The Friendly Fox by RobGeraghty, on Flickr

[RobG]

I went back again today armed with the HDDA 55-300 and camcorder, but no Fox was to be found. I must remember to pay the animal actor's guild fees...

[carlb]

Thanks! This one is in a nature reserve for birds which is only 3km (roughly 2 miles) from our federal parliament house.

It's probably hard to tell who's more cunning.....the fox or the,....never mind.................

[Dennis Forster]

Lovely animal, lovely photograph. Pity about the grass across the face - it can be very frustrating photographing animals. None of this type of fox in our country (South Africa), although we do have some other fox species, such as the nocturnal bat eared fox.

[OrchidJulie]

@RobG ...cane toads? Are they native or introduced? And if introduced, why on earth would anyone import cane toads?

If they are the same ones we have (Bufo marinus, I think), they get quite huge -- sometimes described as "dinner plate" size. Toads that big can easily poison even quite large dogs. Sadly I have witnessed it.

[RobG]

Lovely animal, lovely photograph. Pity about the grass across the face - it can be very frustrating photographing animals. None of this type of fox in our country (South Africa), although we do have some other fox species, such as the nocturnal bat eared fox.

Unfortunately I couldn't get a shot where grass wasn't across the face and it's a shame as you say. Hopefully I'll get another chance since this one seems to be a regular in that area during the day.

@RobG ...cane toads? Are they native or introduced? And if introduced, why on earth would anyone import cane toads?
If they are the same ones we have (Bufo marinus, I think), they get quite huge -- sometimes described as "dinner plate" size. Toads that big can easily poison even quite large dogs. Sadly I have witnessed it.

Yes, Bufo marinus. They were introduced without permission by sugar cane farmers in Queensland to control the cane beetle. They have since migrated south and west and are now found across all of northern Australia. They have decimated populations of animals which eat frogs such as snakes, birds and even quolls (a large carnivorous marsupial). Prior to the Cane Toad, the Northern Quoll was reasonably secure. One of the saddest examples of an attempt at biological control gone wrong. Better examples of biological control gone right in Australia are the Cactoblastis moth to control Prickly Pear and Myxomatosis to control rabbits (and to a lesser degree, Calissi virus). Now we need to find a biological control for toads.

[kjfishman]

The Friendly Fox by RobGeraghty, on Flickr

Beautiful animals.

[OrchidJulie]

Now we need to find a biological control for toads.

OMG...I didn't realize that... not being a herpetologist, I can't speak to what would control them, but I do know they are quite poisonous to many creatures. No idea what might be immune to their toxins, They are not very common here, but I'm sure there are huge numbers of them upstate in the cane fields. We have a few other toads, none of which get as large as cane toads (for which thanks), but all of them can make dogs very, very sick at the least.


Of course we have some introductions from OZ that have become seriously invasive here, but they are mostly plants and trees. Several Australian imports are at the top of the state's "most invasive" list, to wit Melaleuca (paperbark) and Casuarina ("Australian pine" even though they are not pines).


I don't know if anything safely preys on cane toads. I know some people here who kill them on sight.

[archaeodude]

Good photo of a malignant Australian alien!

[RobG]

I don't know if anything safely preys on cane toads. I know some people here who kill them on sight.

I heard that there was work on a disease, but that was years ago and I haven't heard anything recently.

Good photo of a malignant Australian alien!

Thank you!