Quite a few responses to the below
question, ranging, if one can call it a range, from ‘Earless Dragon’
to ‘Alexander Downer’. The most popular answer was the
Mountain Pygmy Possum. There is clearly much affection and concern out
there for that small marsupial. If COG were going to adopt a marsupial, I
would think that would be a good choice. Adopting a politician would require much
more careful thought.
The answer is Gould’s Wattled Bat Chalinolobus gouldii. The source of
my information is Sue Churchill’s Australian
Bats (1998), which adds that ‘this amazingly adaptable bat is
found across the full spectrum of the Australian climatic zones’ and that
as they often emerge just after sunset when there is still a lot of light they
are vulnerable to predation.
From: Geoffrey Dabb [
Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006
5:14 PM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] Answer to
This week's natural history question
What Australian creature (a) eats Bogong Moths and
cockroaches (b) is eaten in turn by Brown Falcons, Boobooks, Pied
Currawongs and feral cats and (c) ‘has a delightful habit of
murmuring to itself when held in the hand’?
