Tuesday 02 August 2005 6:10:15 pm

NTPPS - Mrs Kraeter replies

Shaun - A Rosenbergs goanna is approx 1m. The tail is always longer than the body.
Ben - The goanna eats dead animals, insects, almost anything it can find.
Alex/Dylon - The echidnas survival strategiy is to bury itself so only the spikes (quills) are showing.
Natalie - Other animals found on Kangaroo Island are kangaroos, koalas (introduced) wallabies, birds, platypus (introduced), snakes, lizards, fur seals, sea lions, bats and more.
Aleisha/John - The weather is quite cold even though the sun is shining.
Steph - We haven't actually touched the echidnas however the quills are stiff and pointy.
Kane - Echidnas have quills to protec themselves from predators.
Jayden - Extinct animals of Kangaroo Island are The Giant Wombat and The Dwarf Emu.
Annabelle - The scenery is absolutely beautiful. The area is covered in natural bush. The lagoon is crystal clear. We walk along the wallaby tracks, so there is no man made destruction.
Moana/Dolan - Humans have lved on the island for over 40 thousand years.
Nicholas - Yes there are cows on the island. There is one dairy and the milk is used for cheese. The other cows are used for beef. There are also a lot of sheep.
Amie - Yes we saw a little joey coming out of a mothers pouch on Sunday.
Ashleigh/Ryan.B - There are approx. 4500 people who live on KI
Zoe/Aliesha - Lots more animals live on the island than on the mainland. Echidnas weigh between 2.5 and 7kg
Matthew - There are lots of kangaroos on the island. The females hang around the research centre all of the time.
Talia-Echidnas eat grubs, worms, insects, beetles and ants.
Tamara - An echidna moves around by walking.
Dale - I have met some very interesting people. Peggy and Mike (scientists) have so much knowledge. It has been fantastic working with other teachers to create information and activities for our students.
Adam - We are staying in tents so I haven't seen any huntsmen in the walls yet. The men are up in the little hut so they are the lucky ones to live with the spiders.
Ryan.B - Great question Ryan. Things that are used to keep the property eco friendly are composting, solar power, collecting rain water.
Victoria - Echidnas of about the same size have roughly the same amount of quills.
Matthew - There is only one species of goanna on KI, The Rosenbergs.
Annabelle/Tamara - The goanna's have laid their eggs in March so they are incubating naturally in the termite mounds. Studying the temerature & humidity in the termite mounds so they can be successfully artifically incubated in captivity (as this currently is not possible).
Jayden - Rosenbergs is rare as it has disappeared from 90% of its original habitat. Southern Brown Bandicoot still survives here. KI Dunnart only lives on KI.
Victoria - Echidnas do not see in colour. The eye is a rod retinal system. Both rods and cones are needed for colour vision. Studies of this kind have not been done on the goannas that we are aware of.
Jayden - Other animals are observed on the island & may even be studied by other scientists, however the major research done at Pelian Lagoon Research Centre is on echidnas & goannas.
Matthew - Echidnas burrow is holes of varying depths. Some are shallow holes and others are caves and tunnels that go deep and far into the ground.
Ryan.M - There are about 50 echidnas on the pennisula of KI which is where we are studying.
Victoria - The rainfall here on KI varies at different parts of the year and throughout the years. At the moment and over this winter KI has had very little rain.