COLUMN:
  NATURE NOTES

These communities are cool sub-tropical rainforest; tall, open forest; vine thicket or gorge rainforest;...

Light is electromagnetic waves – travelling energy in the form of vibrating electric and magnetic fields.

 The...

Surf is a breaking wave and it is created when a wave makes contact with the seabed and friction slows the ...

Their appearance is characterised by small antennae, large mandibles, enormous eyes plus three small ocelli...

In 2018 globally there were 68 shark bites and 4 fatalities recorded, and this is consistent with the usua...

The species that we see in Australia is the European Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus). It can grow to a body ...

Australia has a rich diversity of native land mammals, however they belong to a relatively small number of t...

Take a breath – because most of the approximately 12 to 20 breaths we take per minute are subconscious, we t...

In spring, people may notice an extra bird voice added to the usual chorus. A distinctive repeated koo-el...

The sight of huge military parades featuring a multitude of armed, uniformed individuals marching in forma...

Crayfish are crustaceans, part of the phylum Arthropoda - invertebrates with segmented bodies, jointed legs a...

The complex network of organs, cells, enzymes, chemicals and processes which organisms use to protect their ...

Earth is an approximation of a bar magnet with north-south poles representing opposing polarities and magnetic f...

In fact, this phenomenon has nothing to do with stars, but is actually caused by tiny bits of rock, debris...

In ideal conditions where water is cold and rich in nutrients, kelp can grow to significant heights of up ...

The giant earthworms found in the Scenic Rim are a smaller species, around two metres long (Digaster longmani...

However, all utilise foils in locomotion. Foils are solid objects; when in a moving fluid (gas or liquid...

This is a large species - length of up to 66cm, weight up to one kilogram with a one metre wingspan. Its pl...

Smell (olfaction) and taste (gustation) are activated by chemicals and are described as chemoreceptive s...

Higher ambient temperatures trigger increased activity in insects, including calling. During the day we ...

This is because there are fundamental differences between ocean waves and tsunamis.
Most ocean waves are ...

Blue bottles (Physalia utriculus) are not jellyfish; they belong to the phylum Cnidaria, which include corals a...

Bandicoots are small. Their snouts are long and pointed and their tails are short. They have a coarse oute...

The basic reason volcanoes occur is that pressurised molten rock (magma) erupts through a weak point in the ...

The male antechinus, filmed on our last but one night walk, is notorious for exhausting itself to death aft...

Fireflies are actually carnivorous beetles of the family Lampyridae. There are some 2000 species worldwid...

The constellation consists of five bright stars/star clusters called Alpha Crucis (Acrux), Beta Crucis (Mimos...

People rarely think about breathing until they hold their breath. On average, people can hold their brea...

Colour is such an important part of how we see and understand the world around us – but what is colour? No...

Four upper atmosphere lows brought rain to the Mountain recorded on 10th, 14th, 19th and 22nd of June. Th...