ABC Listen. Hello there, my friends.
It's Ruby here and you're listening to an episode of Newstime.
Hi, Ruby. Hi, Ruby.
Today on Newstime, we're going to meet a teenage turtle protector.
We'll also hear about an artist who's selling Spidey -inspired masterpieces.
And then we'll go searching for undiscovered bugs in our Wow of the Week.
What do you think? Should we get into it?
I'm buzzing to go. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
But if you were going to try, how would you go about it?
You search something up on the internet and then you learn how to train a dog.
You get a tree and start spinning it around and make the dog spin with it.
and then when it does that, tell it to sit and give it a treat.
You say go train yourself, dog.
It takes a lot of work to teach your backyard best friend to do things like roll over and fetch and speak.
But dogs can also learn skills to do a job.
You might have heard recently on Newstime about therapy dogs, but there's also a canine occupation that's very handy for farmers.
Working cattle dogs.
What are cattle dogs?
Cattle dogs are the ones that help the cows to get into the paddock thing.
They kind of help farmers, sort of like an assistant, but they're a dog.
That's right. Working cattle dogs listen very carefully to their handlers, who skillfully guide them to move the mob of cattle exactly where it needs to go.
Wide cast, but it's when they go really far from the owner to get the cattle.
back to where they should be.
Recently, in northern New South Wales, the best 180 working cattle dogs in the country were put through their paces at the Australian Working Cattle Dog Championships.
The top dog was Eva the Border Collie.
She listened intently to Luke, her handler, and moved cattle through a whole bunch of different obstacles.
The winning dog is so cute.
You. So fluffy! Eva and Luke don't just win the trophy.
They also scored $11 ,000.
You can buy 11 ,000 dog food bags.
You can make an obstacle course for your dog.
Buy treats to train it to do more things and also buy more, like, cattle or stock to get the dog even better.
Well done, Eva and Luke.
That is one pawsome effort.
Story number four. In the state of Queensland, on the banks of Bundaberg's Burnet River, a teenager named Leilani is working hard to protect an endangered creature.
It's a toad with its eyes on the side of the ears.
It kind of looks like a vampire tortoise because it looks like there's little things sticking out of the bottom of its chin.
It looks like a tortoise wearing a hat.
This is one special reptile.
it's known as the white -throated snapping turtle, or Milby in Tarrabalangboonda language.
Indigenous languages of Queensland.
Correct. These turtles are very important.
They're only known to live in three Queensland rivers and being endangered, they need all the help they can get.
So Leilani is part of something called the Wild Project, where she and other teenagers learn from Indigenous mentors about how caring for the Milby is part of caring for country.
For the next generation to learn responsibility.
Yep. What do you think Leilani and her team are doing to look after these turtles?
By giving them shelter and putting them in zoos.
That they're taking some in if they find them and studying them and figuring out why they're getting endangered.
Good guesses. This team is searching in riverbank sand for turtle eggs and moving any they find to a safe spot away from predators like goannas.
Maybe some predators are trying to eat it and it might look like food to predators.
Yes, and by putting the eggs somewhere safe, it means there's a better chance that locals will get to see new generations of freshwater turtles.
turtles. Leilani says she loves being outside and it's always an incredible experience finding a clutch. That's the word for a group of turtle eggs.
Nice work Leilani. Story number three.
You might have been shivering through some frosty mornings lately but summer is on the way.
That will mean days swimming, barbecues and hopefully a game or two of cricket if the conditions are good.
Sunny. You want it sort of wet so the ball skins more on cricket.
You don't want a super dry pitch or then it's going to go really slow.
A new report's been released looking at the way climate change is impacting cricket, and scientists are warning that rising temperatures around the world could put the sport into a bit of a spin.
You see, summers are getting hotter, especially in places like Australia and Pakistan, stand where cricket is popular.
That means that cricketers and coaches and umpires, oh, they're standing out in the sun in very hot temperatures without any shade.
That extreme heat can make people sick.
You have to, when you're batting, you have to wear a helmet and it gets you really sweaty and you have gloves to protect your hand.
Why don't they just play cricket in the ovals.
That's a good idea, but it's hard to hit a six inside, and there are plenty of ovals across Australia that don't have roofs.
Make the sun smaller so it's less hotter.
It'll be cancelled and you wouldn't be allowed to play.
Cricket won't be a sport anymore because it stays hot.
Well, don't pull up stumps just yet.
Think of this report as a warning.
If we want to enjoy cricket into the future something needs to change now!
One suggestion is to bring in new heat policy guidelines around the world so that players can be kept safe from the scorching Sun. It's a good reminder that we all have to keep doing our bit to protect our planet.
Don't litter you need to care for the country.
Story number two! Okay friends let's put on our painting Smocks' and raise our paintbrushes.
If you were going to create your very own masterpiece, what would it be?
A landscape of a beach. I would paint it on a canvas.
Like pancakes in a graphic novel and I would use graffiti.
This is a weird one but I would paint Kobe Bryant walking out of a basketball stadium.
One keen artist from Adelaide is Cole White.
Cole lives with Down syndrome and is often non -verbal.
That means he shares information without using words.
One way he likes to do that is by painting.
They're very colourful and it looks like he used graffiti for the spider one.
They're very artistic and unique.
They are very beautiful and I love them.
Cole uses all different kinds of materials to create his artworks, like spray paint, stencils and mosaics.
And his biggest inspiration, his family and their favourite things, things like cats and sneakers, Spiderman, bicycles.
His family likes stuff and he wants to try and show people stuff that he does.
To create memories.
Cole has created so many paintings, he's been able to hold his very first exhibition and it was a success.
Lots of people came through for a look.
He would be impressed about how much people come to his shop.
People loved Cole's art.
Half of his artworks were sold.
He could maybe buy more art supplies if he needed to make more paintings.
Yep, Cole's going to buy more canvases and more paint so that he can keep creating more masterpieces inspired by his family.
and now my friends let's put down our paintbrushes again because it's time for wow of the week this story made me go wow because I don't know about any other insects that lay their eggs on other insects this story made me go wow because students found a new insect in the Queensland town of Jinjin students at the local high school have been buzzing around around their school yard catching insects.
And it's all in the name of science.
This school was one of 50 in Australia to be selected to be part of a new citizen science project, which is on a quest to discover a new species of insect.
These students collected hundreds of insects in tent -like structures made of netting called malaise traps.
And then they were sent over to Canada to be inspected.
After months of waiting, the school found out something very exciting.
They had uncovered a brand new species of insect.
What is that creature?
It looks just very weird. I don't know how to describe it.
It looks like a bee plus a wasp, big antennas.
This, my friends, is a parasitic wasp.
And in honour of the Jinjin School community that discovered it, it's been named Cotesia ginginensis.
Cotesia ginginensis.
Cotesia ginginensis.
Cotesia ginginensis.
Very well done. This wasp discovery is so new that researchers really don't know much about it at all.
They can see it's got little wings and long antennae and that it lays its eggs on an insect.
When the eggs hatch, the creatures that come out end up eating the insect.
That's sad for that creature.
I would not want to be a bug because then I might get eaten by these creatures.
The students say finding this wasp has helped their understanding of science and increased their respect for nature.
It's a good reminder there's still plenty of species out there to be discovered.
Whenever you see an insect, always inspect it.
You should always know that there's always going to be more to discover.
And would you look at that, my friends.
We have discovered the end of another countdown.
Thanks, Ruby. Thank you.
You are so welcome.
Let's do it all again very soon.
Catch you next time.
Bye. See you later.
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