Can Zulu Save the World?

Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum

Help Support Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.

richardwells

Not so new Member
Joined
May 17, 2006
Messages
30
Reaction score
0
Location
Australia
G'day Colin !

Good to hear you're still using your allocated supply of Oxygen, although I should warn you that there is new legislation being prepared that will make it an offence for supermarkets to sell food to people in our age group....so get out of that retirement village, rush out and stock up while you can.

Well haven’t things sure have gone down the shute environmentally compared to the good old days eh Col.

As an old field worker of sorts yourself, I suppose you have also experienced the declines of most of the reptiles and amphibians in the wild in Australia in recent years.

Remember when we could find HUNDREDS of snakes in single day? Now, a good field worker is hard-pressed to see ONE snake a day most of the time !

But there seems to be a bigger problem than just the snakes declining, as everything is now pretty thin on the ground these days from what I have seen. In large areas of eastern Australia even relatively untouched bushland is now virtually deserted of wildlife compared to when we were running around with bank bags in our belts in the 60s.

Other than the herps, I have noticed whole groups of other animals nowadays virtually missing from bushland – particularly invertebrates like butterflies, dragonflies, beetles, web-spinning spiders, and moths. But all the vertebrate groups are really on the slide too I think. Out here in the Central West, I have seen first hand the dramatic declines of ALL the macropods for instance - even the ubiquitous Grey Kangaroo that everyone says are in plague numbers to justify shooting them at every opportunity are just vanishing from the landscape. Even large once common mammals like wombats, echidnas, possums, wallabies, and bandicoots are now just dropping off the perch so to speak. And while on the perch, what about the birds ! Dozens of species must be very close to extinction in my opinion - like most of the smaller woodland birds - they have just virtually disappeared almost overnight. Over the last few years even most of the birds of prey, parrots and cockatoos now seem less abundant. But as for the herps…they are really in big trouble I think…

But enough of this…I think it’s not too late to arrest the situation….I have figured out what needs to be done to save the world, but I will have to be made Supreme Leader of the Planet ASAP to make it happen…and I guess that means only one thing.......you will have to join my new “End of the World Party” and really make your vote count...

Anyway it’s great to hear from you Colin, and keep in touch.

All the best,

Richard Wells
 
I think Col can still manage to find the odd Diamond Python mate :)

But yeah, you are pretty right in what you say. Other than the eastern brown snake I think. We are getting heaps of call outs for them this season. Maybe everyone killing RBBS has helped the browns numbers??
 
Eastern Brown Snakes in cities...can they survive?

Yes, he always had a thing about Diamonds....it's funny how some people seem to just have the knack of being in the right place at the right time...

As for textilis I agree it seems to be hanging in there at present, but even that species is copping it as well all over the place. Sydney's development has proceeded in such a way that only something like a textilis could manage to hang on for the time being.
When I lived in Sydney, I spent many years surveying the Sydney Basin for Reptiles and Amphibians so that I could work out what actually constituted the herpetofaunal diversity of the region. During this effort (which was never published for reasons that I won't go into) I examined over 1500 study sites - and this included ALL the remnant bushland of the Cumberland Plain as well. Now virtually all that bush has been, or soon will be, obliterated.
I found, among many other interesting facts, that the presence of reptiles in an area was a direct response to the availability of cover like rubbish, logs, rocks and so on...no big deal there...it's pretty obvious. But this had very important implications for the way certain species responded to the development of the City. The size of the remnant appeared to be also significant for some species...some remnants were just too small to support a viable population - or at least, the predatory and other pressures in small remnants was so great (like edge-effect incursions of domestic dogs and cats, or traffic effects of surrounding roads) as to reduce the populations of some species beyond their capacity for replacement through reproduction. Again, no great flash of genius there...However, an interesting exception to this situation occurred with textilis - in that I found viable (that is, breeding) populations existing in very small remnants as low as 2 hectares of bush - with such areas being completely surrounded by urban or industrial sprawl. Much as it still exists in some parts of Sydney and the reason why you still have to chase textilis in people's backyards. I think the reason they managed to survive in such places when most of the other herps have been virtually wiped out is simply because textilis represents a mixture of ecological attributes that increases its survival chances in disturbed environments. ...As you would know, this is a serious piece of work when it comes to survival. It is a fast-moving, secretive and highly defensive species that can live in a wide range of habitats and micro-habitats, and eats many prey types - and at times can fast for extended periods. It is capable of sheltering up to 2 metres beneath the ground for extended periods during major stochastic events such as drought and fire. It is generally long-lived, reaches sexual maturity quickly and has a relatively high fecundity. In such highly disturbed situations an oviparous mode of reproduction might even confer survival advantages over an ovoviviparous species of elapid, however I believe it's reliance on eggs will be its ultimate undoing. In full-blown urbanization there are virtually no natural remnants of a condition suitable for elapids like textilis, but given Sydney's proximity to vast surrounding reserves of sandstone ridges which also include this species, textilis should continue to make an appearance in the edge suburbs for quite a while yet I think.
As for an absence of porphyriacus being the cause of an increase in textilis...well, in some situations this could indeed be the case. However, although they do occur sympatrically (even syntopically as I am sure you would also have found), these species usually separate out ecologically quite well - in effect, they live in completely different habitats and for the most part survive almost completely independant of each other. The problems that face porphyriacus are much more severe at present given its reliance on more wetter conditions...generally the RBBS fares very badly in droughts. Following these extended dry periods, it is usual for much of textilis habitat to be temporarily inundated by sheet flooding and the like and this can result in porphyriacus moving into these otherwise unsuitable habitats. After the floodwaters recede, porphyriacus may have expanded its range into sub-optimal habitat (ie the usually drier textilis habitat), and ultimately find themselves stranded in a sea of textilis when the later habitat dries out. What follows is the familiar overlap of the two species, with one or the other being displaced, until each progressively returns to be the dominant in their respective habitats when conditions return to normal. It's all very interesting, but now rather academic...because Sydney will not stop growing for snakes....

Best Regards

Richard Wells
 
because Sydney will not stop growing for snakes....

I don't think Sydney will stop growing for anything not while the Powers That Be still believe that growth (and progress) is good.

:p

Hix
 
Last edited by a moderator:
re can zulu

Greetings richard,yeh mate ime still breathing at the moment anyway LOL had some fun years ago hey,remember when you lived at greystanes with the huge preserved collection ( the undertaker of the herpetological seen LOL).Things have defietly changed for sure around sydney and wollongong with regards to habitat and the consequences to animal populations is obvious but on another note people are breeding more reptiles.I sought of got put into the right position with the diamond thing they were the onley python species around and i enjoyed finding them an seeing what made them tick in the wild.Many of the areas where i used to observe breeding populations of diamonds are now housing estates but other areas survive,some areas that were not suitable for various reptiles are now suitable.Mate ile have to get the PM thing working if i can figure out how to turn it on,bit techno challenged never needed it,go for a wallk and observe reptiles kept me happy,then ide go to the pub and sink a few schooners.Yes richard there is a few browns out west sydney,last one i grabbed near penrith was humongous and when my arm was in the air it still had a couple of feet on the ground and i knew i was in trouble LOLz dropped it and it fired up with mouth open chomping.Also richard it dont matter how many species you have classified like spilota cheyni and metcalfei,if you havent got a post count up here of at least a thousand you will be treated as a newby and frog marched to another site or planet to get some experience LOLz, cheers colin.
 
Einstein was a Newby once too you know !

"if you havent got a post count up here of at least a thousand you will be treated as a newby and frog marched to another site or planet to get some experience"

A thousand posts ! Crikey Mate give me a break...I can barely string a few words together as it is.

I gave all those preserved specimens to the Australian Museum, so I suppose some of them found a use eventually. Everyone thought I was quite mad at the time for getting keepers to preserve their animals that died in their collections but I still think it was worth it. All those herp bodies I scraped up from the roads for years have now become very important locality records, even though I sometimes got artificially envenomated by loose venom on browns, blacks and tigers in the process. Eventually it seemed rather stupid because all that effort only resulted in constant criticism and ridicule...in particular from parts of the Australian scientific gestapo...but I think overall it was worth the effort.

Anyway, I love being a "newby"...so much to know...so many books to read, so many snakes to see...and so many women to meet....ah...give me youthful ignorance any day !

Cheers to you and yours,

Richard Wells
 
Thanks Richard. Very informative. And yeah, with newbies like you and snakelover (who seems to own some big reptile establishment in Gosford) you give the rest of us hope.
 
Give it up Ratass, if you want to keep your anonimity here you need to make it less obvious mate:)
 
Interesting thread! Thanks for the great read Richard and Colin.

We need more informative posts like these from "newbies" (lol) like you RW, as much as a drought needs rain to restore life.


What do you guys think of the theory about porphyriacus having a venom that's highly toxic to other snakes (like textilis) but is relatively immune to the venom of other elapids?
I've heard that "the blacks keep the browns away" and the only textilis co-habiting with porphyriacus are the big ones that're too big to swallow.

Any thoughts?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top