Lace Monitor GPS Research Part 2 -UPDATE

[moloch05]

Hazzard,

Excellent report of an interesting study. How much longer do Lace Monitors remain active? I thought that they might be gone already until the days warm again.

Regards,
David

 

[hazzard]

Hazzard,

Excellent report of an interesting study. How much longer do Lace Monitors remain active? I thought that they might be gone already until the days warm again.

Regards,
David

Yes good question David, it suprised us to! This we don't really know for sure and we hope and aim to find out. It's extremely cold in this area at night already dipping to around 0 degC.

They are not moving far now however are still moving. It is exciting times ahead.

 

[smacdonald]

Do you have temperature loggers attached to the animals too?


Stewart

 

[hazzard]

Do you have temperature loggers attached to the animals too?


Stewart

Not at this stage Stewart. We will be doing that from this Spring. This was initially a technique trial as we were not sure if these units would even stay on. We tried a harness system and all sorts of things before this.

Now we have a system that works, we have more units being made, sacrificing uneccesary weight and enabling us to add sensors such as data loggers. It's early days yet and we would like to continue this study for at least 3 years.

 

[michelleryan]

What a great study, in a beautiful location, I am jealous.

 

[hazzard]

What a great study, in a beautiful location, I am jealous.

Well Michelle,

You equally are doing exciting and interesting work through the same institution. There is no reason we can't combine a trip so you can go searchin that dam you tal about for more longneck turtles. Then you get to catch Lacey's as well. Remember like you there will be plenty of feild trips for the next few years.!

 

[serpenttongue]

Hazzard, even though you're working with Lacies with a weight of around 7-8kg, have you seen wild ones out there that have been much larger, or have they all been around this size?

Also, have you found that there is a large number of termite mounds out there, or not that many?

 

[hazzard]

Hazzard, even though you're working with Lacies with a weight of around 7-8kg, have you seen wild ones out there that have been much larger, or have they all been around this size?

Also, have you found that there is a large number of termite mounds out there, or not that many?

Hey ST,

We had a little disscusion about this. I think that wild ones don't get much bigger personally, these are huge and all we have caught males (seem to be between 7-8kg). Nothing larger has been seen.

Termite mounds everywhere. Speaking to Dr Dave Kirchener the other night, these are quite large animals.

Just to put it into a bit of perspective. The study came about as Jason was on a dingo tracking study. One thing that was noticed was the unusually high population of monitors in the area. We put this down to the dog packs picking off Eastern Grey Kangaroos, then when they have had their share the monitors move in. There is such an abundance of food for them. They basically have no predators when they reach this size.

It's a fantastic study site for this reason as there is no human inteference in regard to artificial feeding etc.

 

[boconnor]

Breeding season will be interesting to see how many males compete for females.

 

[hazzard]

Breeding season will be interesting to see how many males compete for females.

I agree there seems to be heaps of big males around. We may have to get smaller trackers designed for the females. Dave suggests that wild females are rarely over 2kg's in size. I'm not familiar with this, but i personally thought that was very small.

 

[boconnor]

It would be good to track the females and get an insight into breeding nesting etc. I've seen upto three males within 5 to 10 metres of a female in Daisy Hill State Forest. I look forward to what you guys find out after winter.

 

[cockney red]

Awesome work. You are a very lucky man!!!!!!

 

[serpenttongue]

hazzard, of all the wild Lacies i've seen (which isn't many) i have found them to be close to creeks/rivers. Have you found that the Lacies you're studying stay within a certain distance of permanent water, or are they moving off into drier areas?

Also, have you seen any juveniles out there, or mistaken Heath Monitors for Lacies? (Not sure if Heaths are actually out there, though??:?)

 

[hazzard]

hazzard, of all the wild Lacies i've seen (which isn't many) i have found them to be close to creeks/rivers. Have you found that the Lacies you're studying stay within a certain distance of permanent water, or are they moving off into drier areas?

Also, have you seen any juveniles out there, or mistaken Heath Monitors for Lacies? (Not sure if Heaths are actually out there, though??:?)

It is said that their is heathy's out there although if there is they are extremely rare. Yes plenty of juveniles have been seen by Jason on various trips, and i think he has even trapped a few.

Well in this country it's hard for them to be that far away from water. Warragamba is on one side and the Wollondilly on the other. Having said that 1 monitor has moved a fair distance away from any main water source, but as the crow fly's we are talking 3Km at most.

It will be interesting when this data is overlayed on maps.

 

[spongebob]

I'm fascinated by your photo of the suspected congregation mating site. These 'caves' dont look like geographical features but more like something that has occured over eons due to animal activity. But why would they have congregational mating sites? I've heard of congregations in reptiles for hibernating and laying eggs but not for mating. Are you sure they are no hobbits in there!
Bob

 

[hazzard]

I'm fascinated by your photo of the suspected congregation mating site. These 'caves' dont look like geographical features but more like something that has occured over eons due to animal activity. But why would they have congregational mating sites? I've heard of congregations in reptiles for hibernating and laying eggs but not for mating. Are you sure they are no hobbits in there!
Bob

No idea Bob, however there has been considerable lacey activity in them and we saw at least 2 near them. That's a photo of 3 of these structures, there are about 6 or so holes there that go right under the rock face. There were scratch marks and fur in most of them. Maybe they just like to live in a gregarious situation, I'd doubt that, but who knows. At worst it's a new trapping site where we should get a few. Then the data might tell us.

Cheers

 

[spongebob]

Perhaps a remote control car with a video camera taped to the top could investigate whats down there! (or plumbers equipment).
Possibly ?salt licks, bush fire retreats, food traps, summer homes for those in the 'shire', who knows?
This is a fascinating area of study. Thanks for sharing

 

[richardsc]

great post,like serp,lacies are one og my faves as well,really looking forward to some female data,are u still going to track them over winter,i reckon they will still move a bit overthe winter,after a cold night,they will bask the next day if the suns out,like diamonds,but stick close to there retreats i guess,but still would be interesting as to what they do,is there any chance that that many hole spot is like somewhere they just feed on the original hole makers,that looks like a fantastic spot regardless if they live there or not to get some good data,keep up the great work

 

[dragon lady]

that was awesome to read...thankyou for sharing hazzard!

 

[rick n]

do the lacies go back 2 the same spot 2 mate each year ?