WILD LIFE AT EMU
Some Animals of Emu
Emu
Emu Claypan was named in September 1952 when VIPs visited the area with Len Beadell. One of the scienists noticed an emu's footprint on the claypan, it was at first called "the claypan with the emu's footmark on it". No doubt there are many emus in the area; I won't write about emus, they are well known.Camel
As I turned our aeroplane onto landing final approach, Rob yelled "look a kangaroo;... no...no its a camel". Being busy preparing to land, I never saw the kangaroo that morphed to camel. I did see camel footprints and bog marks on claypan during my 3 hour visit in 2006. Wild camels are becoming more comon in central Australia. Camels and camel products are being exported to Arabia and elsewhere.
Camel foot prints on Emu Claypan in 2006
Dingo
Emu Claypan is on the dingo side (roughly 150 km north and west) of the "Dog Proof Fence". Dingo, the Australian native dog is in danger of extinction because of interbreeding with introduced domestic dog breeds. The dingo is said to have been in Australia for about 3000 years. Dingos are reputed to put environmental pressure on cats and foxes, which in turn helps native smaller animals that are hunted by cats and foxes. The "Dog Proof Fence" protects sheep in South Eastern Austalia. It runs 5,600 km from west of Penong, which is between Ceduna and the W.A. border to the Great Dividing Range in Queensland. John Woodford,(2003) map pp viii-ix, p1, (also pp.66-67 are related to atomic testing)Len Beadell tells of sleeping in the open in 1952 at what was to be called Emu. In the morning he found large dingo footprints around his sleeping bag.
A few nights before arriving at emu,while camping under our aeroplane, I awoke to a dingo's howl, I replied and had a howling duo with a curious dingo. My companions were amused; it was not full moon.
At Ayres Rock some 400 km north of Emu, I recall being followed by dingos near the camping ground on at dusk on 3 August 1978, I felt almost threatened and was concerned not to trip lest they be upon me. That night the dingos looking for take-away food raided the cooking utensils outside our tent. Two years and two weeks later at the same camping ground a male dingo in company with a female took nine week old Azaria Chamberlain from a tent.
Thorny Devil
A thorny devil is shown on cinema film taken on the Emu Claypan's dry and cracked surface (like the surface shown with the camel footprints above) in 1953.This cute beast is about the length of a pencil. Some of its scales are spiky to help it protect itself.
It eats only ants, between 1000 to 3000 for each meal, one at a time. It drinks rain and dew that runs along the spikes and into its mouth.
Thorny Devils are native to Emu Claypan
I took this photo in Alice Springs Desert Park
Thorny Devil (Moloch horridus)
Bibliography
The Dog Fence, James Woodford (2003) The Text Publishing Co. MelbourneBlast the Bush, Len Beadell(1967)
Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests in Australia(1985)
ABC Radio National interview with Frank Cole broadcast 8 October 2005 Verbatim
Emu (2004). [Online], Available: www.kidcyber.com.au
Dingo (2005). [Online], Available: www.kidcyber.com.au
Thorny Devil (2000). [Online], Available: www.kidcyber.com.au
The background colour of this page is the webmaster's recollection of the colour of the soil at Emu Claypan.