As ectothermic creatures they need to heat up, preferring to bask in the warm sunshine before heading off to seek food and shelter. A good clean up (remove leaf litter, rubbish and sheet metal, keep grass short) should mean they are less likely to find your garden an attractive place to live in and hunt for food.

www.snakeavoidance.com.au/dates-and-locations

On the second day we were involved with photographer Karl Monaghan at his studios shooting our reptiles – with camera not gun. It was great fun and kindly Karl has supplied us with much improved images for the website. We photographed our snake catching equipment, several pythons and a variety of venomous snakes. We even found time to shoot a tarantula and a scorpion as well. I just love the death adder and tiger snake images and admire Karl's creative approach, using the reflective black surface was a masterstroke. Ably assisted by Keely and also in attendance was Karl's friend Ken Lawson, a macro photography specialist. It was for me anyway a break from our normal routine and a chance to admire the sheer beauty of some of the world's most fascinating reptiles.

On the third day we were based at Waggrakine Primary School teaching some teachers and school staff how to safely relocate snakes. Interestingly there are two possible meanings of the name Waggrakine: it is an aboriginal word meaning either “place of snakes” or a “place of shelter”. Seeing as how one teacher reported that she had a young gwardar (venomous brown snake) fall from the ceiling onto her head during a lesson, I think place of snakes is highly appropriate.

The Bonnethead shark (Sphyrna tiburo) has been observed munching on seagrass and this behaviour has now been studied to understand more.

Jane's family could not afford university so after graduating high school she was sent off to secretary school. Jane worked for a number of years as a secretary but always had Africa at the back of her mind. In 1956 Jane was invited to Kenya to stay at a friend's farm. This was her opportunity to fulfil her Africa dream, so Jane quit her secretary job to move back home to work as a waitress to save for a one-way boat ticket to Kenya.

In 1957 Jane was off on the first of what was to be many trips to Africa. It was on this trip that she met Dr Louis S B Leakey, a famous anthropologist and palaeontologist. Dr Leakey was so impressed with Jane's knowledge and passion for Africa and chimps that he hired her as his assistant; this marked the beginning of Dr Jane's revolutionary discoveries.

Jane's desire to work in Africa studying wild populations of chimpanzees was not accepted by British authorities, as it was unheard of for a woman to venture into the African wilderness on her own. But after much persistence and Jane's mother agreeing to accompany her, her proposal was finally accepted.

In the summer of 1960, 26-year-old Jane Goodall arrived on the shore of Lake Tanganyika in East Africa to study the area's wild chimpanzee population. Jane followed the chimps for months and it was on November 4th of that year that Jane made her most important discovery. Jane observed David Greybeard (one of the chimps she had named, something that science at the time did not widely accept) making a tool to extract termites out of a mound. This single observation went on to change the world's definition of man ‘the tool maker'.

"Now we must redefine tool, redefine Man, or accept chimpanzees as humans."
- Dr Louis S. B Leakey.

Fast forward many years, discoveries, National Geographic features, books, photos and degrees, Dr Jane travels the world over 300 days of the year spreading her messages of conservation, peace and reasons for hope.

Dr Jane's single biggest focus today is Roots & Shoots, a youth led action program that was formed in 1991 by 16 Tanzanian students. Roots & Shoots aims to empower and equip our youth so that they go on to be active global citizens with a love and understanding of our shared environment. More at the Jane Goodall Institute (www.janegoodall.org.au)

"Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference."
- Dame Jane Morris-Goodall DBE

by Keely Boston-Budd

It simply amazes me just how phenomenal and underutilized canine olfactory abilities are. It also reminds me how approaches like this underline the valuable and versatile service dogs can provide humanity.

Statistics show some 30,000 elephants were killed in Africa alone last year for their tusks. A species that is rapidly approaching the brink of extinction in the wild if we don't act fast. Let's hope RASCO is successful and reduces (through seizures) the appalling and murderous trade in horns, tusks and other trafficked wildlife.

Out of the 5 great apes, chimps are our closest living relatives, sharing over 98% of our genetic makeup. Humans and chimps are thought to share a common ancestor who lived somewhere between 4 and 8 million years ago. A fully-grown chimp can weigh around 65kg and has the strength of 6 men!

They are highly intelligent animals that like humans communicate with the aid of hand gestures and facial expressions. Chimps are very social animals living in communities of at least several dozen individuals. These complex social structures are known as fission-fusion societies.

Chimpanzees are one of the very few animals in the world that use tools to eat their food, as discovered by our conservationist in feature, Dr Jane Goodall.

Chimpanzees are found spread across from Southern Senegal, over and across to the forested belt north of the Congo River, over to Western Uganda and Western Tanzania. Gombe National Park in Tanzania is the first park in Africa that was specifically designed to care for chimpanzees.

Chimps normally walk on all fours (knuckle-walking) but they can also stand and walk upright. It's easy to see why chimps are known as ‘man of the trees' when you watch them swing from branch to branch so effortlessly.

Chimps nest up in trees where they also do most of their eating. They are generally fruit and plant eaters, but also eat many insects, eggs, and meat. Like humans, they have an extremely varied diet that includes hundreds of food types.

Females typically give birth to a single infant that stays with her until the age of 2. Females reach reproductive age at around 13 years old and males at around 16 years of age. There is no distinct breeding season for chimps so infants can be found all year round.

The general chimpanzee populations is decreasing, this has been attributed to 2 main factors.

Challenges facing Chimpanzees today:

Losing their habitat: The number of chimps in the wild is steadily decreasing. One of the main causes is the alarming rate at which forests are cut down for farming, settlements, and other activities.

Bush meat: While bush meat has always been a popular source of dietary protein for local communities, the scale of hunting has increased dramatically in recent decades with the activity becoming heavily commercialized.

by Keely Boston-Budd