There's always something wild, weird and wonderful happening with, or to, animals in our part of the world. In 2020 we featured orphaned cows, Sparky the cat and Merlin the Turtle among others. Here's our favourite 10 animal stories of the year 2021 in the North West Star.
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In June a wild freshwater crocodile hatchling was handed in at a Queensland zoo when an anonymous person decided they didn't want it anymore, wildlife officers believe. No contact details were left when the baby crocodile was dropped off at Childers, thousands of kilometres from its home in outback north west Queensland. "The zoo proprietor believes the freshwater crocodile was taken from the wild in the Mount Isa area a few months ago," Senior Wildlife Officer Tina Ball said. "It's believed the person who dropped it off was travelling to the Sunshine Coast and was going to release it in a waterway as they didn't want it anymore."
Australia's largest flying reptile has been uncovered at Richmond, a pterosaur with an estimated seven-metre wingspan that soared like a dragon above the vast inland sea once covering much of outback Queensland. University of Queensland PhD candidate Tim Richards, from the Dinosaur Lab in UQ's School of Biological Sciences, led a research team that analysed a fossil of the creature's jaw, which has been sitting on display at Richmond's Kronosaurus Korner for 10 years. "It's the closest thing we have to a real-life dragon," Mr Richards said. "The new pterosaur, which we named Thapunngaka shawi, would have been a fearsome beast, with a spear-like mouth and a wingspan around seven metres. "It was essentially just a skull with a long neck, bolted on a pair of long wings."
In October we repoited that lambs from a breed of sheep described as 'the cutest in the world' have been born in Australia for the first time, after embryos and semen were imported from the UK. Hailing from the Swiss Alps, the Valais Blacknose were traditionally bred for meat and wool, but their looks and gentle temperaments have since made them popular as pets.
There was another fossil discovery in Richmond in December. Kronosaurus Korner museum founder Rob Ievers recently helped with the excavation of an Ichthyosaur skull discovered at their fossil hunting sites 10km north of Richmond. Ichtyosaurs (from the ancient Greek word for "fish lizard" are large extinct marine reptiles resembling modern fish or dolphins that lived from 250 million years ago to around 90 million years ago, at a time when the area around North West Queensland was part of a vast inland sea.
A recent study has revealed alarming statistics surrounding the health of North Queensland's Northern Bettong population, with fears it may be declining. Currently listed as endangered under federal and state legislation, the species have suffered since European colonisation, with changed fire patterns, feral animals and weeds threatening the dwindling marsupial population. Standing at just 30 centimetres tall, Northern Bettongs belong to a family of small statured kangaroo-relatives, with a diet that consists largely of truffles - the fruiting bodies of underground fungal networks.
A sad one, this. Police believe a Mount Isa man charged over the horrific slaughter of 41 horses near Longreach last month had help shooting the animals. The investigation into the disturbing crime is far from over and detectives believe people in the local community know who else was involved. The horses, including pregnant mares and mares who'd recently had foals, were repeatedly shot sometime between August 3 and 4 on a property between Longroach and Muttaburra.
Here's a much nicer horse story. Mount Isa Deputy Mayor Phil Barwick has thrown light on some of the design aspects of the Carrandotta Horses sculpture at a council meeting in July. In August 2018, just ahead of the 60th anniversary rodeo, Mount Isa City Council unveiled a sculpture that pays tribute to Carandotta Station, which used to deliver rodeo stock to the Isa rodeo. It has proved a popular installation even getting yarn bombed in 2019. Responding to a question from the public asking if the horses could be painted to protect them from the elements and make them stand out as a tourism attraction, Cr Barwick said the horses were lit at night and were placed on the Barkly Hwy site in consultation with Department of Transport and Main Road so they fit in with their rules and they were deliberately design to rust. "If you look closely at those horses you'll see a few things and one of them is that it is a vignette so as you drive by the pieces all line up to become the horses and then they fade away," he said. "Also the first horse represents Blondie, which if you look closely there are a lot more holes in the horse and you can see the light coming through to give it a lighter effect than the rest of the horses."
Bush Heritage Australia hope the fight to save the critically endangered night parrot gets a boost after they got a $300,000 grant from the Queensland government. Bush Heritage Australia say there are between 10 to 20 night parrots at their Pullen Pullen reserve in western Queensland. Despite being a nocturnal bird it struggles to see in the dark. The only known Queensland population of the night parrot (pezoporus occidentalis) is at Pullen Pullen and nearby properties (though it also exists in WA) and the Pullen Pullen birds are the only night parrot population subject to ongoing ecological research. The Queensland Department of Environment and Science awarded Bush Heritage Australia $304,500 to fund an ecologist, new ecological monitoring equipment such as song meters and camera traps, bushfire prevention work, feral predator control, engaging with Maiawali traditional owners and upgrades to the research station.
Sadly it's a few years too late to claim a prize but a local man has caught one of the infamous tagged barramundi at Lake Moondarra. Carla Cerizza said her husband Bruno "seems to have caught an ol barra comp barra today", a 120cm beauty weighing 22.8kg which was still tagged. In years gone by the tagged barra was a vital part of the Lake Moondarra Fishing Comp and each year four tagged barra were released into the lake with $50,000 on offer for anyone who caught one. However the prize never went off and was withdrawn for the 2019 event before Covid put paid to the 2020 and 2021 competitions. Carla said Bruno caught this one at the lake on Sunday May 23. "We've found out the barra was tagged and released in 2009 and was 73cm in length at that time," she said.
The wildest animal story this year was the famous roo on a Mount Isa roof. In November residents were scratching their heads, after spotting a kangaroo stuck on top of a residential home off the Duchess Road. After noticing the roof roo was unable to get down, locals called emergency services. Firefighter Patrick Buck initially thought it was a prank call but soon saw it was true. "We went up with all our harnesses and rescue equipment, but as soon as we got there he went off the end of the roof and jumped down into some shrubs," he said. "We still don't know how it got on the roof, it's a mystery."
Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
