Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 5h

Because their legs are so short, young #wombats just seem to flow over the land when they walk.
#WombatWednesday #Tasmania #MammalWatching #WildOz #wombat

5 36

Reposted by Jack Ashby

Bob Chipman 🔜PAX East @bobchipman.bsky.social · 7d

I always thought these were small and it still weird me out that they're kinda big

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 7d

Sometimes a #wombat's eyes light up and they move with a sudden sense of purpose, to nowhere in particular.
#WombatWednesday #Tasmania #MammalWatching #WildOz #wombats

6 6 33

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 15h

Some excellent #orchids with excellent names in #Tasmania & #RoyalNationalPark:
Three-horned bird orchid (Chiloglottis triceratops, which Wikipedia reckons is named as it resembles the dinosaur, rather then because it has three "horns" on its tongue).
Red bearded #orchid.
Sun orchid.
Mayfly orchid.🌸

8 38

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 1d

It looks like Mama Frog may not have chosen the best spot to lay her eggs in #RoyalNationalPark. I'm amazed they've not been eaten by birds or other predators - perhaps they taste awful. 🐸
#frogs #herping #WildOz

1 1 19

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 1d

Thanks for having back me, Australia! Trip No. 21 was a busy one - met a bunch of #wombats and #echidnas, waded through a lot of snow, gave a few talks, caught up with some dear buddies, and generally felt awestruck ince again by the world's best wildlife 🤩

A list of trips handwritten in the front of a birding field guide. The most recent is No. 21, listing locations in Tasmania and Sydney

A selfie of Jack Ashby in a snowy mountain scene

4 31

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 3d

I know it seems conceited to look for your own books in every bookstore you pass, but after all that goes into writing a book, there really is a sense of accomplishment when you spot them out in the world. Really thrilled to see #NaturesMemory, #PlatypusMatters & WILD all across #Tasmania & #Sydney.

A bookshop shelf display, showing Nature's Memory, with its cover facing out

A bookshop shelf, including Platypus Matters

A bookshop shelf, including Nature's Memory

A bookshop shelf, including Wild: A Family Guide to the Animal Kingdom

3 1 29

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 4d

A baby #humpback #whale rises first - with the white of its belly spread all up its side - then mum rises, nose to tail, off of the Tasman Peninsula, #Tasmania. 🐋
#MammalWatching #WhaleWatching #WildOz #whales

1 6 41

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 5d

As platypus is derived from Greek (meaning flat foot), the plural isn't platypi (which is what it would be if it derived from Latin) - if we stuck with the Greek it would be platypodes, but the English platypuses is more standard.

2

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 5d

Platypuses hunt underwater (their bills detect the electricity given off by their preys' muscles), and cram the food into cheek-pouches, then come to the surface to chew it up.
#Tasmania #MammalWatching #WildOz #platypuses

7 49 160

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 5d

This is this evening! Cone along if you're near #Hobart #Tasmania!

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 12d

TASMANIANS!
This time next week I'll be at The #Hobart Bookshop talking about #NaturesMemory: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Natural History Museums, in conversation with local author @zoekeansci.bsky.social.
It's free - come along. Book here:
www.trybooking.com/events/landi... #Tasmania

Author Event: Nature's Memory (Jack Ashby)

We are delighted to be hosting an in-conversation event to celebrate the release of Nature’s Memory by zoologist and writer Jack Ashby, joined by...

www.trybooking.com

2 7

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 7d

A wet wombatlet in a wet land.
#WombatWednesday
#Tasmania #MammalWatching #wombat #WildOz #wombats

14 60

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 7d

They're definitely fluffier! (They're a different subspecies to mainland Tasmania, introduced to Maria from Flinders Island in the Bass Strait)

1 1

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 7d

Sometimes a #wombat's eyes light up and they move with a sudden sense of purpose, to nowhere in particular.
#WombatWednesday #Tasmania #MammalWatching #WildOz #wombats

4 15 44

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 7d

I spoke to ABC Radio #Hobart about #NaturesMemory & life behind the scenes at natural history #museums, inc. what gets left off display, trends in taxidermy #thylacines & links between colonial violence in #Tasmania & museum collecting. From 2.10 (24mins from the end):
www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

3 25

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 8d

Just a #platypus having a scratch.
#Tasmania #MammalWatching #WildOz #platypuses

1 21 85

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 8d

For sure they are! As platypus is derived from Greek (meaning flat foot), the plural isn't platypi (which is what it would be if it derived from Latin) - if we stuck with the Greek it would be platypodes, but the English platypuses is more standard.

1 2

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 8d

A hotel in #Hobart has a #thylacine skin hanging on the wall in a room displaying fine art. The private ownership of art is considered "normal", but treating (and trading) specimens of extinct species as "art" is complicated for many reasons, not least that it presents them as objects to be desired.

A framed skin of a thylacine, lacking arms and legs. The text "Tasmanian tiger" is scrolled across the top in the frame. It has a brass label plate like an artwork.

The sandstone exterior of a building with a sign reading "The Henry Jones Art Hotel"

1 15

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 9d

The measure for how excellent a city is should be how quickly you can see something wonderful.
It took less than an hour after arriving in #Hobart for @drdevildave.bsky.social and me to see a #platypus, which is of course the most wonderful thing there is. #Tasmania #MammalWatching #WildOz

4 24 160

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 9d

Bennett's #wallabies are one of the easiest mammals to see in #Tasmania. They're named after museum curator George Bennett, who died #OTD in 1893. Bennett sent many of the #platypus specimens that reached Europe in the 19th century, including those which helped prove they produce milk.

A Bennett's wallaby sat on its tail, basking in the sun

1 3 40

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 11d

Every time I come to #Australia, I play a little game to see how long it takes before I hear You're the Voice by John Farnham. The record is 45 minutes; the average is under 24hrs.
I've now been here a week and I'm yet to hear it - I consider this a bloomin' outrage.
youtu.be/tbkOZTSvrHs?...

John Farnham - You're the Voice

YouTube video by JohnFarnhamVEVO

youtu.be

2 16

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 11d

Tasmania is a roadkill hotspot for animals, which draws #TasmanianDevils to the roads to scavenge. I think these are the only road signs I've seen with an animal's conservation status on. #Tasmania #MammalWatching #WildOz

A road in the bush, surrounded by trees. A sign at the road's edge has an illustration of a Tasmanian devil with "Endangered" written beneath it, and "40km/h
Slow down
Watch out"

2 7 35

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 12d

This week I had planned to be surveying #TasmanianDevils with @utas.edu.au. It got cancelled, but I'm here anyway! Without trapping them for #fieldwork, the chances of seeing devils are sadly small, but knowing they're here from the scats they leave is a definite comfort. #MammalWatching #WildOz

Tasmanian devil poo on dried ferns. Small bones are visible

2 1 23

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 12d

TASMANIANS!
This time next week I'll be at The #Hobart Bookshop talking about #NaturesMemory: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Natural History Museums, in conversation with local author @zoekeansci.bsky.social.
It's free - come along. Book here:
www.trybooking.com/events/landi... #Tasmania

Author Event: Nature's Memory (Jack Ashby)

We are delighted to be hosting an in-conversation event to celebrate the release of Nature’s Memory by zoologist and writer Jack Ashby, joined by...

www.trybooking.com

2 5 13

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 12d

An #echidna showing off its many excellent features:
🐜Long ant-eating, electro-receptive snout.
♠️Massive digging feet.
🌵Anti-predator spines.
💅 Huge backward-pointing hind-claws, to scratch in between their spines.
🧥Thick fur coat to survive winter in #Tasmania.
#MammalWatching #WildOz #echidnas

1 19 74

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 13d

I've never been more pleased to see #PlatypusMatters on sale than in the little shop at #CradleMountain Lodge. I started writing it by the fire here on evenings after #fieldwork, and have spent countless hours sat on this log - just minutes away - watching for #platypuses It has come full circle 🥰

A shop-display of books, including Platypus Matters: The Extraordinary Story of Australian Mammals, among other Tasmanian-themed publications

Platypus Matters on an armchair in front of a fireplace

Platypus Matters on a mossy log next to a dark stream

5 35