Adventure Ausrama Blog

Many people have written off the "hobbit" find as being just a joke, a sad hoax played on society. However, finding tiny "humans" is, apparently, real. Most scientists have accepted it though some still scoff at the whole issue without looking into it. In 2004 archaeologists in Indonesia found skeletons, not fossils, skeletons of small human-like creatures who lived on the island of Flores as recently as 18,000 years ago. While humans spread around the world, these small "humans" carried on hunting pygmy elephants and other local species in isolation. Flint flakes found in million year old volcanic sediment show hobbit activity there a very long time ago. The question is - When did the early humans leave Africa? Considering Man left the continent no more than 100,000 years ago why did other excursions of early man end in extinction? At least one group survived long enough to enlighten us about the numerous times humans left Africa. Evidence from bone struc...

At last - a solution to Australia's can toad problem. Decades ago the pest was introduced from Hawaii to combat bugs that were attacking sugar cane, but instead of eating the target beetles the cane toads went about settling down here and have been destroying the native habitat ever since. Cane toads have recently reached Perth in Western Australia. Now they are established in every Australian state. Everything has been tried to kill them from hitting them with sticks, gassing them with carbon dioxide, to freezing them. None of this has had any effect on their numbers. A way has now been found, however, of killing off the pests. Placing a few teaspoons of cat food next to ponds in the Northern Territory attracts meat eating ants. When the baby can toads appear from the pond they are eaten by the ants. Most native creatures are affected by the poisonous toxin put out by can toads. Fortunately, the ants are fully resistant. All the toad eggs hatch at the same time, so if you activate...

Australians worship the Hills Hoist. Wherever one travels in this hot brown land the Aussie clothes line can be seen, with shirts and skirts attached thereto. It seems, however, that in other countries the Hills Hoist is a blot on the landscape. In the US the hoist is hardly seen at all. In the 1950s the electric dryer arrived and more recently in the 1970s regulations were brought in to prohibit the hoist on aesthetic grounds. Some argued that the humble Hills Hoist detracted from perfectly manicured backyards and could reduce home values. The tide is turning. For people are hanging out their washing in protest. You see, electric dryers are bad for the environment. A significant amount of electricity is used by electric dryers in the US, six percent in fact. Furthermore, commercial laundry establishments including laundromats, gaols, prisons and hospitals use gas dryers. The humble clothesline could be a valuable weapon in the fight against global warming. http://www.adventure--austra...

Humans destroy more things in the environment than climate change. This is especially the case in Australia where over the last 50,000 years people have wiped out the county's megafauna. Before Aboriginals arrived flightless birds, large reptiles and giant marsupials lived a carefree existence. Humans slaughtered the large animals in a very short period of time. More accurate dating of bones shows that megafauna died out abruptly. When the giant creatures were in large numbers there is no evidence of human tools. After the Diprotodon, Australia's largest marsupial, large kangaroos and flightless birds died out stone tools appeared. Accurate dating shows they did not exist at the same time even though they were found together at certain locations. When humans became settled the large animals were gone. The odd thing is that humans and megafauna must have coexisted for at least 5,000 years. But this is a very narrow window to find evidence of both living side by side. This gives...

A new type of crocodile now extinct has been found in northern Africa. It had three sets of fangs like wild boar tusks for killing other animals. Another kind of crocodile was found nearby. This one used a flat, wide snout to catch fish. A third species of crocodile also located close by was only three feet long. This had "buckteeth" for eating plants. It was a rich find with two other known kinds of crocodile being dug up there. The National Geographic Society sponsored the successful project. The new crocodiles show that the region had unique animals 100 million years ago. much different than in surrounding regions. These reptiles could run along at quite a fast pace then dive into the water and swim off. Unlike modern crocodiles which have legs on the side of their bodies these had longer legs set underneath. Luckily there were no people around for them to chase and eat. The three new species are as follows: 1) BoarCroc (Kaprosuchus saharicus) 20 feet in length wit...

People want to come to Australia. They get on a leaky old boat, paying their life savings to the traffickers, thinking they will soon be in the promised land. However, if they did not leave as genuine refugees they will be on the boat back home. Only a few days ago those who were not refugees were forcibly removed. A riot recently broke out between Afghans and Sri Lankans when the Afghans said the Sri L ankans didn't have a chance of getting residency. The truth is the war is over in Sri Lanka and two boats have just been stopped by Sri lankan Government vessels. Why do they want to live here? Well, social services and health now employ more people than retail. The mining industry is booming. People in developing countries hear that life is easy in Australia and the state looks after you. But do they know that coastal cities are short of houses and water runs out, often. Electricity is rapidly increasing in price. Council rates are rising faster than the rate of inflation...

How could the experts get it so wrong. For many years we were told that Australia should populate or perish. The Bureau of Statistics has released data showing that 296,00 births occurred in 2008. This is 10,000 more that 2007 and 1971, earlier record years. The fertility rate for women is high at 1.97 babies for every female. Tasmanians are really getting on with it (must be the cold climate) with a fertility rate of 2.24. Hot Darwin had a lower rate of 1.76. Not only are women having more babies, but the proportion of women in the population is rising. And the reason for this increase is financial. The Government pays $5,000 to a woman to have a baby. Women are getting pregnant in some cases just to get the money. If they want a big ticket item they see this as the way to get it, irrespective of the lifetime cost of bringing up a child. Another thing is that women who have put off having babies are now reaching the point of no return where they must act or never have children. http:...