Tuesday 7 February 2012

Tree Lobster (part 1)

Talk about lucky, this creature is extremely lucky to not be extinct.

The Lord Howe Island stick insect, (dryococelus australis) or "Tree Lobster" was thought to extinct in 1930 following the grounding of the S S Makambo in 1918. Like rats deserting a sinking ship the on board black rats do what rats do & deserted. Oh, but what could they eat?

The last tree lobster (which people had used for fishing bait) was seen in about 1920. Beyond this point our strange stick insect was thought to be extinct.

Now I say "strange" not just because this creature is a stick insect but because it exhibits an extremely rare behaviour for the insect world. The male & female form a bond. After this the male will follow the female around and she will effectively get to dictate the activities. Some might say "get use to it chaps".

14 miles South-East of Howe Island is the world's tallest sea stack (562 metres or 1844 feet high). In 1960 a group of climbers visited this place called "Ball's Pyramid". The climbers discovered a dead tree lobster. In following years more dead ones were found by other expeditions.

In 2001 a team went back and rediscovered a population of stick insects living under a single Melaleuca shrub. By population you imagine that now these creatures were saved. No, they found 20 to 30 of them.

"Tree Lobster" - stage 1.
I hope to tell you more tomorrow if I can keep this cold away (now I think there are some things we would like to go extinct).

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