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Marsupial mole makes rare appearance in WA

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Marsupial mole makes rare appearance in WA

From the ABC By Erin Parke

Mole

Rare Marsupial mole in WA’s Kimberley


Aboriginal women in Western Australia’s north have encountered a strange, silky-haired mole that is only spotted a handful of times each decade.

The marsupial mole is found only in desert areas of northern and central Australia, and rarely surfaces from underground.

Kate Crossing, who co-ordinates an Indigenous Protected Area in the Gibson Desert, said she was stunned to see one of the animals during a field trip with the local Aboriginal rangers near the Northern Territory border.

“We saw this little golden creature run along the track in front of us, and as I brought the car to a stop, one of our rangers, Yelti, yelled out ‘Kakarratul!’ and jumped out and grabbed hold of it,” Ms Crossing said.

“It was less than the size of your hand, and it’s just this golden-coloured animal, with a little pink nose, and it lives almost all its life underground.

“It is so rare to see them above ground, so we were just amazed … we were so lucky.”
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The women, who are from the remote community of Kiwirrkurra, quickly took some photographs and video footage, before releasing the animal a little way off the road.

Ms Crossing said there was tremendous excitement as they were able to touch the fast-burrowing creature, which they call Kakarratul.

“Some of the people who’ve spent more time in the desert before [white] contact had seen a mole before, but not for many years, and there were younger people who’d never seen one properly,” she said.

“It had beautifully soft fur, and it looked really delicate … but it also had really strong front legs and feet. When we put it down, off the road, it went straight down and it was gone in less than 30 seconds.”

Relatively little is known about the marsupial mole, which is so well adapted to living underground it has no functioning eyes or ears.

Marsupial mole found by WA Indigenous rangers

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World’s oldest dog dies aged 30

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Maggie the world’s oldest dog

‘World’s oldest dog’ Maggie dies at the age of 30 leaving her owner devastated.

From the Daily Mail.


Maggie the Kelpie, an Australian dog that was thought to be the oldest in the world, has died at the age of 30 leaving her owner devastated.

She was the best friend of Victorian dairy farmer Brian McLaren who confirmed the news, saying that Maggie passed away peacefully on Sunday night.

The beloved dog was still wandering around the dairy in Woolsthorpe, west of Melbourne, and growling at cats in the weeks before her death.

But Mr McLaren said that the Kelpie, who was more than 200 in dog years, went downhill in her last two days.

Maggie the Kelpie, an Australian dog that was thought to be the oldest in the world, has died at the age of 30 leaving her owner Brian McLaren (pictured) devastated

She was 30 years old, she was still going along nicely last week, she was walking from the dairy to the office and growling at the cats and all that sort of thing,’ Mr McLaren told the Weekly Times.

‘She just went downhill in two days and I said yesterday morning when I went home for lunch … ‘She hasn’t got long now’.

‘I’m sad, but I’m pleased she went the way she went.’

Maggie has already been buried beside the McLaren’s other dog in a marked grave under a pine tree.

Mr McLaren said that the Kelpie, who was approaching her third century in human years, went downhill in her last two days.

The beloved dog was still wandering around the dairy in Woolsthorpe, west of Melbourne, and growling at cats in the weeks before her death

A man’s best friend

‘We were great mates, it is a bit sad,’ he said. 

Maggie was a contender for the oldest dog in the world, but Mr McLaren lost the original paperwork for the dog, meaning that her age could not be independently verified.

The Western District owner previously spoke about the fact that his youngest son, Liam, was four years old when they bought Kelpie Maggie as a young pup. Liam is now 34.

Officially, the title of the oldest dog in the world still belongs to Bluey, an Australian cattle-dog from Rochester in Victoria, which reached 29 years and five months. 

According to the Guinness Book of Records his owner bought him as a puppy in 1910 and he grew up to work among the sheep and cattle until he was put down in November 1939.

Dogs are amazing creatures. There are so many stories about how a dog has saved its owner, or travelled enormous distances to be with its owner, or how they sniff out drugs, explosives even cancer.

Here’s an amazing story about some dogs that travelled hundreds of kilometres to be with their owners. Dogs are undoubtedly our best friends.

 


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