From: gil@tillage.DIALix.oz.au (Gil Hardwick)
Newsgroups: sci.environment
Subject: Australia, farming, and kangaroos
Distribution: world
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 92 09:10:41 GMT
Organization: STAFF STRATEGIES - Anthropologists & Training Agents


In article <1992Dec08.201750.141697@watson.ibm.com> andrewt@watson.ibm.com writes:

 >  
 > In article <723797315snx@tillage.DIALix.oz.au> gil@tillage.DIALix.oz.au (Gil
 > Hardwick) writes:
 > >Quolls are now extinct on the mainland and restricted to Tasmania
 > >where they are known scavengers.
 >  
 > The Eastern Quoll might be extinct on the mainland but several other
 > Quoll species are not.  The Northern Quoll, for example, remains common.
 > Quolls take a lot of live prey (as well as carrion) but they are too small
 > to attack kangaroos.

As has been pointed out to me a week or more ago.

 > > The aborigines brought dogs with them when they arrived (dingoes).
 >  
 > Man has been in Australia much longer (50,000+ years) than dingos
 > (probably < 5000).

Of course that may well be the case, but it does not exclude the fact
that humans did in fact bring dogs with them; I hardly think they swam
all that way across by themselves through waters teeming with sharks
and crocodiles. Even if one did make it, that leaves the question of
it finding itself a suitable mate, unless you want to argue that a
bitch heavy with pups did all that island hopping by herself to get
here.

Another issue involves the complex of Aboriginal races and cultures
on this continent, by no means isolated from the neighbouring islands
and cultures to the north, while the archaeologists report indications
of a sudden massive cultural shift about 5,000 years ago.

 > I can't see why you regard these population fluctuations as a problem.
 > They are an important adaptation to Australian conditions.  Much of the
 > Australian Pelican's breeding occurs in huge aggregations on these temporary
 > inland lakes.  Such rich supplies of food are scarce on permanent waters.
 > If they did not exploit these breeding opportunities their population would be
 > much smaller.  Their subsequent dispersal over huge distances when these
 > temporary ecosystems collapse is a necessary consequence.

Goodness, what people regard as a problem is entirely subjective,
isn't it? That is why we have such a sophisticated democratic system
in place here in this country.  What reasons you can see are not at
issue, only that as I have pointed out to you previously the people
here in Australia have already made the decision for reasons of their
own that harvesting kangaroos is appropriate, such that the current
issues are merely concerned with seasonal quotas. As they are for
fishing, yes?

Why don't you kick up a stink about culling mullet instead, or does
it just happen that they are not so cute and cuddly?

The point I made about pelicans was, as you know, within the context
of a wider discussion about very large populations occuring from time
to time. I am not prepared to hypothesise with you about what might or
might not happen were conditions different; I am afraid conditions are
very much as they are here in Australia, and that is what we work to.

 > The results of this adaptation can be seen clearly in Australia's two stilt
 > species. The Black-Winged Stilt, a cosmopolitan species/superspecies, breeds
 > regularly in small numbers around permanent/semi-permanent wetlands.  It is
 > largely limited to the wetter parts of Australia. The Banded Stilt, an
 > Australian endemic, breeds sporadically in huge aggregations on temporary
 > inland lakes.  It ranges over much of the drier parts of Australia.

Well, we are not really that interested in eating stilts, or pelicans
for that matter.

--
Gil Hardwick                          Internet:  gil@tillage.DIALix.oz.au
Independent Consulting Ethnologist                  Fidonet:  3:690/660.6
PERTH, Western Australia                         Voice:  (+61 9) 399 2401
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