Behind the scenes
Good news…
Greater Gliders were listed as endangered in 2022. This was partly because of bushfires (see Winter 2020 Nature Kids). But recently two of these elusive animals were spotted in one of the artificial nest boxes (see Spring 2023 Nature Kids) set up in the Snowy Valleys region to help their recovery!
And at Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary on the NSW north coast, annual pouch checks have found six brush-tailed rock wallaby joeys. This species is Australia’s most vulnerable wallaby — extinct in the ACT and Victoria, it is listed as endangered in NSW.
Take a look at the snuggling gliders & a tiny wallaby joey.
[ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-06/endangered-greater-gliders-snuggle-batlow-nesting-box-bush-fire/104001754 ; https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-11/six-endangered-brush-tailed-rock-wallaby-joeys-born/104084784
Amazing facts
- Greater Gliders can glide up to 100 metres through the air.
- Brush-tailed rock wallaby joeys spend about six months in the pouch.
Make a daily difference with the ecoSwitch app!
The food and drink sector is the 2nd largest source of greenhouse gas emissions after the energy sector,
amounting to about 31.3 million tonnes of greenhouse gases each year!
With the free ecoSwitch app you can scan a product’s barcode in the supermarket to check its “planetary health rating”. The app also provides health star ratings.
“If every Australian swapped higher-emission products for very similar but lower-emission products, total emissions from household groceries would fall by a quarter.”
Find out more about the app and how you can make choices that are better for the health of our planet and all its inhabitants.
[https://howdoesyourbasketaddup.georgeinstitute.org.au/ ; https://theconversation.com/we-gave-60-000-food-products-a-planetary-health-star-rating-see-how-your-favourites-stack-up-228363 ]
Fabulous fungi
Did you know fungi are neither plant nor animal? There are about 36,000 species of fungi in NSW and still a lot for researchers and citizen scientists to learn about them!
But we do know they can play key roles in nature such as being a recycler by decomposing leaf litter and tree trunks, being a food source and being a plant partner.
Humans have also found ways to use fungi (see Nature Kids Winter 2023). Did you know that bread is made using a type of fungus? Yes, baker’s yeast is a fungus that grows as a single cell, rather than as a mushroom! The yeast converts sugars from a carbohydrate (eg flour) into carbon dioxide, which inflates air bubbles in the dough, causing it to rise.
Learn more & see some amazing pics of fungi found in the Royal National Park.
[https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2024-06-21/australias-forgotten-fungi-mushrooms-and-citizen-science/103972348 ; https://www.friendsofroyal.org.au/fascinating-fungi/ ]