Wildlife
The battle to save the endangered fish that prefers to walk instead of swim
With jazz hands and a fluffy pom-pom, the red handfish is a distinctive species. But there are only about 100 in the wild, and Australian experts are determined to save it and two other handfish that are critically endangered.
- by Tracey Ferrier
Latest
Byron wildlife hospital faces closure after government pulls funding promise
The wildlife hospital was banking on a $6 million grant from the previous government that would allow it to operate for four years, but that dream has dried up.
- by Laura Chung
Cardboard ‘rocketships’: How NSW plans to prevent another billion wildlife deaths
Ten thousand habitat pods, 80,000 firefighters and 5000 trained vets are part of NSW’s plan to save wildlife ahead of the next bushfire season.
- by Laura Chung and Angus Dalton
When possums drop in – literally – and make themselves at home
Melbourne’s possum catchers get calls year-round from residents reporting the critters entering homes. One family had three possums fall into their shower and fireplace.
- by Carolyn Webb
Warning as video shows shark frenzy on dead humpback
The frenzy involved about 50 tiger sharks scavenging a humpback that died of natural causes and was adrift.
- by John Crouch
Cute and horny: stink bug with tusks discovered in Western Australia
This little bug has major fashion sense, evolving stylish appendages to match its chosen habitat and, perhaps, triumph over its competitors in love and war.
- by Peter Milne and Emma Young
Google AI put to the test in bid to track threatened cockatoos
QUT, Australian Acoustics Observatory and Google are working together to build a system that can crunch thousands of hours of recorded animal calls in minutes.
- by Tim Biggs
Exclusive
Biodiversity
The staggering death toll of roaming pet cats finally revealed
Domestic cats will kill more than a quarter of a billion native animals in Greater Sydney and Melbourne during the next four years unless stricter pet regulations are introduced.
- by Laura Chung
Gillnets banned to protect Great Barrier Reef’s threatened dugongs, turtles
The nets are used to catch fish but they can also injure and kill dugongs, turtles, dolphins and protected shark species.
- by Laura Chung
‘Wild dog’ bounty in crosshairs as DNA research upends dingo myths
Experts have questioned a Victorian bounty scheme that pays farmers more than $100 for “wild dog” pelts after new research revealed most dingoes in the state are purebred.
- by Miki Perkins
Updated
Crocodiles
Snorkeller, 51, stable after being bitten by croc off Far North Qld
A 51-year-old man was believed to have been bitten on the hand and face off the exclusive Haggerstone Island – known croc country.
- by Tony Moore