Compulsory Palm Oil Labelling in Australia

Here we are at Federation Square, Deakin Edge last night to help promote
the petition to make labelling palm oil compulsory in Australia.
Parliament will decide next month, so it's important we get as many signatures as we can now. Hoping to get 100,000! Please help by signing and sharing.

The orangutan is the gardener of the forest, spreading seeds to create more forest, an umbrella species that others like tigers and rhinos, and countless more rely on.

#labelpalmoil #iwantthechoice #dontpalmusoff #turnmelbourneorange #inyourpalm #orangutan #endangered

Melbourne Zoo , as organisers of both the petition and event, donated 1000 orangutan plush toys which were hidden outside of Deakin Edge, and seated throughout the auditorium. The plushies were for everyone to find, as a reward for attending and promoting this important petition. These toys represent the real live orangutans lost to unsustainable palm oil production every year. At this rate they will be extinct within a decade. Attendees were actively encouraged to take selfies with their plushy, and use the hash tag #labelpalmoil when posting it on social media. Also there were bags of oranges kindly donated by Orange World. Thanks for the juicy evening snack Orange World!

Afterwards we were instructed to swarm/surround Livinia Nixon doing the weather report. I mimed my plushy Kiani, to also do the weather report. I hope we were in frame because it would have been HILARIOUS.

The lower left corner image is a live study of Maimunah, using an enrichment puzzle at the Royal Melbourne Zoo. You can see this drawing on Instagram as the initial live study if you're on there:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BLHZd1NhS-I/?taken-by=patriciadenisartist
I'll be posting an exclusive work in progress shot here.
And the final drawing here first.

Finally there is a free shopping app. for your phone to help you shop ethically now, by avoiding unsustainable palm oil. Read about it here.

The Wild at Off The Kerb Gallery

These three paper butterflies will be in The Wild at Off the Kerb gallery.

'Off the Kerb is pleased to celebrate its 9th Birthday Show by inviting you into The Wild, where your imagination can run wild. We invite you into a utopian wilderness where there are 

no boundaries, freedom and beauty is bountiful, a place where love runs wild, wilder beasts and divine creatures roam free - you are fearless.....untamed....... 

Enter The Wild...

OTK celebrates its 9th Birthday with this group exhibition in support of Edgar’s Mission. 

Edgar’s Mission is a not for profit Farm Sanctuary that seeks to create 

a humane and just world for homeless, abused, injured or abandoned animals.

OTK will be donating the gallery commission to Edgar’s Mission www.edgarsmission.org.au'

The Wild

at  
Off the Kerb gallery.

Opening: Fri 8 April 6-9pm |

7 April - 21 April 2016

66B Johnston St, Collingwood, 3066

9077 0174 | 0400 530 464

info@offthekerb.com.au

Thurs & Fri 12:30- 6 | Sat & Sun 12 - 5

Free Entry

Meerkat Family at Werribee Open Range Zoo

Meerkat family at Werribee Open Range Zoo recently welcomed two new additions. A coworker of mine told me about it after seeing it on the news. I made sure I visited within a week to see these sweet little fuzzballs who grow up rather quickly. Both pups were suckling much less on my second visit. I saw one of the pups eating something solid. It was very keen not to let any other meerkat get too close!


A perched meerkat with its eyes shut - albeit temporarily - is a rare sight.


Week 2.






A chilled out sentry.

Visiting a Zoo - a guide to getting the most out of it AKA Zoo Visitor Etiquette

So you have gone to the zoo and all the animals aren't up to much, they're hiding down the back or in a den, and you can't get a good photo on your phone. Is it the zoo or is it you? Here's one simple tip:
Be quiet, listen, and watch. 
That's all you have to do to get more out of every visit. The animals are more likely to linger nearby and relax into their natural behavior if you do this.


To elaborate:
Read the sign telling you what the animal is,
Listen to the keeper or volunteer if there is one, and
be respectful, quiet and patient,
stay still  or move slowly,
give free roaming animals enough space to move,
speak quietly,
watch, observe, be curious.

This means DO NOT:
tap on the glass or walls/fence
yell or make loud noises
throw things
feed the animals
touch the animals (unless a keeper or volunteer has said it's okay to do so, and then avoid the head)
stick any of yourself or your belongings including your camera/phone within the enclosure space
allow your childen to do any of these things.
Think about how you would feel if a stranger appeared in your frontyard doing things from the DO NOT list. I have heard one parent tell their child "How would you feel if some strange person came and yelled at you in your room? You wouldn't like it would you?" It seemed to be effective.

The animals are not here for our entertainment. It's the 21st century - it's about conservation, education and respect for the amazing world we share.

Also check out the meerkats - they're always good value, never a dull moment, and very photogenic too!

Further reading here, the animal's viewpoint here and the zoo's view here.

Clever Rats

Clever Rats
Image by Whymper* (first name uncertain) from The Child's Companion and Juvenile Instructor, Vol. XXXIII, 1893, page 121

'The sagacity of rats is a fact that has long been known to naturalists. La Fontaine, in his "Fables," records that "Two rats in foraging, fell on an egg." And the story goes on to tell how
"Brimful of joy and appetite,
They were about to sack the box
So tight without the aid of locks,"
when a fox came into sight. Eager to save their booty, one turned upon his back holding the egg in his paws, and the other dragged him along by his tail to a place of safety.'

Then the following anecdote:

'The other day a son of mine, about eleven, said that through a chink in the floor he could see a rat rolling something that seemed like an egg. I got a saw and cut away the board, and found seven perfectly fresh eggs, not a crack in any except where I had unfortunately cracked a couple with my saw, and we could see that they were quite freshly broken. The nursery (the room in question) is upstairs, and as none of the hens ever lay within thirty or forty yards, and the eggs are collected every day, at what time they (the rats) went to work, or how they got them up the stairs, I can not imagine. We have often missed by the evening the eggs we had seen in the morning, and thougtht the hens had eaten them.'


*Probably Edward Whymper in an enjoyable side project? He was both a professional engraver and a famous mountaineer hence why he he listed as one of the 'etc' illustrators rather than listed by name. The etching signature matches known works.

The 'most inoffensive and gentle creature,' the giraffe.

'In some parts the natives also dig pits in which to trap it.'

Illustration and text from Holiday Stories, published by George Routledge and Sons, London, c. 1890s

Imagine a kraken...

'Imagine a kraken. Now put it in an armoured ice cream cone. You get Cameroceras.'
from 'Ten Extinct Nopes that you should really be glad are dead' by KhanadianDaleks

Street Art in Little Smith Street Fitzroy, Melbourne - 2 Wildlife

Bear mural


This particular artist also did another mural in Fitzroy off Johnson Street with pandas:



Our critically endangered, state (Victorian) emblem:

Helmeted honeyeater mural


Detail

Humane Anti Bird Barrier - ground plants and seedlings.

A free and easy way to protect young plants and seedlings from foraging birds. Blackbirds in particular like to forage through garden beds flicking mulch and dirt about in their search for food. They often dig up young plants in the process!

We have used bamboo twigs neatly placed in 'A' shapes as shown above but a triangular teepee or encircling fence in similar proximity will work as well if not better. You don't have to use bamboo -any stick or twig will do. It needs to be sturdy and long enough so it won't be easily dug up and is close together enough to prevent the bird from getting close to the root system or the plant itself. More rather than less is best for delicate seedlings. As the plant gets older you can pull them out. With found twigs you can be a bit lazier and just leave them there to disintegrate.

A larger version of this system also works well for stopping your dog from continually peeing on a plant.

Forest Spirit Tree

This dead tree overgrown with vines near J's house used to remind me of The Forest Spirit (Shishi-gami) from Princess Mononoke by Studio Ghibli. It was cleaned up and cut down last year. That's a full moon in the sky behind it.

The Great Whale Leaps

THE GREAT WHALE LEAPS

It looks like a sperm whale which are not known to completely clear the water when they breach - at least not as adults. A bit of artistic license taken by GS Brien.

Image by GS Brien from children's annual Chatterbox, J Erskine Clarke MA, Wells Gardner, Darton and CO, London 1927

Slugs and Snails: Make a Beer Baited Slug Trap Mark II

I made this one using an instant noodle container and an Aqua Spike. I used my Dremel to drill a hole for the spike, to hold the roof up. The dremel helped me to add a bit of artistic flair by engraving the roof. It reads: 'The Drunken Slug Inn. Snails welcome.' and the 'S' in slug is a slug :)




Like the Mark I it seems to be most attractive to slugs rather than snails. So how do we deal with snails?



My housemate planted some cyclamens. She would usually scatter snail pellets around new plants like these but it hasn't been necessary. I had read that coffee grounds can be an effective snail deterrent so we've been scattering that closely around these new plants instead. Additionally, the grounds are a good soil conditioner. We would usually broadcast the grounds over the mulch. It feels good to use gentle, organic pest control that won't linger in the foodchain.

Wrapped up tree: Triage by Louise Lavarack

Coming in to work one morning I saw workmen wrapping up this tree with something soft and white. I wasn't sure if it was to protect the tree from adjacent construction or an installation artwork. My botanist coworker thought it might be an arborist thing. As it turns out Triage is an art installation by Melbourne artist Louise Lavarack. There are tributes to the dying tree at its base but I prefer the surreal quality of the tenderly wrapped boughs in the afternoon sun:

WTF mudskippers

Via WTF evolution and making the blogging rounds: the funniest natural history segment I've ever seen AND it's endowed with the melifluous tones of everyone's favourite narrator, Sir David Attennborough.

Old English Sheepdogs

Examples of adorable old English sheep dog photos by owners Cees Bol and Hanneke van de Watering are all over the net right now but many sites have posted a broken link - or no link - to the complete flickr set.

Here is the link you need to find more of it. Hopefully I've helped some of you find it via google search? I found it by looking up 'Cees Bol flickr'.

In other news I've just revamped the Meerkat Clippings template! It's not wildly different from the old one because I liked the old one - like the pair of comfy warm slippers I'm getting reaquainted with now that Summer is finally over. However the format was inflexible for someone with little knowledge of html. Finally I can post wider images for your delectation and illumination. Enjoy.

Amicable Green Grocer Cicada

Walking through the front garden I heard a buzzing, whirring sound like clockwork. I turned back to find a cicada struggling to right itself on the concrete. Naturally I picked it up gently and it made itself very comfortable indeed - so much so that I went inside with him to get my camera and out again to take these shots.


First we sat down and I marvelled at the three reflective dots on his head. They seemed a lot like eyes but they are clearly quite different from the prominent compound eyes on this Green Grocer Cicada.

Some later research revealed that they are dorsal ocelli (oh-sell-ee). They are a 'simple' - as opposed to compound - eye on the top of the head. These ocelli are very light sensitive and quick, and it is theorised that they allow flying insects to maintain stability in flight.


He reminded me of a frog - the way he clung to my hand, his green compact body and his bulgy buggy eyes. Cute...

...But I couldn't sit there all afternoon holding him so I tried to convince to get on to the magnolia tree...
 
...but he wouldn't have it.

After attempting to move him to my left hand I noticed he preferred to move backward rather than be prodded forward thus - success!

Such an amicable chap was he.


"This is LaTegra. It's a little bit softer - I use this one for catolog shots a lot." *

I hope he fares alright. His rumpled wing edges might be why he struggled a bit.


*Zoolander quote C/O my BF, J.

Cole's Funny Picture Book Paper Butterflies

I have two framed paper butterflies in a book art show at Hand Held Gallery.
They are made using paper from Cole's Funny Picture Book.

Summer BAZE

Book Arts and Zine Exhibition

From December 20-24, 2012
&
January 16-23, 2013

@

Hand Held Gallery

Suite 18, upstairs

Paramount Arcade

108 Bourke Street

Melbourne, 3000

Entry via Bourke or little Bourke street. Go straight up escalator to top level.

Contact:

(03)9654 4006

Megan at:

littleredfishy@yahoo.com.au

Gallery opening hours:

Tue-Sat 12-5pm

Mali in the City: celebrating 150 years of Melbourne Zoo

Mali is the first elephant born at Melbourne Zoo. To celerate 150 years of Melbourne Zoo, lifesize, fibreglass sculptures of the baby elephant Mali were painted by 50 different artists. The sculptures were then dotted around Melbourne's CBD for 6 weeks, and then displayed for another month at the zoo itself. More about it here.

I didn't see all of them up close but these guys did.

Here are my shots:

A Pattern of Orange-bellied Parrot
Vanessa Bong (sponsored by Queen Victoria Market)
at Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne



Ming Vase Elephant
by Brian Cheung (sponsored by ecoFuture)
at Queen Victoria Market

I was chatting with a lady who said she travelled about to see the sculptures and that this was the best one she had seen. I was very impressed by it myself. I didn't endeavour to see more because I suspected that I had seen what I would conclude was the best one too. It's hard to convey the tonal quality of this piece in a photo.




Detail of side facing wall:

Even more Spring blooms.

This time the blooms have been chosen not so much for their beauty - which is still there - but for their unusual structural qualities.

A rose reminiscent of a love heart:


Some rose buds:


Cephalopodlian Aquilegia buds (I think they look like squid, my housemate F thinks the greenish ones look like seamonster heads):



The same bud but a pretty shot:

More Spring blooms

Aquilegia


Ajuga