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Ecosystem Guide Books Print E-mail

Accompanying our biology programmes and tours are the Ecosystem Guide Books. The first in the series, "Rainforest of tropical Australia", has now been released as a second edition. The second in the series "Ocean Surfaces of Australasia" is also available. They are found in all good bookstores in Cairns and in souvenir shops and info centres throughout the rainforest areas of North Queensland. If they haven't got it, ask them to order it in! It's RRP is $35-$40. It is also available online at:

www.ecosystem-guides.com

 

 
Activity Tour of Tropical Australia Print E-mail

This trip has been designed for more general interest and younger student groups. It visits a range of iconic regions, from the Great Barrier Reef, to the rainforests and rivers of the Daintree, to the caves and bush of the outback, and to the mountains, lakes and waterfalls of the Atherton Tablelands. We conduct a range of activities within the trip including hikes, ‘bushwalks', boat cruises, snorkeling to wildlife viewing and night-spotlighting. We see tropical rainforest, coal reefs, kangaroos, shops and beaches. With sufficient lead time, the trip can have it's focus and design changed to suit the interests of the group. You are guided by a biologist or ecotourism qualified guide for the entire trip, and other various local guides during the tours. We stay in a range of accommodation, from lodges in the jungle, to hotels in tropical cities, to permanent tents in the bush. We taste of a range of food, from hotel breakfasts, to picnic lunches, to BBQ dinners, to local fruits.

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Biology of Tropical Australia Print E-mail

This tour combines marine biology, botany, zoology and ecology into a full 10 day tour programme of tropical ecosystems. It is designed to take in as wide range of ecosystems as possible, going from the deeper water reefs, along the coastal beaches and mangroves, into the lowland rainforest, up into the mountain forests, and finally into the savanna woodlands and wetlands of the outback.

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Plants

Cycads
Cycads belong to the division Cycadophyta. They were one of the dominant plant forms back in the Mesozoic, the 'Age of the Dinosaurs', when they would have comprised much of the forest as flowering trees do today. Many species of cycads are toxic, containing the lethal compound macrozamin, (including the species found in the rainforests here), and it has even been suggested that this high toxicity initially evolved in this ancient group to deter predation by dinosaurs.
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Birds

Spoonbills and Ibis
There are from 26 to 33 species of Spoonbills and Ibis, depending on your classification. They are all large birds, usually white with very long, distinctive bills specialized for feeding. They usually have bare skin on their faces, and unlike Herons, they fly with their necks fully outstretched. They are quite gregarious at breeding and feeding times especially if sharing a coincident food source. Ibis and Spoonbills have no larynx and therefore they are practically voiceless; except for feeble grunts and harsh croaks or when begging for food as juveniles. Ibis are usually recognized by their long curved bill. Spoonbills, as the name suggests, have distinctive long bills with the end shaped like a spoon.
ibis
Australian White Ibis

 

Mammals

Rock Wallabies
There are about 15 species of 'Rock Wallabies', Petrogale spp. Many of them look very similar to each other, and before the use of genetic testing to determine species, there was were thought to be far fewer species. They are generally very small kangaroos that live within rocky outcrops.
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