In Pure Spirit

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Extinction Sucks: Tasmanian Devils

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Some scientists believe that the wild Tasmanian Devil cannot be saved. One high-risk strategy may be to let the wild devils die out which would provide a chance to re-populate the island with disease-free devils currently in captivity.

The Tasmanian Devil suffers from a unique extinction threat. The population is being wiped out by contagious cancer – one that’s spread by biting.

This week the Extinction Sucks video features disturbing images of Tasmanian Devils with horrible cancerous growths on their head and tongue.

Has this horrible cancer been caused by man? Did we affect the environmental changes which led to the outbreak?

In an attempt to raise the profile of this disaster and raise money to buy camera traps Ashleigh Young and Aleisha Caruso organise a party night where guys dressed us devils sell kisses and angel cakes.

These camera traps will be used to record images of the devils in the wild and help the Devils in Danger charity record the spread of cancer.

Will the Tasmanian Devil go the same way as the Tasmanian Tiger? This week’s Extinction Sucks: Tasmanian Devils is well worth a watch.

In Pure Spirit

Are you following this web video series? It’s sponsored by the WWF and represents one of the new initiatives green charities are trying in order to keep tapped into the web generation.

Good Earth and fine wine from Banrock Station?

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Australian wine producer Banrock Station is upping their green effort. The company has introduced a series of wine labels that encourage “Supporting Global Conservation”.

Banrock Station’s website makes similar efforts. The company is based in a large building by the Murry River in South Australia and have been there since 1994. Improvements have been made to the wetland centre in that time; with solar power, renewable materials and a minimal environmental footprint acting as something of a tourist attraction while allowing native birds to continue to roost there.

The website also contains a water calculator which keeps watch on over 400 households. The participants of the survey, it is calculated, save over 65,000 litres of water a day.

In Pure Spirit

Do applaud Banrock Station’s efforts or are these yet another example of greenwashing?

Is global conservation an appropriate focus for a wine company? Are Banrock Station doing the best thing by directly focusing on their direct environment or should they make more effort on glass recycling and responsible drinking?

An Australian aboriginal creation myth – Ungambikula

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It was dark and there was neither life nor death.

Image by Beppie K via Flickr

In the beginning, the earth was a bare plain. Underneath the plain slept the eternal ancestors, the sun, the moon and the stars.

Eventually the eternal ancestors arose an in the Dreamtime they walked the earth. The eternal ancestors walked in many shapes and forms; some of them took the forms of kangaroos, others as lizards, others as birds, some took humanoid forms and others appeared as hybrids of human, animal or even plant.

The Ungambikula, two of the eternal ancestors, walked the earth until they found half-made human beings lying beside water holes. The half-made men where bundles of limbs, animal parts and shapes.

The Ungambikula gathered the half-made humans and used two large stone knives to carve shape and form into the bundles. They carved faces, heads, legs, bodies, arms and feet.

This is why that every man, woman and child has a connection to their totem – the animal or plant that was part of the half-human bundle they were carved from.

In Pure Spirit

What does this creation story mean to you? Are the Ungambikula more significant than other ancestors?

10 ghost animals in science

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Ghost Bat at Perth Zoo

Image via Wikipedia

In this article we look at ten animals that have the word ‘ghost’ in their name. The world of the paranormal does have its influence on science and biology after all.

1 ) The Ghost Spider

The ghost spider (anyphaene californica) is a tiny, translucent arachnid that lives in the southern parts of the United States.

2 ) The Ghost Bat

Also known as the Australian False Vampire Bat (macroderma gigas) has extremely thin wing membranes which can give it an eerie glow when it flies. The large bat is a fierce predator and very common in Australia.

3 ) The Ghost Moth

With pure white wings the male ghost moths (hepialus humuli) will fight one by slowly fluttering upwards and dropping back down again.

4 ) The Ghost Lizard

The Ghost Lizard (eurycea spealeus) is neither a ghost nor a lizard. It is a salamander which lives its entire life in caves. Ghost Lizards are completely translucent.

5 ) The Ghost Frog

The Ghost Frog (helophryne genus) get their name from their habbitat – they’re found in Skeleton Gorge in South Africa.

6 ) The Ghost Crab

Ghost crabs (ocypode quadrata) is a member of genus Ocypode and can be found around the world from Australia to the United States.

7 ) The Ghost Fish

Also known as Glass Catfish, the Ghost Fish (kryptopterus bicirrhis) is entirely transparent – turning a milky white after death.

8 ) The Ghost Knifefish

The Ghost Knifefish (apteronotidea) are freshwater fish use EOD (electric organ discharge) to communicate.  There are a number of different sub-types of ghost knifefish with the black ghost knifefish and brown ghost knifefish being much more common than the others.

9 ) The Ghost Tiger Beetle

The whiteish coloured Ghost Tiger Beetle (cicindela lepida) and like other tiger beetles is fairly aggressive and well armed with mandibles.

10) Ghost Insects

Ghost insect is a fairly common alternative name for stick insects (phasmatodea). They mark good pets are they are easy to care for although some species are extremy toxic.

In Pure Spirit

How did we do? Are you aware of any other ghost animals in science?

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