Australia
zooillogix | June 13, 2008"Toad licking" has been well documented around the world with secretions from many species causing intense hallucinations. In this 2006 NPR podcast, they tell the story of a poor cocker spaniel who became addicted to toad. "We noticed Lady (the cocker) spending an awful lot of time down by the pond in our backyard. Late one night after I'd put the dogs out, Lady wouldn't come in. She finally staggered over to me from the cattails. She looked up at me, leaned her head over and opened her mouth like she was going to throw up, and out plopped this disgusting toad." Increasingly Lady would return…
zooillogix | May 22, 2008Via a circuitous route, prompted by a friend of Zooillogix, Tweet Gainsborough-waring, I found myself looking at the picture below.
This otherworldly Australian earthworm, Terriswalkeris terraereginae, not only looks likes delicious candy, but the mucin it releases is luminescent, and it grows up to 2 meters long. I knew Zooillogix readers would want to know more about this fascinating critter but could find almost no information online. Luckily, Dr. Geoff Dyne, Assistant Director, Queensland Section, Australian Government Natural Research Management Team (and more importantly,…
zooillogix | January 2, 2008Apparently obesity isn't just for American's anymore... make that humans in general. First we have George, the greedy little pig as old British women would call him. This hedgehog was delivered to the Wildlife Aid centre in Leatherhead, England five times heavier than his natural weight. At 5lbs, George is dangerously obese and a testament to the fattening properties of garden insects, fruits and mushrooms.
Remind anyone else of this?
More of a trailer park tiggywinkle if you ask me.
Next we have Peaches, the fat baby wombat, from Tomerong, north of Sydney. In this series of caught-in-the-…
grrlscientist | December 29, 2007tags: outback mosaic, Australia, NewScientist, Image of the Day
Outback mosaic.
Australia is the world's driest inhabited continent and has the most variable rainfall.
Image: Carole Tilney 2007 (NewScientist calendar 2008). [Much larger view]
grrlscientist | September 12, 2007tags: Australia, blog carnivals
The 12 September issue of the Carnival of Australia is now available. This carnival focuses on stories about Australia, most of which are written by Australians. I am pleased to say that they included a story that I wrote, even though I am not Australian.
zooillogix | June 28, 2007Mandarin Goby, Synchiropus splendidus
Researchers from James Cook University in North Queensland, Australia have made a startling discovery: gobies intentionally deprive themselves of food to avoid conflict with their rulers. Goby society is lorded over by the largest males and females and these are the only individuals allowed to breed. If a smaller goby tries to jump the queue and mate, it will be expelled from the group by the bigger fish. However, all is not peaches and cream at the top, as competition between the larger fish to establish dominance is fierce. Therefore, smaller gobies…
zooillogix | March 27, 2007"This bounty hunter is my kind of scum: fearless and inventive." Cane toad, Bufo marinus
The environmental group, Frogwatch, caught one of the largest specimens of toad ever discovered in Darwin, Australia on Tuesday. The apprehended toad is the size of a football and as heavy as a small sack of potatoes.
Cane toads are a highly poisonous, non-native species in Australia and have been wreaking havoc on the local ecosystem for decades. Frogwatch's "Toad Buster" project launches "raids" on small ponds, blinds the toads with bright lights and nets them by the dozens. From there they are killed…
integrityofscience | January 25, 2007Recently, Australia's leaders seem to have been second only to the Bush Administration in their denial of the consensus around climate science. Just in case anyone thought being a researcher in Australia was all toast and Vegemite (not that we've actually heard that anywhere), the Sydney Morning Herald paints a picture of Aussie scientists who look a bit like some of their beleaguered Yankee counterparts. From "California dreaming, to stop an environmental nightmare":
"Those of us who inherited this idea of Australia as a team player in the world have had to adjust over the last couple of…