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The spotted tailed quoll (or Tiger Quoll) is the second largest carnivorous marsupial in the world, the Tassie Devil being the largest. The quoll is about the size of a possum. This quoll can be found in eastern parts of mainland Australia and also in Tasmania; it is considered vulnerable in mainland Australia and rare in Tasmania.
The Spotted-tailed quoll is a carnivore and usually kills its prey by biting them on the head. Its meals consist of animals such as small possums, rats, young or injured wallabies, lizards, insects, birds and eggs. The quolls live in hollow logs, under rocks, and in small caves. In Queensland, Spotted Tailed Quolls have been found in the granite boulder country in the SE of the state around Warwick and Stanthorpe.
The Spotted Tailed Quoll lives for about 2 to 3 years, not a long life span compared to other mammals. One of the reasons is the lifestyle they lead is not conducive to longevity; the males are constantly fighting over territory and female partners (how chivalrous), and the females are constantly fighting off marauding, lustful males.
One of the main reasons for the decline in quoll numbers is the clearing of habitat that is used for den sites. The quoll also faces competition and predation threats from introduced animals such as the fox. In northern quoll populations (northern spotted-tailed quoll) numbers have declined due to the quolls eating cane toads and the resultant poisoning that occurs. In this day and age, who’d want to be a quoll!? MB
Photos courtesy of QLD Dept. of Natural Resources and Water
It’s been recently suggested that kids in western society in particular, could be the first generation to die before their parents. Sounds wrong doesn’t it? The sad thing (or the positive, whichever way you choose to see it), is that it can be prevented by changes in lifestyle and diet.
Type 2 diabetes is also known as mature age diabetes. As the name suggests, kids aren’t usually prone to it…until recent times. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body does not break down the glucose in the blood as efficiently as it should. Insulin is responsible for processing the glucose. In type 2 diabetics, the pancreas that produces the insulin does not produce sufficient insulin to meet the body’s requirements, although it does still produce some. Type 1 diabetics don’t produce insulin at all, or very little, thus they need injections of insulin. Low GI foods are ideal to eat as they break down slowly, releasing glucose into the blood at a slow rate. This in turn doesn't put too much pressure on the pancreas to release huge volumes of insulin in a short time. Low GI foods are most fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein and nuts.
The key to treating Type 2 diabetes is to exercise regularly and make some major changes in the diet. It may also require treatment with medication and guidance from your doctor. The more overweight and generally unfit a person, the greater the chance of becoming a Type 2 diabetic. You only have to look around the local shopping centre or your child’s playground at school to witness the plague that is childhood obesity. There is a direct correlation between the big rise in childhood obesity and the onset of childhood diabetes. If untreated, the risk of experiencing cardiovascular problems, kidney disease, and stroke is very real.
Our fast food giants, coupled with a desire to sit in front of the PC for hours and play high tech games are no doubt assisting with the rise in fat kids. However if a parent is overweight and not really into the active lifestyle, what hope does a child have of learning how to live a physically active life? Maybe we should be targeting the parents? MB
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
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Regardless of how we market it, whether it’s called recycled effluent, recycled sewage, recycled water, purified recycled water, the fact remains drinking this recycled water is a highly emotive and contentious issue among certain Australian communities, as evidenced by the Toowoomba people in SE Queensland, Australia.
It was only a matter of time in Australia before water would become a major issue. Yes we are in drought but we are also experiencing a population growth and never before in history have we had to support the numbers we have now, especially in SE Queensland. Our population 30 years ago when much of our current water supply infrastructure was put in place is not going to support a population that has exploded since then, obviously. So what are our options?
It is interesting that the people of Toowoomba voted No to drinking recycled effluent, by a big margin. The recycled water scheme was never meant to be a one stop solution to the area’s major water shortage; after all it was only recycling water that is currently in the system, not adding extra water to it. The other interesting thing is that if you live in a town anywhere in Australia that collects its water from a river, it is likely that you have consumed recycled water. When water is treated in a sewage treatment plant, in many areas it is then pumped back into a river where it flows downstream to be collected by the next town, where it is treated at a water treatment plant and then used before being treated again and released and on it goes. If that isn’t recycling, what is?
The scientific and technological advances we have made in the last couple of decades have been enormous. It is possible to treat water now (yes even ‘poo water’) to a level where it is purer than the so called bottled ‘spring water’ that we currently drink by the tonne in Australia and all over the world. So why is there so much aversion to drinking recycled poo water? Obviously because we have those who oppose it who advertise it as being poo water! It all comes down to marketing and how we sell it to a community. Yes it is recycled effluent, yes it is ‘second hand’ water. But the flip side is most water we drink, shower in and use is second hand in some form or another, even the water that falls from the sky was drawn up through evaporation from the world’s current water supply. In a perfect world of adequate supply we wouldn't need to drink recycled water, but alas, we're stuck with planet earth.
Would you drink recycled effluent, treated water or whatever you want to call it, if you knew it was pure, clean and safe? MB
The short answer to the title of this post is a resounding YES, at least for me anyway. I think food sensitivity varies in people. For example, I know (it’s a sure bet) that if I eat a meal of starchy carbohydrates in the evening (say a big bowl of pasta and not much else), I wake up the next morning feeling tired, flat and generally pretty crappy, with a headache to boot. I know I am sensitive to what I eat. The same would go if I ate a heap of chocolate - as much as I love it - before bed. My whole blood sugar system is sensitive to what it processes. In short, I am one of those people who were just waiting for the low GI craze to hit humanity, because my body needed it. I had been living life experiencing highs and lows of blood sugar and thus experiencing the high and low energy treadmill.
The tastebuds like it but the body doesn't
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Australia really is home to some pretty amazing animals. One of these amazing creatures is the Spotted Cuscus; a member of the possum family and is a marsupial. The Spotted Cuscus is found in northern Cape York in Queensland and parts of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
The Cuscus lives in trees mainly and has a varied diet of various vegetation, insects, leaves and nectar and other small animals, making them an omnivore (eats meat AND vege’s) It is highly unlikely you’d spot one of these beauties as they are nocturnal, venturing out in the darkness of night. During the day they are about as active as a 3 toed sloth. I.e. they do bugger all in the day except sleep and hang out in the trees
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Australia really is home to some pretty amazing animals. One of these amazing creatures is the Spotted Cuscus; a member of the possum family and is a marsupial. The Spotted Cuscus is found in northern Cape York in Queensland and parts of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
The Cuscus lives in trees mainly (arboreal) and has a varied diet of various vegetation, insects, leaves and nectar and other small animals, making them an omnivore (eats meat AND vege’s) It is highly unlikely you’d spot one of these beauties as they are nocturnal, venturing out in the darkness of night. During the day they are about as active as a 3 toed sloth. I.e. they do bugger all in the day except sleep and hang out in the trees
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The media is abuzz at the moment with new research revealing Australia will officially take over America’s prized mantle of being the fattest nation in the world (per capita) by 2020. Unless we do something about it.
Why is it that we’re a bunch of fatties? Could it be because we spend too much time at work, doing non-physical activity to earn a quid? Or perhaps we eat out at the local takeaway 3 or 4 times a week, using drive thru so we can get home in time for Law and Order. Instead of walking the dog when we get home we head straight for the PC to check our emails and write a few blog entries, or perhaps indulge in too many online games. There’s obviously a bucketload of reasons and factors. It boils down to too many calories in, not enough energy expended. It doesn’t matter what the reasons are, we’re just not as physically active as we should be and we eat crap. That’s the nutshell explanation
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The Bilby is one of those unique looking mammals that is unique and distinctly Aussie. It has massive ears, a silky coat and a black and white tail, very cute. It is a ground dwelling marsupial (has a backward facing pouch) that lives in burrows and as such has copped a hiding from foxes, feral cats and from the rabbit. Yes, the rabbit.
Courtesy of Australian Government Department of Environment and Heritage website
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The benefits of Omega 3 fatty acids, found mainly in fish (or a good quality supplement) are too numerous for this little blog. Do your own search on Google for ‘Benefits of Omega 3 fish oil’ and you’ll find a stack of sites quoting research articles galore on the benefits.
For starters, research has conclusively shown that Omega 3 fatty acids reduce the chances of cardiovascular disease in a big way. Fish oil is also an anti-inflammatory, so it’s an ideal supplement for those suffering from joint pains and arthritis. There is also much research on the use of high grade fish oil as a natural anti-depressant (although the doses are quite high for this). Research also shows that a diet high in Omega 3 fatty acids is also good for preventing, or slowing the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Omegas 3’s are also essential for proper brain function and eye health
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Comment by MichaelB
on Would you drink poo water - recycled effluent??
Diet Dog