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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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Birds

Anhingas
Anhingas
Anhingas
The Anhingas were once placed in the same family as the Cormoramts and Shags; they are now recognized as not being as closely related as once assumed. Depending on the author, there are either 2 or 4 species of Anhinga. These birds are found all over the world, and subsequently have quite a few different names. The name ‘Anhinga’ is used mainly in the Americas, and was originally a Brazilian name for the bird. It is now the genus name. It may catch it’s fishy prey with a fast stabbing action of the bill. This behaviour has given the bird the other common name of ‘darter’. When swimming on the surface of the water, their body is usually under the waterline and only it’s neck and head are seen, giving it the appearance of a snake, and thus resulting in another common name ‘Snake bird’.
 

Mammals

Fruit Bats and Flying Fox
The latter group includes the old world flying foxes and is quite different from the 'micro-bats' Like the 'insect bats', these animals usually roost communally, hanging upside down. Unlike their smaller relatives, however, they tend not to sleep in dark places, but roost hanging off trees.
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