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The Land Down Under
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25.01.2022 Did you know? that the cost of just one cup of coffee a week can make a huge difference to the lives of wildlife in care? It is a constant struggle to continually find the funds required to keep the sanctuaries and wildlife carers/shelters operating. It is a huge financial strain to keep the wildlife fed, medical bills, keeping the power on for heating, rescues etc. ... Please if you can spare just one coffee a week you will be making a huge difference to the future of Australia's amazing animals. This is one of the adorable wombats that live at the Wombat Awareness Organisation in South Australia. If you'd love to help out the wombats, go to https://www.wombatawareness.com. Or head to Wild Wonders of The Land Down Under and check out the Adoptions and Sponsorships, Conservation and Charities or the Wildlife Rescue and Shelters pages for more great places that could really use your coffee - er, support. https://www.thelanddownunder.com.au/wild-wonders Another great place to check to see if you can help with your coffee money is your local wildlife shelter. There are numerous small operators around the country who could really use a hand - and a real coffee ;)
25.01.2022 Day 3 of our 12 Days of Christmas plus our (bad) Christmas cracker joke. These are gorgeous little emu chicks and as with all emus, they are fascinated by anything shiny. Christmas Cracker Joke day 3: Q. Why did the emu cross the road twice?... A. Because he was a double-crosser! (see, I told you in the tradition of Christmas cracker jokes, that these were bad )
23.01.2022 Turn your sound up and listen to the magic of Cradle Mountain in Tasmania, as the sun sets to unveil the stunning starry night sky. Have you been to Cradle Mountain in Tassie? It's a fantastic place for wildlife viewing, cold beers, warm hot chocolates, snow in Winter and beautiful clear skies and hiking the warmer months - unless you're really adventurous that is ;)
23.01.2022 Gorgeous isn't it. This was taken by Jasmine in my neck of the woods (area). Regional Victoria is finally able to travel within Victoria again and vistas like this and more are waiting! Image by JROD Captures Ballarat, Victoria
23.01.2022 Woohoo! A good news story! A tiny snail, last collected was in 1889 - over 130 years ago, has been classified as extinct until rediscovered recently on the small and isolated island - Norfolk Island which lies off the east coast of Australia. It is a very tiny snail - just 4mm in size and lives in the leaf litter of the rainforests of Norfolk Island National Park. Native snails are very different from the lettuce munching variety in your gardens. Native snails perform specific roles in the natural world and a species that was thought to be extinct for 130 years there will be much to learn.................but this is an incredibly rare species, a hard one to research but the researchers will be looking for it in their further studies of the island now that they know it is there. Let's hope for more sightings and discoveries!
21.01.2022 Composting, get into it - it's good for the environment. It's so good that a mother quoll has her babies living in a compost bin. Really, she's picked a great spot. Plenty of little creatures in the compost to snack on and the rotting vegetation provides heat to keep her babies warm - what a clever mum! Liz from Sandfly in northern Tasmania has some quolls staying rent-free in her compost bin. ... "[The] mother disappeared down the tunnel she dug to the bottom of the bin where she enters her compost hotel," she said. Luckily, Liz's husband is an environmental scientist, and is ensuring they are well and safe. Cameron Everard via ABC Northern Tasmania *be careful when turning your compost, who knows who might be living there ;)
20.01.2022 Time to join the dingoes at the Australian Dingo Foundation live. If you have any questions, leave them on the ADF facebook page and they'll do their best to answer them. A great way to learn more about our only apex land predator.
19.01.2022 This is a good news story, one that comes many months after the horrific bushfires that tore through Australia over last Summer. Aussie Arks team - like so many other people, worked tirelessly to save as many species of wildlife as they could from the fires and drought. This platypus, Pricilla was just one of the several platypus rescued in NSW, was cared for by Aussie Ark to regain her health, weight, and strength, and was just re-released back into the water system where ...she was saved from. All the necessary boxes were ticked to make sure is was safe to release her. Check out what the ash does to the base of the water systems. This is where we can all help our native wildlife by working hard to not just clean up our waterways and their surroundings, but making sure we all keep them clean. Good luck Priscilla, stay safe!
19.01.2022 Platypus Emoji Competition! This is exciting! Enter the competition for the chance to be the creator behind the world’s first platypus emoji! The platypus is one of Australia's most loved and iconic animals. But habitat destruction and climate change is taking a toll on this unique creature, and the platypus could soon be at risk of extinction.... To raise awareness and support for better protection of the platypus, the Australian Conservation Foundation is applying to Unicode (the international emoji board) to create a standard platypus emoji for people to use in their everyday communication. Click the link for details and to enter! Good luck! https://www.platypusemoji.org.au/
19.01.2022 In just an hour it's tools down! Grab a cuppa and join the dingo cubs Live at the Australian Dingo Foundation. Ask questions and learn from the experts about Australias only apex land predator -the dingo. We joined in on the live feed last week and it was brilliant. Jump onto the Australian Dingo Foundations page just before 11am AEST today and enjoy some time with the playful dingo cubs.
18.01.2022 The Land of the lizards - the Australian deserts - the Kiwirirrukura Rangers show why - check out their amazing finds. This week the Kiwirrkurra Rangers captured 20 different reptiles during our Tjanpi (old-growth spinifex) fauna survey including one lizard that was a new record for the Kiwirrkurra IPA (Tanami skink).
17.01.2022 the temperatures are rising. It's time to clean out any water stations for wildlife if you haven't been keeping on it over the winter months and top them up. Keep them clean and filled everyday and you'll be rewarded with some great bird/wildlife locals dropping by for a drink. Post a photo of your water stations below, I know there are some very creative people out there with some fancy water stations and there's some nice basic water stations too. ... Keep a stick/rocks in any deeper dishes so insects, frogs, lizards, small birds etc can get out if they fall in.
17.01.2022 This is far from a great photo but it's one of my favourites. This was a few years ago now, and not only was this the first time I'd seen a dingo on the Nullarbor Plain in South Australia, but it was the first time I'd come across a pair! I'd travelled the Nullarbor Plain road several times and never have I come across a dingo - we'd heard them but never seen them, so when I spotted this pair I nearly stood the car on its nose! They were a fair distance from the road but we ...were able to watch them for several minutes before they slowly made their way back into the saltbush. If you have any images or good stories of dingoes, share them in the comments.
16.01.2022 The more we look - the more we find! A few weeks ago I posted about platypus fur glowing under UV lights, several other wild species also 'glow' under UV lights and now wombats do too! What must the nights look like to the nocturnal species!
16.01.2022 We see a lot of great images of Australian skies during the daylight hours, but check out what can be seen during special occasions in our southern night skies! The Southern Lights (Aurora australis) made a stunning appearance in the night skies over Tasmania recently and to top it off with a sprinkle of bioluminescence in the waters edge! Watch carefully and you'll see a few wallabies make an appearance in the video too. ... by ABC News.
15.01.2022 How does a kangaroo cool down in the heat of an Aussie summer? Kangaroos will seek shade, just like us to escape the direct sun. They lay low and wait out the heat, they will also scrape away the hot top soil/sand to reach the cooler earth and lay in the cooler earth.... Another way they keep cool, is to lick their forearms and legs until the fur is soaking wet. As the saliva evaporates, it cool down their body temperature. The blood vessels are close to the skin in these areas and a lot of heat can be taken out of the body this way. Kangaroos are well adapted to life in Australia, but like us, they need access to water too. These photos were taken at our local wildlife park one Summer, they even had a water sprinkler going at the height of the heat to help them deal with the heat. A treat their wild cousins don't have the privilege of.
15.01.2022 Exploring Australia or Victoria - by road - a fantastic way to see and experience this amazing country. BUT - with Victorians (us) being able to travel now and being the start of the school holidays, traffic has already drastically increased. Please, take your time, take a break every couple of hours, enjoy the journey, not just the destination, and Watch Out! for Wildlife. Wildlife will have become accustomed to quieter roads so please, watch out for them. Do a search, ask on your local Facebook pages, etc for your local wildlife rescue organisation in case you need them for wildlife you may strike, or for wildlife that you may find injured. Take care, have a ripper weekend and stay safe on the roads.
15.01.2022 Our little quoll mate here is popping by to say g'day and hopes you're off to a great week. The Eastern Quoll is a carnivorous marsupial that now only lives in the wilds of Tasmania. They can be ginger-brown or black in colour, both with white spots on the body but not the tail. The male quolls are around 60cm (2ft) in length and around 1.3kg in weight, females are just a little smaller. ... The Eastern quoll generally lives on its own and is nocturnal. They sleep in nests made in hollow logs, underground burrows and rocks. The Eastern quoll is a valuable little predator. They feed on spiders, cockroaches and grasshopper but they're great little hunters too. They help keep the balance of rabbits, rats and mice too. Learn more about these incredible and valuable (to the natural world) quolls at Aussie Ark https://www.aussieark.org.au/eastern-quoll/
14.01.2022 WOW! This is not a dad to mess with. Check out the intensity in this male magpie sends this monitor lizard back to the bush hungry. As many Aussies know, magpies don't take too kindly to anyone or anything being too close to their nest and it has certainly given this monitor lizard its marching orders. Monitor lizards are able to climb most trees with relative ease and will prey on nests for eggs and young birds. However, this time it picked the wrong tree. ... LInda Leman took this amazing photo and this its story: I was leaving Mount Annan Botanical Gardens when I saw a bit of a brawl going on. A Magpie dad was giving this monitor his marching orders after unsuccessfully trying to climb the tree where the nest was. I really love watching animal behaviour and this image is one of my faves because it captures the magpie's fierce intensity. The intimidation was epic. Those eyes are on fire! The whole episode took about 20 minutes and by the end of it the lizard couldn't leave fast enough. Great encounter to not only witness but capture. Thanks Linda
14.01.2022 Happy Fathers Day to all the amazing dads in all their forms. Hope you had a fantastic day. Sorry this is late - the scheduled post didn't work for yesterday. Oops!
13.01.2022 Hello December - Summer - Christmas - barbeques - beaches...........what is your favourite thing/s to do in Summer?
13.01.2022 Our native wildlife is pretty awesome. Sometimes though it can almost be too weird (different) for words like this marsupial mole. It is only found in the desert of Western Australia and is a very elusive animal. It is only 10cm long, weighs up to 70 grams, and has a fossil family tree that dates back some 64 million years! ... The marsupial mole doesn't dig burrows, it 'swims' through the sand, backfills its tunnels and breathes air between the sands. How amazing is this amazing little Aussie!
13.01.2022 This is a post that I feel should start with - only in Australia. Did you know? Australia has a parasitic Christmas tree? Parasitic and Christmas tree don't really go together does it, but in the case of this tree is does. To the Noongar people around Perth, it is considered sacred where the spirits of the recently deceased reside. ... This particular Christmas tree seems to live a violent lifestyle, where it attacks other trees root systems with its own style of blades where it slices the root systems of trees and other plants to feast on their sap! The flowers have been referred to as a bushfire without smoke. One amazing tree, but one best left alone, it doesn't share the same 'jollyness' as our traditional style Christmas trees.
12.01.2022 Australia is lucky to have some absolutely stunning wild flowers. As today is Spring - although I think nature has already decided that a few weeks ago, I thought we'd start off the season with some of the gorgeous wild flowers I've found in my travels in Australia.
11.01.2022 There's possums in Aunt Sallys Drawers! Often when we find wildlife with young in our sheds etc, they only stay around for as long as they have young. When the young are old enough to leave home so to speak, the adults move on again. too. Western pygmy-possums are found on southern Western Australia, southern South Australia, western Victoria and south-west New South Wales They are nocturnal, a similar size to the common mouse (but don't look like mice!), adults weight about... 13 grams. The young joeys leave the pouch at 25 days old but remain in the nest dependent on their mother for another 25 days ABC News
11.01.2022 The seasons are changing, tomorrow is 'officially' the first day of Spring, but if we look at nature, it's already here. Birds are nesting, some already have hatched their young, a friend found a very small blue-tongued lizard a couple of weeks ago, the days are getting longer....................what signs of Spring have you noticed?
10.01.2022 Hang in there Victoria - we're heading in the right direction and those open roads are waiting! Where will your first destination be when travel is permitted? I'm hoping to see the last of the whale season as the mighty humpbacks make their way south for the Summer.
09.01.2022 How chilled is this joey. This is a female Kangaroo Island Kangaroo with her very relaxed joey. The kangaroos of Kangaroo Island are a sub-species of the Western Grey Kangaroo. These kangaroos are most placid kangaroos by nature. Early settlers noted that they could walk straight up to them. ... Kangaroo Island Kangaroos can weight up to 70kgs and a male on his hindfeet can reach up to 6 and a half feet. In 1802 British explorer Captain Matthew Flinders discovered the island while mapping the southern coast of Australia and named it Kanguroo (sic) Island. Kangaroo Island is Australia's 3rd largest island and is located 112km southwest of Adelaide, South Australia. Over a third of the island is protected in nature reserves, home to native wildlife like sea lions, koalas and diverse bird species. In the west, Flinders Chase National Park is known for penguin colonies and striking coastal rock formations, like the sculpted Remarkable Rocks and the stalactite-covered Admirals Arch.
08.01.2022 Check out this little fella singing his song of the bush. This is just a young kookaburra, isn't he a little beauty! Saskia could hear this little one calling from quite a distance away, looks like he'll be living up to the kookaburras well-earned reputation of their raucous laugh in no time. ... Thanks to Saskia Granger for this little cutie.
07.01.2022 Stop what you're doing! It's time to enjoy playtime with the dingoes at the Australian Dingo Foundation. If you have any questions about dingoes, jump onto their page so they can see your questions.
07.01.2022 Australia's misunderstood apex predator - the dingo. An inquisitive, intelligent and nurturing species that also have hierarchy and leadership within its packs. Did you know? dingoes can come in varying colour formations, such as black and tan, cream, white as well as the more commonly known sandy colours. This is Banjo, 1 of 3 brothers who live at the Ballarat Wildlife Park. Gorgeous isn't he.
05.01.2022 G'day everyone - sorry for being a bit quiet on here this week but I've been working my tail feathers off to keep up with the orders that are going out thick and fast from our online store as well as adding all the gorgeous new stock that's been coming in. I have to say a big thank you to everyone who has our awesome Aussie wildlife products winging their way around not just Australia - but the world! Next week I'll be back to our regular Facebook postings ... Jump over to The Land Down Under Store and get your Christmas shopping sorted https://store.thelanddownunder.com.au/
05.01.2022 It's hot out there today, our resident magpies are hiding on our front verandah out of the heat from the sun and wind. Why do birds stop singing when it gets too hot may seem like a strange question - none of us want to sing when we're hot, but this article shows that they stop singing to help conserve energy. The breathing of the desert-dwelling budgerigars at 40 degrees is 100 breaths per minute and at 41 degrees it's 200 breaths per minute. They won't vocalise once it g...ets to 40 degrees - can you imagine trying to speak to your mate with that sort of breathing rate? Don't forget your wild mates during the heat and leave out shallow water dishes at varying heights for everything from ground-dwelling species up to birds and even kangaroos. Refill them daily and give them a good clean regularly and you'll be rewarded with all sorts of creatures who will appreciate your water stations. A good tip from Lyn is to add an ice brick to the shallower water sources to help keep them cool (which helps the water last longer too). Keeping your water sources in the shade also helps a lot too.
04.01.2022 Snow! Well, this was unexpected weather today and even the kangaroos were taken by surprise. This roo had to stop in the open for a couple of minutes until the snow eased enough for it to see so that it could move off to the shelter of the trees. It's unusual for us to get snow here in Central Victoria, so when it does, it's tools down and grab the camera. Many parts of Victoria received snow today - did you?
04.01.2022 Today is National Threatened Species Day. Today is the day we remember the species we've lost and the day we continue to band together to fight to keep the amazing species of flora and fauna we still have. National Threatened Species Day is held on September 7th each year with the aim of encouraging the community to help prevent further extinctions and to help restore the threatened species back to healthy and sustainable numbers. On the 7th of September, 1936 the world - no...t just Australia - saw the last Tasmanian Tiger die, and a whole species become extinct! There are many species of flora and fauna that need our help and one of the best things you can do to help conserve our native flora and fauna is to contact your local zoo or wildlife park, they often have programs in place that you can support, as well as many other tools and information you can use to make changes happen. This is one of the most treasured garden ornaments I have, the Thylacine - Tasmanian Tiger. It is a constant reminder of why work for wildlife. If this ornament gets damaged - it's gone forever and no, I can't just go and get another one, they aren't made anymore - just like the Tasmanian Tiger itself - just like all our native flora and fauna. If we don't look after what we have, it will all go the way of the Tasmanian Tiger. What tips can you share with us that we can all do to help our native flora and fauna? Comment below.
02.01.2022 Ahh, finally some time with the animals again. Being in Victoria has been a challenge for me not being able to see our native wildlife regularly. This morning however, we met this lovely lady koala at the Ballarat Wildlife Park with her gorgeous but sleepy little joey. I think mum was enjoying the bit of warmth in the sun after the storms of last night. See how well she has hold of her joey but she's so gentle too. What a great mum.
02.01.2022 Cappucino with one sugar?......................CAPPUCINO WITH ONE SUGAR! Can you imagine not being able to hear your coffee order is ready because of the noise from cicadas? Cicadas are a signal to Summer. Did you know there are over 200 species of cicadas in Australia and they are the loudest insects in the world. They can reach 120 decibels which is equivalent to a police siren!
02.01.2022 Meet Sooty. A pure dingo pup that was recently found near Jamieson in Victoria. All testing has been done that proves Sooty is pure dingo. "We are often told in Victoria that there are all these wild dogs and there are no pure dingoes left in the wild, but now we’ve got these two dingo pups in two separate years which have proved otherwise," Mr Newman, Australian Dingo Foundation sanctuary supervisor. (pure) Dingoes still roam Australia and need to be protected. They are a na...tive species and are vital to the natural ecosystem of Australia. Dingoes are not wild dogs. They are not feral dogs. Dingoes are their own, specific species. We must all take the time to truly learn about the dingo and how we should behave around them, in all regions of Australia. Many people believe that there are no pure dingoes left in Australia and definitely not in Victoria, but Wandi and Sooty proves them wrong. True dingoes still live in Australia and we need to protect them, lets not let them go the way of the Tasmanian Tiger.
01.01.2022 Australias beaches are so good even our birds love them. Julie found this osprey bathing in the surf during a recent visit to the beaches of northern NSW. The osprey stayed in the surf for around 30 minutes - obviously enjoying himself! Apparently this oprey is often spotted bathing in the surf. Watch Out! for wildlife, you really never know what amazing sights and experiences you might find like Julie. ... Video by Julie Pallant The osprey is a fish-eating bird of prey (raptor). It is also known as the Fish Hawk or White-headed Osprey. The Osprey is found in many coastal and lake areas of the world. The Osprey feeds mainly on medium-sized live fish, which it does not swallow whole, but rips apart to eat. The Osprey patrols the coast, searching for prey. It folds its wings, then drops headlong, with its feet forward to snatch a fish with its talons. It may go right under the water or snatch a fish from the surface, before lifting off again, with strong wing strokes.
01.01.2022 A lot of great news for Victoria yesterday with more restrictions being eased, more friends and families can meet and the border between NSW and Vic is open! Travel safe, I know a lot of people are very eager to get back on the roads to visit family and to just get away and enjoy a break from 2020. Where will you be heading over the next few weeks or maybe over the Summer break?
