It may sound like a common bird, but the species is considered endangered by Commonwealth and state legislation, with only four populations left in the wild, amounting to less than 2500 birds.

The smallest and most critically endangered of these populations is found in northern NSW and only consists of an estimated 40 to 50 birds.

At its lowest point in the late 1980s and early 90s, the northern population consisted of only 15 birds, but long-term habitat restoration work and captive breeding programs are successfully bolstering eastern bristlebird numbers.

The eight recent releases directly result from these programs, bringing the number of birds released in the past year to 23.

Related: Endangered western whipbird returns to Kangaroo Island after bushfires

The importance of diversity

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary in Queensland is home to a captive breeding program for eastern bristlebirds, which is creating a sustainable captive population to support the reintroduction of the birds into the wild and act as an insurance population against extinction.

Currumbin’s Avian Conservation Supervisor, Allison Beutel, says the birds were once a common sight in South East Queensland, eastern NSW and Victoria, but numbers have dropped by 80 per cent since the 1980s due to urban development, habitat loss, climate change and inappropriate fire burning regimes, according to Allison.

“In response to plummeting numbers, a captive breeding program was started at the David Fleay Wildlife Park in 2004 with the acquisition of two young chicks from a nest in the wild,” Allison says. “Those chicks turned out to be a male and a female and they started the program which was inherited by Currumbin in 2014.”

Currumbin received five birds from David Fleay Wildlife Park, but they were all offspring of the initial breeding pair, creating many challenges due to a lack of genetic diversity.

“We knew we had to grow the genetic diversity – and we knew that we needed to get those new genetics from the wild – but with such low numbers in the wild, you can’t go and collect adult birds,” Allison says. “The next best thing is to take eggs or chicks, and that way the pairs that are out in the wild can continue to re-clutch and it doesn’t have a significant impact on them.”

Birds were collected from a population in central NSW (the species’ stronghold with a population estimated at 1500 birds) with the help of a conservation detector dog – an English springer spaniel named Penny – and added to the breeding program to create a more robust population for future releases.

Conservation genetic experts were then brought in to analyse the birds and find the most ideal pairings.

“We want to maintain or improve genetics in our captive population as much as possible, but we also have a window of compatibility to work with,” says Allison.

You see, although eastern bristlebirds are small in stature, they’re big in personality: “When it comes to re-pairing around breeding season, we have to be quite particular with who we pair and match their personality traits,” Allison says. “Some birds, for whatever reason, simply don’t like each other.

“We have some very dominant females that we need strong males for. We also have some females that get a little bit upset when they hear their males replying to other females and vice versa – it’s almost like a little marital dispute goes on in the cage.

“Sometimes, the females simply don’t like their males anymore, and other times, we have a little bit of a bust-up between pairs – it’s like Days of Our Lives but for birds!”

Related: Building a future for our birds: what we are doing right, and wrong

How to make a home

Before offspring from the captive breeding program at Currumbin can be released into the wild, eastern bristlebird habitats must be restored, which is where the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) comes in.

Through the Saving Our Species (SOS) program, DCCEEW works with private landholders to recreate eastern bristlebird habitat through weed control and canopy thinning, while the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) performs fire management.

Senior Threatened Species Officer Kelly Roche says through SOS, DCCEEW now performs fire management over more than 200ha along the border Rangers National Park Estate each year and has done 130ha of weed and fire management on private lands.

“The response of the environment to the habitat management works has been very successful,” she says. “We’ve seen birds returning to areas they had previously abandoned due to weed pressures or overstorey encroachment.

“We’ll be looking to continue restoring and reconnecting fragmented areas and maintaining the gains that we’ve already made, and we’ll be continuing releasing offspring from the captive breeding program.”

Life in the wild

As captive numbers continue to grow steadily and more land becomes available for habitat restoration, eastern bristlebirds are being released into the northern population twice yearly.

During the release, the birds are set up for three days in a tent enclosure in the wild for a ‘soft release’, during which they can acclimate to the environment’s noises and scents.

“Right from the get-go, we’ve seen a lot of interactions from wild birds coming up to our birds, especially the females, as they acclimate,” says Allison. “This makes us think there must be quite a big bias for males in this wild population.

“During the October release, we had a wild male approach and he picked between two female siblings, visiting her every day during the three-day acclimation window. When we opened the tab on the fourth day, he was hanging around. He approached and escorted her out of the tent, and off they went together!”

According to DCCEEW, the release program is designed to continue for at least nine more years, or until numbers reach the levels that would have been seen in the late 1980s when there were about 70 territories of birds existing in wild populations of between 150 and 170 birds.

You can learn more about the captive breeding project on the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary website.  

The post Bringing back the eastern bristlebird appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Watch incredible footage of wildlife and landscapes, and celebrate Our Country’s biodiversity. It’s the perfect event for families, friends and anyone who enjoys nature, photography and of course, Australia!

Only at the ICC, Sydney until Feb 5 2023. Get your tickets!

The post Sneak peek inside Australian Geographic Our Country appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Male platypus are known to court females for weeks, tugging on their tails and chasing them around, however, if the female isn’t ready, she merely swims off.

Watch the mating dance here.

The post Rare video of platypus mating appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The chicks hatch inside the mound and use their strength to dig through a metre of soil to reach the surface, which can take hours.

The post Rare footage of malleefowl chick emerging from its nest mound appeared first on Australian Geographic.

(Image credit: Out of the Blue Adventures)

Whale watching charter boat company, Out of the Blue Adventures, was running its normal Saturday morning tour and observing a female humpback whale and her calf when a pod of 30 orcas emerged.

The orcas began by separating the calf from its mother and then proceeded to jump on top of the calf’s blowhole, effectively drowning it. They then devoured it.

(Image credit: Out of the Blue Adventures)

“The passengers were shocked, amazed and saddened at the same time,” says owner and skipper of Out of the Blue Adventures Dean Fuchs. 

“The event of the killer whale attacking the calf took about 15 minutes, but the orcas stayed around the same area for about an extra three hours.”

According to Dean, the orcas then celebrated the kill by presenting leftover blubber to the tour boat full of passengers. 

Orcas are known to feast on the cheeks and tongue of their whale prey, leaving the rest of the carcass, which is why this particular kill can be considered unusual. 

All photographs and footage were captured by Out of the Blue Adventures.

The post Watch as a pod of orcas attack a humpback whale calf appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Vicki’s salt water and fresh water crocodiles Johnie, Johnie Jnr, Fovian, Jilfia and Jilfia Jnr are unlike other crocodiles in that they’re completely comfortable around humans because of their captive upbringing.

Vice journalist Katherine Gillespie reported that one of the crocodiles, Johnie, is even known to sleep in Vicki’s bed, accompany her on drives and takes walks along suburban paths.

However, one of her crcocs, Jilfia is getting so big that a much larger enclosure will be necessary if Vicki is to meet Victorian wildlife regulations.

See more: Welcome to croc country

A passionate wildlife carer

Vicki is a licensed reptile owner with a lifetime of experience working with crocodiles.

Charlie Manolis, the chief scientist at Wildlife Management International, who’s known Vicki for 14 years, told Australian Geographic that this isn’t just someone who’s gone and picked a crocodile up for the fun of it.

“Johnie was initially raised in western NSW and had an adverse reaction to algae in the water and she chose to completely move locations. Vicki went to huge lengths to make sure that that animal was healthy. She loves her animals and she does look after them,” he says.

“People often say when they see a croc in a 5x5m enclosure ‘he can’t exercise’, but they don’t exercise, they don’t want to exercise.

“If you sat there all day you wouldn’t see them move. They’re whole life is designed around sleeping, eating and reproducing and saving energy.”

According to the report, Vicki’s five crocodiles came into her care after those who initially bought them weren’t willing to look after them any longer. Once these animals came into her care her options would have been limited.

“There’s no way they can be released, even releasing captive animals in with captive animals can be extremely dangerous, let alone releasing a captive animal into a wild population. It can’t happen, the animal would suffer,” says Daniel Rumsay, the head of reptiles at the Australian Reptile Park.

See more: Climate change will effect our crocodiles

“I mean you could call your local parks and wildlife office to place it in an appropriate home but it sounds like this lady just loves her crocs and loves reptiles and she’s just doing what she feels is right,” he tells Australian Geographic.

“She gave them a home. The other option could have been euthanasia which is horrible so she’s saved them from that option, which is good.”

A lifetime job

Daniel says that the bigger issue here is that people don’t fully comprehehnd that looking after reptiles is a lifetime job.

“People will buy a pennty turtle thinking it won’t get big and all of sudden it’s the size of a dinner plate. You’re investing in animal that make go through multiple generations.

“You need to plan and house that animal for multiple generations, otherwise it brings on the issue of euthanasia and that shouldn’t come about from your own poor collection management.”

See more: Endangered sawfish battles crocs and sharks

In saying that, Daniel doesn’t advise for just anyone to go out and adopt a crocodile.

“I can’t think of a reason why an experienced reptile keeper wouldn’t be able to house a freshwater crocodile but the stipulation would have to be that you have to be prepared to house that animal for the its whole life, and for a crocodile, that can be up to a hundred years.”

In the article, Vicki echoes these sentiments.

“Some people will go out and get a crocodile as though it’s a pitbull, and it just doesn’t work like that. The animal suffers, and of course they can be very dangerous. I don’t want to say only I can have them, but they’re definitely only for professionals,” she tells Vice.

READ MORE:

• Steve Irwin’s legacy in Cape York
• Climbing crocs survey territory from above
• Irwins to continue Steve’s legacy by making a return to Animal Planet

The post Croc Lady: Is living with crocodiles in suburbia ethical? appeared first on Australian Geographic.

You can read more about a day in the life of the Great Barrier Reef in Issue 142 of Australian Geographic.

The post A day in the life of the Great Barrier Reef appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Carnarvon Gorge is also a place of enormous historic value. Venture into its many side gorges and you’ll find places of great spiritual significance to the local Bidjara and Karingbal people, with superb Aboriginal art sites displaying sophisticated stencil techniques.

Flora and fauna are the other shining stars of the gorge. Carnarvon fan palms are only found here, and Sydney blue gums, once widespread across the mainland but now mostly confined to New South Wales, prosper in its microclimate. Five glider species call this spot home and local nature guides guarantee sightings on night safari tours. The gorge is also full of echidnas, rufous bettongs, eastern grey kangaroos and pretty-faced and swamp wallabies, as well as freshwater turtles, fish, snakes, goannas and more than 170 species of bird.

Read more tips for embarking on the Carnarvon Gorge multi-day hike in Issue 142 of Australian Geographic out now.

READ MORE:

• GALLERY: Tasmania’s Western Arthur Range
• Help fund a berth for a scientist on the Great Barrier Reef Legacy

The post Sandstone wilderness: Queensland’s Carnarvon Gorge appeared first on Australian Geographic.

However, the footage was met with immediate skepticism from commenters who questioned the videos overall authenticity and the shark’s behaviour.

The video, posted on the SA spearfishing Facebook page, shows the diver swimming with what appears to be a handheld device. Upon turning his back, a large great white shark emerges and bumps him on the head and continues swimming.

Jane Williamson, a shark expert from Macquarie University said that the sharks behaviour isn’t unusual for a shark that isn’t feeding.

“The video looks real as it’s seamlessly shot and not out of character with what a white shark may do if not in hunting mode.

However she questioned the movement of the camera.

“If you were filming and your friend was bumped by a shark of this size, I would imagine that the camera would move to follow the shark, be dropped or at the very least bump about a bit.

“It’s a very brave diver who doesn’t keep an eye on the shark,” she added.

Colin Simpfendorfer, the Director of the Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture at James Cook University said it was a tough call.

“I’m no expert on faking this type of video, but it looks real to me. If it is real then it is one lucky guy,” he told Australian Geographic.

Tessa Rex, Bauer Media’s senior video producer also weighed in on the video.

“The production of the video is consistent with others on the SA Spearfishing page – there’s no obvious stitching together or masking. If there is it’s a level of sophistication far beyond the scope of a small fishing channel. The encounter seems real and consistent with others on youtube, I’m more dubious about the source,” she said.

The source of the video or where exactly it was shot and when remains mystery.

SA Spearfishing was approached by Australian Geographic for comment.

“We have contacted the diver and are waiting for a response to give out his details,” they said.

They also confirmed the encounter took place in South African waters.

READ MORE:

• 10 myths about sharks: the truth
• Madison Stewart on protecting sharks: the biggest threat is human mentality

The post Debunking the viral shark video: the experts weigh in appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The boobook owl, now affectionately known as ‘Betty’, didn’t sustain any injuries however, the owl should still be living in a hollow and being fed by her parents. 

“Its early days but she’s making good progress. Hand raising her will be complex as she is very young, but we plan to get her back to the wild,” said Taronga Wildlife Hospital Manager Libby Hall.

In a statement, officials from the Taronga Wildlife Hospital explained that Betty would remain at the hospital for the next few months before she is released into the wild, as she’s currently too young to fend for herself.  

READ MORE:

• The owls of Australia.
• VIDEO: Powerful owl rescued from museum steps.

The post VIDEO: orphaned boobook owl rescued, taken to wildlife hospital appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The rare sexual act was first observed by scientists at the early stages of a decade-long research project conducted off the coast of north-western Australia, which has sought to better understand the complex social structures of humpback dolphins.

The scientists recounted that one adult male dived deep into the water to retrieve a large marine sponge. Upon surfacing, the dolphin then balanced the sponge on his beak, eventually pushing it toward the female.

“We were at first perplexed to witness these intriguing behavioural displays by male humpback dolphins, but as we undertook successive field trips over the years, the evidence mounted,” said Simon Allen from UWA’s School of Biological Sciences.

“Here we have some of the most socially complex animals on the planet using sponges, not as a foraging tool, but as a gift, a display of his quality, or perhaps even as a threat in the behavioural contexts of socialising and mating.”

Stephanie King, co-author of the paper published today in Scientific Reports, said that on several occasions the adult male humpback dolphins worked together to court females.

“The formation of alliances between adult males for the purposes of coercing females is uncommon, since mating success cannot be shared,” she said.

“This is a new finding for this species, and presents an exciting avenue for future research.”

The complex social lives of dolphins

Chandra Salgado Kent, the Deputy Director at the Centre for Marine Science and Technology, told Australian Geographic that our knowledge of the social lives of dolphins is at its infancy.

According to Chandra, the observations made by Stephanie have been seen in other species of dolphin as well.

“The best documented examples of cooperation are among male bottlenose dolphins. Males have been documented to form alliances  – often of twos or threes – to cooperatively herd and control single females to increase reproductive success.

“In some location, still larger alliances may cooperate with one another to out-compete other groups of males in accessing a female.

“While bottlenose dolphin behaviours are among the most studied, we have yet to discover the breadth of their social lives, not to mention the social structure and behaviours of many other species.”

READ MORE:

• Underwater secrets of dolphins revealed.

The post Watch a male dolphin offer a spongey gift to a potential mate appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The post Highlights from the 2017 AG Society Awards Gala appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The post See an adorable echidna puggle with its spikes only just coming through appeared first on Australian Geographic.

READ MORE:

• Scientists spot rare white lemuroid possum during AG sponsored expedition.

The post AG Expedition: Three Peaks in Three Weeks appeared first on Australian Geographic.

READ MORE:

• About the Society Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Lifetime of Achievement Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Spirit of Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Conservation Awards

The post Curt and Mich Jenner Lifetime of Conservation 2017 appeared first on Australian Geographic.

READ MORE:

• About the Society Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Lifetime of Achievement Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Spirit of Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Conservation Awards

The post Natalie Isaacs Conservationist of the Year 2017 appeared first on Australian Geographic.

READ MORE:

• About the Society Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Lifetime of Achievement Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Spirit of Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Conservation Awards

The post Madison Stewart Young Conservationist of the Year 2017 appeared first on Australian Geographic.

READ MORE:

• About the Society Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Lifetime of Achievement Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Spirit of Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Conservation Awards

The post Jon Muir Lifetime of Adventure 2017 appeared first on Australian Geographic.

READ MORE:

• About the Society Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Lifetime of Achievement Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Spirit of Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Conservation Awards

The post Sandy Robson Adventurer of the Year 2017 appeared first on Australian Geographic.

READ MORE:

• About the Society Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Lifetime of Achievement Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Spirit of Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Conservation Awards

The post Spirit of Adventure 2017 appeared first on Australian Geographic.

READ MORE:

• About the Society Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Lifetime of Achievement Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Spirit of Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Conservation Awards

The post Sam Mitchell Young Adventurer of the Year 2017 appeared first on Australian Geographic.

During the build up to the wet season in northern Australia, the air becomes filled with the sound of buzzing, as cicada nymphs emerge from an extensive period of growth underground to shed their exoskeleton and find a mate in their completed form.

In its nymph stage, the wingless cicada can live underground for up to 6-7 years, feeding on sap from tree and plant roots. Once the nymphs development is complete, the cicada digs its way to the surface where it will attach to a tree or similar object to begin its final transformation.

(Image Credits: Brad Leue)

At its completed stage, the cicada will only live for roughly two weeks, in which time mating will take place and eggs will be laid. Once fertilised, the female cicada pierces holes into tree stems with her ovipositor, inserting the eggs into the created holes. Once the eggs hatch, the young nymphs fall to the ground and begin to burrow below the surface, where the cycle of growth will commence.

To capture the cicada’s final transformation, a series of 3,466 photos were taken over a period of almost two hours. The collection was then comprised into a time-lapse sequence to produce the final footage shown. I felt the time-lapse process was best suited to capture the pulsating and subtle movements that break the cicada out of its previous state.

Follow Brad on Instagram: @bradleuephotography

READ MORE:

• A guide to Australia’s cicadas.

The post Time lapse: watch an entrancing video of a cicada shedding its crunchy shell appeared first on Australian Geographic.

READ MORE:

• GALLERY: nature’s white animals.
• Albino animals: pale rarities in a coloured world.

The post VIDEO: white echidna sighted in Tasmania appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Both of the Tasmanian devil joeys are a part of the Devil Ark program, which this year had a record-breaking breeding season.

“The joeys will call The Australian Reptile Park home for the next 6 months to help raise species awareness for the plight of the Tasmanian devil before heading back to Devil Ark to be a part of the breeding program,” the reptile park confirmed in a statement. 

If you’d like the chance to get involved in an important conservation effort, this November Australian Geographic will be sponsoring a three-day Devil Ark expedition where you can get up-close with Tasmanian devils— feeding them, monitoring them, the lot! Click HERE for more information. 

READ MORE:

• Devil Ark: saving Tasmanian devils.
• GALLERY: Tasmanian devils.

The post VIDEO: meet Tasmanian devil joeys, Koda and Kayah appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Cinnamon was first spotted in her mother Coco’s pouch back in early August.

The park said that in the first year of their arrival they spotted Coco and the joeys father, Basil getting friendly and were hopeful that the union would deliver a nice surprise.

Tim Faulkner, the park’s General manager said that this was a chance to draw attention to conservation efforts directed at the quokka.

“The quokka’s notoriety worldwide is important as quokkas have reduced in great numbers in South Western Australia due to feral animals like foxes and cats. Their strong hold is Rottnest Island where it is a protected species,” he said.

“Quokkas are currently listed as “vulnerable,” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This is why The Australian Reptile Park is proud that these quokkas are a part of a nation-wide captive breeding program to help boost the population of quokkas.”

It’s been a successful year for the Australian Reptile Park’s breeding program that welcomed a trio of baby sugar gliders, Tiny, Beyonce and Lemonade and a group of 12 eastern quolls only two months ago.

Coco and her new joey will be on display during the school holidays.

(Image Credit: The Australian Reptile Park)

 READ MORE:

• Smiling quokkas of Rottnest Island.
• A close encounter of the furry kind.

The post The Australian Reptile Park’s quokka joey ventures outside of pouch appeared first on Australian Geographic.

In footage captured by witnesses the shark can be seen floundering, unable to use its fins in such shallow waters.

One eye witness told Nine News that Lifeguards on jet skis kept a close watch on the shark until marine rescue arrived to bring it to shore on a stretcher and transport it to the Fairy Bower Pool where the shark could recover.

Colin Simpfendorfer, the Director of the Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture at James Cook University told Australian Geographic that sharks are normally found well offshore, in deep waters, but will often swim close to shore when they are in poor health.

(Image Credit: Donna Holland)

READ MORE:

• How drones can help fight the war against shark attacks.
• How to avoid a shark attack.

The post VIDEO: Live shark washes up on Manly Beach appeared first on Australian Geographic.

News of the footage came just before today’s celebrations of Threatened Species Day, which marks the death of the last thylacine, which died in captivity in Hobart Zoo 81 years ago. Yet despite the animals extinction so many years ago it hasn’t stopped people from being hopeful.

Why is the search for the Tasmanian tiger an endless quest?

People who report sightings come from all walks of life and many have little prior knowledge of the creature they say they’ve seen. Few seem to have an ulterior motive for making a false report, such as a desire for fame, money or to perpetrate a successful hoax. They genuinely believe they saw a Tasmanian tiger.

Aside from these many one-off witnesses, there are a number of dedicated tiger-seekers, both in Tasmania and on the mainland, who spend a lot of money and time searching for what has become one of the world’s legendary creatures. A proportion of these can be said to be ‘true believers’ who have absolutely no doubt the tiger is alive. Some say they have seen it; others believe they have been close, either because they have smelt its pungent scent or heard its unusual calls. All hope that incontrovertible proof of the tiger’s continued existence will one day surface. And the best proof would be a live animal.

So, are they unquestionably extinct? Or might a few be holding out in remote bushland somewhere? Unfortunately, despite the hopes, dreams and prodigious efforts of a surprising number of people, there’s not a shred of conclusive proof of this possibility – no convincing photographs or video, no verifiable footprints and no roadkills.

Tammy Gordon, the collection officer at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston and co-author of the book Tasmanian Tiger: Precious Little Remains, says no thylacine has been brought to the museum in the past 80 years. “The museum has a file of sightings dating from the 1930s, but in the 30 years that I have been here I have not seen anything I would consider evidence.”

And yet the search goes on. Why? Are tiger-hunters deluding themselves? Are the true believers too starry-eyed to face the facts? What drives them? Some searchers may have quite basic motives, such as a desire for fame, notoriety or fortune. Others say they love the bush and that looking for the thylacine gives them a good excuse to be in it.

But a number raise more complex issues. “By searching for this animal I feel I’m honouring its existence,” says Mike Williams, who’s been searching for thylacines in Tasmania since the early 2000s. “We treated it savagely, we did horrific things to it, but if we find it we’ll know we haven’t destroyed it and could say we humans aren’t as bad as we thought we were. It would be a form of redemption.”

Eric Schwarz, a senior wildlife management officer in Tasmania’s Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, agrees. “There’s definitely an element of guilt in this,” he says. “I think people hope that a wrong will be righted by the knowledge that we didn’t exterminate it. It’s almost as if we’d be exonerated.”

READ MORE:

• The endless quest: the search for the Tasmanian Tiger.
• Brain structure of Tasmanian tiger revealed.

The post The alleged footage of a thylacine appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The brushtail possum is known to be nocturnal so foraging for food during the day was out of the ordinary.

One expert infomed the ABC that it was likely the possum was looking for a water source and that future incidents could be prevented by providing the animals with more water sources.

“Maybe what they [Bunnings] could do is put some of the water in the birdbaths and it might help alleviate that problem.

“It’s in an urban environment … so I suspect if it’s not getting water sources readily and on these hot days may not get access to it it may have needed moisture … that’s what I imagine,” Heather Janetzki, Queensland Museum collection manager told the ABC.

SEE MORE:

• VIDEO: echidna uses nose as a snorkel.
• VIDEO: See Australia Zoo’s new white koala joey.

The post VIDEO: brushtail possum helps itself to Bunnings feast appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The only white joey of the 12 joeys born, the little girl is quite unique.

The new addition to the Australia Zoo family, while white, is not albino as her eyes and nose are a normal brown-black colour.

“Her pale colouration has been observed as a characteristic in her maternal bloodline. Tia (the mum), has had joeys previously which are paler in comparison however they’ve never seen a joey with such white fur as this,” said a spokesperson for Tourism Australia, the company in charge of the naming, who are encouraging members of the public to submit suggestions to their Facebook album dedicated to the new addition.

“In veterinary science it’s often referred to as the ‘silvering gene’ where animals are born with white or very pale fur and, just like baby teeth, they eventually shed their baby fur and the regular adult colouration comes through,” explained Rosie Booth, the director of the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital.

The white koala joey is currently residing in the ‘Mums and Bubs’ section of the zoo where they can be viewed by visitors however encounters are not available during this developmental stage.

(Image Credit: Australia Zoo)

(Image Credit: Australia Zoo)

READ MORE:

• Australia zoo introduces its first koala joey for the season.

The post VIDEO: see Australia Zoo’s white koala joey appeared first on Australian Geographic.

This asymmetry enables an owl to instantly pinpoint the source of a sound (the rustle of a rat in undergrowth, for instance). Without this asymmetry, the owl would have to tilt its head to one side to make the fix, wasting precious seconds.

Studies of owl brains have shown that the medulla, the area in the brain associated with hearing, is much more complex than in other birds. Tyto owls have a further refinement to improve hearing.

The marked facial disc of this genus acts like a pair of satellite dishes, collecting sound and funnelling it to the ears, which lie at the side of the head behind the eyes. The disc feathers are tightly packed to help channel the sound, and the owl can alter the shape of the disc with special facial muscles. Such sound-detection mechanisms would be useless if the owl were a noisy flyer.

The whooshing of its wings would obscure the tiny rustle of an animal on the ground, and the prey would hear the owl coming well before the owl’s talons locked on. So owls that hunt by night have special feathers to cut flight noises almost to nil.

Footage courtesy of Taryn Smith.

READ MORE:

• The owls of Australia.

The post Video: This is what an owl’s ear looks like appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The triplets were handed over to the park after the tree they had inhabited was illegally cut down.

The park explained that illegal firewood collection is a major threat to wildlife, destroying the homes of birds, reptiles, mammals and amphibians.

Tim Faulkner, the general manager of the Reptile Park said that the sugar gliders are steadily on the road to recovery.

“Tiny, Beyoncé & Lemonade are such gorgeous additions to our Reptile Park family. They’re development is coming along nicely with them all feeding great and gaining weight by the day,” he said.

“Tiny, Beyoncé & Lemonade will reside at the Australian Reptile Park for the next 6 months until they are big and strong enough to head out into the wild by themselves through a soft release program.”

READ MORE:

• Eastern quoll bred in NSW for the first time in 100 years.
• Raising Eddie, the puggle.
  

The post Meet the Reptile Park’s new baby sugar glider triplets appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The footage captured by those aboard the Ocean Freedom vessel shows a bright white glow emerging from the deep blue waters off the coast of Green Island. 

Migaloo is known to visit these waters at this time of year, creating quite the spectacle for those lucky enough to see him in action. 

20 facts about the white whale, Migaloo

• Migaloo is an adult white male humpback whale, estimated to have been born in 1986.
• He was first spotted in 1991 passing through Byron Bay.
• It’s estimated that Migaloo was 3-5 years old when he was first sighted.
• Migaloo has brown eyes and his white exterior shows some signs of sun damage.
• When Migaloo was first sighted he was the only known white whale in the world.
• Migaloo’s song was first recorded in 1998, which convinced researchers that Migaloo was in fact a male due to his knack for melody.
• The whale’s sex was then confirmed by researchers from the Southern Cross University in 2004 when they were able to obtain skin samples.
• Until September 2011 it was thought that Migaloo was the only white whale in existence, after which, an all-white humpback calf emerged.
• ‘Migaloo’ means ‘white fella’ in some Aboriginal languages.
• Despite being almost completely white, Migaloo is referred to as ‘hyper-pigmented’ rather than ‘albino’.
• Scientists say that it’s possible Migaloo is ‘leucistic,’, which refers to partial loss of pigmentation.
• Migaloo is a part of Australia’s eastern humpback whale population.
• Migaloo is protected by the Australian National Guidelines for Whale and Dolphin Watching in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act Regulations.
• However Migaloo has been given extra protection due to his uniqueness under Queensland & Commonwealth Government legislation that is enacted each whale season which says that a vessel will be fined $16 500 if it comes within 500 metres of the white whale.
• Nevertheless, Migaloo hasn’t been immune to some collisions. The whale collided with a trimaran, a type of boat, on the Queensland coast on 2003.
• Besides Migaloo, there are only 3-4 other known white whales, making them exceedingly rare.
• The other white whales go by the names of Bahloo, Willow and Migaloo Jnr, all humpback whales,
• The first official sighting of Migaloo for 2017 was on the 8 July, off the NSW coast.
• In 2015 scientists explained that it’s likely we’ll see less and less of Migaloo as he matures and swims further offshore.

READ MORE:

• Top 10 whale-watching spots in Australia.

The post VIDEO: Migaloo the white whale sighted appeared first on Australian Geographic.

On the occasion that one of these creatures is caught on camera, scientists and on-lookers fascinated by the megamouths physical oddities and eager to see the shark up-close, automatically catapult the shark to social media infamy, resulting in headlines dotted with words like ‘terrifying’ and ‘rare.’ Yet we know very little about the shark’s behaviour or how its unique physical traits operate.

The discovery of the megamouth

The megamouth shark was first discovered in 1976 by a US navy research vessel operating around Oahu, Hawaii, when the shark became tangled in some cables.

The creature was dubbed the ‘megamouth’ shark due to its gaping mouth and huge jaw and the name has stuck ever since. Eventually the shark was given its very own genus and family. Today, it still remains the sole member of the genus Megachasma.

Since the shark was first sighted, Colin Simpfendorfer, the Director at the Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture estimates that there have been more than one hundred sightings.

“Only one has been reported from Australia — the third ever found, which was located in Mandurah, Western Australia, in 1988,” Colin told Australian Geographic. The shark washed up on the beach alive and was then collected and preserved by scientists from the Western Australian Museum.

The most recent sighting of the megamouth occurred last week near Indonesia’s Komodo Island.

The megamouth shark displayed in the Western Australian Museum (Image Credit: Western Australian Museum)

The megamouths behaviour

“There is growing data about megamouth behaviour,” said Colin. “They are believed to follow the deep scattering layer in the open ocean that’s made up of plankton and associated organisms that migrate toward the surface at night and descend during the day.” However, he explained that we know little about their population size and status.

The megamouth, believed to be diurnal – meaning the creature mostly operates during the day – regularly alternates between the shallow and deep waters of mostly Taiwan and Japan, but has also been observed travelling from the Atlantic Ocean right through to the Pacific and Indian oceans. But its preference remains a mystery.

Due to its rather ocean-hopping nature, the IUCN considers the megamouth shark of ‘least concern’, but like many large marine creatures it continues to be threatened by fisheries – they often end up in the bycatch of vessels operating in the waters of South-East Asia.

The unique physical traits of the megamouth

The megamouth is known for its large mouth that it uses to filter plankton from the water. “It is also believed that its lips are bioluminescent, which attracts prey to it in the deep sea where it normally lives,” Colin explained.

Because the mouth and jaw are much larger than the shark’s abdomen, the megamouth doesn’t have the strongest swimming abilities.

According to the Western Australian Museum, they have “soft bodies with large oily livers, flabby muscles and skeletons that are poorly calcified,” which prevent the shark from sinking.

READ MORE:

• 10 myths about sharks: the truth.
• The ultimate guide to Australian sharks.
• Gallery: all about Australian sharks.

The post Everything you need to know about the megamouth shark appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Betty was a part of what became known as the ‘Age of the Golden Girls’ at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics where she won three gold medals in the 100 m, 200 m and 4 x 100 m relay tracks.

Cuthburt returned to the Olympics held in Tokyo four years later winning yet another gold medal that made her the world’s first athlete to win gold in four different events.

Despite her retirement from athletics, a wheel-chair bound Betty still made an appearance at the 2000 Sydney Olympics torch relay as a part of the opening ceremony.

The Melbourne Olympics and the age of the golden girls

Australia’s impressive medal count was largely due to the success of the ‘golden girls’.

Dawn Fraser, Betty Cuthbert and Shirley Strickland all took out multiple gold medals in swimming or track events. Many wondered why Australian women did so well.

At the time, Dawn Fraser famously stated, “Australian women have always been gutsier than the men,” but Tony Ward says it probably had more to do with Australian attitudes toward female athletes.

“Australia was more open to women participating than other countries were, and so we drew on a bigger talent pool,” he says.

Ian Jobling, director of the Centre for Olympic Studies at the University of Queensland, agrees, but says it also “didn’t cost a lot of money,” to have women compete in pools and on tracks that already existed.

Global politics plays out at the Melbourne Olympics

In the lead up to the games, conflict had plagued many northern hemisphere nations.
In July 1956, Egypt nationalised the Franco-British controlled Suez Canal. France and Britain invaded the country, and Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq subsequently refused to participate in the Games in protest.

Meanwhile, the USSR was quashing the short-lived Hungarian revolution, placing the nation back under Soviet rule.

Australia decided the Soviets should still be able to compete at Melbourne, leading the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland to boycott the Games.

A vicious water polo match between Hungary and the USSR would later play out during the Games, resulting in several punches between players and at least one black eye.

Closing the Melbourne Olympics with an unusual show of unity

Despite the turbulent political environment, the Melbourne Olympics closed on a note of global unity.

Upon the suggestion of an Australian schoolboy, John Ian Wing, all the athletes walked together in the closing ceremony instead of in teams, as tradition dictated.

“That was seen as being both a great improvement to the international spirit of the Games and being something that was sort of typically Australian,” says Tony.

In his letter to the Melbourne Organising Committee, John wrote: “During the Games, there will be only one nation. War, politics and nationality will be all forgotten, what more could anybody want…”

READ MORE:

• The Melbourne Olympic Games open.
• “The best Olympic Games ever”: moments that made the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The post ‘Golden girl’ of Australian athletics, Betty Cuthbert has died appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The new species, dubbed the ‘Hoodwinker Sunfish’ (Mola tecta) after its elusive nature, is the first new addition to the sunfish genus for almost 130 years.

PhD Candidate Marianne Nyegaard from the School of Veterinary and Life Sciences at Murdoch University led the four-year study tasked with identifying the unknown species.

“A Japanese research group first found genetic evidence of an unknown sunfish species in Australian waters 10 years ago, but the fish kept eluding the scientific community because we didn’t know what it looked like,” Marianne said.

The PhD student explained that finding the fish and storing specimens was a logistical nightmare due to their elusive nature and large size.

Nevertheless, over a three year period Marianne and her team collected data from 27 Hoodwinker sunfish.

The researchers often had to travel thousands of kilometres to study stranded specimens of the newly discovered fish, but also relied heavily on the kindness of strangers to collect samples and data from sunfish beached along shores.

The hoodwinked sunfish. (Image Credit: César Villarroel, ExploraSub)

What’s unique about the Hoodwinker sunfish?

The Hoodwinker sunfish looks quite different to other sunfish species, Marianne told Australian Geographic. Instead of developing different size-dependent characteristics as the fish grows, both small and large hoodwinkers look more or less the same.

“When sunfish are small the different species look pretty similar, but as they grow older they develop different characteristics. The sister species Mola ramsayi grows this big, bizarre head bump, a big chin and swollen side-lumps, while the Mola mola species is characterised by a lumpy ‘tail’,” she explained.

“The Hoodwinker doesn’t grow these big lumps or bumps. They stay quite sleek and slender all through their life, and the skin structure is a dead give-away.”

Generally, a giant sunfish uses its dorsal and anal fins to swim, while the ‘tail’ (called a clavus) is used for steering. There’s a band of soft skin on the backend of sunfish that allows them to movethe fins and clavus, much like our lips, Marianne said.

One of the different features on the Hoodwinker is that it has developed increased flexibility of its clavus due to a little back-fold in the smooth band, diving the clavus into and upper and lower portion.

From left: Marianne Nyegaard, Dr. Etsuro Sawai, Andrew Stewart. (Image Credit: Salme Kortet)

How did this giant fish go undetected for so long?

The history of the sunfish is plagued by scientific confusion.

Marianne explained that for centuries people have been captivated by the giant sunfish for their alien appearance, so much so that there remains thousands of different, varying accounts of human interaction with this marine oddity, dating all the way back to histories written by Pliny the Elder.

When the interest in sunfish took off in Europe in the 16th century, Marianne told Australian Geographic that the number of species of sunfish started to grow.

“People just started describing sunfishes left, right and centre. As fish biology expanded from Europe to include other parts of the world, as naturalists joined long sea voyages to far-flung parts of the planet, new sunfish species were added. However, in the late 1800s the scientific community started to think ‘guys these fish are actually all the same’.”

According to Marianne, after a review was conducted in the 1950s of all the countless species of sunfish described, biologists came to the conclusion that there was only two species of sunfish in the genus Mola — mola ramsayi and the Mola mola.

“Because neither of these species were terribly well described, people in New Zealand and Australia, where fish science arrived relatively late, just assumed all the different shaped and sized sunfish they saw belonged to either of these two species,” said Marianne.

“But once you know what to look for the third species becomes quite obvious,” she said.

Marianne however does concede that today’s scientists have a number of advantages over old explorers, including, “genetic tools, digital cameras, social media, digitised versions of long-forgotten books and publications, museums with fish collections, and easy communication between international team members,” which she said, “were key to solving the mystery!”

READ MORE: 

• Gallery: creatures of the abyss.

The post VIDEO: The newly discovered ‘Hoodwinker’ sunfish appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The post Watch a great white shark take a bite out of an underwater camera appeared first on Australian Geographic.

These small, nocturnal marsupials are endemic to south-eastern Australia and Tasmania. Once widespread across grasslands and woodlands, the mainland subspecies is now listed as extinct in the wild, due to predation by foxes and habitat loss.

However, the species tends to thrive in protected areas like the MRBIC, which includes a predator proof fence around the entire property.

According to the MRBIC, “This has allowed the re-introduction and subsequent establishment of free-living populations of some of Victoria’s most endangered mammal species.”

Video:  Mt Rothwell Biodiversity Interpretation Centre.

READ MORE:

• Australia’s most endangered species.
• 10 Australian keystone endangered species.
• Australian endangered species.

The post VIDEO: baby eastern barred bandicoots found in pouch appeared first on Australian Geographic.

As well as tree sap and other exudates, Leadbeater’s live on small arthropods – like the insect being snapped up here by this youngster.

Leadbeater’s are considered an indicator species. Where they are present, it’s likely you’ll find mature forest nearby that can support other species too. Where Leadbeater’s numbers drop it can be a warning for the wider ecosystem.

The public who volunteer to survey for this species in Victoria’s forested Central Highlands hope that effective protection for the Leadbeater’s Possum will also help avoid the wider environmental implications of habitat loss.

Community volunteers have substantially boosted the survey effort for these species in the last couple of years. Groups like WOTCH have clocked thousands of nocturnal survey hours to pinpoint individuals through the Central Highlands. Where possums are caught on camera, a small localised reserve excludes the logging operations that are still active through the region.

The extra sightings that have resulted from the public’s combined efforts don’t diminsh the very real threats to the species.

Leadbeaters were listed as critically endangered in 2015 because of the vulnerability of their habitat, which faces three major threats – a steep decline in tree-hollows, future bush fires, and the continued logging of native forest. Those risks haven’t diminished.

The loss of hollows relates to a bushfire that swept the state 80 years ago, creating the ’39 regrowth’. This naturally-recovered bush is characterised by tall, straight poles – mountain ash at lower altitudes and alpine ash up higher – with an acacia midstory and an impenetrable understory. Often cool gullies will cut through, lined by intact rainforest. It’s an important ecosystem type in the Central Highlands, where islands of older forest are rare and isolated.

Single older trees that survived the fire have provided burnt-out hollows for wildlife over the last decades. But due to the uniform age of ‘39 regrowth, wildlife populations now face a precipice as these old stags collapse.

Human disturbance – including “salvage” logging after more recent bushfires – is disrupting the development of younger stags to take their place. There are at least thirty-nine vertebrate species that depend on finding hollows in old trees.

Leadbeater’s are often exposed to bushfire threat as their range is limited to a seventy-by-eighty-kilometre extent in the Highlands. In 2009, thirty-five percent of ash forest was lost. Resilience for this species against the unknown future course of major fires will need its distribution to be maximised.

Continued logging is a steady encroachment on suitable habitat. The ‘39 regrowth that’s been a lifeline to Highlands fauna is also preferred by loggers. Dispute over how to manage these areas has brought recent media attention to the shy possum.

But recent evidence shows more than a single species is at risk, and that wider trends are resulting from habitat loss through Victoria’s montane forests. The Greater Glider is the most recent species to have been added to the threatened species list, after a crash in its population right across the state.

Modelling undertaken in 2015 gives an indication of the eventual consequences of habitat loss. Using an international standard for assessing the sustainability of an ecosystem, the study predicts of a collapse of the Mountain Ash Forest ecosystem within fifty years.  Under this IUCN Classification, the forest itself is Critically Endangered.

The work that the community puts in to conserve the Leadbeater’s is an important step for avoiding ecosystem changes that would have much wider implications for Victoria’s environment.

READ MORE:

• Leadbeater possums on the brink of extinction.
• Hunting, fishing and farming remain biggest threats to wildlife.

The post VIDEO: baby Leadbeater possum sighted appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Since becoming extinct on the mainland due to feral predators, the eastern quoll populations have been restricted to parts of Tasmania. 

Today, Tim Faulkner, manager of the Australian Reptile Park confirmed the discovery of 12 joeys following a pouch check of two females. 

While Devil Ark’s focus is on the conservation of the Tasmanian devil species, in 2016, the organisation began assisting in the conservation of other endangered species including the Eastern quoll, with the help of Australian Geographic who funded the building of enclosures for the quolls.  

“The health check was great – the joeys are in perfect condition and all the mums are doing great as well. One can’t describe the feeling you get when you breed an animal in an area it is now extinct in. It really gives you hope for the future of the species,” Tim said. 

On the involvement of Australian Geographic, Tim said, “As a registered charity, Devil Ark largely relies on external support from project partners like Australian Geographic and the general public to maintain the facility for both the Eastern quolls and Tasmanian devils. I am proud to say, in the quolls case, this significant milestone would not have been possible without Australian Geographic.” 

Once the species is at stable numbers, Devil Ark plan to return the Eastern quoll to the wild.

READ MORE:

• Eastern quolls edge closer to extinction – but it’s not too late to save them.
• Eastern quolls given a second chance.

The post EXCLUSIVE: Eastern quoll bred in NSW for the first time in 100 years appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The close relationship between the two quickly developed once the baby kangaroo was saved after being orphaned by his mother. 

READ MORE:

• VIDEO: Rare tree kangaroo.
• Fossil Factile: Procoptodon.

The post VIDEO: The cuddly kangaroo appeared first on Australian Geographic.

“In the shallow, temperate waters a truly amazing technicoloured display can be witnessed by snorkelers and scuba divers alike. Cuttlefish flirtation, courtship, competition and mating unfolds among the rocks, algae and kelp.”

THE CUTTLEFISHES DECLINE

The number of giant cuttlefish that descend on South Australia’s Spencer Gulf to breed en masse is in worrying decline – the most recent estimate clocked a 93 per cent decrease.

DID YOU KNOW?

– Australian giant cuttlefish have blue blood, three hearts and a donut-shaped brain.

– The males can reach 1m in length and weigh up to 16kg; that’s about the size of a small dog.

– They can change colour, shape and texture to imitate things around them, such as rocks, sand or seaweed.

UNDERSTANDING THEIR DECLINE

In the late 1990s numbers of the world’s largest cuttlefish were first noticed gathering in their tens of thousands in a remote part of the gulf – the only place in the world where this is known to have occurred.

In 1999 there were an estimated 183,000, and their spectacular fights and breeding strategies captivated documentary makers, who came from all over the world to film these unusual creatures.

In 2013, however, estimates suggested there were only 13,500 cuttlefish at the breeding grounds, and it’s thought that the steepest decline took place over the last 3-4 years.

The reasons for the disappearance are largely unknown, and the theories range from a natural population boom-and-bust to industrial impacts.

READ MORE:

• Giant cuttlefish: undetermined decline.

The post VIDEO: The giant Australian cuttlefish migration appeared first on Australian Geographic.

After staff found the owl languishing, biologist Jodi Rowley from the Royal Botanical Gardens Sydney took the bird to Taronga Conservation Society’s Wildlife Hospital.

After a week of care, the powerful owl recovered from its injuries and was released back into the Royal Botanical Gardens.

See the video.

READ MORE:

• The owls of Australia.

The post VIDEO: Powerful owl rescued from museum steps appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The historic flight began on 16 July 1969 with a flawless lift-off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, and ended eight days later when Apollo 11’s tiny command module and its three-man crew splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean. 

The highlight of the mission was the 21 and a half hours spent on the Moon’s surface by astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, following their landing in the lunar module Eagle on 20 July. Half a billion people watched live TV coverage of their Moon walk (courtesy of Australia’s Honeysuckle Creek and Parkes radio telescopes).

For me – a young scientist working on a primitive space telescope at a laboratory in northern England – it was a time of pure magic. I was about to begin a study of asteroid orbits for my master’s degree, so my mind was already full of the jargon of space navigation. To read daily news reports of “trans-lunar injections” and “mid-course corrections” was, well, heavenly. 

As most people know, Apollo 11 was followed by six more missions to the Moon, one of which (Apollo 13) didn’t make it, although its heroic crew brought it safely back to Earth. In this succession of space feats, 12 men walked (or drove) on the lunar surface, covering a total distance of 90km. They brought back 380kg of rock and soil samples, and 30,000 images of the lunar landscape that are still breathtaking in their timelessness and desolation. 

It’s my view that Apollo 11’s lunar landing was a defining moment in human history. Yes, it was motivated more by Cold War politics than scientific endeavour, and yes, it represented the all-American dream, but it was an achievement of truly staggering proportions. For the first time, our species had set foot on another celestial object, an alien world.
 
It saddens me greatly that this extraordinary enterprise is today largely undervalued. While we have learnt that current technology lends itself best to robotic exploration of the solar system, we should never underestimate the exploits of those brave pioneers on the Sea of Tranquility 40 years ago.

Fred Watson is Astronomer-in-Charge of the Anglo-Australian Observatory at Coonabarabran in north-western NSW. 

Source: Australian Geographic (95) Jul – Sep 2009. This article has been updated.

The post VIDEO: Apollo 11 Moon landing appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Here are some other great locations for viewing these spectacular marine giants this whale season across the Queensland coast. 

Whitsundays, QLD

Every year from May to September humpback whales make the waters in and around the Whitsunday Islands their home. Because the waters are shallow, sheltered and warm it is the ideal calving ground and nursery for newborn whales. Humpback whales can be seen amongst the islands, and occasionally on the Great Barrier Reef, with their young.

Hervey Bay, QLD

Humpback whales have made Hervey Bay a regular stop on their annual migration south. The whales begin to arrive in Hervey Bay from mid-July, where they remain until late November, before heading south again.. The waters are sheltered by Fraser Island, so the humpbacks usually stop and rest or play – especially with their young – for a few days before heading off again.

Great Barrier Reef, QLD

The best time of year to spot dwarf minke whales on the reef is June–July, when pods of the curious animals gather here for a few weeks. Little is known about the migration pattern and life cycle of this subspecies of the common minke whale, but they are easily distinguished by their small size and mottled grey, black and white colouration.

READ MORE:

• Top 10 whale-watching spots in Australia.
• Everything you need to know about Migaloo the white whale.
• Top 8 whale watching spots in NSW.

The post VIDEO: The beauty of synchronised whales appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The post Watch an echidna hatch in this vintage CSIRO clip appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Peggy Rismiller, an expert on echidnas for almost 30 years and a director at the Pelican Lagoon Research and Wildlife Centre (PLRWC), which she co-owns with her partner and fellow scientist Mike McKelvey, explained that echidnas may take a swim for leisurely purposes.

“Sometimes they are just having fun. Yes, we do see ‘play’ in echidnas. They have been around for 110 million years and there is nothing new under the sun.”

The PLRWC, situated on the eastern end of Kangaroo Island in South Australia, gets its fair share of concerned onlookers.

“Through our many years of collecting echidna sightings from around Australia, we have multiple records from various places along the Great Ocean Road of swimming echidnas.  There are stories about people ‘rescuing’ swimming echidnas only to have them head straight back out into the water,” Peggy explained.

“I often get reports from locals who see echidnas swimming across their dams, when it could have easily walked around.  Working at the west end of Kangaroo Island we have often seen echidnas swimming across the Rocky River. It’s all part of their home range.”

There’s also a chance that the echidnas take a dip when the Australian climate becomes a little too much for them. “They could be cooling off on a hot day,” Peggy said, while also suggesting that they may use a paddle in the water to groom themselves.

Some scientific studies have suggested that there is a strong possibility that echidnas evolved from platypuses. The strongest evidence to support this theory is that echidnas have electroreception, giving them the ability to detect electric currents. This particular biological trait is mostly seen in aquatic animals.

While the Australian echidna only has 400 electroreceptors, compared to the platypuses 40, 000 — and that’s just in the tip of their bills, they’re nonetheless quite at home in the water.

READ MORE:

• Are echidnas really platypuses?
• VIDEO: echidna uses nose as a snorkel.

The post Why do echidnas swim? appeared first on Australian Geographic.

IUCN status

Critically endangered

AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATION STATUS (EPBC Act)
Endangered

RANGE
The northern hairy-nosed wombat is confined to a section of Epping Forest National Park in central Queensland, with a second population developing in Richard Underwood Nature Refuge near St George. Fossil evidence shows the species once ranged from central NSW to Port Douglas in northern QLD.

COMMON NAMES
Northern hairy-nosed wombat, Queensland hairy-nosed wombat

HABITAT
Sandy soil close to trees offers the ideal ground for the wombats to dig burrows. Wombat burrows can be up to 3.5 metres underground, 20m long and half a metre wide. A year-round supply of native grasses also dictates where the wombat resides.

CLASSIFICATION
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Mammalia
Order Diprotodonta
Family Vombatidae
Genus Lasiorhinus
Species krefftii

This information was taken from Australian Geographic’s Endangered Species blog.

The post Endangered northern hairy-nosed wombat joey spotted appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Peggy Rismiller, an expert on echidnas for almost 30 years, explained that echidnas may take a swim for leisurely purposes.

“Sometimes they are just having fun. Yes, we do see ‘play’ in echidnas. They have been around for 110 million years and there is nothing new under the sun.”

However, Peggy has seen her fair share of concerned onlookers.

“Through our many years of collecting echidna sightings from around Australia, we have multiple records from various places along the Great Ocean Road of swimming echidnas.

“There are stories about people ‘rescuing’ swimming echidnas only to have them head straight back out into the water.

“I often get reports from locals who see echidnas swimming across their dams, when it could have easily walked around.”

The post VIDEO: Swimming echidna proves these animals love to play appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Mark Collins, a resident of Dunsborough, captured the three whales circling the tourists-filled boats, when all of a sudden one of the marine giants breached and crashed just metres away from the vessel, causing rows of large waves to destabilise the boat.

“We thought ‘Geez, that was a bit close’,” he told WA News. “You could hear the screams in the background.”

All whale watchers and their vessels are encouraged to keep a safe distance from the marine mammals.

READ MORE:

• White whale makes appearance off Byron Bay.
• A whales varied vocabulary.
• 20 facts about Migaloo the white whale.
• Top 10 whale-watching spots in Australia.

The post VIDEO: Tourists have close call with breaching whale appeared first on Australian Geographic.

According to the Australian Reptile Park, “Each female devil gave birth to over 30 minuscule joeys, but only the first four that attach to a teat will endure, so it’s survival of the fittest from the minute they are born.”

While the joeys are now four months old, they’ll still remain with their mothers for another two months, after which they’ll leave their mother’s pouch and join breeding populations.

Devil Ark president and the general manager of the Australian Reptile Park, Tim Faulkner said that while they welcomed the positive health checks carried out this week, there’s still a long way to go.

“Australia has the worst small mammal extinction rate on earth, almost as many as the rest of the world combined. Australia is unique and under attack from disease, feral predators and habitat destruction. Our organisations are committed to reversing this trend or at very least stalling.”

READ MORE:

• VIDEO: George the wombat.
• Breeding program ups the ante to save devils.
• VIDEO: Levi the hand-reared Tassie devil.
• Tarkine mines last straw for Tasmanian devils?
• Gallery: Tasmanian devils.

The post VIDEO: Tasmanian devil and her new babies appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Things have been looking up for George, since his mother was hit by a car while he was still in her pouch. 

“Eight months on from George’s arrival and he is thriving! It’s always hit and miss with these little orphans. It’s hard to know if they’ve been exposed to disease, are malnourished or even injured in the accident.,” Tim said.

“He has pulled through like a true champion. I’m so proud of the Australian ambassador George has become. Australian wildlife needs all the help it can get and George has stolen everyone’s heart, again!”

Video courtesy of Tim Faulkner and The Australian reptile Park. 

READ MORE:

• First glance at baby gorilla at Melbourne Zoo.
• Baby alligator hatching caught on camera.
• Twin baby platypuses make debut.

The post VIDEO: George the wombat appeared first on Australian Geographic.

It’s only 9am and already the mercury is pushing 35˚C. We’re in Tully Gorge National Park, about 125km south-west of Cairns in Tropical North Queensland. Our only cool relief will be from the river.

It’s February and the Wet season is in full swing – the river is running high and fast. Our raft – one of seven – will be commandeered by Dave McFarlane. The Raging Thunder Adventures guide knows just how powerful the water is, as the Kareeya Hydro Power Station above us is at maximum output, hitting an impressive 88 megawatts. He adjusts our route accordingly.

It’s not just the churning Tully River that has benefitted from the deluge. Across the region, the waterfalls are roaring, the lookouts are lush and, as a cooling afternoon storm rolls in, the sky turns from clear blue to a brooding charcoal.

In the rainforest everything seems alive. Day and night, every bird, bug and frog sings happily among the dripping leaves. The wet tropics are nothing if not loud.

But today, the attention of our helmeted and life-jacketed group of 40 is focused on the boulder-filled Tully River that cuts through the 54,300ha national park.

Today our trip is only 12km, but it’s a wild ride and follows a strict hierarchy. The river, which changes character daily, tells the guide what to do, and he then directs us: paddle forwards, paddle backwards, paddle hard, stop, hold on and – in the big rapids – get down. Sometimes all these instructions are fired in rapid succession. But you’re never doing one for more than five or so seconds, and the rest is gentle drifting – both in and out of the raft, which we sometimes exit involuntarily.

Image: Don Fuchs/Australian Geographic

BEHANA GORGE, about 60km to the north-east, looks similar to the one we just paddled through: steep cliffs, raging water and a steamy day. But here, a raft is useless – what we’ll be descending is like a giant staircase of water.

The gorge is a popular swimming spot for locals and Sam Day has been coming here with his mates since they were teenagers. Now he guides professionally through his Behana Canyoning business, and over the next few hours we treat it as our playground. In a wetsuit top, lifevest and helmet, we leap from ledges into the river, swim against its current, use rocks as waterslides, scoot through chutes and finally abseil down to get to an outcrop that Sam’s offsider Dom Godwin calls Paradise Pool.

“Some people say they like to live life on the edge,” Dom says. “We like to live over the edge.”

But not every water experience in the wet tropics has to be extreme. About 65km south of Cairns, Babinda Creek serves up a beautiful wide pool above the Babinda Boulders, which can be seen only on the Devils Pool Walk, a short 1.3km return track that takes in three viewing platforms along the way. Each shows how the water has both sharpened and smoothed out the granite boulders like an outdoor sculpture park. 

Other tranquil swimming hideaways in the region include the 192m Josephine Falls, Alligators Nest at Tully and the Spa Pool, near Cardwell, where the creek runs through a depression in its rocky bed, creating a natural jacuzzi.

Fact box

WHEN TO GO

November to April is the Wet, when the waterfalls and rivers run high and full. The days at this time are hot and steamy: humidity often climbs above 60 per cent and average daily temperatures can regularly reach above 30^C, although they are usually tempered by a cooling storm in the evening. The ‘dry’ winter months are more temperate but also much busier.

GETTING THERE

From Cairns, it’s a 90-minute drive to Atherton and the southern Tablelands via either Gordonvale or Mareeba. To the south, Tully is two hours’ drive and Cardwell two-and-a-half.

MORE INFORMATION

• Queensland parks
• Tourism Tropical North Queensland
• Wet Tropics Management Authority

You can read the rest of this feature in the May-June 2017 edition (AG#138) of Australian Geographic.

The post Taking the plunge in Tropical North Queensland appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The incredible video was taken by drone and shared by YouTube user Damian Hurley on Sunday. Fingal Beach was closed due to the shark sightings.

Professor William Gladstone, a marine biologist at the University of Technology, Sydney, said the footage was “amazing” and fascinating for many reasons – and that it was great to see so many people enjoying the spectacle from the beach.

“Despite the numbers of sharks and fish, this is not a ‘bloodbath’: predator and prey are, for the most part, swimming together,” he explained.

“The mullet can be seen giving way to the sharks and keeping a safe distance, revealed by the haloes of clear water around each shark. The sharks turn back into the school of fish when they reach the edge of the school,” he said.

William also noted that it was surprising to see the sharks swimming at an open beach close to shore, as they are usuallly found in rocky gutters and deep crevices on coastal and offshore reefs. “This suggests that grey nurse sharks might use beaches more than we previously thought,” he said.

He added that the footage reveals the power of new technologies, such as drones, for revealing animal behaviour and enabling citizen scientists to contribute new knowledge.

Grey nurse sharks (Carcharias taurus) are a threatened species, officially listed as vulnerable. Growing up to 3m long, they feed on almost any kind of fish, crustacean, sharks, rays and squid, and play a fundamental role in the marine ecosystem along the Australian coast. 

The post Drone captures amazing footage of sharks feeding off NSW coast appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The 18-second video was taken by one of the science teams aboard the CSIRO research vessel Investigator during a voyage in March – and in a blog post published on its website today, CSIRO has said marine biologists and squid experts aren’t exactly sure what is going on in the clip.

Expert hypotheses include that the video may have either captured an instance of squid cannibalism (same-species predation); an individual attacking a squid from another species; or it could even show an intense mating scene.

“What our three hypotheses tell us is that the oceans are vast and full of mystery,” said CSIRO communications advisor and science blogger Jesse Hawley.

“Pause for a moment and consider how we don’t currently have enough understanding of life in the Southern Ocean to identify the species or even genus of squid in this video,” he said.

While Dr Mandy Reid from the Australian Museum did apparently identify both squids as most likely belonging to the family Ommastrephidae, this can’t be confirmed from the footage alone. She also “tentatively guessed” that the squids are from different species.

Another expert from The Smithsonian Institute, Michael Vecchione, told CSIRO’s communications team the video more likely captures an act of predation than sex, given the ferocity of the interaction and the fact that feeding tentacles are visible.

READ MORE:

• Surreal deep-sea jellyfish near Marianas Trench
• Octopus video with a shocking twist goes viral
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The post Surprise squid attack footage confounds experts appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The scientists used suction cups to attach non-invasive digital tags containing sensors and a ‘whale cam’ on the backs of the whales, with the resulting data and footage (watch above) offering new insights into the species, including into their social lives and feeding behaviour.

As the whales plunge, the cameras allow viewers to dive beneath the surface and experience a day in the life of these elusive giants.

Dr Ari Friedlaender, an associate professor from Oregon State University and lead scientist on the whale study, described one encounter with a whale tagged for the project, which circled the research boat with another whale for over an hour.

“They were gentle and curious and seemed as interested in us as we were of them,” he said. “It is hard to describe the feeling of having a 15-metre, 40-tonne whale inches away from you, peering back at you. We were all extremely moved by this experience.”

Already, scientists have discovered the whales spend long periods throughout the day socialising and resting, and then feeding throughout the evening and night. They’ve also gained insights into how the whales blow hard to clear sea ice so they can breathe.

“Every time we deploy a tag or collect a sample, we learn something new about whales in the Antarctic,” Ari said.

The researchers hope to use the data and footage collected to better inform policy and management to protect the whales and their environment. 

The post Camera-wearing whales reveal new insights appeared first on Australian Geographic.

So far, he’s super-impressed with the Access. The flexibility of the pack in terms of what you can carry is brilliant, and everything inside the pack is well protected, thanks to the pack’s spring steel frame. A sleeve for a laptop, a separate sleeve for a tablet, plus additional sleeves for portable hard drives, phones, pens, notebooks and more has seen.

The Ed ditched his old daypack permanently now that he can fit all his work gear in a more compact, and more protective pack for his commute for work, which he reckons is uber-comfortable thanks to the FlexVent suspension system. We just wish he’d share it with us!

In the meantime, we have to console ourselves with this cool video from The North Face showcasing all of the Access Pack’s features. Look for the review in our upcoming May-June issue!

The post VIDEO: The North Face Access Pack appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The video was taken from NASA’s International Space Station livestream broadcast two days ago, and recorded and shared online. The footage shows two views of the storm as it intensifies over the Coral Sea on 26 March – one from the Space Station’s forward-facing camera and one from directly above.

Cyclone Debbie is currently crossing the Queensland coast as a Category 4 storm, defined as one with sustained winds in the range of 160-200km/h. Wind gusts of 190km/h have already been reported at Hamilton Island.

• How will Debbie compare to Australia’s worst cyclones in history?
• How to cyclone-proof your house
• How do cyclones form, and what do the categories mean?

The eye of the enormous storm alone is reported to be around 50km across and is expected to hit Bowen at around lunch time today.

NASA has also released the below image of Cyclone Debbie taken from its Aqua Satellite yesterday, 27 March, at 0350 UTC.

“The image showed powerful bands of thunderstorms wrapping around the low level centre, and strongest storms in the western quadrant stretched along the coast from Townsville in the north, south to Mackay. The southernmost extent of the storm was near Bundaberg,” said the statement accompanying the image.

Image of Tropical Cyclone Debbie taken from NASA’s Aqua Satellite on 27 March 0350 UTC. (Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team)

Cyclone Debbie is the biggest storm to hit north Queensland since Cyclone Yasi six years ago.

Follow ABC Emergency or the Bureau of Meteorology for up to date alerts and warnings about Cyclone Debbie.

READ MORE:

• The biggest cyclones in recorded history
• More tropical cyclones likely for Australia this year
• Looking back: Cyclone Tracy, 1974

The post Amazing footage of Cyclone Debbie from space appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Early last year, researchers made the tantalising announcement that they’d found evidence of an enormous ninth planet at the outer edge of our Solar System.

Dubbed ‘Planet 9‘ the mysterious planet is thought to have a mass 10 times that of Earth and orbit, on average, around 20 times farther from the Sun than Neptune, the farthest known planet of the eight that we currently know of orbiting our Sun. 

However, the existence of this mysterious ‘Planet 9’ remains based on computer and mathematical models – and scientists are inviting armchair astronomers to help in their effort to confirm its existence. It would be the first new planet discovered in our Solar System since Neptune was observed in over 150 years.

Today, astronomers from Australian National University in Canberra invited anyone around the world with access to the Internet to join the search for Planet 9.

“We have the potential to find a new planet in our Solar System that no human has ever seen in our two-million-year history,” said ANU astrophysicist Dr Brad Tucker, who is leading the project.

Spot the difference

The ANU Project will allow citizen scientists to user a website to search hundreds of thousands of images taken by the ANU SkyMapper telescope of Siding Spring Observatory. SkyMapper is a 1.3m telescope that is creating a full record of the southern sky, which is relatively unexplored, for Australian astronomers.

SkyMapper will take 36 images of each part of the southern sky and identify changes occurring within the Universe. Finding Planet 9 will involve citizen volunteers scanning the SkyMapper images online to look for differences.

“It’s actually not that complicated to find Planet 9,” said Brad. “It really is spot the difference. Then you just click on the image, mark what is different and we’ll take care of the rest.”

The project is being launched by Professor Brian Cox during a BBC Stargazing Live broadcast from Siding Spring.

Brad said citizen scientists may discover other objects during the search, such as asteroids, coments and dwarf planets. While you won’t be able to name any discoveries after yourself, you can name them after your wife, brother or sister, for example. “We need to follow all of the rules set by the International Astronomical Union,” said Brad.

You can participate in the ANU citizen science project to search for Planet 9 here: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/skymap/hunt-for-planet-9

The post Scientists want you to help them find Planet 9 appeared first on Australian Geographic.

However, new research out this week suggests birds do it too. According to a new study published in Current Biology, when the kea parrot (Nestor notabilis) hears a joyful play call from another parrot it becomes playful itself.

In the study, researchers had previously identified one type of call that was associated with playful behaviour. This play call was recorded and played back to wild kea parrots, along with other control calls that included other kea calls, a call from another local bird and a basic tone. Their results were clear: only the play call caused playful behaviour.

RELATED: Birds’ emotional lives as complicated as ours

“The fact that at least some of these birds started playing spontaneously [after hearing the play call] when no other birds had been playing suggests that, similar to human laughter, it had an emotional effect on the birds that heard it, putting them in a playful state,” said lead author Raoul Schwing from the Messerli Research Institute in Austria.

Specific calls of playing keas trigger playful emotions in other, non-playing birds, just as laughter does for us. (Image: Raoul Schwing/Vetmeduni Vienna)

Clever but naughty

The kea parrot is a notably playful bird, endemic to New Zealand’s South Island where it is a lovable pest, unafraid of humans and famous for its curious and playful behaviour, which has led to their nickname of “the clown of the mountains”.

If you ever see keas in the wild you will see them chase each other in the air, then do spirals and loops, and other tricks, both on air and on land. But they are quite naughty too.

“Keas are just the right meld of destructive and fearless to really annoy people. Any vehicle parked in the high country is prone to be stripped of rubber, and anything else that isn’t bolted or welded down,” said Raoul.

“They steal from tourists day and night. They keep mountaineers awake by rolling stones down the metal roof of the high country huts. They chuck rocks at tourists. They break into houses through cat doors. Garbage cans are ransacked. Antennas are chewed off.”

The kea is also pretty clever, Raoul added.

“The kea are amongst the smartest animals on the planet, scoring in the same range as the smartest primates and corvids on tasks that require them to manipulate objects, make logical inferences or use tools to gain access to a reward,” he said.

The play calls of the kea are no invitation but a trigger to start playing alone or with other non-playing birds. (Image: Raoul Schwing/Vetmeduni Vienna)

An uncertain future

The kea parrot has had a bad reputation since the first European settlers arrived in New Zealand. Although they mostly feed on plants and insects, they are also keen meat eaters, and often scavenge off dead animals, or even kill livestock. This behaviour has cost them dearly.

“From 1870 to 1970 there was a bounty one could collect for every kea shot (the bounty was paid per beak delivered to the local government),” said Raoul. During this period, more than 150,000 birds were killed.

Today less than 3000 kea parrots are found in the wild, mostly due to predation by invasive mammals such as stoats, possums and feral cats. The species is currently considered vulnerable to extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Conservation projects are now underway to protect the bird and avoid a lonely end for this playful creature.

In the meantime, Raoul wants to understand the evolutionary benefit of this shared playfulness. “Our next step is to look into the effects of play on a group of kea, to be able to find a reason why this call would have evolved to increase play,” he said.

READ MORE:

• Drunk birds: inebriation in the wild
• Female fairy-wrens sing for other females
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The post Kea playfulness is contagious, study finds appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The female calf was born on 21 February weighing just 5kg, but made her public debut in her enclosure today, where visitors can catch glimpses of the baby hippo starting to explore the outdoors and improve her swimming skills alongside mum.

Image: Paul Fahy / Taronga Zoo

Image: Paul Fahy / Taronga Zoo

Keepers say the calf is growing at a healthy pace and has begun mouthing solid foods. “The calf is absolutely thriving. She’s putting on weight every day and she’s already got little rolls of fat around her neck,” said zoo keeper Renae Moss.

The last pygmy hippo to be born at the zoo was Kambiri, the mother of the yet-to-be-named calf, back in 2010.

Image: Paul Fahy / Taronga Zoo

Image: Paul Fahy / Taronga Zoo

“Kambiri is proving to be an absolute natural as a mother. She’s very attentive and a great teacher, guiding the calf as she learns to swim and showing her what foods to eat,” said Renae.

“It’s also important for the calf to learn these natural mothering behaviours, as we hope she’ll grow up to be an excellent mum herself. With as few as 2000-3000 pygmy hippos remaining in the wild, every little calf is important,” she added.

Image: Paul Fahy / Taronga Zoo

Image: Paul Fahy / Taronga Zoo

Pygmy hippos are solitary animals that generally only come together for breeding. However little is known about the rare species in the wild, with most of what we know learned from those in captivity.

The pygmy hippo is threatened by loss of habitat as well as poaching, hunting and civil unrest.

“Protecting their natural habitat is critical in ensuring the survival of wild populations and we can all help pygmy hippos by choosing paper and wood products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council,” said Renae.

Taronga said it will announce a competition to help choose a name for the calf.

READ MORE:

• Tiny turtle hatchlings boost conservation effort
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The post Rare pygmy hippo born at Taronga Zoo appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The University of Melbourne’s Viviana Cadena, an expert in ecophysiology (the study of how organisms adapt to their environment) wanted to find out how bearded dragons switch shades according to changes in their surroundings, such as sand colour and light intensity.

Viviana and her team’s findings, published today in The Journal of Experimental Biology, reveal how colour change has helped bearded dragons adapt to their unique environments and survive in the wild.

“It was already clear to us that colour change in bearded dragons plays several roles, as I noticed during a previous study that they changed colour when handled or if their body temperature changed,” said Viviana. “But we wanted to understand how colour change is prioritised for these different functions.”

An example of colour change in the same individual bearded dragon lizard. (Image credit: Adam Elliot)

The researchers collected wild lizards from Mildura, Victoria and the red desert in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The researchers chose lizards from these two locations because they display the biggest difference in skin colour and habitat out of Australia’s bearded dragon populations.

Capturing the bearded dragons was no easy feat. “Spotting them in the wild and catching them takes a lot of practice,” said Viviana. “You definitely have to be ok with a few scratches if you’re going to be a bearded dragon catcher!”

Once the team had captured 11 lizards from each location, they brought them back to the lab in Melbourne to observe how each group responded to various background and light conditions.

First, the researchers placed each lizard in boxes of red sand, yellow sand and black sand to see how they switched colours according to different backgrounds. Next, the team observed how each group responded to changes in light intensity, ranging between bright daylight, overcast and early sunrise conditions.

After photographing the bearded dragons, the researchers found that both populations were able to adjust their skin colour according to their surroundings. But lizards from the yellow-sanded areas of Mildura displayed a lighter hue than the more orange-toned group from Alice Springs.

Surprisingly, both populations were able to colour-match with each background more accurately under low light conditions, indicating they can avoid being spotted by predators during dawn and dusk.

Rick Shine, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Sydney, said the findings reveal important information about how bearded dragons have evolved to their environment.

“This paper shows that bearded dragons are remarkably sophisticated in shifting colours,” said Rick, who was not involved in the study. “It’s yet more evidence that reptiles are sophisticated creatures that are intricately adapted to the challenges they face in the natural world.”

The post Bearded dragons switch colour to match surroundings appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Starquakes, analogous to our planet’s earthquakes, make stars “ring like a bell”. An international team of researchers, including Australian astronomer Dr Dennis Stello, studied the distinctive ‘musical notes’ of stars in two ancient clusters – one 2 billion years old and the other 8 billion years old. What they found was totally unexpected.

“Most of the stars in the two open clusters spun around axes that were strongly aligned,” said Dennis, from the University of New South Wales in Sydney. “It was a surprise result.”

Scientists previously thought stars in a cluster would spin in random directions due to “massive turbulent motion” inside the gas cloud where they form.

But this research shows the overall rotation of the “stellar nursery” cloud is transferred to the individual stars.

“It’s remarkable that the imprint of these initial conditions can still be seen billions of years later, by studying tiny oscillations in stars many light years away,” said Dennis.

Like a hammer on a gong

The researchers, led by Dennis’ former PhD student Dr Enrico Corsaro, used an ‘astroseismology’ approach. “Just as seismologists use earthquakes to understand the interior of our planet, we use starquakes to understand the interior of stars,” explained Dennis.

The starquakes generate sound waves inside the star, and make the surface vibrate “like a hammer on a gong,” he said.

Different stars make different sounds based on their physical properties – just like violins and cellos sound different.

“It’s like how at a symphony, you can close your eyes but still recognise different instruments,” Dennis said. “The pitch can tell you about the size of the instrument. Here, the different notes of the stars can tell us their angle of rotation.”

However, astronomers can’t directly hear the sound waves – instead, they look for tiny vibrations on the star’s surface.

“Sound can’t travel in empty space, but the sound waves create small compressions and expansions on the surface that change the brightness of the star,” said Dennis. “These small changes in brightness occur at the same frequency of the sound wave generated by the starquake.”

The research team had a wealth of data to analyse thanks to NASA’s Kepler Space Observatory. Kepler accurately measured the brightness of these stars once every half hour for four years.

The next steps in this research will include observing other star clusters, and updating stellar formation theory to match these new observations.

“The result is such a surprise,” said Dennis. “It indicates that our fundamental understanding of how stars form isn’t complete.”

The research appears on the cover of today’s Nature Astronomy.

The post Music of ancient stars reveals stellar surprise appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The super-cute hatchlings, each about the size of a 20-cent piece and weighing only 4–5g, are key to the survival of this critically endangered species.

“There could be as few as 200 Bellinger River snapping turtles remaining in the wild,” said NSW Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton. “So these hatchlings have a vital role to play in rebuilding this population.”

Bellinger River snapping turtle hatchlings. (Image: Paul Fahy/Taronga Zoo)

Michael McFadden, supervisor of herpetofauna (reptiles and amphibians) at Taronga Zoo, said the breeding success was exciting for the recovery team. “We’re extremely happy with this result. These hatchlings will go a long way to securing the future of the species,” he said.

Bellinger River snapping turtles (Myuchelys georgesi) are endemic to the Bellinger River catchment system on the mid-north coast of New South Wales. Once numbering 4000 individuals, a mysterious virus outbreak in 2015 wiped out 90 per cent of the wild population. The virus caused blindness and organ damage and eventually death.

The tiny turtles are about the size of a 20-cent piece and weigh just 4-5g. (Image: Paul Fahy/Taronga Zoo)

In an effort to save the species, a team from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, Western Sydney University and Taronga Zoo rescued 16 survivors to establish an insurance population. After translocation to Sydney, the turtles underwent extensive screening for the pathogen, before moving to their new home at Taronga.

Four of the five mature female turtles produced clutches of eggs, a result that delighted the recovery team. “After relocation from the wild and spending a year in quarantine, we weren’t expecting 80 per cent success rate. It’s great to have success so early,” said Michael.

The hatchlings were bred in captivity at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. (Images: Michael McFaddden/Taronga Zoo)

The baby turtles are very active, spending most of their time swimming and feeding, according to Michael. “A decent percentage of these hatchlings will be held as part of the insurance population,” he said. “But in a few years, we may undertake reintroductions with some of them.”

However, the recovery team will be careful not to endanger reintroduced turtles. The team only plans to return them to the river once they are sure the risk of disease has reduced.

“Over the next few years, we will continue research into the disease, to find out how it operates and whether it still exists in the river,” said Michael.

The post Tiny turtle hatchlings boost conservation effort appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The sighting is great news for the vulnerable local population – which was decimated after fires swept through Western Australia’s southern forests in 2015. When WWF-Australia surveyed the area 12 months after the blaze, it was revealed only 39 of the mainland Northcliffe quokka population had survived.

“The two adult quokkas were both survivors of the intense blaze so we were all thrilled to see a joey. Any sign of population recovery brings hope for the species,” said Merril Halley, WWF-Australia Species Conservation Manager.

“The young joey filmed is a sure sign that recovery is well under way in this area,” she said.

Motion-activated sensor camera captured a quokka joey living in the bushfire recovery area near Northcliffe, WA. (Images: Karlene Bain / WWF-Aus)

As well as being pleased to see evidence of successful breeding in the local population, conservationists were also interested in the behaviour of the two adult quokkas.

“The mother and an adult male quokka also seem to be on very good terms and have been seen together consistently for the past six months,” said Merril. “It is unusual to see male-female interaction over a period of time as long as this, so this is really interesting for us.”

The motion-activated sensor cameras are set up in the area to provide information about the health of the species and the habitat. Conservationists are also working to fit the surviving quokkas with radio collars, to monitor how they move back into the burnt area as it recovers.

“It’s going to take a lot of time for the quokka habitat to be fully restored. Undergrowth is slowly returning, but canopy regeneration takes time. With such a small number of quokkas left in the region, it’s vital that we are out there protecting these animals,” Merril said.

The post Baby quokka caught on camera great news for vulnerable population appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Norfolk Island National Park staff have collaborated with Birdlife Australia, universities, zoos, not-for-profit groups and passionate locals to protect the birds, which have come dangerously close to extinction twice in the past 50 years.

And with the culmination of two highly successful conservation projects – boosting green parrot numbers and eradicating feral animals on neighbouring Phillip Island – they believe the time for a translocation is now.

“The population has come so close to extinction so many times, it is really just luck that has seen it survive into the 21st century,” said Craig Doolan, National Park manager.

“We can’t ride our luck forever. The population is still just one catastrophic weather event or disease introduction away from extinction. We need to grab the chance while the numbers are good, to create a back-up population and reduce this risk enormously.”

Phillip Island viewed from Mt Bates, the highest point on Norfolk Island. (Image: Parks Australia)

Back from the brink – twice

The parrots were once commonplace on the 3855ha island – located about 1450km off the coast of Brisbane – but have since dwindled to dangerously low numbers.

“We know the birds were common when Europeans first settled on Norfolk Island in 1788,” Craig said. “They would eat the crops of the early settlers and were heavily controlled.”

“People in their 80s and 90s remember them being fairly common,” added Margaret Christian, president of the Norfolk Island Flora and Fauna Society.

However, vegetation clearing and the introduction of black rats – which raid the birds’ nests to eat their eggs – and feral cats have caused numbers to go from bad to worse.

In the late 1970s, just 12 pairs of parrots were estimated to be left on the island, and intensive conservation efforts to restore habitat sustained the population for decades.

However, four years ago, numbers returned to critical levels once more, with a 2013 survey confirming park staff’s fears – less than 100 birds remained, and of those, just 11 were breeding females.

“The action this time was twofold,” Craig explained.

After increasing cat and rat baiting and installing protective covering on 80 potential nest sites, the population has now increased to up to 400 birds – a big enough boost to support a translocation.

Predator-proofed green parrot nest. (Image: supplied)

Translocation timing critical

Park staff hope to take 30 of this breeding season’s chicks to the feral-free safe haven – about 6km south – before they fledge. “We are looking towards the translocation to Phillip Island as a moment of great excitement,” Craig said.

However, timing is critical as the chicks need to fledge on Phillip Island, otherwise they may fly home to Norfolk – leaving just a two-month window of opportunity.

Through crowd-funding, they hope to raise $77,000 for the translocation, which will go towards the construction of aviaries and watering stations, transportation and ongoing monitoring of the insurance colony.

“It would be terrific – their chances of survival are much higher,” said Margaret. “Even if we have 400 birds here, they will always be management-dependent while there are rats and cats.”

(Image: Parks Australia)

“Our parrot, our pride”

“The green parrots are in many ways the icon of Norfolk Island,” Craig said.

“The increase we have seen in the past two years has energised locals enormously. National Parks staff can’t walk through the town without people coming up and telling us about their sightings in new and unusual parts of the island.

“In shop windows throughout town there are posters of green parrots with the caption ‘Auwas Parrot, Auwas Pride”. ‘Auwas’ simply means ‘Our’ in the local Norfolk Island language.”

READ MORE:

• The ghost birds of Norfolk Island
• First night parrot fledgling spotted in 100 years
• Pro’s guide to wildlife photography in the field

The post The time is now to save one of the world’s most endangered birds appeared first on Australian Geographic.

ON A CLEAR BUT severe winter morning, when the wind cuts right through you, being atop Red Rock in south-western Victoria is still an impressive experience.

Just to the west is Victoria’s largest inland body of water, Lake Corangamite, where the cold could almost have us believe the white swirls on the surface are snow drifts. Yet they’re salt, for this shallow lake is generally three times saltier than the ocean.

Just below us is a large green crater, pockmarked by dozens of smaller craters, as if a golf-course curator has let the fairway grass grow into the bunkers.

Behind us are grapevines, bare after their harvest, in rich red soil, and surrounded by round low hills with nary a tree to blot their surface.

What trees there are partially mask a substantial stone farmhouse, for this is the start of  Victoria’s Western District, prized for its wool, dairy and wheat.

Mt Elephant, a 240m conical breached scoria cone, formed by a dormant volcano, near the town of Derrinallum in south-western Victoria. (Image: Don Fuchs)

And everything we see from here and beyond to the South Australia border – the hills, the lakes, the fields, the walls that fence them and often the paving on the roads that run along them – is down to volcanoes.

Many might be mere bumps on the horizon, but given the variety of the 400-plus volcanoes here, there are few other landscapes like it in the world. And it’s why British-born geologist Dr Julie Boyce came here to do her PhD in what she calls “the perfect natural laboratory”.

Volcanically, it’s very young, and so it’s called the Newer Volcanics Province (NVP). Julie is with us on the scoria-strewn hillside at Red Rock, 12km north of Colac, to explain how these volcanoes formed – and where the next ones might appear…

Read the rest of the feature, ‘Forged by Fire’, in the March-April edition of Australian Geographic (AG#137), on sale next week.

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The post VIDEO: Exploring volcanic Victoria appeared first on Australian Geographic.

50 Reefs was launched today at the World Ocean Summit in Bali. The initiative will bring together scientists, conservationists and philanthropists, with the aim to develop and release a list of 50 critical coral reefs to protect along with corresponding initiatives by the end of this year. 

Before and after picture showing coral bleaching at Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef in March 2016, and the same reef in May 2016 after the coral had died. (Image: The Ocean Agency / XL Caitlin Seaview Survey / Christopher Bailhache)

“When people think of climate change, they often think of extreme heat, severe storms, and raging wildfires. But some of the most disastrous effects of climate change are out of sight – on the ocean floor,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change in a statement coinciding with today’s launch.

“In fact, 90 per cent of coral reefs are expected to disappear by 2050 and saving the remaining coral reefs are critical. Without coral reefs, we could lose up to a quarter of the world’s marine biodiversity and hundreds of millions of the world’s poorest people would lose their primary source of food and livelihoods. We must not allow this to happen.” 

In the first global study of its kind – and building on prior research led by the University of Queensland – the 50 Reefs plan will see ocean, climate and marine scientists working together to identify where global efforts should be prioritised, drawing on datasets such as reef biodiversity and vulnerability to climate change.

A bleached coral reef in the Maldives. (Image: The Ocean Agency / XL Caitlin Seaview Survey)

The datasets used to inform the new plan will be agreed upon by an independent panel of experts from leading global oranisations. The researchers will also be drawing on thousands of images of coral reefs from 22 countries, captured as part of the XL Caitlin Seaview Survey, using cutting edge semi-autonomous and computer learning technology to document the state of the world’s reefs.

While it is yet to be confirmed whether Australia’s World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef will make the final 50, the launch of the new global plan comes on the back of predictions that 2017 may see another extensive bleaching event on the reef, after it suffered the worst bleaching event in its history in 2016.

READ MORE:

• Coral bleaching gene discovered
• Great Barrier Reef bleaching almost impossible without climate change
• Third global bleaching event took its toll on WA’s super-corals

The post New world-first plan says only 10 per cent of reefs to survive past 2050 appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Read the full story in the March-April 2017 issue of Australian Geographic (AG#137), out now.

The post VIDEO: Meet the maker of monsters appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The custom-built, non-invasive cameras were attached to eight wild dusky dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obscurus) off the coast of Kaikoura, New Zealand. Nearly nine hours of footage has captured intimate and rarely-seen moments, including mother-calf interactions, playing with kelp, and flipper-rubbing – the dolphin equivalent of hand-holding.

“We’re currently diving deep into the analysis of the footage, looking at social behaviour, hunting strategies, and diving physiology,” says Dr Gabriel Machovsky-Capuska, an ecologist at the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre.

The new technique, reported in the journal Marine Biology, will provide scientists with exceptional insight into the lives of marine animals compared to traditional above-water monitoring.

“From the surface, researchers can only see about 10 per cent of what is going on in an animal’s life,” said lead author Dr Heidi Pearson, a marine biologist from the University of Alaska Southeast. “With these video cameras, we can ‘see’ from the animals’ perspective and begin to understand the challenges they face as they move throughout their habitat.”

Dusky dolphins photographed by Heidi Pearson during the dolphin tagging work. Photo taken under DOC permit 37696-MAR.

High-tech video cams needed for swift swimmers

A multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers worked together to develop the camera technology and deploy it – a feat that has previously eluded even the best wildlife documentary makers, due to the speedy nature of cetaceans.

“One challenge of doing this research on small and fast animals like dusky dolphins is that there is limited surface area on the dolphin’s body for tag attachment, so there’s only a small window of time to actually deploy the tag as the dolphin swims past,” exlpained Dr Peter Jones, an engineer from the University of Sydney.

The cameras were attached to the dolphins with suction cups. They eventually fall off and float to the surface, where they can be recovered thanks to satellite transmitters.

According to Gabriel, the dolphins were largely unaffected by the cameras. “The method is non-invasive, which is really important,” he said. In contrast, dive teams can interfere with or influence dolphins’ natural behaviour – think reality TV participants over-acting in front of the camera.

The custom-made cameras were attached to the dolphins using suction cups, and recovered from the water using GPS after they’d fallen off. (Image: supplied)

New filming technique has far-reaching implications

The novel insights gained through this filming technique have the potential to inform us about more than just dolphin behaviour.

The research team believes it will influence conservation of marine animals and future management strategies. “In marine areas subjected to high degrees of human disturbance such as shipping or coastal development, the ability to collect data from the animal’s perspective will be critical in understanding how and to what extent these stressors affect an animal’s ability to feed, mate, and raise young,” said Heidi.

The filming technique will also help us understand the health of the seafood we like to eat. “Dolphins are marine top predators that are considered biomonitors of marine environments,” Gabriel explained. “Gaining a better understanding of their lives will help us to better comprehend the health of marine environments, including prey species like fish and squid that are highly consumed by humans.”

The research team plan to deploy their cutting-edge cameras on a variety of marine predators, such as cetaceans and sharks.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Gabriel. “If you’d told me twenty years ago that we’d be able to deploy cameras and understand animals from their own perspective like this, I would have been blown away.”

This work was funded by a National Geographic Society/Waitt Fund Grant and the Encounter Foundation.

READ MORE:

• Dolphin ‘mothers group’ discovered
• Bunbury dolphins serve calamari for dinner
• Cartels of cousins run dolphin society

The post Underwater secrets of dolphins revealed appeared first on Australian Geographic.

More than just a cliché, our holiday hideaway turned out to be utterly unforgettable: decorated with one of the largest returns of baby red crabs ever seen.

Image: Chris Bray Photography

Image: Chris Bray Photography

Growing up sailing around the world, I first visited this tropical paradise as a seven-year-old in 1990. Memories of snorkeling in crystal-clear water, nesting seabirds, blowholes – and of course the famous red crabs – drew me back almost 25 years later to start running the island’s first photography tours.

Jess and I have run these tours since May 2014, and while the famous red-crabs are ever abundant, I had a yearning to witness what Sir David Attenborough himself describes as one of his top 10 experiences: the annual migration of more than 50 million of these critters from their jungle homes down to the sea to spawn.

Image: Chris Bray Photography

Image: Chris Bray Photography

Dictated by the lunar cycle and rain, all indications were this spawning would occur at 4.00am on Christmas morning, so we had booked to fly in a few days early. As is often the case, though, nature had other plans and the crabs marched a month early! Although initially devastated, this cloud had a silver lining: the billions of miniscule baby red crabs drifting out at sea miraculously started to return to the island just as we flew in.

It was one of the most amazing spectacles I’ve ever seen – every morning for days on end, the shoreline of the cove (and elsewhere around the island) was painted red with a seething carpet of baby crabs – often inches deep – all clambering ashore and heading inland. The roads, pavements, even building walls were covered. Dive operators were reporting great swirling clouds of baby crabs never before seen, and even the locals agreed this was one of the biggest – if not the biggest – baby red crab returns ever.

Image: Chris Bray Photography

Image: Chris Bray Photography

Before sunrise on Christmas morning, we went down to the cove and watched a handful of adult red crabs that hadn’t received the change-of-date memo come down to release their eggs into the sea, while simultaneously millions of baby ones were crawling out.  

It was the best Christmas I’ve ever had, and we stayed for another four weeks, completely enchanted by this island paradise.

Image: Chris Bray Photography

Image: Chris Bray Photography

Chris Bray is an Australian Geographic photographer and adventurer. He runs photography courses around Australia and photo safaris around the world through his company Chris Bray Photography.

The post Deck the halls with billions of baby red crabs appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Explore the wilds of this diverse and fascinating country in eastern Africa, with presenters Caroline Pemberton and Dean Miller and learn how Kenya’s commitment to conservation is helping protect this beautiful and unique place.

Australian Geographic Explores Kenya will be airing on Channel 9 at the following dates and times:

Sunday, 9 March 2017

1330 Adelaide

1400 Melbourne

1500 Sydney

Saturday, 18 March 2017

1300 Brisbane

The post Trailer: Australian Geographic Explores Kenya appeared first on Australian Geographic.

At just 12 years old, Angie has been climbing for five years and continues to push herself and the boundaries of the sport. She has accomplished incredible feats in the climbing world, becoming the youngest person to climb a grade 31 at age nine. Since then, in a steady progression, she has climbed grade 32 at age 10 and grade 33 at age 11.

She balances her life of travel, training and climbing with school and friends, but says she often learns more through travel and the outdoors than she does in a classroom.

The post VIDEO: Climbing Her Way appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Leading night parrot researcher Dr Steve Murphy made the recordings over several years in Pullen Pullen Reserve in western Queensland. Conservation organisation Bush Heritage Australia established this reserve to protect a surviving population of night parrots, rediscovered there in 2013. A second population has recently been found by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy in Diamantina National Park, in a Restricted Access Area.

“From the beginning, we had the view that we should release the calls, so that anyone – amateur observers or professionals – will know what to listen for when they’re in night parrot habitat,” said Dr Allan Burbidge, chair of the Night Parrot Recovery Team.

The team hopes that releasing the call recordings may spur the discovery of new night parrot populations. According to Allan, a couple of people have already contacted them, believing they have heard night parrots in other places.

The call recordings have proved invaluable for night parrot research. “Sound recordings are the most effective way of surveying the night parrot,” said Allan. “Before we had these recordings, we were all just kind of guessing what they sound like.”

But the recordings were not released immediately for fear they could be improperly used, or even for nefarious purposes such as poaching.

“There was concern that playback could be used to disturb birds, or for illegal activities,” said Allan. He also explained that it could interfere with important research into the ecology and conservation of this mysterious parrot, which involved placement of sound recording devices.

“But we are confident now that the sites are much more secure, and the basic research is now done,” he said.

Those hoping to catch a glimpse of the elusive night parrot are encouraged by the Recovery Team to follow their guidelines for appropriate night parrot spotting.

READ MORE:

• Largest-known night parrot population found in Queensland
• The night parrot’s secret sanctuary
• First night parrot fledgling spotted in 100 years
• New footage of the night parrot

The post Night parrot recordings released online for first time appeared first on Australian Geographic.

But while previous studies have suggested the frog tongue holds on to its prey by working like sticky tape, such adhesives struggle to work on textured surfaces like that of insects. Instead, new research published this week in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface has found frogs use a unique kind of ‘reversible’ saliva combined with an ultra-soft tongue to hold onto prey.

The researchers, from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in the USA, filmed frogs eating crickets in super-slow motion to better understand the physics of the tongue. They also collected saliva samples and measured the softness of the tongue tissue.

A northern leopard frog catches a cricket (Image: Candler Hobbs)

They found that frogs’ saliva turns from watery to thick and sticky during prey capture, then thin and watery again as the prey is released inside the frog’s mouth – allowing it to flow on impact, and grip during retraction. The researchers also determined that the tissue of a frog’s tongue is incredibly soft – as soft as brain tissue; 10 times softer than a human’s tongue, enabling it to stretch and store energy like a spring.

“The tongue acts like a bungee cord once it latches onto its prey,” explained Alexis Noel, a Georgia Tech mechanical engineering PhD student who led the study.

“When the tongue first hits the insect, the saliva is almost like water and fills all the bug’s crevices. Then, when the tongue snaps back, the saliva changes and becomes more viscous – thicker than honey, actually – gripping the insect for the ride back. The saliva turns watery again when the insect is sheared off inside the mouth,” said Alexis.

The combination of saliva and tissue softness is so effective, it provides the tongue with 50 times greater work of adhesion than synthetic polymer materials. The findings could help engineers design new reversible adhesives at high speeds, using the same principles.

“Most adhesives that have been created are stiff, especially tape,” said David Hu, a professor at Georgia  Tech and Alexis’s supervisor. “Frog tongues can attach and reattach with soft, special properties that are stickier than typical materials. Perhaps this technology could be used for new band-aids. Or it could be used to create new materials in soft manufacturing.”

Find out more about these findings in this video from Georgia Tech:

Source: Georgia Tech / YouTube

READ MORE:

• Best foot forward: Frogs’ feet
• New frog species discovered in remote North Queensland
• Tiny new frog species found in Newcastle

The post This is how a frog’s tongue works appeared first on Australian Geographic.

“What’s striking is that 12 months on you can see that much of the fire-damaged area will not grow back,” said Jim Casey, spokesman for the Australian Firefighters Climate Alliance. “The fingerprints of climate change are all over this. It’s not something that’s far off; it’s happening here and now.”

Fires sparked by a series of lightning strikes in January 2016 burned through 19,000ha of World Heritage-listed land, coming within just 6km of the iconic Dove Lake. Losses included ancient stands of pencil and King Billy pines and 1000-year-old endemic cushion plants.

Evidence of the fire front at Lake Mackenzie in Tasmania’s central highlands. (Image: Dan Broun)

While some species will bounce back from seed over time, many of the plants in the affected area are not adapted to cope with fire.

“These pines don’t like fire at all. This was very abnormal for them,” explained David Bowman, Professor of Environmental Change Biology at the University of Tasmania. “The dead pines are not going to recover.”

The images were captured by Hobart-based wilderness photographer Dan Broun, who has a close affinity for the area. He has visited several times to document the changes wrought by fire.

“These areas are globally unique and very beautiful on many levels,” said Dan. “What we’ve found is the damage to significant plant species is absolute in many areas. With a warming climate and poor land management we are surely witnessing an era of intense crisis for alpine Tasmania.”

A charred ancient pencil pine. Some of the pencil and king billy pines burned in the January 2016 fires were estimated to be about 1500 years old. (Image: Dan Broun)

David said the photos were fascinating, but not surprising given the intensity of the blaze. “Sections in the Fisher River gorge were of very high severity, killing eucalypts and rainforest. Parts on the plateau with the pines were spectacularly intense,” he said.

“The new normal”

Such severe and large fire events, called ‘megafires’, are becoming more frequent – Tasmania has suffered two in the last five years.

“Megafires, like the one we saw in Tasmania last year, are becoming the new normal,” said Jim. “They are large, hard to predict and that makes our job as firefighters more difficult and dangerous.”

Rainforest and mixed forest around Fisher River. (Image: Dan Broun)

The rising incidence of these destructive disasters can be attributed to the impacts of a changing climate. “The fact that we had fires was not the story. The story was that we had such a dry spring and summer which made these fires possible,” said David, who is planning field work in the fire-affected area to study the event in detail.

Jim said he is also concerned about the role of climate change. “The climate is becoming more volatile and it is not only creating the precursor weather conditions for the fires but is also supercharging the storms that often ignite them,” he said. “The cost of not addressing the root cause of bushfires is high and growing ever higher.”

READ MORE:

• VIDEO: Behind the scenes photographing Tasmania’s living giants
• Natural World Heritage sites at risk from human pressure: study
• 2016 crowned hottest year on record
• Living with bushfires

The post New aerial images reveal bushfire damage in Tasmanian World Heritage Area one year on appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The organisation aims to raise $30,000 to fund drones in Australia’s three most aggressive land-clearing states – New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland – to expose the scale of deforestation to the public.

According to The Wilderness Society, Queensland alone cleared more than 850,000ha of land in the past three years, equal to an area the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground every three minutes.

The organisation has previously used helicopter footage such as in the video above to raise awareness of the issue, but hopes to buy a fleet of Sky Scout drones which are more affordable and agile.

“Using technology, both in raising the funds and in deploying the drones, is the best way we can help arm journalists, decision makers and local communities with a more accurate picture of what’s going on,” said Jessica Panegyres, The Wilderness Society’s National Nature Campaigner.

“We need to get these drones up into the air to show the public that devastation usually associated with places like the Amazon is happening in our own back yard,” she said.

They estimate it will cost $9,191 to deploy one drone in the field for six months.

The crowd-funding campaign will be hosted on Pozible and closes on 10 February. Donors of $25 or more can also help name the drones.

The post Wilderness Society to use drones to raise awareness of deforestation appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The prize went to Symbio Wildlife Park in Helensburgh, NSW, for the above video shared in October. The video, which shows a butterfly ‘photobombing’ Willow the koala joey’s photoshoot, quickly went viral, with over 38 million views on Symbio and UNILAD‘s social media channels, plus an additional 2.3 million views and over 74,000 reactions on Tourism Australia‘s Facebook page.

The video was covered by global media outlets including Fox News, BBC Worldwide, Good Morning America and CNN. Symbio Wildlife Park’s marketing manager Kevin Fallon confirmed that following the video, visitation to the park increased by 66 per cent from any previous October. Overall, the park has seen a 96 per cent increase in visitation since 2014-15, which Kevin said he attributes primarily to their success on social media.

Other accolades went to the Australian Reptile Park for its video of George the orphaned wombat with his carer Tim Faulkner, the Park’s general manager and 2015 Australian Geographic Conservationist of the Year.

The cute video was picked up by more than 20 national and international news outlets, including the Daily Telegraph, Buzzfeed and Channel 10. It was watched 32 million times on Tourism Australia’s Facebook page alone.

Recognition was also given to the photo deemed to have done the best job of selling Australia to the rest of the world on social media. The below image was shared by the Margaret River Discovery Co on its social media channels.

The stunning photo of two kangaroos silhouetted before a full Moon went viral internationally, and was featured by media outlets across the world including The Mail UK, ABC, Buzzfeed and Mashable.

Sunset kangaroos. (Image: The Margaret River Discovery Co.)

READ MORE:

• Eagle expert weighs in on viral photo
• Octopus video with a shocking twist
• Baby alligator caught hatching on camera

The post Viral koala-meets-butterfly video wins tourism award appeared first on Australian Geographic.

In the video above, Ashley Gibb is free diving close to shore when he and his GoPro are bumped in the back – in the next second, a juvenile great white shark swims into view. The shark repeatedly circles Ashley for minutes, twice swimming straight towards him before swerving at the last second.

“It was very intense,” said Ashley.

While Ashley admits he was scared during the surreal moment, he kept calm by reminding himself the shark was most likely just curious. Professor Colin Simpfendorfer, Director of James Cook University’s Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture in Queensland, said he agrees the bump wasn’t necessarily aggressive.

“It’s not odd there’s contact so early into the encounter. We know from great white shark studies that they bump – or sometimes bite – as an exploratory thing to see what something is,” he said. “Obviously they don’t have hands, so they touch something by bumping it.”

“We can never really know for sure its motivations, but we can speculate. It’s likely seeing how [Ashley] reacts – it probably isn’t used to dealing with people. Then when it sees how he’s just sitting there and watching it, it loses interest and swims away.”

Ashley said he felt compelled to share the video due to the enduring image of sharks as bloodthirsty predators. The Australian Shark Attack File states that over the past 50 years, there have been 47 deaths from shark attack fatalities – on average, less than one per year.

If you do ever find yourself accidentally swimming with sharks, Colin said your best bet is to act exactly like Ashley.

“I half expected him to poke at the shark – a lot of people think to act aggressively so the shark leaves you alone,” he said.

 “Act exactly like [Ashley] did. Keep your eyes always on the shark. That’s one thing they pay attention to – if they see that you’re watching them, they’re much more vigilant. One thing not to do is frantically swim away or splash around – it sends a very different signal. Of course, if they become come aggressive, being aggressive back is appropriate.”

But, if a bump, circling and swimming head-on to Ashley isn’t aggressive, what does aggression look like? According to Colin, if the shark is swimming faster than in this video, that’s a warning signal – as is an open mouth.

Either way, try to remain calm. And, if you’re a filmmaker like Ashley, pray your camera caught it all.

RELATED: 

• How to avoid shark attacks
• Great white shark deterrant almost 100% effective

The post VIDEO: Curious great white shark circles diver off WA coast appeared first on Australian Geographic.

It’s an iconic tree for a number of reasons, which is why it was chosen for this ambitious project, dubbed the Tasmanian Tree Project, to capture a full-length portrait of all 84 metres.

The logistics of this undertaking can’t be underestimated, the camera set up alone took a total of two weeks – nine days longer than originally planned – and several more weeks to capture the all-important portrait, with the aim of elevating these giants into the cultural consciousness of all Australians.

“We’d like these trees to be recognised as icons of our natural heritage, alongside Uluru and the Great Barrier Reef,” says Tasmanian Tree Project photographer Steve Pearce.

Watch the video for a behind the scenes insight into photographing one of the world’s tallest trees, and read the latest issue of Australian Geographic (AG#136) for more about the project, and to see the impressive end result.

The post VIDEO: Tasmanian Tree Project appeared first on Australian Geographic.

During the week-long event, bird-watchers are offered a special program of bird-watching tours and activities, such as this sunrise bird-watching cruise that took place during Kakadu Bird Week 2016, guided by bird expert Luke Paterson of NT Bird Specialists.

Yellow Water Billabong is a tributary of Jim Jim Creek in Kakadu National Park, and a haven for the region’s waterbirds.

Read more about Kakadu Bird Week 2016 in the Jan-Feb 2017 issue of Australian Geographic (AG#136), out now.

The post VIDEO: Kakadu bird-watching cruise appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The metallic scarabs are synonymous with summer Down Under – or at least they used to be. Anecdotal evidence suggests Australia’s endemic Christmas beetle (Anoplognathus) population is on the decline, or has at least taken a hit in the short term. Entomologist Dr Chris Reid, from the Australian Museum, attributes the drop in sightings to drier than usual spring weather, especially along the coast of New South Wales.

“In the last three years I’ve hardly seen any Christmas beetles at all where I live (south of Sydney), whereas I used to be able to run public school courses on looking at invertebrates just by collecting 30 or 40 at the lights in a single night,” Chris says.

Christmas beetles in the greater Sydney region have also been victims of urban sprawl, with species disappearing from the city’s west due to development and subsequent habitat loss.

Where do Christmas beetles live, and how?

The Christmas beetle is found across Australia, with the exception of our deserts. There are around 35 endemic species, with the most common ones including Anoplognathus chloropyrus and Anoplognathus montanus (both golden-brown beetles).

The classic habitat for Christmas beetles is woodland, where there are plenty of trees and rich soil. The larvae develop in soil, and remain there as curl grubs, feeding on grass and plant roots, as well as the surface roots of eucalypts. As adults they mainly eat eucalyptus leaves, but are known to consume the foliage of introduced species, such as the peppercorn tree.

There are 35 endemic species of Christmas beetles in Australia, such as Anoplognathus porosus, pictured. (Image: Australian Museum)

The life cycle of the Christmas beetle is between one and two years, depending on conditions and species. You’ll see most species emerge as adults in mid-November to early December, and hang around until Christmas and sometimes into February. The adult lifespan is a few weeks, and that’s if they’re fortunate enough not to become a meal for birds.

Why Christmas?

The reason we only see these colourful insects during the festive season has nothing to do with Saint Nick; the end of spring and start of summer is when the larvae hatches. “The adults aren’t active during the winter months; they’re larvae only during those months,” Chris says. “When we’re seeing (the adults) just before Christmas they’re at the stage of laying eggs.”

This time of year is also mating season.

“If you see them during the day on young eucalypts… they’re usually in clusters trying to mate, with the males pushing each other off females,” he explains.

Christmas beetles larvae hatch in late spring/early summer. (Image: Australian Museum)

Christmas beetle appearance

Identifying a Christmas beetle is easy, thanks to its attractive exoskeleton. Most species will have the characteristic sheen, often in gold and brown hues, although some are vibrant greens and pinks. Males and females are identical in colour, but males have thicker legs and a larger shovel-shaped snout so they can flip over rivals.

Other features include large, hooked claws on the legs and a flat spine between the mid-legs. The tail-end of the abdomen also sticks out beyond the wing cases on both sexes, and many species are identified by this structure i.e. how hairy they are and if they’re shiny or dull.

Cultural interest

Maybe our affection towards these critters is due to associations with Christmas cheer and their likeable common name, but being attractive helps, too.

“The beetle has a bit of charisma and it doesn’t bite you,” laughs Chris. “You can pick them up and it’s a challenge holding these beetles in your fist and feeling them trying to push their way through your fingers.”

It’s this cultural interest that’s led to the Australian Museum’s development of a Christmas beetle app. The public is encouraged to use the app to identify the beetles they see this season and help give them common names.

If you’re struggling to see Christmas beetles around your home this summer, Chris suggests looking on young sapling eucalypts at the edge of farmland.

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The post Where have all the Christmas beetles gone? appeared first on Australian Geographic.

New research from the University of Newcastle, New South Wales, has shown that when summer hits the Southern Hemisphere, Australia literally tilts towards Europe. The researchers found the continent sinks and rises by a few millimetres as the distribution of the Earth’s water mass shifts with the seasons.

“The Australian continent is chasing the point where the Earth is heaviest,” explained lead researcher Professor Shin-Chan Han, a geodesist who specialises in measuring and modelling the geophysical processes of the Earth.

During winter in the Northern Hemisphere, Europe becomes heavier due to an increase in ice, snow and rainfall at this time of year. This shift in mass causes the Australian continent to tilt towards Europe, where the Earth is heavier. The north-western corner of Australia sinks, while the south-eastern corner rises.

As the seasons change and winter moves to the Southern Hemisphere, Australia tilts in the opposite direction, causing a yearly clockwise rotation that Han has coined “seasonal gyration”.

Professor Shin-Chan Han, University of Newcastle. (Image: UON)

The findings are a world-first discovery, made using data collected from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites. GRACE satellites measure ground deformation in relation to the Earth’s centre of mass. This, along with GPS data, has allowed Han to track the movement of the Australian continent.

The discovery came as a surprise to researchers. While it’s known that all continents shift and move, no one expected Australia to express such a large elliptical movement. Han also didn’t expect that changing global climate could elicit this kind of response.

The study has helped to identify how the Earth’s centre of mass (CM) moves. It has been common knowledge for several years now that the Earth’s CM isn’t a fixed or stable point, but there has been huge uncertainty around its actual motion. Cross-referencing the GRACE data with GPS data has revealed how the Earth’s CM moves with the changing seasons, and how the Australian continent seems to move with it.

“It’s an exciting development,” Han said. “We now know we can use these forms of surveillance to track the slightest of movements.”

Matt King, a professor of polar geodesy at the University of Tasmania who wasn’t involved in the research, recognised the significance of the new findings. “This study provides a new way to monitor Earth’s centre of mass,” he said.

“There’s a need to be able to monitor it so that surveyors and scientists know what their satellite and GPS measurements are relative to and how their ‘reference point’ is moving.”

Han has said that the next step for this research will be to look at how both the pre-2010 drought and the 2010-2012 La Niña event have affected continental movement.

The post The Australian continent moves with the weather appeared first on Australian Geographic.

This somehow equally hard to watch yet mesmerising footage was shared by Nikki Richardson of Mutarnee, 67km north-east of Townsville in Queensland. Nikki works in the mines but says she spends almost all of her spare time “crawling around in the bush, finding all sorts of wildlife”. Nikki captured this footage of an Australian huntsman on the side of a banana tree chowing down on a tasty meal using her iPad and a torch.

While it’s difficult to identify the huntsman’s prey, Dr Maggie Hardy, an entomologist and expert in spider venom at the University of Queensland, says she has a feeling it could be a crab spider (family Thomisidae), “but it’s hard to tell,” she says, adding, “Part of the [huntsman] spider venom paralyzes the prey, and other components liquefy the prey so the spider can drink it like a milkshake.”

There are about 94 species of huntsman spiders in Australia, and their bite is harmless to humans, explains Maggie. “They are called huntsman because they are fast and effective hunters,” she says.

Nikki first shared the video on her Instagram account, faunatography, where it has received almost 200,000 views at the time of publishing.

READ MORE:

• Hidden housemates: Australia’s huge and hairy huntsman spiders
• This is why you should love spiders
• Australian spiders: the 10 most dangerous
• Arachnophobia: how to beat your spider fears

The post Reader video: Huntsman eating another spider appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The Australian Geographic Society collaborated with the Mongolian Academy of Sciences and Odyssey Travel, taking seven readers along as volunteer diggers to assist a team of Mongolian palaeontologists based at the Institute of Paleontology and Geology in Ulaanbaatar.

Finds we made included the numerous remains of small herbivorous horned dinosaurs, known as Protoceratops; Velociraptor teeth; duck-billed hadrosaurs; armoured ankylosaurs and even Cretaceous-era birds’ eggs. 

All of these fossils hailed from the 70-million-year-old deposits of the Tugrugin Shiree region of the central Gobi Desert. Here our crew of 18 camped out in a stark, beautiful and very remote stretch of desert for 10 nights.

Watch this 10-minute film about the dig to learn more!

Want to come along on our 2017 Gobi desert fossil dig? Find details here, and contact one of Odyssey’s Travel’s consultants on info@odysseytravel.com.au or 1300 888 225.

John Pickrell is the author of Flying Dinosaurs and Weird Dinosaurs. Follow him on Twitter @john_pickrell.

Protoceratops andrewsi is one dinosaur commonly found in the Gobi Desert. (Credit: Antonin Jury)

The post VIDEO: On the trail of dinosaurs in Mongolia appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The yet-unnamed male is the first Asian elephant (Elephas Maximus) to be born at the Dubbo zoo and the fourth calf of the 10-year-long breeding program between Western Plains and Sydney’s Taronga Zoo.

The calf began standing five minutes after birth, and shortly after began walking. (Photo courtesty Taronga Western Plains Zoo)

In the above video, the calf can be seen playing and nursing from its mother Thong Dee, as well as his auntie, Porntip. The calf was concieved at Taronga Zoo with Gung – Thong Dee was moved to Dubbo shortly after in 2015. Asian elephant gestation periods are 22 months long, so the zoo has had time to prepare for the calf. 

The newborn Asian elephant calf with her mother Thong Dee and auntie Porntip. (Photo courtesy Taronga Western Plains Zoo)

“Both mother and calf are doing really, really well,” said Western Plains Zoo’s elephant supervisor Greg Sullivan. “Within the first five minutes the calf was standing, and within an hour and a half the calf began taking its first nurse. Since then, it’s been attended by both its mother and aunty, Porntip, and they’re all bonding extremely well.”

That’s not to suggest Thong Dee’s mothering skills were ever under question – in 2009, she gave birth to Australia’s first elephant calf Luk Chai, the Zoo program’s first sign of success.

The three bond in private in the elephant barn away from the public. (Photo courtesy Taronga Western Plains Zoo)

Asian elephants are native to South-East Asia, where they face extreme loss of habitat due to development. The species is consdiered engandered, with wild and captive population numbers estimated at 34,000. The Taronga breeding program is part of a larger conservation effort between Australian zoos and South-East Asian conservationists.

Thong Dee, Porntip and the calf will take some time away from the public eye in the elephant barn to bond in private, though Sullivan hopes they’ll be back in the main enclosure next week.

In the meantime, try and come up with a good elephant pun – the zoo will soon open their public naming competition.

READ MORE:

• Derek the baby wombat melts hearts
• VIDEO: Baby giraffe born at Australia Zoo
• GALLERY: Australia’s cutest baby animals
• How Zoo’s breed elephants

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Stretching across the winding waterways and rapid runs of the Shoalhaven River, Morton includes spectacular waterfalls, glow-worm caves at Bundanoon and orchid-laced gorges in the Ettrema Wilderness.

Sweep across one of its most magnificent features, the jigsaw of jagged pagodas, mountains and mesas of the Monolith Valley in the northern Budawang Range.

Read the full story in AG#135, out now. 

The post The beauty of the Budawangs, Morton NP appeared first on Australian Geographic.

The robot known as COTSbot is the first in the world designed to eradicate the COTS responsible for around 40 per cent of the Great Barrier Reef’s total loss of coral.

The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) said the trials proved the underwater robot vehicle could successfully navigate through difficult reefs, be used detect COTS with remarkable accuracy and deliver fatal doses of bile salts using its innovative injection system.

“It’s always great to see a robot you built let off the leash, so to speak, doing the job it’s intended for,” said Dr Matthew Dunbabin, researcher from QUT’s Institute for Future Environments and Science and Engineering Faculty.

Image: Richard Fitzpatrick / QUT

The trial involved securing the COTSbot to a WiFi-enabled boat so it could beam data back to researchers who looked through the robot’s cameras and verified deadly COTS before approving the lethal injections.

“It’s quite a challenge to pack a full-service vision and machine learning system into a very small robot in the field. Without a link to the outside world, all processing is done on board COTSbot,” said Matthew.

Once the robot could perform the job well under human supervision it was set to do the work autonomously.

“We’re very happy with COTSbot’s computer vision and machine learning system,” said Dr Feras Dayoub, also a researcher from QUT’s Centre for Robotic Vision.

“When it comes to accurate detection, the goal is to avoid any false positives – that is, the robot mistaking another creature for a COTS. Our detection is extremely precise – it’s consistently reliable,” Matthew explained.

The COTSbot is designed to support current human-powered COTS control methods which involve a general sweeping of an area for other known pests and leaving the hard-to-reach starfish for specialist divers.

The researchers have already started working with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation to transform COTSbot into the new RangerBot – a multipurpose, multifunction robot for monitoring the range of issues facing coral reefs including coral bleaching, water quality, pest species, pollution and siltation.

The foundation is contending for the $750,000 Google Impact Challenge prize. If it wins, the funds will be used to develop the next generation of affordable robots to manage coral reefs.

The post New killer robot set to destroy pests on the Great Barrier Reef appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Now, you can watch Australia’s first ascent of Big Ben in footage from a 1964-1965 scientific expedition to Heard Island, never before publicly aired in full in Australia. Antarctic researcher Warwick Deacock led the 10-man expedition, the first private Australian expedition to the Antarctic since Sir Douglas Mawson’s in 1929-31.

“Like Mawson’s, ours was a challenging mixture of exploration, science, and adventure,” says Warwick. “And like Mawson we sailed to our destination – in the 19 metre crayfishing schooner Patanela, skippered by the renowned Himalayan explorer and high-latitude sailor HW Tilman.”

Grahame Budd, a member of Warwick’s expedition, shared with Australian Geographic some of the remarkably high-quality footage he is currently editing from seven hours filmed by Warwick and Malcolm Hay. The film is now part of the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra.

The video traces the whole expedition, embracing ship repairs and training in Sydney, where Patanela sails past a half-built Sydney Opera House; the 10-week voyage to Heard Island, in Antarctic waters half-way to South Africa; the summit climb and the coastal journeys; and the safe return to welcoming families and friends.

From left, Warwick Deacock, John Crick, Colin Putt and Philip Temple celebrate the first ascent of Big Ben in 1965. (Photo taken by Grahame Budd)

The footage offers an insight into both the voyage conditions – like the cramped Patanela facilities, where researchers slept on bunks head to toe – and the undisturbed island as it was over 50 years ago. Captions give context throughout the silent footage, as recording sound with separate equipment during the expedition was impractical, says Grahame.

On arrival at Heard Island Warwick and four companions landed at (and named) Capsize Beach, and the remaining five men then sailed Patanela 460km north to Kerguelen, the nearest safe anchorage. During the next fortnight the Heard Island party climbed over volcanic rubble and crevassed glaciers to establish a siege camp at Budd Pass (1220m), where they waited until a break in the prevailing blizzard allowed them to reach the summit.

Back at the coast, the men spent the fortnight until Patanela‘s return travelling extensively to complete their scientific program.  The footage includes spectacular Antarctic and subantarctic scenery and wildlife, a census of the expanding populations of king penguins and fur seals, and precarious travel across glaciers collapsing because of climate change.

Grahame has returned to Heard Island many times in his life – in 2013, he wrote for AG about the island’s retreating glaciers and environmental changes across the years.

A revised and enlarged version of a book about the expedition, called The Sea and the Snow, by Philip Temple has recently been released.

READ MORE:

• VIDEO: Watch Big Ben erupt
• VIDEO: Return to Heard Island
• Heard Island: The unchanging magnificence
• ‘The day we mastered Big Ben’ AG#09 (subscriber-only)

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Jade’s cross-country expedition – more than 150km, with verage temperatures of -25°C – was meant to take 21 days but serious cracks in the temporary runway (at Russian ice base Barneo) ­forced her to complete the whole trip in just 11 days – an experience she describes as “weird and surreal”.

The Year 9 student is already looking ahead, and considers the feat the first of a “polar hat-trick” that will see the intrepid teen attempt the Greenland Crossing and South Pole by December 2017. By the time she’s done, Jade will have spent four months on the ice and covered more than 2000km. Jade’s adventure was sponored by the Australian Geographic Society.

READ MORE:

• Teenager Jade Hameister skis into the history books
• About the Society Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Lifetime of Achievement Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Spirit of Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Conservation Awards

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Robyn is most well-known for The Science Show, which began in 1975 and is not much younger than his other creation, Okham’s Razor­ – a Sunday morning monologue slot in which experts talk about their work. Robyn has also conducted countless interviews with experts on ABC TV on programs such as Quantum and Catalyst, narrated the Nature of Australia series and appeared in World Safari with David Attenborough.

Outside the ABC, Robyn has served in various capacities, including president of the Australian Museum Trust, chairman of the Commission for the Future, and president of the Australian Science Communicators. In 1987, he was proclaimed a National Living Treasure.

READ MORE:

• About the Society Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Lifetime of Achievement Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Spirit of Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Conservation Awards

The post Lifetime of Conservation 2016 appeared first on Australian Geographic.

READ MORE:

• Legend of the deep: An interview with Ron Allum

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Brian Freeman summiting Mt Everest. (Photo courtesy Brian Freeman)

In 2014, former soldier Brian Freeman founded Walking Wounded, which assists returned Aussie soldiers by supporting their mental health. Part of his job involves leading confidence-building expeditions. In 2016 Brian summitted Mt Everest with a list of soldiers killed in Afghanistan, losing a finger to frostbite. He was also the first to run from Australia’s northernmost to southernmost points, and has recently led teams on the Kokoda Trail and up Mt Kilimanjaro.

Alyssa Azar

Alyssa rests on the Lhotse face. (Photo courtesy Alyssa Azar)

In May 2016 19-year-old Alyssa became the youngest Australian to summit Mt Everest, beating a previous record held by a 21-year-old. It was the teenager’s third attempt, after natural disasters thwarted two previous climbs – the first was in 2014, when an avalanche struck the Khumbu Icefall, killing 16 Sherpas, and the second in April 2015, when Nepal was struck by a devastating earthquake that killed more than 8500 people.

Read more about Alyssa

Lachlan Smart

Lachlan Smart poses with his single-enginge aircraft. (Photo credit: Barry Alsop)

Queenslander Lachlan Smart became the youngest person to fly a single-engine aircraft solo around the world when he landed on the Sunshine Coast on 27 August. The 18-year-old travelled 45,000km, stopping in 24 locations and 15 countries. He was inspired by former Society Adventurer of the Year Ryan Campbell, who held this record in 2013. Lachlan is almost a year younger than previous Guinness World Record holder Matt Guthmiller.

Read more aboout Lachlan.

READ MORE:

• About the Society Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Lifetime of Achievement Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Spirit of Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Conservation Awards

The post Spirit of Adventure 2016 appeared first on Australian Geographic.

READ MORE:

• About the Society Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Lifetime of Achievement Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Spirit of Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Conservation Awards

The post Adventurer of the Year 2016 appeared first on Australian Geographic.

READ MORE:

• About the Society Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Lifetime of Achievement Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Spirit of Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Conservation Awards

The post Young Conservationist of the Year 2016 appeared first on Australian Geographic.

In 2015 Tim led another team effort with his 25Zero project, which aims to highlight the retreat of glaciers on the world’s 25 equatorial mountains. As a result of climate change, Tim says these glaciers will be gone in 25 years.

READ MORE:

• Conquering peaks for climate change: Tim Jarvis’s 25Zero project
• About the Society Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Lifetime of Achievement Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Spirit of Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Adventure Awards
• Past winners: AG Society Conservation Awards

The post Conservationist of the Year 2016 appeared first on Australian Geographic.

Five years in the making, the stunning series showcased the diversity of habitats across the Earth, and each episode included a 10-minute short feature offering behind-the-scenes insight into the challenges of filming the series.

The resulting 11 episodes received international critical acclaim – and now, exactly 10 years on, the BBC has released a trailer of the sequel, Planet Earth II (originally called One Planet), which will also be presented and narrated by Sir David Attenborough, who turned 90 this year.

If the breathtaking trailer is anything to go by, the sequel is set to be just as impressive. It was filmed over four years, in over 64 different countries, taking advantage of the leaps and bounds in filming technology since 2006.

Planet Earth II will be broadcast in the UK in October and November 2016, Australian broadcast information is yet to be announced.

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The research is part of a photo identification program led by Dr Brad Norman and Associate Professor David Morgan from Murdoch University’s Centre for Fish and Fisheries Research, which aims to gather information on the mysterious animals.

Whale sharks – which were recently listed as endangered – travel to the warm waters of the marine park to feed from March to August, and are central to the region’s tourism industry.

The two in question – named Zorro and Stumpy by tourists due to the distinctive appearance of their tails – were first photographed in 1994 and 1995, respectively, when the program began.

“Some we may see only once, some maybe every three or five years, but these two have been seen almost every year for 22 years,” Brad explained, adding, “and it turns out it’s the longest monitoring of wild sharks in the world.”

By selecting an easily recognisable area – behind the gills on the left-hand side of the animal – photographs throughout the years could be compared to identify returning individuals.

Both Stumpy and Zorry have distinctive tail fins (pictured is Stumpy’s), which makes them easy to identify. (Image: Indian Ocean Imagery)

In 2003 the program expanded online, and has since gone global, with researchers based in a number of international sites where whale sharks are regularly sighted, and photographs being uploaded from 54 different countries.

Through advanced fingerprint-like spot-pattern recognition software, thousands of images from around the world have been analysed and compared, resulting in the identification of more than 1300 individuals in Ningaloo alone.

“It has been really successful,” said Brad.

The research was published this month in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

Understanding the endangered whale shark

Despite being the world’s largest fish, there are gaps in knowledge of whale shark’s biology and ecology, due to the cryptic nature of the animals – which up until the mid-1980s, had only been sighted 320 times.

This long-standing program, along with satellite tracking, will therefore aid researchers in learning more about the gentle giant, including identifying critical habitat for feeding and breeding.

“We’re starting to learn a lot more about these guys but there are still mysteries to be solved,” Brad said.

When researchers first saw Stumpy and Zorro, they were immature males, like most of the whale sharks found at Ningaloo, however, Brad said the appearance of their claspers now shows they have sexually matured.

“When they’re young they’re tucked up under their belly and smooth, then when they mature they become thick and elongated and rough and abrasive.”

“It indicates that somewhere along their travels they’ve mated, and it raises another question – where have they mated?”

Engaging the public

The world’s largest-known living fish, whale sharks were listed as endangered earlier this year.(Image: Indian Ocean Imagery)

The program has given the public the opportunity to be citizen scientists, and encourages people to upload their photographs to the growing library at whaleshark.org.

“The program is good in that it engages members of the public – it can be a tourist on a tour boat, a videographer out on the water or me on a tour boat or with a research group,” Brad said.

“Anyone who uploads their photo and it comes up with a match will get an email saying, ‘thanks for your help, the shark you saw was last seen five years ago,’ and the person who took the photo five years ago will also get an email.

“It keeps people engaged – it’s basically developed into the best monitoring program for whale sharks in the world.”

Brad has also initiated an education program where schools can raise money to sponsor a satellite tag and tracking costs – a total of $5000 each – and track their shark throughout its journey.

“Last year we got 16 schools involved and had 12 satellite tags out there on whale sharks, so it was a great success,” he said.

Schools can register their interest for ‘Race 2017’ at whaleshark.org.au/satellite-tracking

READ MORE:

• Vulnerable to endangered: whale sharks one step closer to extinction
• Cheeky whale shark gets a free feed
• Swimming with humpbacks at Ningaloo

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