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Science and Mathematics Papers and Journal
Articles School of Science and Mathematics
10-1-1999
Australia's Flying Frogs?
Australia's Flying Frogs?
Terry J. Annable
Avondale College, terry.annable@avondale.edu.au
Follow this and additional works at: https://research.avondale.edu.au/sci_math_papers Part of the Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons
Recommended Citation Recommended Citation
Annable, T. J. (1999). Australia's flying frogs? The Victorian Naturalist, 116(5), 187-188.
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Naturalist Notes
polyphyletic (Cogger 1996); also whether or not other hylid frogs possess a similar structure. More detailed research on struc
ture and function with high-speed cine
matography and moving targets is needed to clarify this interesting phenomenon.
Acknowledgement
The helpful comments of an anonymous review
er are much appreciated.
References
Cogger, H .G. (1996). 'Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia'. Fifth edition with amendments. (Reed:
Sydney.)
Emerson, S.B. and Koehl, M.A.R. (1990). The interac
tion of behavioral and morphological change in the
evolution of a novel locomotor type: 'flying frogs'.
Evolwion 44, 1931-1946.
Heusser, H.R. (1974). Higher Anurans. In 'Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Volume 5. Fishes II, Amphibians', chapter 6, pp. 397-454. (Van Nostrand Reinhold: New York.)
Pough, F.H., Andrews, R.M., Cadle, J.E., Crump, M.
L., Savitsky, A.H. and Wells, K.D. (1998).
'Herpetology'. (Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, USA.)
Tyler, M. (1976). 'Frogs'. (Collins: Sydney.)
T.J. Annable
Faculty of Science, Avondale College, Box 19, Cooranbong, N.S.W. 2265.
Southern Right Whale in Port Phillip Bay
Southern Right Whales Eubalaena aus
tralis are regular visitors to Victorian waters. They migrate from their summer feeding grounds in the sub-Antarctic to the coastal waters of southern Australia during late autumn/early winter and remain until mid-late spring. The coastal range is from about Perth, WA to Sydney, NSW.
In the 1830s and 1840s, the annual visits to shallow bays in western Victoria and Wilsons Promontory were the basis for an intense shore-based whaling industry.
Indeed, the first settlement in Victoria was at Portland Bay and focussed on this natur
al resource. The intensity of the hunting soon reduced the numbers, although Southern Right Whaling continued until the 1950s - but not in Victorian waters - and the species came very close to extinc
tion. It is now estimated that there are about 6-800 Southern Right Whales in Australian waters during the winter months. The largest concentration of these is at the Head of the Bight, in South Australia, where some 200 animals may congregate. Southern Right Whales are fully protected under State and Commonwealth legislation. In Victoria, the species is listed under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 and manage
ment and conservation actions have been prepared and were recently published (Seebeck et al. 1999) in a formal Action Statement.
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The principal Victorian site is centred on Logan's Beach, just east of Warrnambool, a regular calving and nursery area.
Numbers of whales present vary from year to year; in 1997 there were five adults and a calf, in 1998 three adult females, each with a calf. An observation platform has been built and many hundreds of people watch the whales each season. The Department of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) closely monitors the whales and collects and collates sightings of the species from other places along the Victorian coast.
In August 1998, a Southern Right Whale paid a visit to Port Phillip Bay. This was an unusual occurrence; since 1977 there have been four records of this species in the Bay - August 1977, July 1988, May 1989 and August 1992. All these involved single animals. There is no evidence to suggest that Southern Right Whales have been anything more than occasional visi
tors to the Bay, even at the beginning of European settlement.
The animal was first observed close to the shore in the Mornington/Mt Martha area on Saturday 1 August, and reported to NRE Fisheries and Wildlife officers during the weekend. It was not reporte'd on 3 August, but on the following day wds seen cruising along the coast between Martha Point and Balcombe Point. It was only some 10-15 m offshore for much of the
