Showing posts with label turtle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label turtle. Show all posts

Australia - Interesting Things

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Interesting things abound about Australia. It is a unique continent being isolated from the other land masses for millions of years. Animals have evolved with unusual behaviors. The cute, tiny Antichenus gets so high on testosterone that the little fellow doesn't eat or drink. He mates until he dies.
antichenus
The ugliest fish live in the deep sea off Australia's coast. They have large eyes, a necessity where light is almost total nonexistent.  Land creatures have evolved where some beauty is required to facilitate mating.  living in the darkest depths means seeing your mate is not so important, but large eyes, huge jaws and venomous spines are.
Australia's ugliest sea monsters
Tourists and locals know about the deadly creatures living here. Oddly, Funnelweb spiders are not dangerous to dogs, cats, mice, lizards or snakes. An unlucky human can die if bitten by this spider.  Muscles in our bodies fibrillate.  Unsynchronized contraction of heart muscles can kill us.
Bundaberg is the home of the world's oldest tagged turtle. X23103 is a flatback turtle. The tag was put on in 1976 and she has been tracked ever since. The old lady continues on her way at the age of 60 years.
X23103 oldest  tagged sea turtle
Europe is well known for its stinging nettles. Children try all ways to stop the painful sting. Australia has the little known Gympie-Gympie stinging nettle. If its large leaves are just touched by human skin a part of the leaf breaks off and embeds itself so that it cannot be removed. It is a painful reminder to steer clear of it.
Image result for gympie gympie stinging plant
Forget Brazil and the rest of South America, Australia has the last remaining regions of wilderness. Cape york on Queensland is virtually untouched native vegetation. It has mangrove swamps, wetlands, tropical raingforests and eucalyptus wooded savannahs, home to ancient wildlife.

cape york wilderness
The longest "range" of volcanoes stretches down the eastern seaboard from Queensland's Pinnacle Rock all the way down to Melbourne. It is three times longer than the Yellowstone National Park volcanic track in the U.S.
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 Science by Ty Buchanan 
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Mary River Turtle in Danger From Global Warming

Australia has a rare turtle restricted to the Mary River in Queensland. The University of Queensland has concluded that global warming will seriously endanger this species. Eggs were collected and incubated at 26, 29 and 32 degree Centigrade. Young turtles from eggs incubated at the highest temperature stayed in shallow water because they had difficulty swimming.

Life expectancy would be short for these young. Food is in deeper water and there is safety from predators. The Mary River turtle, Elesor macrurus, is classed as endangered. Numbers have been falling for several decades. Other dangers to their survival are eggs being collected to the pet trade and introduced predators such as dogs and foxes.

It is suspected that other species of turtle are similarly affected. Circumstances for the Mary River turtle are particularly dire because nests are in shallow water which can be directly affected by a warming atmosphere.
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