12.June.2016 (Day 7)

Animal exploits.

My first night of field work was such a blast! It’s pretty wild to be in a place where every animal, plant, noise, and weird slime is a brand new experience.

I fully embrace the motto of my alma mater Cal Poly SLO: “learn by doing”

Lesson #1- Don’t forget to put on bug spray/wear a mosquito net. To say it was hard to see through the bugs would be an understatement. During the day the flies can be a bit bothersome, but at night when you have the brightest light in the sky attached to your forehead, every invertebrate creature that fly’s, jumps, or crawls wants to land on and around your face.

I’m pretty sure I have mosquito bites on my eyelids!

Winged demons aside, I had an awesome night and it was a great taste of the work to come.

Eastern long-necked turtle (Chelodina longicollis)

These look like a mix between a turtle and a snake. They bend their heads into their shells sideways instead of pulling it straight back. It also has another common name: “stinker”. I got the chance to learn firsthand where that comes from. It has glands that secrete an odor (very musky - mixed with dirty socks) when you harass it (or stop to take pictures).

Keelback snake (Tropidonophis mairii)

These snakes are really pretty and I’ve been told I’ll see quite a few before the summer is over. They’re really important because they’re one of the only native snakes in Australia that can eat cane toads (smaller juvenile toads at least). I never would have picked this guy up if I hadn’t of been with Greg, they kinda resemble a taipan which is one of the deadliest snakes on the planet…

Needless to say, if I see another one, I’ll probably take pictures of it on the ground.

I also found and captured my first study specimens. My main research project is on cane toads. But I’m also doing smaller projects on two snake species.

Children’s python (Antaresia childreni)

I work with these animals back at ASU and I’m so glad I finally got the chance to see one in the wild. I normally work with females during their reproductive cycle, so finding this little guy in the wild was a little surprising. I’m used to them being big chunky girls; this little fella was a 100 gram weakling.

Cheer up bud, I feel your pain.

I also caught a water python. I’ll be storing them at the field station and monitoring how their immune performances changes as they dehydrate. They’re constrictors, meaning they kill prey (mostly birds) by coiling around them tightly. 

Water python (Liasus fuscus)

These animals can get up to 6 ft and are really mellow (most pythons are) although one of my captures must have thought my belly looked tasty.

badge of honor/mark of shame

I also found what I thought was a headless bird!

The headless birdsman

Turns out the little lady was just sleeping…and not very happy to be interrupted.

What night out in the bush would be complete without one last terrifying sight before bedtime?

Did I mention yet that the spiders here…are…HUUUUGGGEEE!!!!

Huntsman (Heterpoda sp.)

While large, fast moving, and generally terrifying, I’ve read that these spiders have pretty painless bites.

You better believe I shook out my sleeping bag extra vigorously last night.…

The next day was spent with more set-up and preparations for my experiments. There are three major parts to my time out here.

1) Cane toad research exploring how hydration and immune performance interact at four different sites across northern Australia.

2)Water python experiment which is near identical to what I do in Arizona with western diamond-backed rattlesnakes. Basically I monitor them as they dehydrate and see how different measures of immune performance change (or don’t)

3) Children’s python work, which is an animal I use at ASU but I wanted to take this chance to sample them from their native habitat to quantify their natural water balance and immune performance.

Besides a lot of set-up work, I did find the time to go for a short hike out at the field site.

And it paid

off

BIG!

Floodplain goanna/Northern yellow spotted monitor (Varanus panoptes)

This was an incredible animal, easily over 4 ft. long, when I got close to take a picture it made this deep guttural noise. I took notice and definitely didn’t get too close. This is one of the species that has seen about 90% population drops since the cane toad invasion came through the northern territory. They are veracious predators and will eat anything they can overpower, including fish, birds, mammals, and other monitors. They use their massive, forked tongues to smell/taste and are known as the ‘bottomless pit’ in captivity for their ability to eat an almost unlimited amount of food.

I can relate bud.

Floodplain goanna sniffing about