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Science & Environment
Gallery: The 2017 total solar eclipse

A total solar eclipse swept across parts of the United States from Lincoln Beach, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina, while a partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of South America, Africa, and Europe.

While those of us living in the Southern Hemisphere weren't treated to the views offered by the total eclipse, NASA managed to capture some spectacular images.

All

Wildlife
Gallery: The endangered sawfish shark

Sharks and Rays Australia has been conducting research surveys across river systems adjacent to Queensland’s Gulf of Carpentaria aiming to find and count sawfish, the most endangered family of any sharks or rays. In Australia, there are four species of sawfish. Three of those are listed as vulnerable and migratory on Australia’s EPBC Act, while the fourth species is listed as migratory. Freshwater (or largetooth) sawfish (Pristis pristis) are critically endangered globally and in Australia they are protected under state legislation in Qld, NT and WA, additional to their EPBC Act listing. Dr Barbara Wueringer, the principal scientist of Sharks And Rays Australia, has been working with sawfish since 2006. As her previous work focused on how sawfish use their saw to both sense and manipulate prey, she finds the practice of amputating a sawfishes saw particularly troubling. The practice is also illegal.
Wildlife
Six things you didn't know about superb fairy-wrens

The small, blue superb fairy-wren is endemic to eastern Australia, ranging in habitat from south Queensland to South Australia's Adelaide region, as well as throughout Tasmania. Males are easily distinguished from females by their distinctive colourings: mostly blue, with a black band across their back and head. This blue turns iridescent when the male is looking for a mate.
History & Culture
Gallery: Australia's longest running botanical magazine

Curtis’s Botanical Magazine began publication in 1787 and intended to familiarise its readers with plants from all over the Empire, which it presented as floral paintings by noted artists who, previously had only been accessible by an affluent audience. Its publication saw their work accessible by a wider audience with a growing interest in exotic species.

A Celebration of Australian Flowers – Curtis’s Botanical Magazine is running at the Redbox Gallery until 30 November 2017 Mrs Macquaries Rd. The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney.
Wildlife
Prehistoric marine creatures: monsters of the deep

Australia was a wet and wild place in the Cretaceous Period (145-65 million years ago), and not a safe spot for a dip in the sea. It was closer to the South Pole, but a warmer world meant temperate regions stretched further south than today. The Eromanga Sea covered much of Queensland; this body of water was so vast at one point that it extended into South Australia, splitting the continent. While dinosaurs held sway on the land, exotic reptiles flourished in the inland sea. Four major groups dominated. Ichthyosaurs were dolphin-like predators with four flippers and a vertical tail fin. Sea turtles were represented by four known species, one of which was a 4m giant. Plesiosaurs had four flippers, but two different body types: large-headed, small-necked forms (called pliosaurs); and small-headed, long-necked forms. Neck length was taken to extremes in one group, the elasmosaurs. Mosasaurs, which didn't appear until about the time that ichthyosaurs became extinct and the Eromanga Sea retreated, were long-bodied predators related to snakes and monitor lizards. Of these four diverse and successful groups, only the turtles remain in the oceans.

Text by Maria Zammit
Wildlife
The plight of our wedge-tailed eagles

We know very little about the wedge-tailed eagles’ (Aquila audax) movement across Australia’s vast arid lands. And with dramatic changes to the habitats of the native raptor, mostly caused by human activity, the more we know the better.

Wedge-tailed eagle expert, Simon Cherriman has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to purchase satellite-trackers to research the movements of juvenile wedgies.

Having raised enough money to fund three satellite-trackers in 2015, which were attached to wedgies in the Perth Hills area, Simon explains that our knowledge depends on following the stories of more than just a few birds.

"Despite being subject to a period of extensive persecution for over a century, when hundreds of thousands of eagles were culled, the Wedge-tail is currently listed as Least Concern. However, this status is based on information collected using methods designed for small songbirds, and it does not consider the complex population structure of a large raptor,” Simon explains.

To donate to Simon's crowdfunding campaign, click HERE.
Wildlife
Australia's white animals

Have you seen the rare footage of a white moose in Sweden yet? Well, Australia has its very own share of albino native animals.

White is a rare colour in nature and it's not surprising the unusual pale hues found in people, animals and plants affected by albinism are romanticised in literature. The rare colouring is manifestation of a gene mutation that disrupts the production of melanin, which colours eyes, skin, hair, fur and leaves. Without this pigment animals or plants default to white or colourless states.

This doesn't mean, however, that all white or fair animals or people are albino. Polar bears, Kermode bears (spirit bears) and Scandinavians, for example, carry fair genes, but not gene mutations that inhibit colour. Some animals also suffer from different disorders that affect their pigmentation to a different extent.

Even within albinism, there are varying degrees of colouration, ranging from coppery through to very white. And so it's a common misnomer that all albinos have pink eyes; indeed some do, but some have blue and even hazel and brown eyes. Some plants are also only partially albino, producing either regular or random stripes or colour patchers. Other people and animals are only white at the warmest points on their bodies.
Wildlife
Great Australian cockies

DARREN HAMLEY is a coordinator of gifted education at Willetton Senior High School in Western Australia. Earlier this year he asked his students to plan an expedition to photograph every species of cockatoo in Australia. They researched the best location to see each of the fourteen species and planned the trip from beginning to end researching weather, equipment, camping locations and where to actually find the birds. All but one was captured— the Palm Cockatoo, which is isolated by floodwaters.
Wildlife
Australia's bizarre creatures

Australia is home to many bizarre creatures, but they're no less lovable than our iconic kangas and cuddly koalas. Here are our favourites.
Wildlife
GALLERY: 2017 AG Nature Photographer of the Year winners

The winning images from the 2017 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the year contest have been revealed. Congratulations to all winners and runners-up.

These photos will be exhibited at the South Australian Museum in Adelaide (11 August to 24 September) and the Australian Museum in Sydney (11 August to 10 December)

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