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ALL EVERGREEN TREES IN AUSTRALIA

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Australia's Bird the Emu

Early European settlers were amazed by the emu. Governor Lachlan Macquarie was so impressed that, in 1822, he sent two emus as gifts to the Governor-General of India, the Marquis of Hastings. When Macquarie set sail from Australia back to England on the ship Surry, he wrote that voyaging with the passengers were "pets" that included six emus, travelling in roomy well aired pens well-aired pens. The animals were to be given as gifts to friends and patrons of Governor Macquarie back in England. Unfortunately many of the pets, including one of the largest emus died on the trip.

In l791 John Harris, who arrived in the new colony as a surgeon, wrote that emus were swifter than the fleetest of greyhounds. Emu eggs were described as dark Green with little black specks the of pins. It is a little larger than goose eggs. The emu is Australia’s largest bird standing up to 2 metres high. lt has wings but it can°t fly. lt can run really quickly around 50 kilometres per hour. The legs are also yery powerful and used for fighting, especially if males are fighting over females. Emus are common throughout mainland Australia but not in dense rainforest and urbanised areas. They are highly nomadic, which means they must move as they need in search of food, water and shelter.

An emu°s courtship is a boisterous affair. There ISs lots of bobbing up and down, weaying and dipping, throat drumming, grunting and fluffing of feathers. Mating begins late in December: The female flattens a platform of grass into a large nest and lays her clutch of between 7 and 11 dark green eggs lthough it could be as high as 20. lf it is a good season and there is plenty of rain she might lay one or two more clutches with different males.

After laying her eggs she leaves. The male has the sole responsibility for parenting. When the eggs are laid, the male gets broody and begins incubation before the clutch is completed. The female stops mating with the male but might continue to lay eggs in the nest. which are fertilised by other males. It takes 56 days of incubation before the eggs hatch and striped chicks appear, usually in early spring. During this time the male emu sits on the eggs. rarely leaying the nest and only standing to turn the eggs every few hours. He doesn't eat or drink. Drawing on fat reserves, he looses about eight kilograms.

◆ Biology by Ty Buchanan ◆

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Petrichor the Smell Before Rain

Man like other animals has inherited a fine sense of smell from ancestors who did not have technology to know things that would help them survive. The environment gives out smells when something changes. Because we now mostly live indoors these smells do not come to our attention. However, they still exist.

Before it begins to rain the air falls and oil is released from the earth. A special odour is notable. CSIRO has named this smell "petrichor". It seems no one had given it a named before. The particular smell was made public in 1964 when Isabel Bear wrote a paper which was published in Nature journal. Mineralogists were first aware of it and mentioned the odour in text books but little was made of the smell.

Aboriginals would have know of it because oils given off before rain are stronger after drought. The word "mattiak ka attar" is used in Asia to describe the odour trapped in sandalwood oil to enhance the perfume.

Scientists at CSIRO identified a yellowish colored oil on soil and rocks that was created by moisture. Humidity is the trigger: water droplets form in crevices thus leaching the oil. It becomes stronger when it actually rains. The smell gets into the wind and is picked up by mammals.

✴ Chemistry by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Otter Dry off

"Can you hand me my towel please?"

Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan

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Australian Leaders Wear Ear Muffs to Keep Out Global Warming

Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his mate Maurice Newman are both as thick as a post. They are both climate change skeptics. Business advisor Maurice Newman wants a Royal Commission into the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) claiming that it has doctored temperatures to support global warming.

If anyone is looking for a phantom in the cupboard it is the couple above. After all, Tony Abbott blindly believes that there is a God. How stupid is that in this day and age - religious fanatics not withstanding? In regard to God, you can knock on the door but there is no one home.

So the Australian weather authority is lying. What about weather departments in other countries? The poles are clearly melting. Global warming is a fact. Take note skeptics: scientists are telling the truth.

That is the trouble with "businessmen": they don't want a free market; they want a fixed market. They want to legislate to ban any reports of global warming because it is bad for business.

In the long run Tony Abbott's removal of the carbon tax will make him look ridiculous. Other countries will eventually take action to curb world pollution. More natural disasters due to a hotter planet will prove a cost too hard to bear.

Science by Ty Buchanan

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Umbrella Cat

"Sod off! This one's taken."

Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan

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Bath Dog

"You are not thinking of bathing me are you?"
Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan

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Hot La Niñas Will be Normal

We are getting very hot conditions with flooding. This is seen by many as unusual. Australia has very hot dry weather followed by cooler wet weather in its regular pattern. There is a 100 year cycle in El Niño and La Niña events. In other words severity peaks every century.

Australia is currently in a transition period. The La Niña could continue or it could change to El Niño. There is presently a lot of rain. Oddly there is also a drought inland. If it were an El Niño cycle things would be a lot worse. It seems global warming is making La Niña years very hot.

Australia is now getting hot La Niñas along with very hot El Niños. This is bad for the whole world because all continents are affected by weather in the Pacific Ocean.

Some El Niños reach a critical temperature with dry periods being severe. Global warming means that more of them will go over this critical point. The average of extreme El Niños has been one in twenty years.

Australians fear hot dry periods. This was the reason for Queensland's over-investment in bringing water to Brisbane. Now many say it was money wasted, but in the future this capital outlay could pay for itself. The hot dry weather will return and 40 degree days could go on for weeks.

Climate by Ty Buchanan

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Sea Levels Fall in Eastern Australia

It seems the Earth is trying to balance out global warming itself. There could be a natural balance level that the planet is attempting to reach. In Australia an unusual phenomenon has taken place.

We have had a lot of rain in coastal regions, while inland it remains dry. The arid regions have soaked up the excess water only gradually releasing it to the ocean, so sea levels have not increased. Indeed, sea level has fallen 7 millimeters.

Damaging floods cost Queenslanders millions of dollars. It was so bad that insurance companies refused to reinsured low-lying towns. Even the dry Northern Territory had floods. One of two very close La Ninas was the strongest ever recorded. The year 2012 was rain, rain and more rain.

This is not something that global warming critics should put forward as a natural solution. Only in Australia does the unusual geographic structure of the continent exist. Humid air moved slowly east but moved as far south as Melbourne, pushing up rainfall 20 per cent. Tropical air has never reached Melbourne before.

The fall in sea level is only a blip on the rising graph. The average rise is 3.2 millimeters a year. By the end of the century ocean levels are expected to increase by 820 millimeters, up from previous estimates of 590.

Rising use of carbon fuel may make sea levels rise even more. The oil "boom" in the US threatens all the good work being done by environmentalists to change behavior. Higher production has pushed "peak oil" well into the future. Enthusiasm for non-carbon power sources is waning.

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