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☆ Swimming Beneath Sand, It’s ‘the Hardest of All Animals to Find’
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Anthony Ham | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

If you saw a northern marsupial mole, you might be surprised. And unlike the mole species of North America, it is a marsupial. But you probably wouldn’t see one: While the animals are plentiful, sightings remain extremely rare because northern marsupial moles live in tunnels beneath sand dunes, navigating them with a swimming-like motion using flipper-like front feet. “This is the hardest of all the animals to find,” said Denzel Hunter, an Indigenous ranger who works to survey and conserve wildlife in the lands of the Nyangumarta people. “Every time we go out looking for northern marsupial moles, we find evidence that they’re there.

Persons: ”, Denzel Hunter, I’ve Organizations: First Nations Locations: Australia, North America, Sandy, Perth

☆ The Quest for a Crocodile Dictionary
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Anthony Ham | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A male saltwater crocodile approached a female saltie — as they’re known in Australia — in the same enclosure at Australia Zoo. But then in a change of heart that wasn’t what you’d expect from one of Australia’s most fearsome predators, he appeared to think better of it. “He went down under the water and started blowing bubbles at her,” said Sonnie Flores, a crocodile researcher at the University of the Sunshine Coast who observed the interaction. It was almost like he was blowing her a kiss.”Trying to decipher what crocodiles like that one are saying is at the center of ongoing research by Ms. Flores and her colleagues to create the world’s first crocodile dictionary. If successful, it could even help prevent conflict between humans and crocodiles.

Persons: “, ”, Sonnie Flores, Flores Organizations: Australia —, Zoo, University of the Sunshine Coast Locations: Australia

☆ In the Heart of the Outback, Safeguarding a Sacred Land
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Anthony Ham | Photographs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Close to the geographical heart of Australia, Alice Springs feels like a true desert town. Pink-chested galahs wheel and screech overhead, and, lining the streets, gum trees give off the faintest smell of eucalyptus. Even by Aussie standards, Alice Springs is casual: People dress down, and many drive well-equipped four-wheel-drive trucks that are as much a part of the uniform as T-shirts, shorts and Akubra hats. By day, I visited Alice Springs Desert Park, with its extraordinary desert wildlife, and the city’s Aboriginal art galleries. It was a reminder that Alice Springs — or Mparntwe to its traditional owners, the Arrernte people — is largely an Aboriginal town.

Persons: Alice Springs, Alice, Springs Organizations: Hilton, Art, Papunya Locations: Australia, Papunya Tula, Central

☆ Fossils Where They Don’t Belong? Maybe We Just Didn’t Look Hard Enough.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( Anthony Ham | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Among dinosaur bones and sandy sediment there emerged a 167-million-year-old tiny jaw fragment with three teeth. It belonged to Ambondro mahabo, a species that was 25 million years older than any mammal of its kind ever found. At the time, what was known of the fossil record pointed overwhelmingly to the conclusion that modern mammals’ forerunners arose in the Northern Hemisphere. But a review of existing fossil holdings published last year in the journal Alcheringa sought to turn decades of paleontological wisdom on its head. After an exhaustive study of skulls, jaws and teeth, a team of Australian paleontologists presented their conclusion that modern mammals originated in the Southern Hemisphere.

Persons: Ambondro, ”, John Flynn, Frick Organizations: Northern, Southern Hemisphere, American Museum of Locations: Madagascar, New York

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