UNSURPASSED QUALITY AND ACCURACY Up Front always seem to be few and far between and certainly not from around the Sydney region. unless you've Why? Is this because Sydney spent time SCUBA diving, doesn't have many good fossils you're experience with octo­ or could it be that we are puses is probably limited to destroying them before they those that have appeared on can be found? Dr Paul Willis your dinner plate. And that is digs up the past and shows us definitely not the same as the that Sydney has a rich history real thing, because an of fossil discoveries. encounter with a live octopus Then enter the wonderful is amazing. They're such world of mammals. There's unusual creatures, and so Professor Uwe Proske's � unlike anything on dry land. I account of what goes on when 5 :i: remember one night, many an Echidna sticks its snout into � years ago, when I was out something-and it's certainly diving around Sydney and met an octopus for the first time. It more than you would imagine. Dr Graeme Newell's fieldwork was a good-sized adult Common Sydney Octopus and I was on Lumholtz Tree-kangaroo's, which has provided some much both absolutely fascinated by it and a little frightened at the needed information on these beautiful and rare animals. And same time. But I quickly came to realise that the fear was Drs Ross Goldingay and Sue Carthew's eye-opening insight unnecessary and from then on I never ceased to be captivated into the vital pollinating role our mammals play. All this plus an by the octopuses I encountered. And that's not surprising, underwater Photoart from the award-winning photographer because Australia's oceans are home to what appears to be the Becca Saunders goes together to make this a very entertain­ most diverse and rich octopus fauna in the world. So, in this ing issue. issue, Dr Mark Norman will introduce you to posioners, arm­ Oh, and whatever you do this Summer, don't miss the droppers, spindly giants, mimics, sand-swimmers and camou­ Australian Museum's new Spider exhibition-you won't be flage experts-just a few of Australia's extraordinary octopuses. able to take your eyes off it! Spectacular or unusual fossil finds can be big news, but they -Jennifer Saunders yourself 1n You will need more than JUst one night to immerse Shanng Freyc,net 1s an expenence you'll Name ___________ most stunning coastal wilderness area. never forgetS�uated inside Freyc1net the beauty ofTasmania's Address __________ of highly acclaimed natural NatjonaJ Park.Just a walk away from famous Moreume to share our range share the Lodge's quiet comforts Wineglass Ba�Freyc1net Lodge is a relaxing. actMtJes.More tjme to _______ Ph _____ - of a fulfilling day.Your travelagent knows multi-award 'Mnning havenwrth1n an area at the end Send this coupon to: Freycmet Lodge F re y c i ne t L o d g e Ask about us today. BAY a II about Freyc,net Lodge. of spectacular natural scenery. FREYCIN[T NATIONAL l'ARK•COLLS PO Box 225 Kmgs Meadows 7249 TASMANIA. S Phone (03) 6257 0/01 Fax (03) 6257 0278 "r�'349 L AC TIVITIE A WORL D OF NATU RA NATU RE AUSTRALIA SUMMER 1997-98 Nature Articles SUMMER 1997-98 VOLUME 25 NUMBER 11 Published by The Australian Museum Trust 6 College Street, Sydney, NSW 2000. Phone: (02) 9320 6000 Fax: (02) 9320 6073 Internet: [email protected] Web: http://www.austmus.gov.au Trust President: Malcolm Long Museum Director: Desmond Griffin MANAGING EDITOR Jennifer Saunders, B.Sc. SCIENTIFIC EDITOR SYDNEY'S FOSSIL Georgina Hickey, B.Sc. TREASURES Priceless fossils are being lost PHOTO & EDITORIAL RESEARCHER beforethey can be found. Paul Kate Lowe Willis explains why. DESIGN AND PRODUCTION BY PAUL WILLIS Watch This! Design 24 PRINTING Excel Printing ADVERTISI G AND MARKETING Phone: (02) 9320 6178 SUBSCRIPTIONS Rebecca Kinsela AUSTRALIAN OCTOPUSES Phone: (02) 9320 6119 Octopuses may have 'super lips' Toll-free (1800) 028 558 Fax: (02) 9320 6073 but would you really want to kiss one? Find out all about Annual subscription (4 issues) our diverse and amazing Within Australia $A33 Other countries $A45 octopuses without having to get Two-year subscription (8 issues) up close and personal. Within Australia $A63 Other countries $A83 BY MARK B. NORMAN Three-year subscription (12 issues) Within Australia $A89 Other countries $A116 40 'ew subsc1iptions can be made by credit card on the NATURE AUSTRALIA toll-free hotline (1800) 028 558 or THE FORGOTTEN use the form in this magazine. If it has been removed, POLLINATORS send cheque, money order or credit card authorisation Now when we talk about the to the address above, made payable to the 'Australian birds and the bees, we need to Museum' in Australian currency. include the non-flying All material appearing i1l NATURE AUSTRALIA is copyright. Reproduction in part or whole is not permitted LUMHOLTZ'S mammals as well. without written authorisationfrom the Editor. TREE-KANGAROO BY ROSS GOLDINGAY & NATURE AUSTRALIA welcomes articles on the natural Lumholtz's Tree-kangaroos may SUE CARTHEW and cultural heritage of the Australian Region. Opinions be cute and furry, but we know expressed by the authors are their own and do not very little about them-that was necessarily represent the policies or views of the until Graeme Newell set off ECHIDNAS ON THE NOSE Australian Museum. NATURE AUSTRALIA is printed into the bush with some radio When an Echidna pokes its on archival quality paper suitable for library collections. collars and a good deal of Published 1997 ISSN-1324-2598 nose into something, the most patience and curisoity. amazing things happen. NATURE AUSTRALIA (as ANH) BY GRAEME NEWELL BY UWE PROSKE is proud winner of the 1987, '88, '89, ® '90, '91, '92 & '93 Whitley Awards for 30 58 Best Periodical, and the 1988 & '90 Australian Heritage Awards. Front Cover Although the skin on an Echidna's snout is tough and relatively inelastic, it is still highly sensitive to both electrical and mechanical stimuli. Photo by Reg Morrison. 2 NATURE AUSTRALIA SUMMER 1997-9B • d Shun Lopsided Flowers; Quick Regular Features Quiz. NATUR ALIST 6 THE BACKYARD REVIEWS BREAKING THE Layers of Time; Bats SHER'S C�DE . in FLA 1nisszle, the Question; The Incomplete Book Like a heat-seeking of Australian in on his land- Mammals; male zeros Wilsons Promontory when her pulsing Coastal tocked /over Wilderness; An Australian signals a match. bottom Landscape; Field Guide to the e to the glorious world Welcom Orchids of New South Wales offirefl ies. and Victoria. DYCK BY STEVE VAN 72 18 SOCIETY PAGE Interested RAR E & ENDA NGERED P H O T O A R T THE LAS T WORD in nature but not sure what to do or where to go? BLACK-CHINNED SEASHOTS DOES LYME DISEASE Nature Australia's SocietyPage H0NEYEATER A brilliant spectacle from the OCCUR IN AUSTRALIA? is a great place to start. Black-chinned Honeyeaters are sea by an award-winning Lyme Disease-the other side of 74 our ecological 'canaries in a underwater photographer. the coin. coal mine'. BYBECCA BYBERNIE HUDSON BY TAMRA CHAPMAN SAUNDERS/ AUSCAPE 80 20 64 Columns LETTERS Butterfly Trees; Research on Corridors; Who's to Blame?; Cats and Rats; Cock Sure; Moving Forward. 4 NATURE STRIPS Colour-blind Cuttlefish; Semi­ THE GUIDE carnivorous Plants; Dinosaurs Nature Australia's market Get the Hump; Giraffes Win by place. a Neck; Bringing Home the Baleen?; Sonic Symmetry; 76 Worms, Take your Leaves; In Support of Menopausal Q&A Women; Crab Cleansers; Scaly Fish Balls or Beach Balls?; Scrapers; 'Feets' of Strength; Random Feast; Eating On the Pee and Flee; The Aardvark Run; Tiny Hitch-hiker; Pie W I LD THI NGS and the Cucumber; The Ghost Teaser. THORNY THOUGHTS of Death Valley?; Bumblebees 78 What could Vicious Hairy Mary, the most savagely armed Plant in Australia have been trying to deter? BYTIM LOW 22 VIEWSFROM THE FOURTHDIMENSI ON KOALAS: APOSTLES OR FOSSILS God popped Koalas into being, along with everything else, in one creative week-at least that's what creationists would have us taught as science. But what about the fossil record? BY MICHAEL ARCHER ATURE U 70 3 N ASTRALIASU MMER 1997-98 �cientific evide�c�. The key issues for obtammg reliable usefu I da�a �re replication LETTERS and sampling The forum for readers to _ 111 non-corridor hab1_tats. Data should their views about their be air obta!ned from several similar concerns, past articles and c?rndor and remnant forest sites, and compared interesting personal events. with data �om areas in the surround­ mg alt�red landscapes. Such a task 1s not impossible; we demonstrated (Conservation Biology 11: 1-10; 1997) that corridors in the woodlands of Butterfly Trees leaves are great for gripping, ic' data on corridors, implies northern Victoria are likely I was very interested to as these butterflies spend a that research in this field to be beneficial for some, but read Tim Low's article on good deal of time aggregated offers wildlife managers little not all mammals, and per­ overseas eucalypts in the together. When their wings more than anecdotal specula­ h�ps more interestingly, that Summer 1996-97 issue of are folded and the tan under­ tions and/ or personal preju­ different kinds of individuals Nature Australia. Here in surface exposed, the clusters dices. If conservation man­ of the same species utilise coastal California they've of Monarchs are effectively agement decisions are to be corridors in different ways.