Flora & Fauna
A place of refuge… nearly
Victoria’s promised new national parks in the central west are vital to safeguarding forests and the hundreds of rare and threatened wildlife that depend on them.
Tag: Science & Environment
Flora & Fauna
Hidden ‘bird highways’ reveal the extraordinary ways birds migrate to find water
Australian researchers attached ‘backpacks’ with tiny sensors on nomadic Australian waterbirds birds to discover the extraordinary ways they migrate to find water.
Science & Environment
Discovery of ‘chainmail’ bone plates in goannas could be key to their evolutionary success
Monitor lizards, also known in Australia as goannas, are some of the most iconic reptiles on the continent. Their lineage not only survived the mass extinction that ended the reign of non-avian dinosaurs, but also gave rise to the largest living lizards on Earth.
Science & Environment
Chytrid fungus prompts mating surge
The rare alpine tree frog is fighting against the lethal fungus by breeding faster.
Science & Environment
Why do penguins porpoise?
Underwater in the freezing waters of Antarctica I watched awestruck as gentoo penguins effortlessly rocketed and swerved around me at speeds that were sometimes too fast to follow. Even more surprising was seeing the flock dash for the surface, leap clear of the water like dolphins, and hurry away.
Science & Environment
Regional innovations: On the snail trail
In Western Australia’s Esperance region, an Estonian migrant is solving an age-old pest problem in farming.
Science & Environment
Fish driving cars and chimps doing maths: What teaching animals ‘irrelevant’ skills reveals about our own minds
Ecologically irrelevant research can help us understand the limits of animal intelligence and develop bio-inspired technology. It can also help us explore behavioural responses to environmental change, and advance our understanding of the evolution of intelligence.
Science & Environment
Australian fossil tracks shift timeline of reptile evolution
Two lizard-like creatures crossed tracks 355 million years ago. Today, their footprints yield a major discovery.
Science & Environment
Unearthing quolls’ weird, snail-eating cousin
The extinct Malleodectidae family of carnivorous marsupials has become a little bit bigger with the addition of a newly described species – Malleodectes arenai – and a new genus so strange it has been named Weirdodectes.
Science & Environment
Comet, rocket, space junk or meteor? How to tell your fireballs apart
While these objects have some similarities, there are crucial differences that can help us work out what just passed over our heads.