Random Play by Graham Reid

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Random Play: So. I'm off Te Radar again

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  • ChrisW,

    it is old (and so are some of earth's creatures dwelling in/on it.)

    really quite a young country?

    Tim Flannery's being Australian

    placenta

    measuring skulls

    All these things are connected, yes really they are.

    I had the pleasure of witnessing Tim Flannery being introduced as a speaker to an NZ Ecological Society conference in the 1990s, as the scientist who should forever remain famous in the history of New Zealand/Australian relationships for establishing conclusively that having a small brain is no disadvantage for an Australian.

    TF brought to attention the reasons for Australia’s special natural character, its fauna dominated by reptiles and marsupials rather than placental mammals as on other continents, because they have lower energy demands from food - reptiles because they are substantially solar powered, marsupials because they have energy-efficient smaller brains rather then the big energy-hungry ones of placental mammals. And food supplies for animals from primary productivity of plants are very low in natural Australia, because the soils are exceptionally old, stewed and leached of their nutrients over millions of years, in turn because there has been minimal geological activity over the last 200 million years or so to drive soil renewal (in radical contrast to the ongoing dynamic geological character of NZ, a "young country" in that sense). Consequently placental mammals, present in the fossil record of Australia, had all gone extinct, out-competed over evolutionary time by more energy-efficient marsupials with their small but well-adapted brains.

    Partial version of this in the earlier parts of this illustrated ABC transcript - partial in that he was being kind to his fellow Australians by not emphasising the small-brain aspect. But I heard him explain it with convincing clarity to an audience of NZers. Long may his fame continue!

    Edit: But still, not enough to qualify him as an honorary Pakeha.

    Gisborne • Since Apr 2009 • 851 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    . . . placental mammals, present in the fossil record of Australia, had all gone extinct, out-competed over evolutionary time by more energy-efficient marsupials with their small but well-adapted brains.

    Not true. Australia has over 50 long-established species of native murid rodent, and around 75 bat species.
    Also the non-placental/marsupial distinction is a bit fuzzy. Most bandicoots have a placenta at some stage of pregnancy. Who knows, over time they could evolve to become a form of pakeha.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • chris,

    ha!

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    Chris W - the only books(all of 'em) I've read of Tim Flannery's almost make me a swooning fan, but your succinct over-view makes me go back, yet again, to the way a place makes - people? Creatures of the place? I love bower-birds - but here?

    I am so saddened that adzebills and the ANZ crow and something -that in the south was known as 'the parent of the 'clanger' - not to mention the hokioi, and - o dear, so many more - are all dead, just now...
    BUT - we are here: we live, we thrive, and we make sure what birds are, from this unique archipelago, continue-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • David Winter,

    Consequently placental mammals, present in the fossil record of Australia, had all gone extinct, out-competed over evolutionary time by more energy-efficient marsupials with their small but well-adapted brains.

    Which raises the question, what happened to our terrestrial mammals?

    Dunedin • Since Aug 2010 • 10 posts Report Reply

  • ChrisW,

    Sorry Joe, "had all gone extinct" a careless absolute on my part not Flannery's.

    But the point remains valid, it was about dominating the fauna and ecosystems (or not), over tens of millions of years, where relative body size matters. And the extent of that dominance before human arrival and non-coincidental extinction of the marsupial mega-fauna 60,000 to 40,000 years ago was much higher than recently and today.

    Gisborne • Since Apr 2009 • 851 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    Not disputing yours - or Flannery's - point, Chris. It's a common misconception, even among Australians (the kind that think Nullarbor is an aboriginal word) that there are no placentals in Oz, full stop. A lot of Flannery's work has been with native rodents, especially in Papua-Niugini. Only other thing I'd question is your mention of native placental mammal species extinctions in Australia. Apart from small rodents I'm not aware of any.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • ChrisW,

    Islander- those amazing birds gone from our land indeed so sad. Extinction is forever, but the pitifully low numbers and distribution of many surviving species too. The mammals, human and other placentals, and now marsupial, have a lot to answer for.

    And these changes over hundreds of years, not thousands or tens of thousands - so there's enough of those lost species ecosystems and relatives surviving that we can can imagine their presence, and so perhaps feel their loss all the more vividly?

    Gisborne • Since Apr 2009 • 851 posts Report Reply

  • ChrisW,

    native placental mammal species extinctions in Australia

    Different time-frame I think - Flannery was referring to a then recent (1990s) discovery of a fossil placental mammal of something like early Tetiary/Paleogene age, say 50-60 million years, indicating a presence alongside the first marsupials in Australia.

    Gisborne • Since Apr 2009 • 851 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    ChrisW - one of the matters that engage me (and many trained & more informed people = ornithologists) is - just how much do some current species remember of now extinct? species?

    The classic is tui - one of my family recorded very interesting calls up the 'Kowhititiraki Valley'* in the 1970s, and was told by the equivalent of DoC, "O that's just tui imitating kokako.'


    Riiiight.

    *Name changed to protect the innocent valley.

    And I have heard piopio - or tui imitating them - and kokako - or tui imitating them - here-

    I must admit, I cant think of a good reason WHY tui would imitate extinct species...

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • ChrisW,

    I've heard tui imitating phones ringing, my brother laughing ... It's hard to imagine birds so quick to pick up and imitate something new to them would retain a call learnt from their elders through a chain of many generations. Unless perhaps a local population has maintained itself continuously with something like social stability or consistency? So the memes are passed on intact?

    I've also heard tui imitating kokako on Hauturu/Little Barrier Island, where kokako were introduced from the mainland in the late 1970s/early 80s? (extracted from tawa forests to allow the forestry companies to clearfell them for woodchips and pulp with a clear conscience - but I digress yet again, it is late for me) then thought I heard tui imitating kokako calls but not so well, that turned out to be young sub-adult kokako just learning.

    Gisborne • Since Apr 2009 • 851 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    I must admit, I cant think of a good reason WHY tui would imitate extinct species...

    Wonder what kind of call they were imitating? Some species that share the same environment seem to use co-operative calls that sound similar to human ears, such as the predator alarm calls of the tui's Australian relative the noisy miner and the completely unrelated rainbow lorikeet. There are distinct calls for predator-in-the-air and predator-on-the-ground, shared and mutually understood by both species.

    . . . what happened to our terrestrial mammals?

    Thomas Brunner = one dog?

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • ChrisW,

    Best wishes to the Cantabrians in dealing with your surprising earthquake, stirring up under the Canterbury plains, determined to demonstrate the "ongoing dynamic geological character of NZ".

    And best wishes to Stuart Keith on RNZ National, acknowledging that "Good Vibrations" might have been Random Play rather than a good choice for a filler in their news/information replacing Storytime before 7am.

    Gisborne • Since Apr 2009 • 851 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    I saw "Eating the Dog" tonight in the Port Chalmers town hall as part of the Dunedin Arts Festival - decidedly excellent! Playing for the next 2 nights in Mosgiel, tickets are still available

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

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