| WILDLIFE AUSTRALIA Magazine - Autumn 2005 |
 |
|
Animal Shelters
When times are tough, caves are great shelters. For frogs, it doesn’t get much tougher than the hot, dry regions of north-western Western Australia — home to our cover frog, a magnificent treefrog (Litoria splendida). Even in their area of natural distribution, magnificent treefrogs wouldn’t survive without shelter — the theme of this issue They spend their days in caves or cave- like habitats.
This particular frog, beautifully photographed by Michael Snedic, is a captive specimen and part of a wildlife presentation team. For more about the wild cave frogs of Western Australia and frog shelters in general, see the article ‘Call waiting’, pp 10-13. |
| FEATURES |
|
|
|
|
| Between sea and land: shelter and the Great Barrier Reef |
|
|
|
 By Jacquie Sheils
For 2300km along the Australian Coast, the Breat Barrier Reef intrigues visitors and protects a myriad of residents.
Honycombed with hiding places, coral reefs shelter coastlines and wildlife. However, they are still wild and dangerous, and the creatures that live there have developed some amazing strategies to use the protective potential of coral reef communities. |
|
|
| Call waiting: where frogs chill |
|
|
|
 By Gregory V Czechura
Those wild nocturlal choruses down by the pond are only a small part of a frog's life. Male frogs especiallly spend part of their life-cycle in a tremondouse effort to be conspicuous, ar at least audible.
Moisture is the hey to finding frogs - in soil, leaf litter, a nice wet bucket or in hollows and crevices of trees, rocks or even an old fence where they are protected from dehydration. |
|
|
| Ultra-Sirens of the city |
|
|
|
 By Geffory Smith and Michael Mathieson
Concealed by day and still almost invisible by night, ultra-small, ultra-sonic microbats lead a secret metropolitan life. Human-built structures for human purposes, such as houses, drains, overpasses and colverts, have been adopted as useful shelters for some microbat species. However, Microbats are often very specialised in their requirements for particular temperature and humidity levels; for some, only the right cave, crevice or tree-hollow will do. |
|
|
| Real estate spikes: at home in the spinifex |
|
|
|
 By Steve Wilson
It's tough, it's sharp, it looks like a porcupine and, for an astounding diversit of reptiles and other wildlife, it's home.
Austrlalia's arid interior is dotted with touch, independent, domed residences. Multi-tenanted, they can be renovated or ruined - by fire. It all depends on the levels. |
|
|
| Wishing well for wildlife |
|
|
|
 By Lee K Curtis
If we could save wildlife by waving a magic wand, what would your three wishes be?
As philosopher and pragmatist William James (1842-1910) once siad, The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes. In this article, Lee asks a range of promenant wildlife and conservation experts what attitudes they would like to see change. |
|
|
| Home is where the wildlife is |
|
|
|
 By James Scott, Jan SMith, Gerry Stiller
Rosellas, frogs, and a soapy possum - hear from these Wildlife Australia readers as share their 'wildlife in the home' stories from around Australia. |
| |
| Wildlife Australia CyberJungle |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Also in this edition |
|
|
|
Editorial, Comment, City Animal, NatureWatch, Books Reviews, Autumn Skies, Young and Wild, WPSQ in Action, Swamp Cartoon and our regular environmental crossword.
Subscribe to Wildlife Australia today - your subscription helps many worthwhile wildlife projects and contributes to a successful education campaign that has been an effective voice for Australian wildlife since 1963. |
| |
