Question for Simon Archibold and 'Fuscus'

[Tommo]

i think that if exotics did become legal then some like corns and tortoises could easily be bred on a larger scale. i saw on the croc hunter once that steve was showing of some burm hatchies at australia zoo. i think that we would have to import to establish more blooodlines for breeding stock but i think that imports sould be put under strict quarenten. then after the breeders start producing then all of the animals should be microchiped. a new permit system should also be put in like the nsw for example most exotics should be owned by those with a class two permits.

 

[Daisy]

Fuscus,

Not one to let sleeping dogs lie I thought I'd answer your old posts.

Now I, along with the powers to be, don't believe that water pythons could establish themselves in SA. For one, there is no obvious barrier to them reaching SA, after all they have had thousands of years to do it, so why not? This is the degree of risk I was talking about before. there are no physicial barriers to prevent WPs from reaching SA so it must be something else.
...
Why do you quote from newspapers without doing further research? It only diminishes your argument when you use a poorly written reference.

Have a look at the water pythons distribution. Note that it touches the tip of the murray-darling basin. You can work the rest out.

I don't have Cogger here but the distribution map I have for the water python only shows them in FNQ, northern NT & the Kimberly region, just grazing the Murray Darling system in Qld. Central Australia has been arid for approx. the last 4 million years. There is a hell of a lot of extremely transient water system for a semi-aquatic snake to cross before it got back to a relatively stable wetland area. Any population moving down in the good years could be wiped out by the next drought. I'm with Splitmore, I reckon Central Oz desert makes a pretty good bio-geographic barrier. You are right that poor research can diminish an argument.

I'm not saying the water python could establish in southern SA. The climate maybe too cold, particularly since they rarely brood thier eggs. All I'm saying is we don't know they can't. Adaptation can move at a fast clip sometimes. Only one way to find out and that is through a release, which is the last thing we want to happen.

Splitmore's original point is still valid. Non local indigenous species can form feral populations, whether this or that one has or not. There is a hypocracy in banning exotics and not potentially feral non-local natives.

Not having a go, just enjoying a vigorous debate.

Flowerboy

 

[Daisy]

PS I still would rather keep the exotics out but I'm with sarabell, I want a chameleon. They're so cool!!

 

[Fuscus]

I'm with Splitmore, I reckon Central Oz desert makes a pretty good bio-geographic barrier. You are right that poor research can diminish an argument.

I am not denying that the central oz desert is not a formidable barrier. I am saying that the Murray-darling may provide a pathway down to SA. Australia has unpredicable rainfall. This means that it is possible that there could have been enough wet years stuing together for the animal for the animal to establish and move down the river. (Incedently, some of my older books have the EWD restricted to the coast, while the Wilson-Swan book has them along the Murry-Darling as well! Are they spreading (possibly with mans help) or is it that the animals have only just been noticed (unlikely).
[/quote]

There is a hypocracy in banning exotics and not potentially feral non-local natives.

Please reread my original post, I said basically the same thing. I also think that moving animals from north to south has minimal risk while moving animals from east to west (and vica verca) is highly risky.I keep hearing that we have a feral population of EWD in the Adelaide hills. Come the warmer weather I'll be looking for them and publishing photos if I find them. There is also another unnamed introduced species found there. looks like I'll be looking for that as well.
And since we are back here I had a talk to a top avaculturialist about the RTBC on KI. He agreed that long-billed corellas are not on KI (but was surprised when I showed him the photos from the adelaide parklands) but claimed that the corella is not a serious problem to the RTBC as the black cockies are a much larger bird and go for bigger nest hollows. However there is another self-introduced bird now on KI, the sulfur-creasted cockatoo, and that does pose serious problems for the Glossies.

 

[Hickson]

There is a hypocracy in banning exotics and not potentially feral non-local natives.


Flowerboy

Daisy,

There is a small flaw in your argument - you are presuming exotics are banned because of their potential to form feral populations. While this is one very good reason for banning exotics, it is not the only one. There are many exotics diseases and parasites not present in Australia that are prevalent overseas. Most of the diseases native reptiles have are not localised to one particular area, so that is not a concern when moving natives around the country.

Because many of the diseases here have evolved with the reptiles over millions of years, our herps are able to cope with them. But exotic diseases could severely deplete our wild fauna - or even cause some species to go extinct.



Hix