WILDLIFE ACT

A typical scene at a waterhole.

For the past 10 weeks I have been doing volunteer work in South Africa with an organisation called Wildlife ACT. Most of the time has been spent monitoring African Painted Dogs. There are only 3,000 of these dogs left in the wild and less than 400 in South Africa. The painted dogs live in a pack with a very strict social structure. There is a dominant 'alpha' male and a dominant alpha 'female' and these are the only two in the pack which breed. Often dogs will break away from the group, called a 'dispersal', to find other male or female dogs and form a new pack. The dogs may range over a considerable distance in search of new partners and when outside of the game reserves they are often attacked or killed by the community. The dogs are also very vulnerable to poachers who use snares to entrap game. The result is that painted dog populations are generally on the decline and they are an endangered species.

One of the painted dogs I have been monitoring.

The time I have spent here has been divided into two blocks on each of the five reserves which Wildlife ACT monitor: iMfolozi, Tembe, Mkuze, Hluhluwe and Thanda. Each reserve has been different. For example Tembe in the north borders on the border of Mosambique and is a sand forrest. The animals here have had limited contact with people and are extremely wild. At iMfolozi and Hluhluwe there are a good number of tourists and animals, while still dangerous, are a little more predictable. At Mkuze the terrain is very wild but the dogs have to be monitored twice every day because poaching is a big problem. Thanda is the only one of these reserve which is privately run and there are a number of other groups doing volunteer programs here at the same time.

A typical monitoring session, using telemetry to locate each dog pack..

Generally the routine has been to go out of the back of a utility vehicle at 5 in the morning. Using telemetry equipment we locate one own the dog packs and try to get a visual sighting on each of the dogs in the pack. In this way we can confirm that the dog is with the pack and that the dog is healthy. At least one or two dogs in each pack has a collar on it which sends out a signal we can pick up. Some reserves have more than one pack, iMfolozi for instance has 9 or 10 packs.

A cheetah at Thanda.

As well as monitoring the dogs we monitor elephants, lions, cheetahs, leopards, hyaena, rhinoceros and vultures, though this varies from reserve to reserve. During the 10 weeks I have been involved in the collaring of dogs and lions. These were amazing experiences. During the lion call-up we 'darted' nine lions. Blood and tissue samples were taken from each of them and two of the lions were moved to a different reserve. While moving the lions I was lifting the head of the unconscious lion when it suddenly sat up. The four fellows who were in the back of the ute lifting it suddenly dived over the side. It soon went back to sleep.

There were a number of other very exciting experiences with animals. At Tembe I managed to photograph a hyaena. the hyaena hasn't been seen there for 10 years and it was supposed that they had died out. At Tembe I also managed to see the two biggest elephants still alive in southern Africa. These two 'big tuskers' were amazing. I did manage to not only see what are called the 'Big Five': elephants, lions, buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros, but added the next two: painted dogs and cheetahs to see the top seven wildlife attractions. 

The lion call up at Tembe. Taking blood and tissue samples.

The bird life here was also amazing and a good few hours were spent beside a waterholes photographing an exciting array of birds. I did spend some time at hides, which are a structure near a waterhole, watching the wildlife coming down to drink or to play in the mud. These allowed me to take  a good number of pictures. the whole experience was wonderful. You really felt like you were contributing to wildlife conservation as well as developing an understanding of the issues facing conservationists in South Africa. I also got to experience hands on work with these animals while coming close to other animals in the wild. Wildlife ACT have on their T-shirts: this is Zululand not Disneyland. I agreed, but it is better than Disneyland. 

For more information on Wildlife ACT they have a website:         http://www.wildlifeact.com/             or for more on my experience in South Africa go to:                                     eatenbylions.blogspot.com    

CURRUMBIN WILDLIFE SANCTUARY

When I was very young we would sometimes go to Palm Beach in Queensland for holidays. This was because I had a grand-uncle who lived there. My memories of these holidays include the long drive from Sydney, the sand modelling on the beach, the religious revival groups which seemed to always be camped there, melon and pineapple jam, promite, chicken pox (we all had it one summer) and blue bottle stings. However the most lasting memory is of going to the bird sanctuary at Currumbin. Here lorikeets would descend from the trees and land on your head and arms and feed from metal plates containing a mixture of bread and honey. It was maybe this more than anything else that gave me a life long love of birds.

The story of the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary begins in 1947 when beekeeper and flower grower Alex Griffiths began feeding the wild lorikeets to distract them from damaging his flower crop. At first this attracted local attention but soon grew into a popular tourist stop. In 1976 Alex made a gift of the sanctuary to the people of Queensland as a National Trust Property. In 1994 he also purchased a 4 ha rainforested property and donated it to the sanctuary. Alex Griffiths died in July 1998 but his extraordinary gift continues to flourish and attract visitors and tourists every year.

The sanctuary was originally known as the Currumbin Bird Sanctuary but as the park established a more diverse collection of reptiles and mammals, as well as birds, the name was changed to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary in 1995 . It now houses one of the biggest collections of Australian wildlife species in the world. It continues to be run by the National Trust of Queensland on a non-profit basis. All revenue generated from the park goes back into its upkeep, to conservation research, to caring for sick and injured animals and to educating the public about Australian wildlife.

The park is set on 27 ha of land in the Queensland Gold Coast. It is surrounded by bushland. There are over 1400 mammals, reptiles and birds It is operated by 64 full-time and part-time staff. Other attraction include a miniature railway, which was added in 1964, the Tasmanian Devil enclosure, crocodile feeding and handling(a 5.3 metre croc), the snake and reptile show and the largest walk-through aviary in the southern hemisphere.

Eighteen months ago the park added an animal hospital. It is serviced by 4 vets and caters for over 4,000 animals a year. Recent patients at the hospital include a swan which was run over by a jet ski and a 3 metre long python. The hospital is expensive to run. For example the python cost the park $15,000 to look after. It has now laid 32 eggs.The hospital also caters for injured native animals and birds brought in from outside the park. A large proportion of the mammals at the park are nocturnal so the park also run a night program. The night program includes an Aussi barbeque.

The park has an added attraction, the Green Challenge. This is a high ropes and obstacle course. It provides a tough work out and is designed to build an individuals confidence. It includes a popular Tarzan swing.The course can be utilized by organizations and companies as a team building exercise for employees and staff members. For children there is Wild Island. Here children can experience what it is like for animals to survive in the wild. It has proven extremely popular with children.

Over 30,000 school students visit the sanctuary each year. Many Australian and overseas tourists make this a stop on their travels. One tourist site I looked at suggested this was a perfect start for a wildlife tour of Australia's top end. I know the impact this had on me when I was young. Given a chance to take young people to Movie World or Currumbin it is an easy choice.......

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME.....(Part 1)

Being a teacher you very quickly decide that there are certain names you will never call your own children. My wife and I very early in our teaching careers knew we would never have a Darren nor a Skye. We picked out James as a boy's name and possibly Rebecca as a girl's name. Four daughters later we have neither a James nor a Rebecca. Four daughters means eight different girl's names, so we have Amanda Clare, Kathryn Amy, Elizabeth Kelly and Jennifer Laura. All safe traditional names, but there were moments. In particular I wanted Sandy. However my wife would just not come at Sandy Shore. We also tried to avoid C. Shore, although I am a Robert C. Shore. It was some sort of oversight that Amanda ended up A. C. Shore. We also tried to avoid names which had to be spelt as we knew from experience that they would have to go through life spelling "Shore". Kathryn missed out here, but we liked Kate and always thought it would be shortened.

As you can see we put a fair bit of thought into naming our children. Other parents also do this. A recent article in Psychology Today (April 2010) by sociologist, Dalton Conley, explains why he called his daughter E and his son Yo Xing Heyno Augustus Eisner Alexander Weiser Knuckles. You need to read the whole article to understand why but Conley does sum up with "at the time we thought we were bequeathing to them our values of individuality, free choice, and the questioning of social norms. Perhaps it was also an unconscious social experiment..." (Note to self: ask daughters if they wish I had studied sociology)

Of course when it comes to naming children parents will find inspiration in all sorts of places. We have all heard of parents who have named their child after the nurse on duty at the time of birth, or the ambulance driver, or taxi driver, who delivered the baby on the way to hospital. Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner in their book Freakonomics (2005) write about the parents who named their son Amcher after the first thing they saw when they arrived at the hospital: Albany Medical Center Hospital Emergency Room.

Do names matter?

Maybe Issur Danielovitch once thought so. He changed his name to Kirk Douglas. Frances Gumm changed her name to Judy Garland, and Norma Jean Baker to Marilyn Monroe. There are many more: Jennifer Anastassakis is now Jennifer Aniston, Frederick Austerlitz now Fred Astaire, Thomas Marpother IV is better known as Tom Cruise, Caryn Johnson is Whoopi Goldberg, Demetria Gene Guynes is Demi Moore, Annie May Bullock is Tina Turner, Walter Williamson is Bruce Willis and Marion Michael Morrison is John Wayne.

Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner Freakonomics 2005 devote a chapter to discussing whether names matter. They begin with the case of Robert Lane who, with his wife, had seven children. The sixth child they named Winner, while the seventh and last child they named Loser. An interesting case study because if names make a difference surely it would be reflected in this family. However as they grew up Loser won a scholarship to a prep school, graduated from college and joined the police force where he became, first, a detective and then a sergeant. What of his brother? Levitt and Dubner tell us "The most noteworthy achievement of Winner Lane.... is the sheer length of his criminal record".

ELVIS

An Elvis family from Melbourne.

The town of Parkes is located in the central west of NSW. It has a population of approximately 15,000 people. It is well known as the home of the Dish, that is, the telescope which tracked the Apollo landing on the moon. It is not so well known for holding the World Marble Championships. However each year in early January the population of the town swells dramatically, this year to almost double, for the annual Elvis Festival.

Some fans just couldn't help themselves.

The Elvis Festival was conceived by a small group of Elvis fan who thought that it might be a good way to celebrate Elvis' birthday each year. It began humbly as a one night event for about a hundred people. By the year 2000 it had grown to a day-long festival. Gradually more events were added and in 2005 over three and a half thousand people attended.

No effort was spared.

This year the festival was held over five days from the 5 to 9 January. It involved over 140 events and attracted a record crowd, doubling the town's population. Fans came from every state in Australia and as far away as New Zealand, Italy and the USA. Besides a street parade, other events included an Elvis Gospel service, the 'Back to the Altar with Elvis-Renewal of Wedding vows', dinner with Miss Priscilla and an Elvis Poet's breakfast.

Some Elvises were very young.

At this year's festival there was an attempt to regain the Guinness Book of Records' title for the most Elvis impersonators gathered together. In 2007 147 impersonators gathered in Parkes to break the previous record of 78. Recently a new record was set at 645 in Las Vegas. Unfortunately the Parkes attempt fell just short with 610 impersonators, but this gives organisers something to promote for next years festival.

Some Elvises were very good. This was the winner of the Elvis impersonators competition.

The town of Parkes has its own Elvis fanatics. One local has changed their name to Elvis by deed poll. There is a Gracelands restaurant, an Elvis memorial and an Elvis museum. For the festival there is also a special Elvis Train which brings fans from Sydney to the event.

Nearly fifty couples took the chance to renew their wedding vows. This couple had been married for 50 years.

Many fans enjoyed the chance to dress in costumes from days gone by.

There was lots of dancing.

....and lots of cars.

.....but just one Indian. (When I asked him why, he said "well everyone else was dressed as Elvis!" )

EMU FARMS

The emu, which features on the Australian coat of arms, is Australia's largest bird. It can grow up to two metres tall and an adult bird can weigh over 50 kgs. It can't fly but can run at speeds of nearly 50 kilometres an hour. The emu can also swim. The eggs are incubated by the male, who also rears the young. Emus were hunted and eaten by the Aborigines and feature in many rock paintings and later bark paintings. The emu appears in many Aboriginal dreamtime stories and more recently in children's story-books, art works and even songs. It's feathers have been used to decorate the hats of some Australian soldiers, although those serving overseas used to describe them as 'kangaroo feathers'. The emu is not on any endangered species list and in some areas is considered a pest. In the picture below the emu is the emblem for the Orange Emus Rugby Club.

Although hunting and eating emus is not a new thing in Australia the commercial farming of emus is. In the 1970s an Aboriginal group were allowed to capture 400 emus from the wild and experiment with farming them for for their skins. In 1987 the offspring of these initial birds were used to establish other farms and hence the current emu farming industry has grown. However the bird is not only bred for its leathery skin but also for its meat, eggs, feathers and emu oil.

Emus are suitable to most climatic conditions found in Australia and being soft footed they do little damage to the soil. There is a strict code of practice as to how the birds should be treated and the farms managed. No birds are allowed to be taken from the wild and there are strict fencing requirements to prevent the escape of birds as well as to stop wild birds getting onto the farms.

On the farms the birds lay around forty eggs a year. Once they are hatched the young are kept in a shed at night until the stage where they lose their stripes, around 3 months. At the age of about fourteen months the birds become large enough to be slaughtered and used for a number of products.

Emu leather is soft and because the area around the feather follicles is raised, when tanned it gives a neat dot pattern. This is used for hand bags, boots, wallets and clothing. It is also sort after by craft workers. The leather around the emu's leg is similar to snake or crocodile leather in appearance and so is used for belts and watch bands.

Emu meat is gamey in flavour (no not like chicken) and contains less than 0.05% cholesterol. However it seems to have found more acceptance in Europe rather than Australia. Emu steaks and emu pies still seem to fall into the novelty category here.

While the eggs can and have been eaten the birds do not lay regularly enough to make the farming of them viable(If I was trying to pass something that size out of my rear end I would not want to be doing it often or regularly either). Of course not a lot of households need the equivalent of a dozen hen eggs every morning. The eggs are sort after for carving and for jewellery.

One product which has gained in acceptance and popularity is emu oil. Australian Aborigines have used the oil for thousands of years to treat aches and pains. Now the oil has become mainstream as science supports the claims being made about it. The oil is able to penetrate deeply and is naturally anti inflammatory. It is particularly useful in the treatment of pain associated with arthritis. Emu oil can also be used to treat eczema and other skin conditions. The oil can be rubbed on externally or taken internally as capsules. The oil has also been used in cosmetic and skin care products.

The Try-It Emu Farm at Marburg in Queensland (where most of these photographs were taken) also sells a unique product in the form of 'cartilage powder' called Osteo Be Gone. After studying the benefits of shark cartilage the farm at Marburg came up with a world first Emu cartilage powder which helps in treating arthritis and cartilage degeneration. The powder contain all of the essential 18 amino acid,chondroitin sulphate, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, iron and copper.

The farm at Marburg has been in operation for the past 17 years. They now have over 2,000 birds and have spent the last four years building up stock and developing new products. They are processing birds again now. Beside oil and cartilage powder they sell emu meat, feathers (for decoration and craft, and to the Australian army) and blown emu eggs. Only blown eggs are sold so that the fertile eggs can not be incubated and hatched. To breed emus a person requires a license.