The bushfires still dominate our news

You know its been hot when our native animals start leaving the country!!!!

BYE SKIPPY!!!

Cute and cuddly Koala's are very vulnerable to fire in their tree's.







These photos show clearly that native animals are quite prepared to accept help
when the going gets tough.

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On the late news recently they had a segment on about a vet down in Victoria who lost her surgery through the bushfires. The very next day she opened up at what had been the local fish shop and was taking in injured animals, pets and native. She is treating the animals for free and is not asking people to make appointments - she is just taking them as they walk in. "The Vet Practice" is the name of her business and she needs donations to allow her to continue her good work.

Please pass this information on to all you know in the hope that more people are aware of what this wonderful woman is doing and may be able to send a donation her way so she can continue helping these injured animals. The web site is below:

http://www.thevetpractice.com.au/


Please cut and paste this link to your browser if you are able to donate
to this very good cause.

There are stories of heroism and acts of kindness coming out on a daily basis that make us feel very proud to be Australian's, sadly there are also a few incidences of the other side of the scale, these range from the scum who deliberately set the fires that cause so much heartache to so many, to the looters who are somehow able to plunder the very few possessions that some of the victims of the fires have, one can only wonder how they can live with them selves. Overall though it is the stories of kindness and valor that shine through in times of trouble.

Spiders and Snakes.

Here is some cheerful reading material for you to look at while I am otherwise engaged, (staring at the white line in the centre of the road) for about 2300 Klms over the next few days.

I’ll post again when the opportunity arises.

Spiders and Snakes.

We are blessed with, or should that read cursed by, having many of the worlds deadliest spiders and snakes here in Australia.

This shouldn’t be as alarming as it may sound though, for all the arachnids and reptiles that are capable of so much destruction the incidence of deaths from bites is really quite small.
As can be seen in the following statistics it is much more dangerous to drive or swim or even to gambol in a field of flowers, where a bee might sting you.

Human Deaths in Australia Between 1980-1990, Inclusive (from Stevens & Paxton, 199

Cause of Death	Total Deaths	Average per year
Crocodile Attacks	8	0.7
Shark Attacks	11	1.0
Lightning Strikes	19	1.7
Bee Stings	20	1.8
Scuba Diving Accidents	88	8.0
Drownings/Submersions	3,367	306
Motor Vehicle Accidents	32,772	2,979

Number of deaths by Spider bites?

In Australia, only male Sydney Funnel Web Spiders and Redback Spiders have caused human deaths, since anti venoms were made available in 1981. Each year in Australia as many as 4,000 people are bitten. Of these 200 require anti venom treatment, and 1 proves fatal.

Number of deaths from Snake bites?

Less than eight presumably. You should also bear in mind that some of the snake attacks would be of people who handle snakes, keep them as pets or other wise live in close proximity to the beasties. Another point is, in the extremely unlikely you are bitten or witness someone else being bitten, do not try to attack the snake as it moves faster then you do and will probably have another go. More people die worrying about snakes (‘I think I saw a snake’, heart attack – thud) than actually get bitten by them.

Alien Abductions

There are few stats on this one but if you do get abducted at least let them know you are on holiday. There are no space tours that I’m aware of and potential for great photography should not be squandered.

The LD₅₀ Described

The LD₅₀ is a standard laboratory test with set guidelines laid down by the World Health Organisation. With the toxicity test in snakes, individual mice within a sample receive equivalent quantities of venom (each mouse is of the same weight). Each sample receives less venom than the previous. The LD₅₀ is the amount of venom administered to each mouse to cause 50% of the sample to die. The lower the LD₅₀ the higher the toxicity is on mice!.

Inland Taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus) 0.025 0.01

Eastern Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis) 0.053 0.041

Northern Taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus) 0.099 0.064

Eastern Mainland Tiger Snake (Notechis s. scutatus) 0.118 0.118

These 4 snakes are considered to be our most venomous, the inland Taipan (worlds deadliest snake) has never been responsible for a single human death (but you wouldn't want to be a mouse!!!)

This cutie is the Eastern Brown and has been responsible for more deaths in Australia than any other snake, one reason being that it is one of the most commonly occurring snakes.











Inland Taipan, highly venomous but a shy snake with a zero kill rate to date.












Tiger Snake, rated as the second highest killer among our snakes, one of the few that can be aggressive particularly during breeding season.












Death Adder, despite its chilling name this guys claim to fame is more a matter of its means of hunting its prey, it buries itself in the loose sand and dust near water and strikes suddenly at its prey from concealment.










White tailed spider, the bite is not fatal but has long lasting tissue destruction and severely painful bites, relatively little is known about these spiders.




The Funnel Web Spider is a resident in the Sydney area, it is Australia's most deadly spider having been know to cause deaths.






The Red-Back Spider, this is the one that likes to co-habituate with humans, and is the one that in mythology lives under the toilet seat just waiting to bite you on the bum.
I have had the dis-pleasure of being bitten by one of these buggers, no, it wasn't under the toilet seat, moderately painful for a couple of days and then itched like you wouldn't believe for the next couple of days

Koala, cute and cuddly.

The Koala (they are not bears) would be many peoples pick for our cuddliest animal.
Please click to enbiggen the photos



This photo shows why people think they are a cute marsupial, please note those long curved claws before you rush to pick one up though, not that they are aggressive but they are used to hanging onto tree trunks/limbs and will instinctively also hang onto you.

Being marsupials means that the female has a pouch where the young is nurtured after its birth, as a jelly bean sized embryo the baby crawls up the fur of its mother to reach the pouch where it will spend up to 6 months before emerging as a fully developed joey.

Koala's live on a diet of gum leaves (eucalyptus) which are hard to digest and fairly low in nutrition, (these same leaves are poisonous to most other animals if eaten in any quantity) the Koala has adapted to this by sleeping for up to18 hours a day to conserve energy and give its digestive system time to work.

They grow to an average of 20 pounds and are quite lean and muscular, excellent climbers with very good balance while in the trees they are less at home on the ground and limit their time there to moving from tree to tree.


They live for about 12 years and move about very little, only as dictated by their food supply, they are quite territorial, even within the family groups but do "share" certain trees which serve as their social centres.



For the first few months of his life the joey hitches a ride on his mothers back, I didn't have a suitable photo of mother and joey on file so had to use one from the net which sadly didn't take kindly to my efforts to enlarge it so its quite a small image, Koala's live in colonies of between 10 and 20 animals and are quite a social animal.


During the time we lived in Toowoomba I operated a "school bus" this bus run covered about 30 Kms quite a bit of which was through "bush" country, there was a colony of Koala's that lived in this area and when they were in suitable locations for a good viewing I would stop the bus so that we could see them properly.... Look-out we are having one of Mr Holts "nature study" stops would start to chorus around the bus.... "Shut-up and look at the Koala's you little heathens" I would reply.....









On one occasion when our friend Warren came to visit us, knowing the Koala's were close to the road and in a patch of quite small trees, (they were often in very large trees and 50 to 60 feet from the ground) we went for a drive to look at and photograph them, that's when my old mate took this unflattering shot of me as I climbed to a better vantage point for a photo.
As I've said before... "what are friends for?"

Thorny Devil (Moloch Horridus)

One of my favourite Australian animals is actually a reptile which has the very unflattering name Moloch Horridus or more commonly Thorny Devil (that's Thorny with a T by the way) I have only ever seen 1 of these cuties in the wild and was quite surprised to find how common and widespread they are when I researched them.


The shaded area on this map shows their natural habitat, and while anyone familiar with Australia will recognize that this is harsh and remote country it is also a huge area that I have spent quite a bit of time in over the years.
In fact the Eyre Peninsular where daughter Vicki and SIL Rex farm is included and I've certainly never seen one there so I'm guessing the map is a bit genorous with its boundaries.
Suffice to say they inhabit sandy desert or arid zones and are quite common, they are active in the day time, unlike lots of our wildlife which is nocturnal, and live on a diet of ants (Australia has gazillions of ants so their food supply is assured) they share this diet with another couple of my favourite animals the Echidna or spiny anteater and the Numbat.




The Echidna, like the Platypus is a monotreme (egg laying mammal) that burrows into ants nests to find their food.









The Numbat is a small marsupial which feeds exclusively on termites and is found only in a small area of the south west of WA'
They are active in the daytime but very shy we spent many
hours in an area where they are known to live but sad to say were never lucky enough to find one


Thorny Devils can consume 1,000s of ants which they catch on their long tongues, they eat the ants 1 at a time so spend a lot of their time feeding, they live in shallow burrows dug in the sand where they also escape the heat of the midday sun, the female lays her eggs, 3 to 10 at a time, in a shallow burrow also, but far from being a good mum she then has no further contact with the young, they hatch some 3 months later, dig their way out and start feeding on ants straight away.

The Thorny Devil when viewed close up certainly is a fearsome looking creature
Please click to enbiggen this photo



Looks are certainly deceptive in this case as the Thorny Devil is a 15 - 20 Cm (6 - 8 inch) really cute little guy who will sit calmly on your hand
apparently unafraid and offering no threat.
They have a life-span of about 15 years, are slow moving, more prone to standing quite still and well camouflaged than to running away under threat, their main enemies are Goanna's (a very large member of the lizard family) and Hawks.
Thorny Devils have adapted well to their chosen environment, they drink by collecting rain or dew on their bodies and channeling it to the corners of their mouths along grooves in their backs



This photo is my own, of the only Thorny Devil I encountered in my travels.

This is a typical pose when they feel threatened, they also rock slowly from side to side, he (or she) calmed down quickly though and sat on my hand quite contently, we seemed to instinctively trust one another, which when you consider the size difference from his point of view and the number of stinging or poisonous critters from my point of view was quite odd really.
I have since learned lots more about them and find that our instincts were well founded as we offer little or no threat to one another.....
Crikey, Thorny Devils rule!!!!

Kangaroos and Wallabies

Kangaroos and wallabies are marsupials that belong to a small group of animals called macropods. They are only found naturally in Australia and Papua New Guinea. The word macropod actually means 'big foot'. Kangaroos and wallabies are most active at night, dusk and dawn.

The kangaroo super-family consists of two family groups. Kangaroos, wallabies, pademelons and tree-kangaroos make up one family, while rat-kangaroos, bettongs and potoroos make up the other.

Kangaroos are Australia's best-known animals. Since they were first seen by European settlers - who were amazed at such strange animals - a lot has happened to these unique creatures. There are now more of some kangaroo species, generally the larger ones, than when the European settlers arrived. Other species are gone forever, made extinct by surroundings that were changed too much for them to survive. Many of less well known surviving species are also decreasing in number and may become extinct if we do not take some action.

Kangaroos, and their close relatives, vary greatly in size, ranging in weight from 500 grams to 90 kilograms. There are some 45 different types of kangaroo.

Kangaroos of all sizes have one thing in common - powerful back legs with long feet. They are distinguished from other animals by the way they hop on these strong back legs. Only a few other small mammals, such as hopping mice, do this.

Hopping uses slightly less energy than four-footed running, but this advantage is lost at low speed. To move slowly, kangaroos balance on their front paws and tail, and then swing their hind legs forward in a pendulum motion.

Kangaroos have adapted to the varied conditions across Australia in many ways. One of the most unusual, is the way females of some species can delay the progress of pregnancy. In this way the female is ready to give birth to a replacement for the young in her pouch if it dies early, or within a week of when it permanently leaves the pouch. This ability to delay births means that there can be up to 12 months between a mating and the birth of the young one resulting from that mating (when the normal gestation period is less than 35 days). It also means that the species can best respond to periods of drought and plenty.

Species which have this unusual ability normally mate again soon after the female gives birth. The tiny newly born kangaroo (less than 25 mm long) moves unaided into its mother's pouch and attaches itself to one of four teats. During the early stages of pouch life the young is permanently attached to the teat, but as it matures and begins to grow hair it also develops the ability to release and reattach itself to the teat.

Often the young Joey can be almost one third the size of its mum while still being a passenger in the pouch with little apparent discomfort to mum.

In the late stages of pouch life, once it has a thin covering of fur, the young one begins to explore the outside world for increasing lengths of time until eventually it is old enough to be excluded permanently from the pouch. Complete weaning may take a number of months more after the young has permanently left the pouch. If the mother gives birth during this time, the newborn young will attach itself to a different teat to that being used by the older young. It is remarkable that when this happens the mother produces two different kinds of milk for the two different-aged young.

These are the big boys of the family, up to 7 feet tall and 90 kg, each bound will cover about 10 feet and they can easily clear farm fences.

The Red Kangaroo is the largest living marsupial. Males can be over 6 feet tall and weigh up to 90 kilograms. It is able to go without drinking as long as green grass is available, and it adapts well to drought. Despite its name, the Red Kangaroo is sometimes a blue - grey colour, particularly the female.

The most common variety under the right circumstances they will inhabit golf courses and the like, I took this photo at the Pinnaroo Crematorium Gardens in metropolitan Perth WA.

The Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroos live where rainfall is greater than 250 millimetres a year, through eastern Australia and across the southern coast to south-west Western Australia. Populations vary considerably according to conditions, but the two species are very common.

This small Wallaby wanted to get into the car with me (and the food) at Cradle Mountain in Tasmania.

Also quite common are the smaller species known as Wallabies, these are found in any terrain and vary from common to endangered.

Tree climbing is not accomplished with the same speed and dexterity as with possums or even Koalas but they do in fact climb trees!!!

Tree-kangaroos are adapted to living in trees. They have stronger front limbs than other kangaroos, shorter hind legs, and feet with a rough-textured sole to allow for a better grip. Despite these features, they are awkward in trees. Most species are found in the dense forests of New Guinea. The two Australian species - Lumholtz's Tree-kangaroo and Bennett's Tree-kangaroo are found in small areas in the tropical rainforests of north Queensland. They feed on leaves and fruit.

This Rock Wallaby was at Lake Argyle in WA. they are very agile on quite steep rocky outcrops.

Rock wallabies are a large group of quite different-looking species. As their name implies, they prefer rocky regions. They are found throughout Australia. Because they prefer rocky gorges, cliffs and boulder jumbles, populations may be confined to widely separated and small areas.

Pademelons are small wallabies that live in wet forest areas. The Tasmanian Pademelon is known for its fine fur. It was once hunted in great numbers, but remains abundant today. Pademelons prefer similar habitats to potoroos, but have a different diet - they eat juicy grasses and shrubs. All three species remain common.

I had to find these last two pictures on the net as I had no suitable ones in my files.

Potoroos are mainly found in the wet forests and heathlands of east and south-east Australia. They feed in the open, but retreat to thick undergrowth for protection.

The Bettongs are the smallest macropods and are only the size of our rabbits but very fast and agile.

Bettongs are found in drier areas than those preferred by the potoroos. Like most small macropods found in arid areas, bettongs are active at night to avoid moisture loss during the heat of the day. The Burrowing Bettong does not drink. It gets the moisture it needs during the night from juicy sandhill plants. Only two species, the Tasmanian Bettong and the Rufous Bettong can be regarded as common. Even so, they are found over a smaller area than before, due mainly to clearing of their habitat for farms and feral animals like cats and foxes.

Ornithorhynchus anatinus

An odd assortment of left over bits combined to make the Platypus.


A lot of our Australian native animals are unique and many are just a tad strange, at the head of the strange list comes the Platypus, (sometimes referred to as the duck billed Platypus) when this animal was first discovered all who saw it were amazed in fact when the first specimens (dead) were sent to London the museum curator tried to dismantle it as he was convinced that it was a practical joke and had been assembled from body parts of other animals.
The Platypus has a body similar to a Beaver, webbed feet, a snout not unlike a ducks bill, a broad flat tail and the male has venomous spurs on his rear ankles.... it gets better though, this mammal lays eggs to reproduce, this led to the naming of a whole new species, Monotremes, which consists of the Platypus and 4 members of the Echidna family (also Australian) they remain in the mammal family because the female produces milk to feed her young, as she has no teats this milk is exuded through pores in her skin and lapped up by the young from pools that form on her stomach.
All that should have been enough for the poor old Platypus to bear without having the zooilogical name of Ornithorhynchus anatinus bestowed upon it, fortunately the much simpler name Platypus has stuck with it.
These small animals are excellent swimmers, they spend 30/40 seconds at a time rummaging with
their snouts for food in the mud and gravel of the stream bed near their home which is a burrow
dug in the stream bank just above the water line, these burrows are usually from 5/8 meters long.
Adults weigh between 1 and 2 kgs (2 to 5 lbs) are usually between 17" and 20" in length with the
males at the heavy and long end of the scales.
Truth really is stranger than fiction!!!
Now let me think what can I tell you about next? Oh I know... see ya soon.