Adventure Ausrama Blog

Mystery egg of the Night Parrot in Tanami Desert? A mystery egg was found in the Tanami Desert of northern Australia 30 years ago. Many latched on to this specimen as being from the Night Parrot, thought to be extinct. DNA from the egg was compared to DNA of Night Parrot specimens in the Queensland Museum. The Brown Quail was found to be the "mother" of the Tanami egg. All hope was not lost, however. In 2013 the Night Parrot was found to be still with us. A small population was discovered living in Western Australia, far away from Queensland. Much has been leaned about the environmental requirements for the rare bird's survival. This shows that human hope is very strong. We will attribute links to things that are very weak. The egg does have unusual characteristics : it is sand white, not like the quail egg which is pale but speckled brown. It is pointed at one end though, typical of the quail. ◆ Ornithology by Ty Buchanan   ◆ Tys Country Amusing Animal Photos...

Vanuatu ancestors were from Taiwan and the Philippines. A discovery has sent shock waves through anthropology. The ancestors of Vanuatuans were put in the pot of Pacific Islanders. People of this island do not look like Asians. However, DNA tests on the oldest skeletons found show that the island's first arrivals came from the Philippines and Taiwan only 3,000 years ago. It seems that Australian Aboriginals and New Guineans were not keen to venture out onto the high sea, though Pacific islands were much closer to them than it was for Southeast Asians. Scientists say Papuans moved their later to produce the modern Vanuatuan gene pool. There is a problem here. Combining the facial features of say Filipinos and Papuans does not produce modern Vanuatuans.  There was earlier movement westward across the large ocean of people from South America. Pacific islanders of South American descent obviously arrived in Vanuatu at some time. ◆ Antrhopology by Ty Buchanan ...

Conservative belief of renewables causing power blackouts is bad science. It is amazing how far the Australian conservative parties, namely the Liberals and Nationals, will go to promote their misguided beliefs. Both parties have policies of discrediting the reality of global warming.   malcolm turnbull "Shaddap You Face " you ignorant voters! Conservative politicians are paranoid about the truth. Recently, power blackouts occurred in South Australia that were caused by lighting strikes - a record number struck the state during a storm. The Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnball, saw it as an opportunity to blame the state's move to renewable energy. The Federal Government is doing everything it can to completely destroy alternative energy. This is their policy and they do not hide it. To the rest of the world Australia is living in the dark ages - black coal. The Government is pandering to vested interests.     malcolm turnbull Malcolm Turnbull say...

Single sex schools are bad for society. Despite excited parents claiming that putting children in single sex classes improves life outcomes, in reality this is far from the truth. Single sex schools, for example, foster gender stereotyping for girls as well as boys. An extremely large study on students in 21 countries found those in mixed sex schools fared better than those in single sex schools. The cultural outlook nurtured by SS schools damaged students for life. It is about time this silliness is stopped, and the fad is put to rest. The world is not made up of one sex. Indeed, there are multiple sexual categories today. Everyone has to fit into this world. Molding people to strongly identify with one category puts them at a disadvantage.  It is not the curriculum that does the damage: it is the socialization process. Narrowly adhering to things about one's own sex does not make for efficient interaction with both males and females in the workplace. Principal...

The Lace Monitor lizards in an Australiana icon. There are several kinds of goanna in Australia. The largest is the Lace Monitor, Varannus varius . It lives in trees and in summer it is very active hunting for food. In winter is slows down and spends its days resting in hollows in trees. They often hang around picnickers looking for food scraps. Some people fear goannas, but for the most part the reptile is harmless - they could hardly swallow a human whole. They would rather run than bite a large living animal: their main target is carrion. When male Lace Monitors mate they go through the set patterns of who is the strongest to get the female.  Having young is an easy matter. A female lays her eggs in a termites nests which stays at a steady 31°C. Aboriginals used goanna oil to ease body pain and as a protective layer on wounds. Early European settlers used the oil on guns as it was a good substitute for standard lubricating oil.   Goanna linament do...

New theory on Australian Aboriginals - Anthropology. Australian Aboriginals split from Eurasians and moved south into the dry continent. Twenty thousand years later the world warmed up and Australia was cut off from its northern neighbors. This is the latest theory.  But when Europeans initially came to Queensland there were two types of native people. Each was a distinct genetic pool. One was like Papua New Guineans. The other was very slight and shorter. It is the latter that predominates today. Papua New Guineans Australian Aboriginals Some scientists still hold that there was only one move out of Africa. This is an unsustainable supposition. The doors for movement were always open. Australian Aboriginals were quite unique. It seems that they were the first to leave Africa. There is also the question of Tasmanian Aboriginals who were wiped out by arriving Europeans. There is no evidence of them now. They could not light fires. The flames had to be stol...

Carbon dioxide changes behavior. Higher carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could be making us stupid. Research has shown that greater concentration s of CO 2  c auses neurological impairment in fish. Sea water stores the dangerous element - the ocean has become more acidic because of its increased presence. The test subjects were Damsel fish  (Acathochromis polyacanthus) , which live in coral reefs. Half were kept in a normal atmosphere. The other half were put in an atmosphere with elevated CO 2 . Brain chemistry, blood and behavior were measured. The behavior test involved the fish choosing between entering normal sea water or going to water containing injured fish. The smell of the injured fish should have stopped the damselfish from choosing to enter that water. However, the fish exposed to higher CO 2   ignored or did not pick up the chemical warning : the injured fish didn't bother them. This is ground breaking stuff. It could show what will ha...