Blog

For millions of years, stick insects roamed the beautiful Lord Howe Island. Then one fateful day in 1918, a ship ran aground and fleeing rats decided to make the island home – and stick insects their dinner. Within a few years, people believed the insects were extinct.

It looks like the Ebola epidemic that has ravaged West Africa for over a year may soon be under control. Last week, there were only a handful of new cases in Guinea and Sierra Leone. Meanwhile, scientists are getting closer to a vaccine to prevent these outbreaks from occurring again.

Sometimes watching someone yawn makes you want to yawn yourself. And sometimes, watching a yawning video or even just reading the word yawn will do it. Feel like yawning now? It seems a very human reflex, but it turns out that budgies do it too.

Fossilisation is not a gentle process. Flesh, skin, organs and feathers are often destroyed, leaving just the bones. Now, a team of scientists think they may have found something protected deep within those bones – dinosaur blood!

Congratulations to all our Panda poem competition winners! The following people have won tickets to see Pandas 3D at IMAX. Tayissa Hermence, Talei Whiteside, Sam Lang, Naomi Brick, Loren Pugh, Kayla Geertsema, Jed Sullivan, Isabel Rothwell, Daniel Verberne, Daniel Alexander.   We had heaps of amazing entries for our panda poetry competition. Here are two […]

A black rhino calf born at Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, New South Wales, is cause to celebrate. It’s a precious addition to the family, as rhinos are critically endangered and face extinction due to poaching.

Congratulations to all of the winners of our whale poetry competition. The following ten people have won tickets for two to the Humpback Whale 3D film at IMAX Darling Harbour.

Written by Beth Askham Even though it has the cutest smile in the marsupial world, quokkas still need a good supply of food, water and rest spots to survive. The biggest population of these adorable marsupials live on Rottnest Island off the coast of Perth in Western Australia.

Written by Beth Askham Drones, lasers, planes and liquid nitrogen were all called in to measure the growth of a Tasmanian forest. Sometimes measurement can be a little more exciting than you might think.

Written by Beth Askham Researchers have found that whales hear low frequency sounds by amplifying them in their skull bones. Ocean sounds made by humans may be messing with their heads.