We've had bandicoots and now it's time for another marsupial starting with 'b' (and there will be others to come).

Bettongs are nocturnal marsupials of the kangaroo family. There are 5 species of Bettong living in different parts of Australia (see link). Some of the species are particularly endangered. They are about the size of a rabbit but some are a bit more chunky.

During the day they nest in well-camouflaged depressions in the ground lined with leaf litter. But the Burrowing Bettong instead creates complex underground warrens to shelter in. Each species has a prehensile tail which it uses to carry nesting material.

At night Bettongs forage for fungi, roots, tubers, leaves, invertebrates, grubs, fruits and seeds. Most species feed preferably (because they're classy) on truffles if they can find them.

Bettongs, like bandicoots, are important ecological engineers, their digging and foraging aiding in the retention of nutrients and water in soils, the decomposition of leaf litter and the dispersal of fungal spores and plant seeds.

To find out a little more see: https://www.bushheritage.org.au/species/bettongs?srsltid=AYCX9vIm_f0HD9ni47JvEf-5lzPUMysbbphbcxPVfX5ukFlf3r65cNIE

To see them in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpBgyNp3V5c

In 2023, the Victorian government promised $4.7 million for a dedicated wildlife hospital in southwest Victoria. They've broken their promise.

Today, injured and orphaned wildlife across the region are heavily dependent on Mosswood Wildlife, the area's only dedicated wildlife rescue and rehabilitation facility. Run entirely by volunteers, Mosswood cares for hundreds of animals each year, including koalas, seabirds, and penguins, but it is already stretched beyond its limits.

Wildlife faces constant threats from disease, vehicle strikes, dog attacks, bushfires, and habitat loss. Now that bird flu has reached our shores, the need for a dedicated hospital in this coastal region has never been more urgent.

A purpose-built wildlife hospital would provide the specialist care animals urgently need while supporting the volunteers working tirelessly to protect them.

With the Victorian state election approaching, now is the time to act.

Back to stopping the Spring magpie wars: bring a peace offering!

A primary school boy has been singled out by a "mean" local magpie each spring for almost half his life.

Louis, 12, often carries protection against the swooping bird after being injured multiple times

Experts say magpies can hold long grudges, but peace is possible.

A “dangerous storm outbreak” is forecast to impact two states on Tuesday — affecting millions of people in three capital cities — after a wild night left an area of Queensland blanketed in hail.

The weather bureau issued warnings for severe thunderstorms across parts of Queensland and NSW on Tuesday.

Have any of you been impacted? Where I live in Qld, we got a blanketing of hail on late Sunday. Parts of the garden have been hit hard but nothing too drastic.

In short:

South Australia has reported 340 bird flu events, following a confirmed positive result in a common dolphin.

There has been a reduction in the frequency of positive detections.

What's next?

A captive vaccination program already underway at Cleland Wildlife Park and Zoos SA sites will expand to wild little penguin populations in three locations.

She said there was low risk of an extensive outbreak among dolphins, although there is concern for land-based sea mammals like seals and sea lions.

"You're not going to see a big die-off of dolphins from bird flu."

Twenty years ago Michael Mobbs began disconnecting his home from the grid. He didn’t have the luxury of acres of space for waste water treatment, rainwater tanks and a solar farm – or even a new home purpose built for self-sufficiency.

His off-grid home is a 19th century terrace in Chippendale, bang in the middle of inner-city Sydney. Mobbs is convinced that if he can do it, anyone can.

Wildlife carers have been overwhelmed by large numbers of distressed animals needing care. Banana and berry growers are reporting crop damage and sightings of weakened bats. New South Wales and eastern Victoria are the areas currently affected. Grey-headed flying-foxes seem to be the worst affected species.

The most likely cause is a food shortage. Australia had a very warm winter, which may have changed the flowering patterns of some trees and led to a nectar shortage. This isn’t yet confirmed, as investigations are continuing.

Unfortunately, this is only the latest in a string of mass deaths of flying-foxes, the world’s largest flying mammals. Over the 2019–20 Black Summer, extreme heat claimed tens of thousands, and thousands more died from the same cause over the 2025–26 summer. Climate change is steadily making their lives harder.

Australia is poorly placed to respond to wildlife emergencies affecting these important, highly mobile bats. In 2016, land managers, researchers, conservationists and industry backed a national approach to managing flying-foxes. A decade later, there’s still no sign of change.

If you find pollinating bugs fascinating, or want to learn more about them, or want to attend events with friends or family in various parts of Australia, go to the link. You can also find out what schools an get involved in during November.

After supersquirrel's post about the threats posed by bottom trawlers on undersea mountains, here's one showing how important they can be for oceanic eel love-ins. Eels are amazing!

Ocean surveys have revealed that about 2.8 million eels gather for months at an underwater mountain off Tasmania.

The annual aggregation is the only known spawning site globally for purely oceanic eels.

Further studies may determine where the eels come from and where their offspring go after spawning.

Huge clouds of methane have been detected by satellite over Chevron's Gorgon LNG project in northern WA, prompting a warning from the United Nations.

Methane is thought to be responsible for about 25 per cent of global warming.

The WA government is investigating the reports "to understand what compliance or regulatory measures may be required".

This keeps happening over and over again and we still don't tax these fossil fuel exploiters how they should be! Grrrr...

For major ocean nations such as Australia, these negotiations represent a rare chance to progress a phase-out. Australia has long taken a strong stance on bottom trawling in international waters, and has played an instrumental role in fisheries management in the South Pacific.

Adelaide residents are being urged not to release noxious koi carp or their unwanted goldfish into the River Torrens, following sightings of more than a dozen suspected koi at Hackney, and a smaller number upstream at Dernancourt.

Koi are considered a noxious species under the SA Fisheries Management Act and cannot be owned without a permit from the Minister for Primary Industries.

It is illegal to dump koi, goldfish or any non-native fish, into South Australian rivers and people can be fined up to $120,000 for doing so.

so they had them as pets presumably, they had enough of them or the person that had them passed, or was moving and just dumped an invasive species into the river. What sort of arsehole does that ?

Environs KImberley is asking us to send a submission (pre-filled) to the EPA.

Federal public comment is now open on the Kimberley’s first large-scale AI data centre proposal. It's thought that this AI data centre, if approved, will be used to help train AI models internationally.

Located 100 km south of Broome on iconic pindan country, and just 15 km south-east of Bidyadanga, Gingerah Energy’s 'Meridien' proposal has a monstrous footprint, around 3.3 times larger than Sydney Harbour.

The proposal is a joint venture between Fugro Exploration Pty Ltd, a primarily Dutch-owned company, and Longreach Renewable Energies Pty Ltd. Its parent company, Longreach Capital Investment Pty Ltd, owns Theia Energy, a company that has previously applied to the WA EPA to undertake fracking in the Kimberley.

The proposal lies within known habitat for threatened species, including the Greater Bilby and Blue-tongue Skink and raises serious concerns about impacts on migratory birds and water resources.

Please take action: We are calling for the referral to be rejected under s76 of the EPBC Act due to insufficient information in the referral documentation presented by the proponent. There’s not enough information about impacts to migratory birds, impacts from groundwater extraction and where the gas for the proposed 1,500 MW gas-fired power station would come from. One of the companies involved with this proposal owns Theia Energy Pty Ltd which applied to do fracking in the Kimberley and then withdrew the proposal.

Once the company provides the required information, the proposal should be assessed under the EPBC Act at the highest level.

https://www.environskimberley.org.au/data_centre_proposal

Their finalists:

• Gold Christmas beetle (Anoplognathus aureus)
• Mallee Bronze Azure butterfly (Ogyris subterrestris)
• Orchard swallowtail butterfly (Papilio aegeus)
• Otway glow-worm (Arachnocampa otwayensis)
• Stalk-eyed signal fly (Achias australis)
• Tortoise-shelled ladybird (Harmonia testudinaria)

You can cast your vote for the 2026 Australian Insect of the Year until the end of October.

Natasha Young who started the petition, Implement a non-lethal management plan for Neil the elephant seal, has sent out an update:

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share a really wonderful milestone with you all. The Tasmanian Government has officially confirmed in writing that euthanasia is completely off the table for Neil. When we started this petition, there was a lot of worry about what a "last resort" might mean for him. Thanks to everyone who signed and shared, the government listened to the community’s concerns and gave us the written reassurance we were looking for. Neil’s safety is secure.

What’s happening now

If things have seemed a bit quiet lately, it’s just because the work has shifted behind the scenes. Neil is doing his thing, and meanwhile, NRE Tas and local councils are actively working together on a long-term plan for his future visits. Even though it’s a quieter period, conversations are still very much moving forward and I’ll update you all again shortly when I can. Still working on distance laws and a volunteer team.

https://www.change.org/p/implement-a-non-lethal-management-plan-for-neil-the-elephant-seal/signed-petition-home?activityId=35476388&activityType=starter&cs_tk=A1nfMrShd-hRTQAf4WoAAHicyyvNyQEABF8BvGJjNjI1NTZjMTJjMWM1ZDlkYzc4MDgxNjQ3NjNjOTZkYTA5ZDBmZTAzNmM4YTY0ZmY5MTgyOTc1MGZkYWE4YzM%3D

Some of you may remember that there was some argument (https://aussie.zone/post/36983352) as to whether it was safe or not for magpies to be translocated because of their swooping.

I had read some time back that it wasn't safe for them to be relocated because they could be attacked by local magpies defending THEIR territory from an intruder but I couldn't find where I'd read it. Other people provided an article which said it was safe.

So, to get current expert info, I wrote to the Qld Museum. They've responded but don't seem to be too sure either.

Magpie relocation has been studied with mixed outcomes. On the whole, the area from which problem birds are removed has a reduction in locally aggressive behaviours. However, the fate of the relocated birds is relatively unknown. A small percentage find their way back to their original territory, others establish near the relocation site but the outcome for most is unknown, and it is likely there is a high mortality rate.

Relocation is not performed lightly, the bird needs to be deemed a significant threat to the human population around them. It is only legally allowed by a permitted individual and relocation costs can be quite high. I

Almost every shallow-water coral reef on the planet, including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, faces a high risk of ecosystem collapse before 2075 because of global heating, according to an assessment by United Nations nature advisers.

About 24% of the planet’s reefs across more than 80 countries are already critically endangered, the assessment said, but when the expected impacts of global heating were added this rose to 96%.

But the scientists said while the prognosis was dire, the findings should serve as a “wake-up call”

lol wot ? we wont; even wake up when they're dead

Huge clouds of methane have been detected by satellite over Chevron's Gorgon LNG project in northern WA, prompting a warning from the United Nations.

Methane is thought to be responsible for about 25 per cent of global warming.

Great Koala National Park established after more than a decade of campaigning

The NSW parliament has passed legislation [finally] that will officially create the Great Koala National Park.

The federal Clean Energy Regulator announced the registration of the land to generate carbon credits yesterday. [Not so great]

Environmental campaigners have hailed the park's creation as a "big step forward" for protecting native forest.

For any non-Aussie reading this, I'd like to confuse & inform you that we affectionately call this lizard a 'Bluey'.

They're pretty iconic and different species of Bluey live in many parts of Australia. This article is from South Australia but the general information applies to all blueys. I used to have one in my backyard when I lived in Sydney. It got used to seeing me walking around and was happy just to relax on a rock. Where I live now I've got bearded dragons and I'll do a post on them sometime soon.

Green sawfish, distinguished by their long, sharklike bodies and tooth-lined "saw" on the front of their heads, are on the verge of extinction, largely due to overfishing and habitat loss.

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