Aussie Wildlife Show

We catch up with Dr Charlie Manolis, Chief Scientist at Crocodylus Park and Wildlife Management International to find about some of the latest research in the conservation of these iconic and ancient reptiles. 

We visited the Territory Wildlife Park and caught up with the Manager of Visitor Experiences, Simon Ferguson for a chat.  The Territory Wildlife Park is situated on 400 ha of natural bushland, it contains native animals and plants representative of Northern Territory. It contributes to their conservation through research programs as well as through public education. The three main habitats represented are woodland, wetland and monsoon vine forest. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit!    

We chat with Dr Mark Hutchinson, Senior Research Scientist of Herpetology from the South Australian Museum about the recently discovered Western Desert Taipan, the endangered Pygmy Blue-tongue and all sort other sciencey goodness. 

Andrew Daly is a zookeeper with Taronga Zoo and Caroline Monro is a zookeeper at Wildlife Sydney Zoo. Together they form a conservation power-couple, bringing awareness to the plights of Australian wildlife and their habitats. They are also passionate about reducing their environmental footprint on the planet and have started a blog to share their journey. Click here to check out their blog, 'Greening Pains'.

We recently caught up with Dr Catherine Kemper at the South Australian Museum to learn more about her role as the Senior Researcher of Mammals. We also discuss whales, taxonomy, wildlife conservation and even the Thylacine gets a mention.    

We catch up with Emma Malik and chat about training native animals such as crocodiles and quolls, and we find out how a professional animal trainer becomes a professional comedian.  We saw Emma's show 'If you can't train it, eat it' and it was hilarious. Emma's other shows include 'Sticking with it' and even a children's show entitled 'Fee-Fi-Fo-Fun'. Click here for show dates 

We chat with Steve McKechnie, co-owner of Gorge Wildlife Park about living in a wildlife park, the park's history, and some of the new projects that are currently being worked on.   Gorge Wildlife Park is situated in the Adelaide Hills and hosts an array of native, as well as exotic species. It's an attractive park that offers opportunities to interact with koalas, kangaroos as well as other iconic Australian species. 

We delve deep into the world of aquatic serpents as we learn about sea snakes and sea kraits with evolutionary biologist Jenna Crowe-Riddell.  This episode was uploaded on the same day as the release of Jenna's paper on sea snakes, titled 'Phototactic tail: Evolution and molecular basis of a novel sensory trait in sea snakes'. Olive sea snake (Aipysurus laevis). Photo credit: Chris Malam.

Michael Bayliss is the Communications Manager for Sustainable Population Australia (SPA). SPA are an independent not-for-profit organisation seeking to protect the environment and our quality of life by ending population growth in Australia and globally. Click here to check the SPA Facebook page. Click here to check out the SPA website.

Thylacoleo carnifex , the marsupial lion, was Australia's top order mammalian carnivore and a real life 'drop bear'. This week we chat with Dr. Aaron Camens, paleontologist at Flinders University and co-author of a recently published paper which analyses the first compete skeleton reconstruction of this highly adapted predator. Spare a thought for the early Australians who had to contend with this 100kg semi-arboreal hunter they may have dropped onto its prey with its sharp hooked-claws, razor-sharp teeth and possibly, pound for pound, the most powerful bite of mammal species! Photo Credit: Beclectic, Wikimedia Commons