A lot of our time was spent finalising the students’ research projects, but
there’s always room for a little exploration, and in the evening I came up
with something a little different – a pair of frogs! I’ve only recently been
introduced to the joys of frogging as my partner is a keen ‘frogger’. These
frogs were none other than Desert Tree Frogs (Litoria rubella) and true to
their biology were hanging out around a puddle next to a water tank. I
showed the frogs to several of the students, some of whom were surprised
that amphibians could survive in such an arid environment!
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The better part of our final day at the station was spent packing up.
Although this wasn’t the most stimulating of activities, it was enlivened
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by a few interesting critters that showed up during the process. While
having a bit of a breather, I noticed a small scuttle in the garden next to a
car. After a heated chase through leaf litter and spikey plants, and with the
help of a student who had been walking past, we were able to capture a
little South-eastern Morethia (Morethia boulengeri). In reality we were
lucky to apprehend the fast-moving skink after it bolted up the student’s
sleeve!
The excitement didn’t end there, as a group of strange caterpillars
appeared on the side of a building. Although individually they just looked
like your typical hairy caterpillars, these were processionary caterpillars,
and were absolutely mesmerising as they moved in slow circles, trailing
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