by Wildlife Editor on August 11, 2010 | Comments Off
School holidays no longer have to be boring for kids or stressful for parents; Cairns Wildlife Dome provides the perfect solution for the whole family!
Re-introducing our Ranger for a Day program, we invite children from ages 5-12 to join our wildlife keepers and become junior rangers for an afternoon. The program includes up close interaction with the animals in the “Koala, Snake and Croc Pat & Chat” session, behind the scenes passes to help out with the food preparation and feeding tour, an afternoon snack on the Dome’s terrace area, creative activity time and an animal hunt to finish off the afternoon.
All Junior Rangers are issued with re-entry tickets valid for five days general admission to the Dome, so that they’ve got the opportunity to visit again with their families.
Prices are $49 per child (5-12 years of age) and sessions run from 1:30pm – 5:30pm each week day of the school holidays (subject to availability). The next Ranger for a Day Program will be hold in the September school holidays, from Monday 20th September. Numbers are limited and bookings essential.
For further enquiries or to book your child a place in the program, please contact the Cairns Wildlife Dome direct on 07 4031 7250. Alternatively emails should be forwarded to info@cairnsdome.com.au
by Wildlife Editor on August 10, 2010 | Comments Off
The Cairns Wildlife Dome’s menagerie of creatures has recently expanded into the creepy-crawly genre, with the addition of our insectarium. Currently the exhibit is home to five insects of four different species, but this is sure to increase with all of wildlife keepers on the lookout for eligible tenants! At present the insectarium holds one Grasshopper, one Stick Insect, one Rhinoceros Beetle and both a male and female Rainforest Tree Katydid.
Grasshopper Suborder: Caelifera
There are estimated to be over 700 species of grasshoppers in Australia. They are generally long-bodied with large hing legs for jumping. Grasshoppers are related to crickets ad katydids but have shorter antennae; shorter in fact, than their total body length. Most grasshoppers use camouflage to hide from predators by blending in with their surroundings. Others however will display themselves in bright colours, to appear abnormal and therefore flavourless to predators.
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Rainforest Tree Katydid Phricta spinosa
Rainforest Tree Katydids are common in the Daintree rainforest. They are one of Australia’s largest katydids, reaching 60mm in length. Having excellent camouflage, they spend most of their lives in trees, blending in with the tree trunk, becoming unnoticeable to the human eye. They have powerful rear legs for defence and will kick their attackers if disturbed. Being a nocturnal insect, Katydids feed on leaves, bark and fruit at night.
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Stick Insect Order: Phasmatodea
Stick Insects have several defences to protect themselves from predators, including excellent camouflaging. They spend their days motionless and to passing predators, appear perfect replicas of sticks. They are also generally solitary animals, which also aids in protecting themselves from predators. Depending on species, other defences they have include strong scented chemicals and bright colours under the wings. Although stick insects may appear dangerous, the majority of their defence mechanisms are not harmful, and they do not bite, sting, or produce poison.
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Rhinoceros Beetle Xylotrupes Ulysses
Rhinoceros Beetles are one of the largest beetles in Australia, growing to a length of 70mm. These beetles get their name from the forked horns on the male beetle’s head. The horns are used to show off to the females and fight other males. Rhinoceros beetle larvae are cream in body colour with a red head and can be found in rotting organic matter. The hissing sound made by Rhinoceros Beetles comes from their wings, and is sounded when they feel threatened. They may come across as menacing creatures, but rhinoceros beetles are harmless to humans.
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by Wildlife Editor on July 30, 2010 | Comments Off
A female butterfly is an expert when it comes to finding a plant on which to lay her eggs. She needs to be, as if she gets it wrong, her offspring will not go on to become adults.
In fact, laid on the wrong plant, a caterpillar will most likely starve until it dies. So, a butterfly has some very specialized equipment.
Firstly, she has incredibly efficient odor detectors on the ends of her antennae. These help her find the plant, sometimes from as far as several kilometres away. Once she has zeroed in to the plant, she makes doubly sure by “tasting” the plant with her feet. If the plant tastes okay to her, she will set about laying her eggs, one at a time.
Usually a female butterfly will not lay all her eggs on the one plant, she will spread her eggs among many plants of the same type in order to increase the chances for the caterpillars to make it to the adult, butterfly stage.
Here at the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary, Kuranda, this is a very lucky thing for us, as one of our jobs each day is collecting butterfly eggs – it helps to know where to look!
A female Ulysses getting ready to lay an egg
by Wildlife Editor on July 30, 2010 | Comments Off
Did you know that the top butterfly flight speed ever recorded was 19.31 kilometres an hour? Some moths can fly even faster. The top speed recorded for a moth to date was 40.23 km per hour.
Ulysses Butterfly in flight
Most of the butterflies that fly so fast are migratory butterflies – usually following the spread of available food plant for the caterpillars.
Here at the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary, Kuranda we do not have any migratory butterflies, and this is because if they can’t fly long distances, these butterflies would stress and die very quickly.
In fact, in order to keep a butterfly of any species in captivity successfully, you must always fulfill all the needs it has, otherwise they will die quickly at worst, or at least not reproduce.
Most butterflies fly erratically so as to avoid being caught by one of their predators (birds), which is why it’s difficult to get a photo of a butterfly in flight. The Ulysses is difficult to get a photo of when sitting also, as it folds the blue away showing only the brown underside.
We now have the capability here at the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary, Kuranda, to take a photo of you surrounded by butterflies, including the Ulysses. We can even make it look like some of them have landed on you.
by Wildlife Editor on July 30, 2010 | Comments Off
The comparatively mild winter so far, has resulted in quite a few of our Hercules moths emerging out of their cocoons. Normally during winter we have less of them coming out as they usually like to wait for the warmer spring weather. In the last three or four days however we have been lucky enough to have three emerge at once.
These moths don’t live for very long, usually only 5 to 7 days (the caterpillar stage is very long, around 5 to 6 weeks as mentioned before)… This is because they don’t actually eat, they have no proboscis through which to feed, and no stomach to receive nourishment. Instead, they live off their fat reserves.
So, these moths are usually in a hurry to complete their mission in this part of their life cycle. And of course, their mission is to find a mate, to mate, and for the females, to lay her eggs.
When we came down to the lab on Monday morning, we found that two of our Hercules had already “hooked up”. They will mate all day and possibly most of the night, and the female will then start laying eggs. So it looks like we will have more caterpillar babies to feed soon.
Paul Wright (founder of the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary) has been observing wild Hercules moths in his own back yard for a few months, and as a result has identified a new food plant source that these moths use for their larval/caterpillar stage.
The tree is the Queensland Maple, and Paul has seen the caterpillars go right through all their stages, onto pupa in their cocoons, and emerging as fully grown butterflies. So, anyone with one of these trees in their area will quite likely see these magnificent moths, the world’s largest, in their own backyard.
The two Hercules moths in the forefront are the two that are mating
by Wildlife Editor on July 30, 2010 | Comments Off
Did you know that a caterpillar grows to about 27,000 times the size it was when it first emerged from its egg? Caterpillars are essentially eating machines, they eat and eat and eat, shedding skins as they outgrow them. They are the ultimate consumers, however, they are very fussy when it comes to what they will eat. A female butterfly must lay her eggs on or very near the specific plant that the caterpillar will eat. If she lays her eggs in the wrong place the caterpillar will not eat at all. Here at the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary, Kuranda, we over two acres planted out in plants to feed our caterpillars with. We estimate that our giant Cairns Bird-wing caterpillars eat around 5 Km of vine per year.
From this……….
Newly emerged Bird-wing caterpillars
To this………
In about 20 days!
by Wildlife Editor on July 30, 2010 | Comments Off
The Wildlife Habitat recently hosted a Channel 10 film crew along with Ranger Stacey. For those of you not familiar with Stacey, she is currently a host on the long running nature and science themed series Totally Wild, and has been with the show since its premiere in 1992.
It was wonderful to have Ranger Stacey at the Habitat her enthusiasm and passion for nature is infectious. We were trilled to film three stories with Stacey, one on the fruit eating birds of the rainforest including Cassowaries. Stacey was excited to finally do a Cassowary story standing next to a Cassowary, as Cass the Cassowary was in a very obliging mood: remember kids don’t try this one at home.
The second story was on rainforest possums and our beautiful Stripped Possum and Long-tailed Pygmy Possum stared in the show and they were the first of their species to be filmed for Totally Wild; a children’s nature show running for over 18 years.
Last but never least, we had the three largest icons of the Wildlife Habitat star in the least segment, the amazingly capable wildlife supervisor Clare Anderson showcasing her two most favorite animals in the whole world Genie and Burno, mother and baby Lumholtz’s Tree Kangaroo. As always we are so proud to show off the world’s only breeding colony of Lumholtz’s Tyree Kangaroo.
Thanks Stacey!
by Wildlife Editor on July 30, 2010 | Comments Off
Eastern Grey Kangaroo
In the Wildlife Care Centre at the Wildlife Habitat we are raising an orphaned Eastern Grey Kangaroo. She came into our care at a very young age, with barely any fur and a pair of big brown eyes that would melt anyone’s heart! Initially she required 3 hourly feeds both day and night (fortunately she was very cute, which was a great incentive to get up at 2am in the morning). She is around 3 months old and is starting to eat grass and hop around profusely. She is one of the many delights that can be seen at times on our Behind the Scenes Tour.
by Wildlife Editor on July 30, 2010 | Comments Off
Profile: Bush Stone Curlew
Name: Manfred (Manny)
Likes: Following wildlife keepers around
Eating insects and meat mix
Serenading guests at Breakfast with the Birds and Lunch with the Lorikeets
Dislikes: Being ignored and other ground birds
Distribution: East coast of Australia, less common in the south
Habitat: Open forest, common in most urban areas in Northern part of range.
Interesting Fact: The Bush Stone Curlew is nocturnal
by Wildlife Editor on July 30, 2010 | Comments Off
Tilly, Webster and Gypsie – Rainbow Lorikeets
Our rainbow coloured supermodels are the cuties that come and sit on your shoulder while you enjoy Lunch with the Lorikeets at Wildlife Habitat! Tilly is the seasoned professional, she loves to jump and sing, anything for a Mealie Worm to eat. Webster is the man of the family. He is a big softie who loves a scratch under the wing. Gypsie is our lovely newcomer who will blow you a kiss or two. Rainbow Lorikeets are an iconic parrot found along the coast and rainforests of eastern Australia. They have a sweet tooth, feeding on nectar, pollen, berries and seeds of native plants. They are important pollinator and seed dispenser of our native forests.
