When Victorian man James Glindemann sat down just outside his local mall to enjoy his Chinese takeout, he was happily surprised to see a magpie, and greeted the bird: “How are you going?” Magpies are one of Australia’s most intelligent and loved birds, and Glindemann’s reaction is a common one. In 2017, they were voted […]
Tag: Australia
POLL: Should crocodile farming for making handbags and shoes be banned?
The high-end French fashion brand Hermès wants to build one of Australia’s biggest crocodile farms in the Northern Territory that would hold up to 50,000 saltwater crocodiles to be turned into luxury goods such as handbags and shoes. But the proposal has come under fire from animal welfare groups, who say other fashion brands have […]
Poachers illegally shoot and behead buffaloes and leave their carcasses to rot on sacred Aboriginal land
Poachers have illegally shot and beheaded buffaloes in a remote Australian outback region and left their carcasses to rot on sacred Aboriginal land. One decapitated buffalo was found in Mount Catt, central Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory – where it is illegal to travel on Aboriginal land without permission from traditional landowners. Northern Land […]
Wombats’ deadly bums: how they use their ‘skull-crushing’ rumps to fight, play and flirt
Australia is known for its strange and deadly wildlife, with plenty of attention given to venomous snakes and bird-eating spiders. But it seems one terrifying aspect of outback fauna has been thoroughly ignored: the wombat’s deadly bum. The rump of the wombat is hard as rock, used for defence, burrowing, bonding, mating and possibly violently […]
Western Australia shark attack: police divers search for missing surfer
A search has resumed for a surfer who was mauled by a shark near Esperance in Western Australia. The man could not be found after being attacked just before 11am on Friday at Kelp Beds beach. Another surfer tried to pull him from the water but was unable to do so, the Western Australian premier, […]
‘Sliding towards extinction’: koala may be given endangered listing as numbers plummet
The koala is being considered for official listing as endangered after the summer’s bushfire disaster and ongoing habitat destruction on the east coast forced the government to reconsider its threat status. The iconic species, which is currently listed as vulnerable under national environment laws, is among 28 animals that could have their threat status upgraded, […]
380 whales dead in worst mass stranding in Australia’s history
About 380 pilot whales were confirmed dead in Tasmania’s west on Wednesday afternoon with rescuers fighting to save the remaining 30 that are still alive. More than 450 long-finned pilot whales were caught on sandbanks and beaches inside Macquarie Harbour, with a rescue effort starting on Tuesday morning. Some 50 whales have been rescued and […]
‘Sit! sit!’ How one Australian dealt with a 4m crocodile called ‘Bonecruncher’
For most people, the sight of an approaching crocodile, mouth wide open, would provide the fright of a life. And their fear would be rightly placed, as encounters between man and saltwater crocs typically have deathly ends for the former. Not for Matt Wright, the so-called “outback wrangler”. “Stay, sit, sit!” Wright instructed the croc ominously […]