Now you have all had a look at background case studies on echidnas and goannas, it’s time to look at those unanswered questions or inconclusive information that allows for research on Kangaroo Island. It’s your turn to be the field work scientist!

 

Pelican Lagoon Research Centre is located just out of the main town of Kingscote. Dr. Peggy and Mike have been running research from the centre for about 16 years! That is 16 years of looking, observing, sampling, discovering and collating data on echidnas and goannas’ movements. They are secretive creatures (especially the echidnas!) that are very hard to monitor since they both dig burrows and have more than one home. They normally make new burrows for winter and summer and have multiple locations during the breeding seasons. To be able to research such secretive creatures it is absolutely imperative (important) that the habitats of these animals is researched and known to be able to piece together how the ecosystem of Kangaroo Island operates.

 

QUESTION 1:

What kind of habitats does Kangaroo Island sustain? Research the internet and use the information that I have given you to be able to piece this together.

 

ECIDNA RESEARCH ON KI (KANGAROO ISLAND):

Over the sixteen years that Dr. Peggy and Mike have been researching echidnas, they have found the following things about echidnas that only their research has revealed!

 

-         Echidnas have more than one home. They don’t defend territories like other animals do but they have a certain range they stick to. Their burrows overlap with other echidnas’ and they are not defensive.

-         Female echidnas mate with male echidnas once and that is it! They do not mate with more than one male, however, male echidnas try to mate with more than one female if they can! Usually there are more male echidnas than female echidnas.

-         Echidnas have a small mouth that has just enough opening to allow their 17cm tongue (!) to extend and grab invertebrates!

-         Echindas detect vibrations from good distances away as they can pick up vibrations from their beak – from their lower jaw which is connected to the ear – that rests on the ground. This vibration travels from the lower beak, up the jaw line to the ear!

-         Echidnas also pick up vibrations (ie. Foot steps from Earthwatch volunteers like myself!) from pressure detectors in their front padded feet. Their front feet are padded and have mechano-receptors (mechanical movement detectors) that detect pressure from foot stomps.

-         Their beak is quite small but they can pick up rocks or twigs or branches that are six times more the weight than the echidna! This is where physics come into it! They cleverly use their beak like a crow bar lifting a heavy load on the end or tip of the beak.

-         Their spines are called modified hairs that extend from a muscle layer to the spine. This is why, if you touch the spines, they flinch or reflex because they feel the sensation down to their bones!

-         They have a muscle layer which no other mammals have! This gives them extra strength in being able to move things and burrow themselves under tonnes of litter!

-         Echidnas have body temperature of 33 degrees Celsius.

-         Echidnas are quite small in comparison to other mammals.

-         They lay eggs, they don’t give live birth!

 

QUESTION 2:

What temperature do other mammals have in comparison to the echidna?

What kind of research question would you ask as a field work scientist about the echidna based on the information above? What is intriguing you most? How would you research this questions ie. What methods would you employ? Answer in table below:

 

Possible Research question	Method to help research

 

 

GOANNA RESEARCH ON KI:

 

The goanna is also a secretive creature as it also has many burrows during the different seasons.

-         the goannas on KI have territories defending their limits.

-         Males roam between females’ burrows during breeding season but nothing has been found as yet about the fertilisation process of eggs as the female goanna carries 12 eggs for 21 days or so and then buries them in a termite mound to incubate them

-         The growth of ‘yearlings’ (baby goannas) is hard to follow as they only come out of the termite mound once they are satisfied the temperature suits their body. The goannas on this island have been found only as adults, only a couple have been found as yearlings therefore it has been difficult to measure their growth rate

-         It is hard to measure temperatures of burrows to understand how they affect goannas adaptability to a climate like KI as they have more than one burrow!

 

QUESTION 3:

As a field work scientist on KI, what kinds of questions would you suggest for research to try and figure out how the Rosenbergs goanna has adapted to Kangaroo Island (KI)? What methods or ideas would you take into consideration to assist you in your research to answer inconclusive questions?

 

Possible Research question	Method to help research

 

 

 

Question 4:

Having looked at the questions you have formulated above, what do you think the overall BIG QUESTIONS are for goannas and echidnas? POST THESE UP AS A CLASS IN THE DAILY QUESTIONS COMMENTS SECTION! These questions are important to help the future research of echidnas and goannas to continue!

 

Possible BIG Research question	Method to help research