News

Facial-recognition project finds oldest known weedy sea dragon in Tasmania

30 January 2023

At 16 years plus, Speedy is the oldest known sea dragon. Speedy lives in Waubs Bay near Bicheno, Tasmania and is one of the four sea dragons residing at Waubs Bay that scientists believe are the longest-lived…

Rewilding with emus will be good for Tasmania’s ecosystems

25 January 2023

Where did these Tasmanian emus live? Why did they go extinct? And should we reintroduce them? Newly published research combined historical records with population models to find out. The researchers found emus lived across most of eastern…

Snot bubbles and belly flops keep echidnas cool, research finds

23 January 2023

Echidnas blow snot bubbles and do belly flops to keep themselves cool in the Australian heat, new research has found. The native animals are believed to be less tolerant to hot weather than other Australian…

Drones, traps and motion-sensitive cameras enlisted to rid island in Bass Strait of feral cats

16 January 2023

A multi-skilled cat eradication team have gathered on lungtalanana/Clarke Island, an Indigenous Protected Area in Tasmania’s Furneaux Group of islands, for a week-long visit observing and attempting to trap cats. There are an estimated 80+ feral cats inhabited the island.…

‘Ambassador’ population of spotted handfish brings hope for re-wilding in Tasmania

15 January 2023

A critically endangered fish from Tasmania has been given a boost in its odds for survival through a successful breeding effort interstate. Endemic to Tasmania, the spotted handfish is known for its preference of walking…

Specialised CSIRO cameras capture new species 4,000m under the ocean

7 January 2023

Flying sea cucumbers, spiny sea urchins that glow, and giant crabs have been captured by specialised cameras in deep water off Australia’s coastline. The two cameras have revealed previously unseen behaviours. The deep-towed camera system plunged nearly…

With orchids and carnivorous plants abloom in Tasmania’s forests, it’s a risky time of year for insects

21 December 2022

This time of year, many of the state’s orchids and carnivorous plants are out in full force. There are more than 1,700 species of orchids in Australia, including more than 200 in Tasmania, and about 250 flesh-eating…

Looking back at a time when Tasmania’s ancient reptiles and dinosaurs packed a bite

21 December 2022

Before there were dinosaurs, there was Tasmaniosaurus. Tasmania is not famous for dinosaur digs but despite their absence in the fossil record, Tasmania was home to these creatures and paleontologists can infer what they were…

Computer modelling predicts climate change causing cascading animal ‘co-extinctions’

21 December 2022

Computer modelling has shown that more than 1 in 10 species could be lost by the end of the century. The simulation conducted on one of Europe’s most powerful supercomputers also found that one extinction caused…

National Science Week 2023 Grants are open!

1 December 2022

The grant round for National Science Week 2023 is open for applications until 5.00pm AEDT Thursday 15 December 2023. Grants between $2000 – $20,000 will be awarded and can support in-person events as well as online activities…

STEM Superstars smashing assumptions

24 November 2022

Dr Samantha Sawyer, Lecturer and Research Fellow in Food Science at the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, and University of Tasmania PhD Candidate Mars Buttfield-Addison in the School of Computing & Information Systems, are the latest…

Human voices, including ABC presenters, deter feral deer from Tasmanian farm

18 November 2022

The dulcet tones of ABC broadcaster Richard Fidler are not normally associated with fear. But that appears to be the case if you’re a deer. Audio from Fidler’s popular long-running radio program Conversations has been…

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