A little bit about palm oil and how to avoid it.

For both your health and environmental reasons palm oil needs to be avoided. Labelling laws for palm oil vary around the world making it difficult to know what you're buying. It's an issue I felt so strongly about that I wrote to my local member of parliament about it. Disappointingly a potential law requiring its labelling was rejected in Australia.

Palm oil plantations have had a devastating effect on Indonesia's unique rainforest habitat and thus the population of endangered orangutans, Sumatran tigers, rhinoceros and thousands of other animals dependant on this ecosystem. If the destruction of this habitat for palm oil plantations isn't stopped, we could see these endangered species extinct within our lifetime.

What can you do as a consumer? Writing to your member of parliament, or signing petitions could still eventually create enough demand for change if enough people ask for it. If your government is as apathetic as mine you can still make a difference. Spread the word about palm oil and how to avoid it:

'to avoid buying palm oil, when buying food look for the label stating it is vegetable oil. Then look for saturated fat. If only vegetable oil (no animal fat listed) is used and there is 5%+ saturated fat in the product - you are buying palm kernel oil, palm oil or coconut oil, most probably palm.'

'if palm oil is used in cosmetics it must be labelled. No exceptions. However, it is usually not labelled as Palm oil. It is labelled as Elaeis guineensis. This is the name given to palm oil by the International Nomenclature Cosmetic Ingredients (INCI).'
From http://www.palmoilaction.org.au/shopping-
guide.html

A bit harder to avoid are possible palm oil derivitives:
'In non-food products like soaps and detergents, the list includes elaeis guineensis, sodium lauryl sulphate, cetyl alcohol, stearic acid, isopropyl and other palmitates, steareth-2, steareth-20 and fatty alcohol sulphates – all of which may be derived from palm oil.'
Sodium lauryl sulphate is the most common lathering agent used in toiletries.
From Borneo Orangutan Survival's site.

Further reading if you want to know more of the names palm oil deritives hide behind.

Sweet F*** all

Top of a bollard, Broulee, NSW, Australia.

Señor Pantalons, the juvenile King Parrot

Taken at the holiday house in Broulee.


Señor Pantalons. I'll explain later.


A little birdy sitting in the tree
Nomming berries quietly
Señor Pantalons is he
Señor Pantalons


Señor Pantalons is a juvenile King Parrot. Eventually he will be all red with green wings. For now he's just got red 'pants' hence my nick name for him. He's a lot less wary of humans than the other birds visiting (crimson rosellas adult and juvenile, bower bird female and juvenile, little wattlebird) hence I have been able to pop a few good shots of 'him'


It's tricky capturing those pants with the camera.



An adult King Parrot who was accompanying Señor Pantalons.


A juvenile Crimson Rosella.

Royal Albatross - partial skull

At Broulee, NSW, Australia I found a partial marine bird skull which I hypothesised to be that of an albatross. I took it back down to the seashore to take some photographs of it.


The Ancient One
digital image

Using the Seabird Osteology site, I have since identified it as the skull of a Southern Royal Albatross. According to the bird field guide I have to hand there are two races of these species: Diomedea epomophora is endangered and the other, dark winged , Diomedea sanfordi is vulnerable. Without having seen a full corpse with feathers I can't be sure which one it is. It is a little smaller than the depicted specimen - beak is about 14cm - so I'm guessing it could be a female or going by the slight difference in eye socket shape, a juvenile.


Time eroded
digital image

I certainly didn't expect to find a piece of endangered bird on the beach and had to make sure it wasn't something more common like the comorants seen in the area. As it turns out, all Australian species of albatross are either endangered or vulnerable. It's not something you want to know but at least now I'm a little more informed on the subject, and thus so are you.

My Meerkat Experience at Mogo Zoo

From J: the best Christmas present EVER :) Mogo Zoo, NSW, Australia offers various Animal Encounters, one of which is a Meerkat Experience. All of these photographs and the short clip were taken by zoo keeper Bek/c while I enjoyed feeding my favourite little peeps. Bek/c took heaps of photos for me so I'm only including some.




[sings]Getting to knooooow you,
getting to feed you stuff from a bucket.



The dominant meerkat of the five boys spent most of the time with his head in the bucket except when meal worms were brought out...




... and put on my head, shoulder and lap.


It didn't hurt, but it took a bit of getting used to having this little critter run his paws and claws through my hair. Their claws are very long but dulled by digging and foraging.


Call me back later, I'm feeding the meerkats!


My favourite photo of us.


Their fur is a not as soft as a cat's but not as coarse as some adult dogs. Afterwards my hands smelt spicy and earthy - sort of like curry powder or maybe tumeric.


Keeper Bek/c said this was the cutest pic she had ever taken of this little chap. He is the oldest meerkat of the five, at nine years old. He was once the head male. Not anymore, he sat apart while the others did their thing. So sweet though as you can see by this pic.


I don't remember his name but here he is again...


...and here too.


The four amigos sun bake in a line. Apparently the keeper had never seen them lying in a line like that before.



Please M'am, may I have some more?

Precious little pygmy marmosets

At Mogo Zoo we were admiring the agility and cuteness of the pygmy marmosets. A boy of about 8 walks by and excitedly asks his older brother of about 12
"Can we order one of those?!"
"Yeah sure - they're six million dollars!"

Happy Hedgehog hovering habove hundercarriage whipes.

At Tullamarine airport, ladies' toilet near large cargo deposit area, just above toilet paper dispenser in 2nd or 3rd cubicle on left ... I found the above and couldn't help myself but add to it (with water based pen of course).