Adventure Ausrama Blog

Our grandchildren will not enjoy the natural environment as we do. Yes, visits are organized for sightseers, but at least we have something to look at. We ignore the damage we do at our peril. This couldn't care less attitude has to change. Water shortages will become normal in urban areas and country regions. Ironically, Australiasia is experiencing a lot of rain at the moment. Will this continue? Perhaps the nation is becoming more tropical. However, El Niño will return eventually. When the weather is hot, plants and people do not do so well. There is plenty of food available in Western countries now. This could change with a persistent drying climate. The West does not seem to care about those suffering famine in Africa. Starvation and malnutrition could happen at home. Animal and plant biodiversity also suffers from severe change. In the last decade 50 percent of native animal species have died out in Australia. When an organism meets its demise the whole ecosystem ...

How do we stop the mass extinction of native animals in Australia? That is the big question. Building up a database of endangered species will help but action is needed now. More than a hundred kinds of animal are under threat. Species are quickly dying off. Small marsupials are becoming extinct. These are in remote regions where humans seldom go, so this is a bit of a mystery. The answer could be imported predators which have been brought here since Europeans arrived. Though feral cats and foxes are seen as mainly responsible, changing the landscape for farming and housing has also had an impact. Open land assists cats and foxes - they can more easily see their prey.  Small slow-moving native animals stand no chance at all. The Australian Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (ACEAS) database has identified areas most in need of conservation management plans. Animals are in the process of moving to new locations as the climate changes. Species fill e...

Why do Whales beach themselves? The theory is that some coastal regions are shallow so sonar does not bounce back to the animals to tell them to keep away. This is only a theory. There seems to be no way of stopping the mammals from laying themselves on the sand to die a painful death. Dragging them out to sea is an attempt to save them, but they continue toward the beach again within hours. A few days ago killer whales beached themselves on sandbars near Fraser Island. Three of them died. Fishermen have been told to keep their boats well away from the animals. They are trying to find deeper water. The hope is that open sea will attract them and they will move away from the shallow sand. Apparently when a whale beaches, the whole pod panics. The presence of boats, particularly motorized ones, stresses them more. One would have thought that evolution would have "bred" out the beaching trait. The numbers who die each year on beaches is obviously not high enough to ...

Australia's slaughter of wildlife continues despite warnings from CSIRO. Nearly half of Australian mammals will end their existence very soon. Zoologist Fred Ford said 11 extinctions have occurred in recent years in the south-eastern forests of Australia. The reserve system is not working. They are just for show. Plants are doing well because they are surviving outside and inside reserves. Nothing is being done to protect small native mammals. Reserves are havens for introduced feral animals and invasive weeds. Rangers are not being trained to look after the endangered species. Money should be allocated more efficiently. With all the money put into reserves there must be more positive outcomes. Native animal need to be researched and the data must be analyzed. Records should be kept to formulate action. An astounding 65 per cent of reptiles in Australia have been discovered in the last 35 years. The public has not been adequately informed of this. http://www.adventure--australia...

It seems that with climate change we will lose some species but gain new ones - or have new "changed" species. Some species living at high altitudes have been changing as mountain tops become warmer with climate change. It was believed that accelerated evolution only occurs in cold regions, but it has been discovered that it also happens in the tropics. While it has been accepted for a long time that plants and marine protists evolve faster, the process has only recently been recognized in mammals. What is unusual is that mammals are not directly affected by a warming climate because they naturally maintain a steady body heat. It is now believed that evolution in the tropics is even faster that in temperate regions. There is a greater diversity of species in the tropics. This faster evolution and more species means that adaptation to changing conditions is rapid. The faster evolution actually makes for many more types of animals. There must be something else, however, t...

Long-necked dinosaurs had hollow bones in their skin according to fossils in Madagascar. The animal in question is the giant Rapetosaurus. Hollow bones are found in the skin of reptiles and a few mammals. These skin bones are called osteoderm. Dinosaurs with hollow skin bones are Titanosaura, a Sauropod, Rapetosaurus, Stegosaurus and Ankylosaurus. It is believed that the bones stored mineral for hard times. Rapetosaurus, for example, had only a few bones spread throughout their skin, so the bones were not used for defence or to moderate temperature. The fossils in Madagascar were of Rapetosaurus. What applies for Rapetosaurus can be used to evaluate the hollow bones of other dinosaurs. It cannot be ruled out that Titanosaura used the bones partially for defence but the main function of hollow bones was to store minerals. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustralia http://www.technorati.com/...

Dinosaur metabolism was not only higher than reptiles, their bodies ran at a faster rate than mammals. Analysis of tiny holes in their bones shows that they pumped a lot of blood through their bodies. So scientists have been wrong for a long time claiming that dinosaurs were slow moving creatures who relied on the sun to get going each day. Tests across a wide range of dinosaurs, big and small, confirm they moved around with ease. Some scientists have accepted the hypothesis that dinosaurs were not reptiles. It makes one wonder how many other things we are taught at schools are totally wrong. New evidence for upright walking of apes goes back more than four million years to an animal with feet designed to climb trees. Their hips are clearly designed for walking upright. And for decades we had been told a special foot design was necessary for bipedal walking. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/Adventu...