e t e o t d t t . i c y b wn t n n . he a ven l Tl lE MAN y 13001 Care of Australian Wildlife By Ema Walra11e11. e111 Holland, NSW, 1999, 140pp. 19.95rrp. Caring for Australian Native Birds By Heather Parso11s. Si111011 & Schuster, flV, 1999, '120pp. 24.95rrp. d t r e 1 Oil MA v AuSTllALIANS, a aytime encoun e with a nativ ma l d r r l c nl t t l s ��111a , bir o epti e oc L�·s F t ed 11 s o o y after ha anima ha sus am an 1Jury t d . d e e r or 1 sick. C 11ec han lmg an ff ctJ e emergency d r l ca e can mean the ifference between full l e e d d e u r d ehabi itation to if in th wil an_ prolong u t se t t d s ffe ing and eath. Fort na tt d to t t eir e ely, the wo au hors have a empte share wi h h r aders l on t the fascination of c ose o e t r t associati with Aus ralian fauna s e and to pass on s m of hei exper ise, backed by many year of xperie n r nce. Erna W l s t e r alrave co rect y empha ises s s o o t e h impo tance of e tabli hment t s u d e f g od habita for fauna and gives advic about how e t r d t de o et p a goo nvironm e n o mo ify, wi h minimum expense, existing gar n e t d s te an . This will provid ad qua e food e t e e t an hel r for fr e-living fauna suburban s le r l ld in h urban or tting- he primary e o e t c e d vel of care fo al wi lif r I . r s . H w ver, for animals hat are, the r main e ul . o c id do equire 0{ of the book 1s. a u ef . si. i s s i I l red d intr du tory gu e to ba . d . ce . 1an. ae"' ' anima s e c first-a d measure an handl111g pro c uic . A w de s is cove , an thi r l :I . , book is a valuabl guide l d c e o l l or . i tilt' t fo anyone regu arly invo ve in . ke 1 Y I i course of travel or work ed r ed res u f wi d ife "ho is h 1 e s o come upon an injur l c titl or o phan anima TI1 e on d b k . e c . oo , as t I 1e e d t . r . ' i t s u scnbcs,. . 1s spe 1fically. abou t e st r tr 111 fo out iden ification, bi ds part1cularly hose of a . rmat. on a b re c e, care and l e n Aus a1 ·1a. TI 1e, d.Iii t, d d rehabilitation is given o e I -- re: . s so s in far more detai and e . i o f. "'J"" " b' , an d Ia . e . will be f gr at use to the many p ople mvo e u ,o CauI e ,n xpcn,nce oo n I s e s r d ,n· mn,a· · · I I>an di . d bini gro ps; t mg. F· d ,·cqu,,,m,· cs ' o diffe''. rent a arc m thods of ta ting up n l l ,,., d csrnb , d m· ,w,· 1 f r I en s I and main aini g co rt t e r t i i. " ,h< app d. s n onies of ive food. Impo an . g ven i ice , sue 1 a orma I wc1g· h t fi ranges lt i suppl mentary info ma ion s / or adu b· rd · s, arnval and d t i to i ds nsin' bibliography departure a es for m · gra ry anu a c·om prehe ) . b· r , J t e t ·13 ot h b k oo s t r e l con am· · an 111 d I x 1at 1s· 111 e r s s t l s t easy o re f·ei enc · an o ct ss s r i e ou,11 a r r c me gency ·1 tuat1on· fe_ ssi sis ance. Il u tra ions and t e t l ; c nta addre e a also g· v n fo1 · pro s photog aphs en i h r s o c o h two tex s and c a ify ot d o r bout Au c,alian wildlife, and os n de cripti ns. B h Walraven an passwnare'a enj y, d e ,dacio ship ng ose oo s Pars ns a c _ wi,h i,. 8y publishi ,h o o 00· b k ,h,y hope , sh,c, ,h,i, passi n wi,h Y ,is 1 -TISH E 1 USEU� AUSTRALIAN M 78 NATURE 0ou - AUS l'RALIA WINTER -, p SOCIETY PAGE h k I ·d' Across Ausnah.1 .t c1c. is a nctwo1. of .llt!Vc soucncs.. large" . ,an ' C, ·t u\\lO vc . . . d small I oca. 1 ant1 nat1ona. 1 which ,L d, . Whether your spcc1:1l mtcrcst 1s comervanon, birds, sc1cncc, nati ' . . c xis t to �urt I I 1cr t 1c cause hold c,11. onal park.s, b usI iwa lking' r of the subject that you o a particular group of animals, there's a society for you. AL WELFARE South Australian EDUCATION ANIM ue Ornithological Assoc. NATURAL African Wildlife Resc CSIRO's Double HISTORY c/- SA Museum Helix Launceston Field O 13ox 27 Science Club Naturalists p North Terrace Club Inc. ount ebo Qld 4520 PO l3ox 225 M Adelaide SA 5000 PO Box 1072 Ph: (07) 3396 5926 Dickson ACT 2602 Pb: (08) 8303 4498 Launceston Tas. 7250 Contact: Mike King Ph: (02) 6276 6643 Contact: Ph: (03) 6344 I 076 1 John Hatch Web: 111 www.csiro.au/helix Web: www. p: 15 single, tased.au/tasonline/ Membershi •••• Contact: Lynn Pulford ltnfdnat/linkhtm family Membership: '33 25 Contact: Dr A Pegler Membership: 27.50 WIRES - NSW CONSERVATION •••• Australian Plants Society Membership: -15 single; 20 PO Dox 260 Gould League PO Box 744 family; $2.50 junior Forestville NSW 2087 ofNSW Inc. 8977 3333 Blacktown NSW 2148 Ph: (02) PO Box 16 NT Field Naturalists .com.au Ph: (02) 9621 3437 Club Web:www.wires.webcentral Gladesville NSW 21 11· PO Box 39565 Thomas Contact: Mary Lou Simons Contact: Sheridan Ph: (02) 9817 5621 Winnellie NT 0821 II • •••• Contact: Cath Hitchcock Pb: (08) 8981 0939 30 Membership: 35 single; 28 Membership: , Contact: Annette Gaborlt concession; $40 joint •• Membership: $40 •11 WRIN (Wildlife Rescue Membership: · 30 family; . 25 Australian Trust for & Information N�twork Inc.) Science Teachers' single; $15 student Conservation Volunteers 30 Collins St Association of Victoria Kangaroo Flat Vic. 3555 Box 423 PO Box 190 REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS Ph: (03) 5-141 3211 Ballarat Vic. 3353 Richmond Vic. 3121 Tablelands Frog Club Inc. Contact: Rob chrieber Pb: (03) 5333 1483 or free call Ph: (03) 9428 2633 Mail Bag 71 II 1800 032 501 Website: www.stav.vic.edu.au Yungaburra Qld 4872 Membership: 15 Web: www.atcv.com.au Contact: Dianne Hayes Pb: (07) 4096 6556 Contact: Madeline Townsend ••• Contact: Beryl Davidson AS TRONOMY ••••• Membership: $90 primary; $100 ••••Membership: $10 Western Sydney Amateur Membership: $30 secondary adult; 5 swdent; , l 5 family Astronomy Group PO Box -100 National Parks ENVIRONMENTAL Victorian Herpetological Kingswood SW 2747 Association of NSW Friends ofthe Platypus Society Inc. Ph: 16 Suspension St (02) -1739 1528 Level 4, 83-87 Castlereagh St PO Box 8-1 Contact: Ardeer Vic. 3022 Dave Gault Imperial Arcade Whittlesea Vic. 3757 II Pb: (03) 9363 68-11 Sydney NSW 2000 Pb: (03) 9716 I 626 Contact: Brian Barnett Pb: (02) 9233 4670 Website: BIRDS Newsletter Contact: Kristi MacDonald www.totalretail.com/platypus Cumberland Bird Membership: $32-$45 Observers • ••••• Contact: Geoff Williams Club Inc. Membership: $43 adult; $48 PO Box 550 •••••• SA Herpetology Group household; $23 concession Membership: '30 adult; $20 Baulkham Hills NSW c/- SA Museum 1755 student; $45 family Ph: (02) 9769 0928 Society for Growing North Terrace SA 5000 Contact: l�ob Gibbons Australian Plants Adelaide MUSEUM Pb: (08) 820-1 8772 I (Qld Region) Inc. Museum Assoc. Inc. Membership: Queensland Contact: Helen Owens $25 family; PO Box 586 Box 3300 22 metro; 15 pensioners/ Fortitude Valley Qld 4006 I • ••• South l3risbane Qld -110 Membership: , 28 standard; 2-1 students/country Pb: (07) 5546 9494 jJh: (07) 3840 7632 concession; $32 family Web: www.sgapqld.org.au Contact: Carol Middleton Mr Ian Waldron Contact: • • Newsletter/Journal; a Monthly ARE YOU A CLUB SECRETARY? •• meeting; a Bi-monthly meeting; Membership: $37 new members; Australian Nature Australia's TAMS _ The Annual meeting/Conference; $32 renewals Museum Society • Weekly meeting; a Quarterly Associate Society Scheme 6 College St meeting; a Field outings/Tours; is designed to help Trust your club Tasmanian Conservation yclney NSW 2000 • Conservation/Working programs; or society with free publicity, I 02 l3athurst St Ph: (02) 9320 6225 • Discounted Goods; Magazine; funds and member benefits. Hobart Tas. 7000 Contact: Michelle l3all Social/Education activities; Cail Robbie Muller on (02) jJh: (03) 6234 3552 ••••• • Nature Australiamagazine; 9320 6119 for more details. Contact: Alistair Graham Membership: $55 single; • Seminars • $75 household; $40 student Membership: $25 19 NATUitE AUS"I RALIA WINTER 2000 ' Natural History tours Relaxed group travel with expert leaders -<> our 2000 program includes: Fraser Island, Old with botanist Jane Calder and geomorphologist CliffThompson 29 July - 4 August Kangaroo Island, S.A. With local guides and botanists Jane and Malcolm Calder 15 - 21 October Staying at Somerset you are Southwest U.5.A centrally located to all facilities Parks and a canyons and National short walk to the lagoon, Unique educational program snorkelling, approx.3 weeks seabird colonies, rainforest and October/November walking tracks to cenic lookouts and Flinders Island, Bass Strait remote rocky coves. Somerset's 25 17 - 24 November self catering units suit independent -<> travellers and groups (tour leader Ian For more details Hutton available by arrangement). please phone fOSJ 9670 6988 fax fOSJ 9670 6185 Phone (02) 65 63-2061 or write to: Website: www.lordhoweisle.com.au email: [email protected] BRONZ DISCOVERY TOURS P.O. BOX 83 WEST COLLINS STREET Somerset Apartments, Ned Beach Road, MELBOURNE VIC. 8007 Travel agent licence no. 32134 Lord Howe Island 2898 Australia OUTBACK QUEENSLAND I WANT TO INVt)T WITH CONflDfNCt AUSTRALIAN ethical Agribusiness vs reafforestation. TRUSTS Mining vs recycling. Investors can choose Exploitation vs the AE Trusts you Strike out from Winton and discover sustainability. Through Outback Queensland's best kept secrets ... can invest your savings Greenhouse gases vs and superannuation in • Lark Quarry Dinosaur Prints solar energy. • The geological wonders of the over 80 different Merton Escarpment Armaments vs enterprises, each expertly community enterprise. selected for its unique DIAMANTINA combination of earnings, OUTBACK TOURS environmental sustainability and social • Fully guided day tours responsibility, and earn a • Field guidance for charter groups competitive financial • Tag-a-long tours return. For full details Local knowledge, exclusive access to make a free call to protected areas, along with comprehensive field interpretation ensures thorough 1800 021 227 understanding of this region's natural environment. OtU)' l11r.' ,ivtlt PO Box 3 3 SWinton lnwsrn1e,us m the Ausrrnhm1 Erlurnl 1hL!Js mn 1l11011ih lht' r111lt1m \\11h 1ht' Ausrmluu1 Outback Queenslan�, 473S prosptirllL� rt>RL�ft'tt'd Smmnt's 011d h1,•estt11t'llfS C cuui cn't11W�t frvm Freecall: 1800 62S 828 onurnss1011 IJD Fax: (07) 46S 71722 AUSTRALIA ETH/CALI VESTMENT T260l Ccmhmn 811s11!fts C,111r, Brculf,drl St. Down,r AC READERS PLEASE MENTION NATURE AUSTRALIA flll S WHEN REPLYING TO ADVERTISfftl � Have vou ever felt like vou need to /Jein touch with Environmental Wildlife Tours nature or iust to Far North Queensland breathe in that freshair:I c.,_.� ·.:���,.- Walk your way through beautiful landscapes :-·_,--: · / that make it worth the effort to discover a new species. • Venture into magnificent high altitude Track through gorges to search for Koalas World Heritage areas with Cairns' original on science research projects . environmental tour company (est.1982) to • observe rare local endemic birds and animals Find the elusive rock wallaby for the in their natural habitat. first time in decades in its rocky dens Relaxed afternoon/evening tours combine in remote and rugged bushland. rainforest walks with birdwatching, If this sounds like something platypus search and nocturnal wildlife you would like to do? viewing. Small groups (maximum 8) departing Cairns 2pm daily. Call Mirek or Stephen for upcoming events and expeditions. Advanced accreditation. We also specialise in assisting Ecotourism Association of Australia. [ SPECIAl Community Groups with Ecological & Biodiversity Surveys. DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE TO REAOERS OF NATURE AUSTRALIA PO Box 138, Macarthur Square, NSW 2560Australia NATURE Phone: 02 4621 3986 Fax: 02 4628 5799 AUSTRAllA Email: [email protected] FLAT wildscenes.com.au NORTH WEST This is the T-shirt SAFARIS POSTER you really want! COLLECTION • 1999 Imagine your OUR 4wD EXPEDITIONS The 1999 collection of flat LET YOU EXPERIENCE ..... Nature Australia posters is favourite creature available for the discount price • of$12.00 here! (including postage & Little Sandy Desert S2300 + GST handling and GST). 16 Sept-6 Oct 2000 These posters do not have any • folds and are mailed to you in a Great Victoria Desert is winter Creature T-shirts is Nov 2 ooo S2300 + GST rigid cardboard mailing tube. Th 14 Oct-3 expanding its range of wild animal designs. • The l 999 collection includes Bungles the following If you run a wildlife club or Kimberley and Bungle posters: June 2001 S:3000 + GST organization, wildlife park or 12 May-8 Brush-tailed the Rock-wallaby retail outlet and you can't find in your • (Summer 1999-2000) T-shirt that you could sell already Thorny Devil area try us. If we don't . TOUCH OF A (Spring 1999) print it! ..... WITH THE PERSONAL have it in our range we will TOURING GROUP Booby (Winter 1999) SMALL FRIENDLY All ex Alice Springs Green and Golden Bell Frog (Autumn 1999) WRITE TO NORTH WEST SAFARIS Cw-e.a-1-ut'e 3102 f P.O. BOX 211, EAST KEW, VIC. I you would like to purchas e this 1 3398 Melbourne pos Ph 03 64 26 5 84 Phone (03) 9852 ter collection, just fill out the 7149 Adelaide fax o3 64 262 900 (08) 8280 form in the back of this issue. 73o7 0417 846 238 Mobile PO Box 156, Latrobe TAS REPLYING TO ADVERTISEMENTS AUS TRAllA WHEN READERS PLEASE MENTION NATURE q&a Coloured Frogs 1 keep tree I re111e111ber 11J/ w 1 used to _ : f,·ogs as pets J 111as .fascinated by the,r 11 abilityQ t;> cha11ge colour: I had a 1 1wle a d .fe111ale both the Cree11 Ti·ee Frog (L1co1 1a ef r : caerulea) and Ciani 'fee Frog (L1to1 ia r infrafrenata). The Cia11/ Tee Frog took up a position in the comer of the ta11k and 111ent .fro111 bright gree11 to a mid-bro111n 1111th dark bro111n spots-just like the colours ef the poster 011 the 11,al/ behind it. At other times it 1110111d f go a,1 o/i11e colour a11d, i a leaf 111as co11eri11g 'S part of its back while it was sitting close to the 2 heat lamp, then a pale silhouette of the leaf � would appear. How do.frogs do this and why? i -ELLEN SAUNDER.S � OATLEY, NSW :,: < v . The Green and Giant Tree Frogs A• have a fixed green colour, although surprisingly no green pigments. The green is produced by the combina tion of a yellow pigment and fine particles ing courtship has also been reported. A The Green Tree Frog changes its colour age 11 in the skin cells that cause the reflection third reason, although this requires fur depending on its background to camoufl from predators. of blue light (in the manner that fine par ther research, is that a colour change can ticles in the atmosphere cause the blue allow thermoregulation. When the colour of sky). However, it is other cells melanophores are expanded, the skin has aggressor, a spi- • If attacked by an in the skin, called lunb melanophores, that are a dark colour and can absorb more heat • der may choose to I ose a' responsible for the colour r A ntai)_, change. These energy fom the Sun. onsequencly the rather than lose it life. This volu cells can change their shape in response r and 1s :1 / to fog will increase its internal temperature. amputation is called autotomy ' . 1 environmental light conditions. r r ro They Interestingly, fog skin has been preserved spider' last means of d e fi enc e' sin11la contain the brown/black pigment 111 the brown-coal deposits 111 the when a lizard loses its tail. melanin and, by changing shape from Geiselthal, Germany. It is quite amazing sea111ents. A spider's leer" has seven " broad to narrow, they can vary the area at t1 1t' of that, after 45 million years entombed in Autotomy nearly always occurs melanin in each cell that can be viewed h1c. 1 is· rock, melanophores have been preserved weakest point of t I 1e I.1111 b, ' w externally. When the melanophorcs arc n1euts in an almost life-like state. Hopefully between the first and second " sea , expanded, a brown colour is seen; when , ,c,,, such finds will lead us to find the original JOlllt. ) · When r1e they arc contracted, (the coxa-trochanter . . the brown colour colours of ancient, extinct animals. u II tht' detaches , small muscles help to p . ., , disappears. Therefore different shades of peun1 ,,. � -ANl)REW PAR.KER. remainincr membrane over tiI e o green and brown can be achieved in dif " a !so OXFO!ll) UN!VEllSITY 111s1. .d e che leg ferent areas of the frog. Haemo-lymph pressure helps to seal the wound. The main reason for this ability to Spider as rht' Amputee Lost leas ced as Iona" change colour is to achieve camouflage, may be repla ·u""· When a spider loses a leg, can it . JllOtl1 tl spider can still und c.:ig'. o from predators, amidst a continually regro111 111 - rricr- 1 tl,e lost li b? . usu,all )' res changing background. The possibility l<...egeneration,:, is therefore . l Q: -MAVIS T1 IIB0U cies rh r ed to juveniles, except 111· spe 1 that the male fogs change their hues dur- e ti"Jfl' CRONULLA, NSW continue moulting as adults, l'k1 ' e rh 82 -ot1° 1NTEll , - NATURE AUSTRALIA w ,t p funnel-web spiders. Whether sons. First, doOI. "and because males and females do ea replaced also depends on the not mate square chc, ] "' is on, that is, either direct . · amputation.. A new 1 eg 1s. ly front c11n1ng of the . to front (missionary position) or one was severed w1th11. 1 behind r urown l.f the old to font (doggy style), but instead rter of the intermoult phase somewhat "'ch e c.111·st qua' . side by side, there may be an moults). After this, evolutio (ne1 P eriod between nary advantage to having a eration occurs. hemipenis on each side. When 110 reaenb . lizards and 111 one stage The entire leg 1s regrown snakes mate, it is the hemipenis on the to be controlled by hor- near side and 1·r 1 ·s thouahb t that is generally used. Second, has all the segments because mones. The new lea-0 the duct leading from each testis p esen t 1. 11 the correct proportions, i aligned with the hemipenis on its same r _ _ . _ . . U 1s slwhtlyb th11111e1 and shor te1. side, it may be that a ltlO I ::,ah it giving the most sensory organs recently Cla,v S , Spl.nes , hairs and used testis a 'rest', may lead to a leg has a larger are also replaced. The new 'score' in a second rapid mating. Some reduced number of muscle fibres, howev lizards use the hemipenes alternate er, and tends not to be used for walking. ly, but just how widespread this is is -DA JELLE LOUI E QUINN unclear. -ALLEN E. GREER AUSTR.ALIAN MUSEUM Are rwo Penises Better than One? '1Vhy do lizards a11d snakes hm1e two Answers to Quiz in bringing you face to Q • . penises? Nature Strips (page 19) -[AN GIBSON face with nature Jellxfish BALMAIN, NSW 1. 2. Meh1ille 3. Chimera Lizards and snakes have two penis 4. Chimpanzee We have a wide range of : es (hemipenes) instead of the usual A 5. Lucy one that occurs in turtles and crocodil greeting cards and postcards &, They watch birds. ians, as well as in mammals and some featuring Australian 1. Nineteen million birds. Lizards and snakes probably evolved mammals, birds, reptiles, r 8, Self-contained underwater the hemipenes independently fom a breathing apparatus frogs, scenery and wildflowers. condition of no penises at all (see article, 9. Eugene Shoemaker this issue). Why lizards and snakes evolved 10. Alexandra their two hemipenes can only be specu lated upon, but there are two possible rea- Pie Teaser Do you recognise this? If you For more information contact: think you know what it is, then Wildlife Images send your answer to Pie Teaser, ( 02) 9436 0428 web site at Nature Australia Magazine. or visit our Please don't forget to include www.australiannature.com your name and address. The first correct entry will win a copy of Locating Koalas in the Australian bush. Autumn's Pie Teaser was a sponge crab (Austrodromidia octodentata) using a piece of ascidian (sea squirt! as a 'hat' to help camouflage itself. 83 NAT URE AUSTRALIA WINTER 2000 b - becoming less deadly with long . . . er p er1 LA ST WOl<.D tion and less 0d 1 THE of infec illness, what c . . an and should be done? First, recognise h . t at r a� rI pant v1ra. I I p agues 111 any marnn . I . . . ��1 speoes increase the risk of exp l . . . . osur e an infections 111 alternate spec d ( & people ies (inc] U d. . Ing plagues humans), and that such infe Pests, ctions ca . demn11ds amplify into plagues among n . ir cI ,ec k d.e n 111011g us the n e dend Iy I en 1C11mn. . I J1 " ·se . ase spread111Q n _ . . w1y A infected species. The1efore, Aus nre fe/11. . tral·1 an1 nr1s111ers, b11t there should do noth111g to encourage ' spread of RHD. The lower the R.HD vir al load in any ecosystem, the less chance ( there is of the virus adaptmg to new host 1 specie s. � Especially, do not spread R.HD in baits ( where whole new species groupings wil . . l tie1 1 b a orato I -y and therefore become exposed. HEY ARRIVED JUST 72 HOUl<.S the virus 111 characterise, host cell range. The Disregard simplistic proclamatio now they were dying. can!lot _ ns of ( before and that destroy ]'iver what caliciviruses will and will T blood ots, o-enetic determinants not do ) with Lungs filled d clottmg , �ells and disrupt normal blood especiaUy when such pronouncements ar� l haemorrhages everywI ie re . No warn111g . . Even the species of origm made by people whose understandin virtually no survivors,- JUSt are unknown. _ g of ( no treatment, v!l"tua y rhagic for the virus is unknown, but H ecology does not extend into the intracel- / rapid and bloody death. A haemor . 1iot to be the European Rabbit. lular spaces and macromolecular world disease sweeping unchecked across Asia, certain rapid and deadly where caliciviruses survive and multip and Europe was kilJing within two Viruses that cause ly ( Africa soon ch onicles the plagues in their natural host would by the biUions. There the virus generates days of exposure. This r _ _ own survival. The full spec- variants, which by sheer pread of a new caliciviral disease origi- threaten their new number1 \, nating in China in 1984. The dead bod seek and find new hosts and host relation- ( of ships. The haemorrhagic disease plague in ies were those of Rabbits but the laws infected I A single proves this general rule contagion selecting that species were sim Rabbits . ply those of chance. Humankind and Remember too that, by removing the l Rabbit can r worldly wisdom did nothing to bring this offending species f om overpopulated , plague to Rabbits. It just happened. Any contain up to one tracts of land, be they Rabbits, Sheep, species could have been the target but this Cattle or humans, native flora and fauna � time it was R.abbits. billion viruses. can and often do return in abundance. I A deadly caliciviral disease spreading Finally, be suspicious when a profusion of unchecked among us demands answers, eloquence is used by any offioal ro but there are few. We know that R.abbit trum of animal species that can be infect describe the success of their own person- pro 1 Haemorrhagic Disease (RHD) can kill 95 ed is unknown but presumed to be broad. al and bureaucratically mandated : . per cent of the population within 48 Eleven of 34 species tested at the Geelong science, sue h eva I uati·ons 'are letr grams. ln > hours of exposure. The virus can survive Laboratory in Victoria developed anti to unbiased peers. weeks in the environment and be spread bodies after being given relatively few by contact, contaminated animals, cloth infective viruses. This strongly infers FURTHER READING ing and food. ,· It is one of the most muta infection. And what about human risk of Jan I ER 1998 Pro- ,is, B.E. 1,1/ & Lyne i,_ . ., . genic life forms on planet Earth where no RHI) infection R.CD: ) and disease? ceedings of the Rabbit Contt0I, two viruses are expected to be . . exact Two teams of scientists have examined I.1cat1on · Conferentt' l r Dilemmas and Imp · duplicates. A single infected Rabbit liver the same data fom Ma1t·I1 Australia. One, an Wellino-ton, New Zea Idan , J�o-J1 can contain ru "' . . ._. ' up to one billion vi ses, Australian Government team under pres I Sm,1111.,1, 1998. J e111 Zenln11rl Assoontrori. . �1ll °f""� ,_ NllrNf l I 111 l.,"1 \Vnu.n 1, (WINION l'JH I ,\Nll POi" AN _ , -.ru BY ALVIN W. SMITH lll-1-tH:r llff VIIW\UI 1111 AU\JR,\IIAN J\lU M. 111 84 TE 1111 NA !'URE AUS l'RAI IA \v1N ll p 23/6 24/6 24/10 25/1 25/4 25/2 25/3 25/5 25/6 25/7 25/8 25/9 25/11 26/1 26/2 26/8 26/3 26/6 26/7 26/4 26/5 SUPPiement Nature librarv box dark green Holds 12 issues of the magazine. Finished in durable, PVC, it will ensure your copies remain in mint condition. Tracks t/,r011_�1, 'li'tlll' 0 I' I' 0 � E I' ll It M T o 0 It I) I·. ll U S lo T II �r, v;i�e,vt; I � � t) ) \ttt:� � +v btd } �{.I J � ec1 ) gtv� tJ>-c1>P J �ltti UA) b\ll 'iJtJ , M iv,) ' ,err- � � t,t-t,yi J lw� r·vr ��f b; �} , oec,vtul } � � }(a,vwf�rJ ; o»CJ# Of) ()Wr). �� .