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Hello there, my name's Emily and you're listening to Newstime.
Hey Emily, hello.
And hello to Newstime listener legend, Hannah.
Hello, my name is Hannah and I live in Beechworth, which is the traditional lands of Dederowa Wurundjeri Waveroo Minja, Batu and Yarr-it-Mathang peoples.
I love your podcast.
Bye, Emily.
Thanks, Hannah.
Well, I'm as eager as a beaver for today's News Time episode as it's all about amazing animals.
We'll hear about a giant creature that once roamed Australia, and meet Bruce, a disabled kea bird in New Zealand.
Plus, we'll hear our wow of the week, a story guaranteed to make you say wow.
Well, are you ready?
I'll take that as a yes.
Here we go.
Many years ago, Australia looked very different to how it does now.
There were no paved roads and huge animals called megafauna roamed the land.
Scientists often rely on fossils to paint a picture of what the world used to look like, and a recent discovery has shed light on Australia's ancient megafauna.
Over 100 years ago, in 1907, a fossil was found in Fowl Air Cave near Buchan, more than four hours from Melbourne.
At the time, the museum wasn't too sure what the fossil they'd found was, so it was put into a collection at Museums Victoria.
I think they should actually know what something is before actually putting it in a museum.
In 1907, they didn't have the technology or resources to find out what the fossil was, But recently, with the help of modern technologies like 3D scanning, the identity of the animal was confirmed.
It looks like a failed experiment from the lab. in some made-up world.
It looks like an echidna or a kiwi thingy.
You're spot on.
It's an echidna, but not like the ones that are alive today.
This is a giant echidna.
It's from megafauna.
The animal would have lived in Victoria during the Ice Age tens of thousands of years ago.
The now extinct echidna could grow to a metre long.
That's about the length of a gardening shovel.
And it could weigh up to 15 kilograms, about the size of a small child.
Imagine one of those running around.
We already knew that the animal lived in South Australia and New South Wales, but now we know that it was in Victoria too.
I'm just glad this giant echidna isn't roaming anywhere near me.
What would you do if you saw one in the wild?
I'd hug them.
Hug them?
I'd run away because of those little spikes.
Yeah, me too.
This discovery shows the importance of museum collections.
Things found years ago can still deliver new findings about the past.
Story number four.
A parrot in New Zealand has defied odds and successfully claimed top of the pecking order, despite missing their upper beak.
Bruce the Kea was first spotted 12 years ago in New Zealand's South Islands mountains.
Researchers noticed straight away Bruce didn't look like the other birds.
I feel sad.
It's like we lost our mouths.
It looks like he gained a human mouth.
Yeah, Bruce is missing the top half of his beak.
Without a top beak, Bruce appears to have a mouth a bit similar to humans.
The thing is, keas often need their top beak to survive.
They're used to foraging for food and chomping on things.
So when scientists first spotted Bruce, they thought he might struggle in the wild.
They took him into captivity at Willowbank Nature Reserve and monitored him.
It would be hard for him to hunt.
I think it would be very difficult for him. for Bruce because, like, it is hard to eat.
You're right.
That's what researchers predicted too.
Except instead of seeing Bruce struggle, they observed something else.
He was thriving.
Bruce used his beak as a sword, angling it in different ways to attack the other keyers to establish his dominance.
How can you do a sword fight with the world's smallest sword?
Not only was Bruce fighting the other birds, he was winning.
This meant Bruce was getting first dibs when it came to food.
He also got special treatment from the other male keyers, receiving preening, which is a form of cleaning between birds.
Although Bruce can clean himself, it seems Bruce sometimes likes getting help from others.
Thank you.
I'm a happy boy because you clean me.
It confirms that particular birds can be very good at solving problems and use advanced behaviour to adapt to their situation.
In fact, researchers believe kias, cockatoos and ravens may even be better at problem solving than chimpanzees.
But for now, Bruce seems to be enjoying his time at the top.
If you ever visit Bondi Public Schools Library on a Friday morning, you'll arrive at reading time.
A student will be practising their reading out loud to Tashi, who sits calmly next to them on a couch.
Tashi lets students go at their own pace and enjoys Pats.
It's a girl reading and her doggy sitting next to her.
That's right.
Tashi is a 10-year-old miniature poodle.
She's one of the 389 dogs across all of Australia that are part of a literacy program called Story Dogs.
It's a program that helps primary school students gain the confidence and ability to read out loud.
My grandpa reads to me, but I have to read to him.
He makes me read certain pages of books that he's reading to me.
My parents...
There will be different stories.
Yeah, it's great reading aloud or reading with someone else.
But not everyone does this.
And without practice, it can be really difficult to improve your reading skills.
Tashi, along with her canine friends, help students feel comfortable and relaxed, encouraging them to read and learn new words.
How can a dog read?
That's a great point.
The dogs are also joined by their owners, who volunteer to help the students read and sound out any difficult words or sounds.
The Story Dogs program was created in 2009 in regional New South Wales and has since grown to nearly every state and territory in Australia.
You may even have your own visiting pup like Tashi at your school.
I think what they do is comfort the kids so they can feel more comfortable reading out loud.
They're very cuddly and you can always tell them stuff.
I think it helps because kids can be embarrassed reading out loud, but the dog they're helps them feel comforted and brave.
This program aims to help kids enjoy reading, encouraging literacy and learning, while also hanging out with a four-legged friend.
Hmm, but I wonder what books the doggies like?
A book...
That is said in doggy language.
Stories about people getting dogs.
Maybe, although I'm sure the dogs are just happy to get the attention and some extra pats from the students.
Story number two.
In Murawinchi National Park in far west New South Wales lives Australia's rarest reptile.
Burrowing itself in damp rock crevices and among gorges, this reptile loves to hide.
It looks like a gecko.
It looks like a very camouflaged lizard.
A lizard that is trying to blend in with the rocks.
The skink is a type of lizard.
Muriwinchi National Park is looked after by many traditional owners and they know the skink as Gungaka, which means the hidden one.
Is it camouflage?
They are pretty small and can be very hard to spot, spending most of their life in shelter.
For the past 25 years, researchers have been studying the rare skink, and just recently it's been officially named as a new species.
By analysing the genetics and body shape of other Australian skinks they discovered the Gungaka is only found in the Murawinshi National Park.
It's about 500 kilometres from its closest relatives.
I'm surprised that a small reptile can be more rare than a crocodile.
Recent surveys have discovered there are fewer than 20 kungaka recorded at the national park.
They're one of Australia's most threatened reptiles.
Goannas and snakes are predators of the skink, but feral goats have been identified as a key threat to the Kunguka's survival.
Goats eat and trample the local habitat, meaning less food and shelter for the skinks, exposing them to predators and extreme temperatures.
Split all the vegetation into sections, so goats can eat one part and then the rest can eat the other parts.
Put it in captivity away from every other animal.
Well, you certainly have your thinking caps on.
First Nations custodians and government departments will work together to better understand the Kunguka skink and to help them survive in the wild.
And now it's time for... Wow of the Week.
This story made me go wow, because someday they might invent special communication gadget thingies, so whales can speak human language.
A recent study has found that sperm whales and humans may have more in common than we first thought.
They both need a breeze.
They both need water.
They both live in a family.
They both speak in a way.
You're right.
Despite it being over 90 million years since sperm whales and humans shared a common ancestor, it appears we still have quite a bit in common.
A study by Project SETI studied whales off the coast of Dominica in the Caribbean and found that the way the sperm whales communicate is remarkably similar to humans.
Sperm whales have their own alphabet, just like us, and make vowels which are used in the same ways as human speech.
The whales communicate in a series of short clicks which are called codas.
Looking closely at these clicks show that the whales can make different vowels through the short and elongated clicks or through the rising and falling tones.
The coda vocalisations are pretty complicated and are very similar to human phonetics and phonology.
That's the sound and the sound patterns that occur within our languages.
Well, that is very interesting and it is mostly like humans.
It can be difficult to study sperm whales.
They dive deep underwater for almost an hour at a time in search of squid to eat, only surfacing for 10 minutes every now and then.
It's when they appear above the surface that the animals have a chit-chat though.
They put their heads close together and click into each other's heads.
To a human, it sounds like short, separated sounds.
But with modern technology, including artificial intelligence, researchers have removed the gaps between the clicks and noticed patterns very similar to our communication.
Really?
This latest discovery has brought humans closer to one day being able to understand whales.
Maybe we'll even be able to communicate with them.
So what would you say to them?
Hello!
Starting strong.
I would ask the whale, can you get me some calamari?
Well, researchers say we're still a few years away from this.
But who knows what the future will bring?
And it's quiz time.
Let's see how much you remember.
Question one.
What animal did the fossil in the museum belong to?
A giant echidna.
Question two.
Is Bruce the Kea missing the top or bottom part of his beak?
The top.
Question three.
What's the name of the dog helping kids read?
Tashi.
Question four.
What does Gungaka mean in language?
The hidden one.
Question five.
What are these called?
I'll give you a hint.
It starts with the letter C. Coders.
If you'd like to be a Newstime listener legend, ask your grown-ups to head to the Newstime page on the ABC Kids Listen website.
Bye, Emily.
Thanks, Emily.
You're very welcome.
Well, I'm off to practise my animal noises.
Catch you next time.
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