Insight Australia have become the first Inbound Tour Operator to join with award-winning wildlife tour operator Echidna Walkabout to make a home for a wild koala.
Insight Australia’s generous donation funds local people to remove thousands of weeds that are degrading wild koala habitat. Through research, Echidna Walkabout discovered that Boneseed weed makes gum-trees unavailable to koalas. Removing it ‘turns the trees back on’ for koalas, effectively increasing koala habitat immediately.
wild koala Pat
“Insight Australia Travel is a great believer in and supporter of sustainable tourism. Our travellers love the Australian experience much of which is about our beautiful wildlife. We jumped at the opportunity to support Echidna Walkabout firstly because we want to see Koalas’ truly thrive in the wild and secondly because our travellers strongly desire and fully appreciate the unique experience they offer. For tourists to be able to engage in such a manner and to be able to actually make a difference results in an inspiring win/win.“ Birgit Bourne, Insight Australia
“With this donation, we will run a Koala Conservation Day for Locals that will remove at least 5,000 weeds. That is the equivalent of planting 200 koala food trees. The effect on koalas is instant – they can move in and start feeding in the habitat the next day.”“ Janine Duffy, Echidna Walkabout Nature Tours.
Participants on the Koala Conservation Day come ready for a solid day of weeding, koala research and education. The Days are very popular with locals, and are often over-subscribed. Echidna Walkabout are keen to run more, so are seeking funding from Australian and international companies. Just $600 makes a home for a wild koala for a whole year.
“We encourage other Aussie companies to follow Insight’s lead and contribute to this productive project, either through donation or by organising their own Staff Conservation Day” says Duffy. ““It really does work – since starting this project we have seen an increase in koalas of 370%. Your donation really could save koalas from extinction”
You’d have to ask a kangaroo why they hop. Their answer (if you could understand roo) would possibly be “because my mum did”.
So, in the absence of roo input, here are some of the advantages of hopping:
1. Hopping is energy efficient.
This is probably the most important single factor. Hopping uses less energy than four-legged running at the same speed.
It is critical in a dry, unpredictable environment to be efficient with resources. Kangaroos sometimes have to travel long distances, in oppressive heat, with very little water to drink and poor food in their bellies. Most mammals would not survive.
Kangaroos eat grass. Australian grasses can be fairly low in digestibility, and sparsely cover the ground. The grass dries off quickly, and during summer only the first few millimetres of the grass is green – the rest is dry and golden. So for the whole of summer (and sometimes longer in drought) adult kangaroos have to move around, socialise, breed, and feed their babies on a diet that wouldn’t feed a lamb. Food = energy. Hopping doesn’t use much food energy, compared to other forms of locomotion. So kangaroos can survive on their poor diet.
Like most grazers, kangaroos need to drink water daily. But in their country, surface water can be hard to find and unreliable. When the surface water dries up completely, they have to hop to better watering sites. Exertion depletes the body of water. So an efficient means of movement, like hopping, uses less precious water than other forms of movement.
2. Hopping is quiet.
We can’t find any scientific research to support this, but it is our experience that kangaroos move extremely quietly compared to other animals. Maybe because they are in contact with the ground so little, or because their feet are soft (like a dog or cat’s), or maybe because they have only two feet to worry about they can place their feet carefully. Whatever the reason, a large mob of kangaroos can move very quickly without much sound at all, even through Bush full of sticks and dry leaves.
The stride length of a kangaroo hopping at speed is long – 6 metres at 50km/hr. That means they are only touching the ground 2 times a second. In contrast, a galloping horse touches the ground four times in each stride, and has a foot in contact with the ground at all times creating a constant drumming sound. At the same speed a horse touches the ground 8 times a second.
Why is this useful? Kangaroos’ natural predator is humans. Being able to escape quietly could mean the difference between life and death.
3. Hopping is flexible and allows for sudden changes of direction.
Kangaroos have an amazing ability to turn quickly! They can achieve a 180 degree turn in a single hop.
Hopping as a means of locomotion probably gives kangaroos an ability to turn “on a pinhead” which would be very useful for escaping predators. We don’t know of any terrestrial mammal that can turn as sharply as a macropod. With the centre of gravity at the pelvis, the kangaroo is a pivot that can almost turn on a point. Most land-based mammals have a long body, with their weight centred between the front and back legs. The length of the body limits the turning circle. In a way, they have to wait for their back legs to catch up. Also, the speed limits the turn – the faster they go, the harder it is for them to turn, and the more stress it puts on their legs, ankles and feet. We suggest that even at speed a kangaroo could turn very sharply without damaging their legs because most of the turn is executed while airborne.
Kangaroos live all over Australia, in grasslands, in mountains – hopping allows them to move quickly over any surface, no matter how rough, steep or uneven.
4. Kangaroos have evolved from possum-like ancestors who bounded along tree branches and the ground. Hopping could be just an adjustment on four-footed bounding.
Small macropods, like the Musky Rat-kangaroo, bound along the ground using their front feet a bit. Brushtail Possums can bound or run, and sometimes sit up on their back legs just like a small kangaroo. So it’s not hard to imagine the possum-like ancestors of kangaroos – bounding on the ground, running along branches. Over time they got bigger, moved into the grasslands where there were no branches to clamber along, and their ability to bound got them out of danger quickly. Over time their ability to run ceased altogether.
Common Brushtail Possums on the ground. By Greg Schechter from San Francisco, USA (Common Brushtail Possum 2x) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia CommonsKangaroos can use their legs independently in an alternating fashion. But only when they swim!
We came to Marlo for a quick break. No plans, just relaxing. This place is so amazing that in four days, four easy walks, while having a rest and not even trying, we’ve already seen:
Emus (including one baby)
Black Swan
Freckled Ducks – the two dark grey ducks with a dished bill and slight crest in the middle facing left – and Pink-eared Ducks – the zebra-striped ducks with a dark eye patch. There are also some teal in the shot and a coot I think.
Freckled Duck
Blue-billed Duck
Australian Shoveler
White-eyed Duck (Hardhead)
Pink-eared Duck
Australian Wood Duck
Pacific Black Duck
Chestnut Teal
Grey Teal
Australian Shelduck
Musk Duck
Australian Pelican
Australian Pelican in flight at Marlo jetty
Little Egret
Great Egret
Cattle Egret
White-faced Heron
Collared Sparrowhawk
Black-shouldered Kite
Swamp Harrier
White-bellied Sea-eagle
Australian White Ibis
Straw-necked Ibis
Royal Spoonbill
Great Cormorant
Little Pied Cormorant
Pied Cormorant
Little Black Cormorant
Pelicans, Great Cormorants, Crested Terns, Silver Gulls and a single Royal Spoonbill on a sandbar at the Snowy River mouth
Hoary-headed Grebe
Australasian Darter
Australian Gannet
Eurasian Coot
Purple Swamphen
Masked Lapwing
Black-fronted Dotterel
Red-capped Plover
Eurasian Curlew
Australian Pied Oystercatcher
Silver Gull
Pacific Gull
Caspian Tern
Crested Tern
Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo
a Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo chewing into a tree for grubs.
Galah
Australian King-Parrot
Eastern Rosella
Crimson Rosella
Rainbow Lorikeet
Musk Lorikeet
Wonga Pigeon
Crested Pigeon
Laughing Kookaburra
Australian Hobby
White-throated Treecreeper
Superb Lyrebird
Satin Bowerbird
Southern Emu-wren
Superb Fairy-wren
Striated Thornbill
Brown Thornbill
White-browed Scrubwren
Brown Gerygone
Spotted Pardalote
New Holland Honeyeater
Yellow-faced Honeyeater
White-eared Honeyeater
a loving pair of Rainbow Lorikeets
Red Wattlebird
Little Wattlebird
Lewin’s Honeyeater
Eastern Spinebill
Eastern Whipbird
Golden Whistler
Crested Shrike-tit
Grey Shrike-thrush
Grey Butcherbird
Australian Magpie
Pied Currawong
Willie Wagtail
Grey Fantail
Australian Raven
Magpie-lark (Mudlark)
Eastern Yellow Robin
Silvereye
Welcome Swallow
Bassian Thrush
Red-browed Finch
Not only that, the weather has been so lovely here – better than Melbourne! Sunny days every day!
Thanks to Glenn Herbert from Snowy River Homestead B&B, and Len Axen from BirdLife East Gippsland for advice, suggestions and your time showing us around! Thanks too, to Tanya and Chris at Tabbara Lodge for a lovely relaxing stay.
Every continent has it’s biodiversity hotspots. One of ours is East Gippsland – the far eastern corner of Victoria, in south-eastern Australia. On this corner of the mainland the warm South Pacific Ocean meets the cold Southern Ocean, ocean currents collide and marine life abounds. The warm easterly winds of Australia’s east coast meet the cold south-westerlies of the south coast, so weather patterns are a mish-mash of both systems.
Australia’s highest mountains brush the edge of East Gippsland, and two of Australia’s “big” rivers – the Murray and the Snowy, start in the Kosciusko highlands just to the north. The Snowy runs through East Gippsland, first through dry rainshadow woodland, and then onto a fertile swampy floodplain.
In this region there is a bit of everything: warm and cool-temperate rainforest, wildflower-filled coastal heaths, 600 year old tall eucalyptus forest, stunted dry woodland, alpine meadows and some of Australia’s most beautiful beaches. 340+ species of birds, most of our large iconic mammals, reptiles, butterflies and a host of frogs live or have been recorded here.
Red-necked and Swamp Wallabies
Strangely, all this has been found in a region barely known to science, birdwatchers or naturalists. Many parts of East Gippsland are rarely visited. We’ve just scratched the surface of this incredible hotspot. There’s more there just waiting to be found!
Stay tuned for more articles about this fascinating region!
Have you ever watched a pair of Rainbow Lorikeets snuggling together on a branch? They nuzzle each other, their whole bodies touching even in hot weather. The one being groomed closes their eyes with a look of pure contentment.
When you know that this is a pair that has been together for many years, and that they do this several times a day, you know it’s more than just “grooming”. This is an activity they indulge in as often as they can, always with their partner. They are a married couple.
When they have children, they look after them with affection. They snuggle with their young, and groom them too. But there’s something special about the interaction between a mated pair.
There’s nothing else to call it. It is LOVE.
Sometimes love is felt most keenly when one of the pair dies. Rainbow Lorikeets, along with many parrots, will stand beside the body of their mate killed on the road, some for hours. They don’t seem to know what to do – they refuse to leave their side, often in danger themselves from passing cars. We don’t see all the manifestations of grief – most of that would happen quietly in the trees. We do see this though.
If that’s not love, what is it?
We believe that it’s best to assume that every single wild animal on this earth is loved by another of their own kind. Some species make it obvious – like Rainbows. Some are more subtle. We’ve seen signs of Koala love, love between Kangaroos, magpies, ravens, flying-foxes. We don’t know whether insects, spiders or fish feel it, but how would we know? Even if they don’t, isn’t it best to respect all life?
Which animals have you seen loving each other?
There are many reasons to save the planet from human-induced climate change. This is just one of them. Every single Rainbow Lorikeet that dies of heat stress, starvation, fatigue or bushfire leaves behind another Rainbow Lorikeet who grieves for them.
Start 2014 off in a positive, rewarding way by helping a great Aussie character – a wild koala!
Volunteer a few hours of your time on a weekend, create habitat for a wild koala, learn about koalas from an experienced Koala Researcher and meet some of Melbourne’s world-famous wild koalas.
Seeing one wild Echidna is special. Seeing five in one day is extraordinary!
Echidnas are one of the world’s oldest mammals. They lay eggs, but yes, they are still mammals because they have hair and feed their young on milk. With the Platypus, echidnas are the only mammals of their type – Monotremes – a group only found in Australia & New Guinea. They are ancient, and have survived massive changes in their world since they evolved 15 million years ago.
East Gippsland, the south-eastern corner of the continent of Australia, is one of their strongholds. There are few people, roads and cars over there, and the natural environment is in good shape. Echidnas eat insects, and need a flourishing, diverse insect population. Invertebrates are a sign of good health in an ecosystem – so echidnas are abundant where the environment is healthy.
This day we were on Raymond Island looking out across the ‘lake’, part of the great estuary of the LaTrobe River. One guest wasn’t looking at the water though – his attention was caught by a movement in the grass. He had absolutely no idea what it was. Brown and gold, like a boulder but spiky, and moving! It was our first echidna!
She was happily foraging, and paid little attention to us. In hushed, frantic whispers I got everyone together downwind and gave them an ‘Echidna Briefing’: stay still, stay quiet, reduce vibrations on the ground (that’s the first thing an echidna notices) and if the echidna approaches DO NOT MOVE YOUR FEET.
She came towards us. We all froze. She stopped, rushed over to a log. She came out, came towards us again. By this time we were barely breathing. She approached, closer, closer, then to our amazement, brushed by one man’s foot. Wow!!
The echidna ambled off into the bush, giving us several more pictures and a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Satisfied, we walked back towards our vehicle. Rainbow Lorikeets screeched, koalas bellowed, Bronzewings ‘oooommmed’, pelicans circled low over our heads. A pair of Eastern Rosellas were found feeding in the grass. They weren’t the only creatures in that grass – there was another Echidna!!
The second one was larger than the first, and he was out in the open on a lawn. Completely unconcerned. Cameras snapping madly, we approached a little and then waited in formation to see what this echidna would do. Sure enough, he approached the same man who had been touched by the first echidna. We were starting to wonder about this man’s aftershave – was it echidna pheromone perhaps? Echidna 2 went right up to his feet, sniffed at his shoes, and then went on his way. Amazing!!
Before we could high 5, another echidna was spotted! In the bush on the edge of the lawn. A huge one! For the next 10 minutes we just couldn’t leave. It was so entertaining.
Echidnas are fun to watch. They have a distinctive short-legged waddle that is impossibly cute. They will go over, under or through any obstacle like a mini tractor – nothing is too difficult! Check out the video on YouTube
We drove onto the Raymond Island ferry for the short trip to dinner at Lake Tyers Beach. But the Echidnas of East Gippsland hadn’t finished with us yet. We saw two more on the roadside along the way!
A five Echidna day!
We can’t promise that this will happen all the time, but something amazing happens on every Wildlife Conservation Journey. Join us, anytime from September to May…
Cloud is a wild female of approx 10 years old. She lives in the You Yangs and we have known her since 2006.
Last week she was seen sharing a tree with a much younger male koala, Darren. It is breeding season for koalas, so maybe he was suggesting some romance. Or possibly, as it’s still early in the season, he was just ‘chatting her up’ in the hope it would lead to romance later!
ABOUT CLOUD & OLDER FEMALE MARY:
Cloud, Koala of the Month, has always been quite elusive. From 2006 – 2008 she was only seen about 10 – 12 times each year, about once a month. She shared part of her home range with Mary, an older, high-status female. Then in 2009 Cloud was seen over 30 times from Jan to August. Why the sudden increase? We may never know.
Interestingly Koala Mary died in September 2009. From August until her death she was in koala hospital. After her death Cloud was hardly seen at all for 2 years.
But now she’s back! In 2012 we saw her over 12 times, and this year around 15 times already. Could she be taking over Mary’s old home range?
ABOUT CLOUD & BABIES:
We’ve known Cloud for 7 years, and she’s never had a baby. There were 2 years in which we didn’t see a lot of her, so it is possible, but not likely, that she could have had a baby in one or both of those years.
It raises an interesting point though – koalas in the You Yangs do not have a high fecundity. In 2007 we had a 0% birth rate to 12 females, in 2008 a 10% birth rate (19 females). In the Brisbane Ranges population we recorded similar low birth rates. Both these populations are healthy and fairly stable (not overabundant or increasing like some populations on islands in Victoria & SA), in fair to good habitat. Is a low birth rate normal? Is it a method of ensuring population stability? Koalas are fairly long-lived, with few predators, so they don’t need a high rate of reproduction to sustain their community.
This contrasts strongly with the overabundant populations of koalas on some islands (and some mainland populations in islands of vegetation) where most females breed every year for most of their lives. These populations boom and then crash as the food source is destroyed. Phillip Island is one example – once there were koalas everywhere, and now there is only a tiny, semi-captive population in the Koala Conservation Centre.
Koalas are very vulnerable – and we don’t yet know enough about their breeding biology to prevent these crashes. We are hoping that our Koala Research can help answer some of these questions.
Koalas have tough granular skin on the palms and soles of their hands and feet that gives them very good grip.
Their hands and feet are very muscular and strong. Their digits are quite long, with large rounded pads at the tip of each finger/toe. They have two opposable thumbs on each hand, which gives them a more powerful hold around a branch.
In fact koala hands and feet are a lot like a primate’s. Click here:
Like us, koalas are large mammals that spend a lot of their time upright. They live primarily in trees (as we once did, and most of our primate relatives still do) , but unlike monkeys and possums, they lack a tail and are relatively heavy and solid in their body shape. So their means of getting around in a tree is very like a primate’s – they climb using power and intelligence, rather than lightness and agility, to get to where they need to be. Their hands and feet, like ours, have developed due to their lifestyle.
It is interesting to watch a koala handling a branch full of leaves. They grab in exactly the way we do. Having dextrous hands gives them a very human aspect (which might explain why we find them so appealing!)
Interesting, too – koalas have individual fingerprints. Once thought to be a primate attribute, this is another thing that koalas share with us!
Koalas have very long, very sharp claws. Both hands and feet have claws on every digit, except the big toe!
The claws of the hands are particularly sharp and strong. Several times I’ve seen a koala slip and almost fall off a branch. But if even one claw has good contact with the tree, the koala can usually haul itself back up.
The sharpness of the claws helps a koala to climb big trees. If the tree is larger than the koala’s arm reach, they have to use the claws like crampons on ice – they dig in to the surface and haul themselves up using brute arm strength. Sharp claws also aid in staying on slippery bark – many of the trees koalas prefer have smooth bark that becomes slippery after rain.
Compared to other large arboreal (tree-dwelling) animals, koalas claws are particularly long and sharp for their size. Orangutans, the world’s largest tree climbing mammal, have flat nails rather than sharp claws. See here: orangutan nails (picture credit Borneo Orangutan Survival Australia.)
Large monkeys, like the Black Howler Monkey of South America, also have nails.
Sloths have long curved claws that are not as sharp as koala’s, and not as dextrous. See here: sloth claws on a tree
Koala claws have the greatest similarities with their distant relatives – the Australian possums. Koalas and possums, though not closely related, are all diprotodonts (with the kangaroos, wallabies & gliders) so have similar basic anatomy. Koalas and possums share an arboreal existence, and both eat foliage, so both have to deal with similar conditions.
The first thing one learns if one ever has to capture a koala is how very strong their grip is. If a koala gets a good hold on a branch or cage, it takes a lot of effort to disengage them. Those claws can also be used in self defence. Never underestimate koalas! They have a very sweet, gentle demeanour until they are messed with, and then… look out!
Rainbow Lorikeet
Janine Duffy: Echidna Walkabout 