We love Nic Gill and Romane Cristescu’s new book Poo, Spew and Other Gross Things Animals Do! We think you will too! Let’s meet the authors.

What inspired your new book?

Nic: I was chatting to the excellent Melinda Chandler from CSIRO Publishing at the Ecological Society Conference in Launceston, and we were talking about how there are so many gross, but ecologically interesting, things that animals do. “You should write a book about poo!” said Melinda, and I thought immediately of Romane, who is a poo science expert. I called her, she was appropriately overexcited, and Poo and Spew was born!

Romane: I always talk about poo! I’m an ecologist, and I work on very elusive species, in particular, koalas. That makes my job of studying them especially difficult, as I rarely see them in the bush. So ecologists like me working on rare or cryptic wildlife look for their scats, or poo. For koalas, it’s a lot easier – they poo up to 150 pellets a day, which stay around for weeks to months. There’s so much more koala poo than koalas!

Plus, fresh poo contains a wealth of information. We can determine the genetic characteristics of a koala, its sex, diseases it carries, diet, hormones, gut microbiome, it’s pretty much endless. With poo we can learn a lot about an animal without even seeing it!

I spend a lot of time and energy searching for poo, recording data on poo, bringing poo to the laboratory for analyses and then writing papers about… well you guessed it, poo!

What reaction have you had to it?

Nic: Reactions so far have been really good! I was a bit concerned people would think it was too silly and not sciencey enough, but it’s been really well received. I did an interview with Matt Preston on ABC Melbourne recently, where I was delighted to hear that not only is he acquainted with naked mole rats, he has also engaged in impala poo spitting competitions in Botswana. Did not expect to hear that, but am 100% here for it!

A bookshop in Sydney recently posted that they think it might be their best-selling non-fiction book for the year, so fingers crossed they’re right! And as far as feedback from readers – I’m getting a lot of parents telling me their children are delighted by the gross science and are insisting on telling them about it, so that’s the best response we could get!

Romane: Everybody is disgusted of course! No, actually, many of those who have read the book just can’t believe how being gross is such a critical part of being successful for wildlife. Usually when we think about success in the wild, we think about a lion or an eagle. Top predators, strong and fast. Whereas in reality, success comes in all shapes and forms, and sometimes grossly and hilariously so.

What’s your favourite gross story in the book?

Nic: My favourite at the moment is the mystery of why cats run away from their litter trays. I love that this is an unsolved mystery, and am particularly taken with the concept of “poo-phoria”. And when it comes to clever adaptations, I’m in love with Hardwicke’s woolly bats, which sleep in pitcher plants. Such a lovely, disgusting yet cosy form of symbiosis. And the photo of the bat is fantastic – look at its little face!

Romane: The fact that there are little creature living on our face (demodex mites) is a bit of a gross revelation, I think we need to not think about it too much.

What’s the grossest encounter you’ve had with an animal?

Nic: With one of my dogs! I have two working conservation dogs, Zorro and Gromit. Gromit is still young, and unfortunately still a bit obsessed with the contents of my cat’s litter tray. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve busted him stealing cat nuggets, I would have at least enough money to buy a security camera and alarm system to guard the cat’s litter box.

Romane: It was with a koala… They pee and poo in the trees, so sometimes, when you are busy collecting data under them…. well, there have been some showers incidents…

How did co-writing with work?

Nic: Romane and I split the book in half for starters, mostly choosing the sections that we thought were most entertaining or knew most about, and wrote our chapters separately. We then got together for a week on Bruny Island, where we worked together editing each other’s work.

We were also doing some field work with my dog Zorro, so would go out with him in the morning, then work on the book in the afternoon. As we were on Bruny Island, it was of course very important to make sure we sampled lots of the local cheese, which Romane was deeply opposed to.

When you first dreamed of being a writer, did you imagine you’d be writing about animal poo?

Nic: I can’t say I ever imagined I would write a book about bodily waste products. I actually don’t even particularly enjoy gross humour for the sake of it. But for some reason, when it’s gross stuff about animals and the clever things they do to survive, I can talk about that stuff for hours! Kinda hoping I don’t become that poo and spew author though. That might be a bit crap.

When you first dreamed of being a scientist, did you imagine you would be studying animal poo?

Romane: I think animal lovers like me start with a bit more of a glamourous idea of our job. We picture ourselves spending time in beautiful nature, tracking and observing stunning wildlife… But in the end, for many of us, our wild subjects are just too elusive and we end up looking at signs – frequently their poo, like me for koalas, or spew, like Nic for her masked owls.

Can you tell us about your other books and nature writing?

Nic: My first book was Animal Eco-Warriors, a bunch of stories about animals who help people solve environmental problems. It was so much fun to research – I got to go out on little adventures with all these really cool scientists, dog handlers and goat shepherds to look at the environmental projects they were working on, and of course got to pat lots of animals.

I did almost lose my notebook at one stage to a particularly curious goat, who was supposed to be eating environmental weeds, but these are the risks you take as an intrepid environmental writer. I actually met Rom while I was researching this book, when I interviewed her about her amazing dog Maya, who was the first dog in the world to detect koala habitat by finding koala poo! Writing Animal Eco-Warriors also led to me shifting my career sideways, going from surveying plants by myself, to working with conservation dogs in the field.

What was the Poo and Spew launch like?

Nic: Rom came down to Tasmania, and it was an absolute poo-stravaganza. As children came in, they were given a dung beetle cut out to stick on a picture of a big poo – kind of like “pin the tail on the donkey”, but grosser.

We talked about the book, Rom spoke about her work with her koala poo detection dogs, then there was a “Know your poo” quiz, where we threw poo-shaped erasers into the audience for kids who successfully identified the droppings. My detection dog Zorro demonstrated his owl spew sniffing prowess. The event was topped off by my friend Ben dressing up as a giant masked owl pellet, and setting up a wombat pooñata, which the children hit with a broom handle with violent enthusiasm. It was exciting and slightly terrifying. Best book launch ever!

Do you ever wish you’d chosen marine science, which seems to entail more snot than poo?

Romane: No, I’ll stick to poo: it’s just so much more data rich! As scientist we are always looking at ways to understand the world better. So having access to all this info from just one little nugget, can’t go past that.

How much fun was it researching this book?

Romane: It was so much fun! Nic and I could literally not stop laughing at times! We had to do most of the book through video conference because of covid, and we would be reading and writing and suddenly one of us would burst out laughing and we were off telling each other yet another crazy hippo dung-shower, whale poo-nado or constipated lizard story.

The post Poo & Spew appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Melbourne Zoo’s resident Insect Keeper Rohan Cleave gives us the lowdown on the incredible Lord Howe Island stick insect.

How did you get into studying insects?
I have always had a love of animals, in particular our Australian native species. I like to take care of the rare and little things that often go unnoticed in the natural world. I have been very lucky to work with the Lord Howe Island stick insect right from the start of the captive breeding program in 2003, along with many amazing people all over the world in helping save this species.

What do you love most about them?
They are a fascinating species in many different ways, especially their struggle of survival against all the odds in the wild and that story of survival. We thought we had lost them forever. I have loved learning about their lifecycle over this journey and how each single species plays an important role in an ecosystem.

What is so incredible about the Lord Howe Island stick insect?
I think that they are an ancient species, and they have survived isolated on Balls Pyramid for such a long time. Their lifecycle is really fascinating: their eggs incubate for between 6 to 9 months and the nymph that hatches is three times the length of the egg. They start out diurnal, bright green and camouflaged really well, but as they grow they change to become nocturnal after a few months and eventu ally become black and really, really big. It is an amazing transformation.

How many are left in the wild?
Very few individuals live in the wild on Balls Pyramid. It is a difficult and dangerous place to survey properly and the last time was in 2017 when only 17 animals were found alive. With limited space and plants available they can only survive in small numbers. The most ever seen on one trip was 30 individuals which we would consider to be around the maximum numbers in the wild.

What do they like to eat?
They eat leaf and plant material. One of their favourite plants is the Lord Howe Island Tea Tree (Melaleuca howeana) which is endemic to Balls Pyramid and Lord Howe Island. We have tried many different plant species over the years thanks to our amazing Melbourne Zoo horticulture nursery team. We have worked tirelessly on diet and growing endemic plants which has been a massive achievement.

What is the weirdest thing about them?
I love how the females can bury their eggs underground and then carefully scrape soil back over the egg to bury it. They also have love heart shaped pads underneath thei r legs which is cute and as sub adults and adults they all huddle together in huge numbers during the day. Their moulting process is one of the most amazing things you can watch how they transform into a larger size.

The Lord Howe Island stick insect is also called the land lobster, why is that?
They have quite a few local nicknames. They are also known by these names: Lord Howe Island Phasmid, Tree lobster and Walking Sausage which have all been used by people to try and describe them.

The post Meet the walking sausage! appeared first on Australian Geographic.

(1) Orcas aren’t whales

Orcas, or killer whales as they are also known, are not whales. They are actually from the dolphin family. Orcas are apex predators. Sadly, the only thing that hunts them are humans.

(2) Orcas can live anywhere

These incredible and clever mammals have survived by adapting. Orcas can be found in every ocean on Earth (they prefer cold water) because they go wherever they can find food.

(3) Orcas eat a wide variety of food and a lot of it!

Orcas eat just about everything – whales, seabirds, sharks, turtles, fish, squid and even dolphins. Some orcas have been known to eat as much as 200kg of food a day. Females can weigh as much as 5000kg while males can top 9000kg!

(4) They’re family-oriented creatures

Orcas are also very social animals and most will spend their whole life in a family group led by an older female. Sons will also stay with their mums. A recent study found that males were eight times more likely to die in the year following their mother’s death.

(5) Orcas live long lives

The average lifespan of an orca is 50 years. In the wild, left to their devices, orcas can live to the healthy old age of 80. Holding an orca in captivity may shorten its life by 25 years or more. 

(6) Every orca is physically unique

Orcas might look all the same to you but they have unique markings and dorsal fin shapes. The dorsal fin of an orca (the fin on its back) is made individual through shape, size, distinctive nicks and scars. Their saddle patch, a white mark located near the dorsal fin, is also custom-made for each orca through shape, size, colour and scarring.

(7) Orcas communicate with each other through clicking sounds

Echolation is the term given to the high-frequency sound waves orcas produce. Through clicks, pulses and whistles, orcas can coordinate their families or “pods”. Every orca pod has a distinct echolation dialect, varying in duration, pitch and pulse pattern. As echolation bounces off animals and objects and reflects back to the whale emitting the sound, it also helps orcas to sense the movement of prey.

(8) Orcas may befriend dolphins and even imitate them

Fish-eating orcas have been found swimming alongside dolphins. This guarantees safety for a dolphin, as different species of orcas avoid each other. Orcas that have been kept in captivity with bottle-nosed dolphins have also shown tendencies to adopt the whistling and clicking noises of dolphins. This phenomenon is known as vocal plasticity.

(9) Orcas keep one eye open while sleeping

Orcas don’t have an automatic breathing reflex. This means they need to remain semi-conscious while sleeping, otherwise they would suffocate and drown. The orca allows one side of its brain to sleep, while the other side stays on night watch, remaining alert to danger and enabling the orca to continue breathing.

(10) Orcas give birth and nurse at sea

Female orcas give birth to their young in the water, one at a time. Orcas will become pregnant once every 9–10 years. A newborn calf also nurses below water. The mother has its nipples concealed in abdominal mammary slits, which the calf suckles on.

The post Top 10 Killer Whale Facts appeared first on Australian Geographic.

These spiders are highly venomous, a single bite will cause intense pain – sometimes for days, sweating, headaches and vomiting. It is unlikely to be lethal, but always best to get medical advice immediately. In Australia around 2,000 people a year are bitten by redbacks.

If you do get bitten by a suspected redback spider, antivenom is not regularly used and first aid is recommended instead.

• Wash the area and keep it clean
• Call the Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26 
• If symptoms are severe, go to the nearest hospital
• It is usually not necessary to call an ambulance
• Do NOT apply a pressure immobilisation bandage 

The redback’s dangerous antics don’t stop there – the females also eat their male partners as they are mating with them. Yikes!

You can recognise an adult female because the the distinct black body and red stripe. The male redbacks do not have this obvious marking and are usually light brown with white marks instead.

The post Tiny but mighty appeared first on Australian Geographic.