Explore Magazine - Summer 2016/17

AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE SUMMER 2016/17

Spiders – Alive & Deadly Lord Howe Island expedition Glimpse behind-the-scenes How to combat wildlife trafficking

CONTENTS 4

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10

News

DNA evidence combats trafficking

Riddle in the Pacific

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14

17

What's in a name?

Unlocking the vault

Sea slug saga

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24

27

Spiders are alive and deadly

Sequencing the future

What the Scott sisters saw

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31

32

Mudmen unmasked

A beauty of a frog

Facebook for birds

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EXPLORE ISSN 1833-752X Summer 2016/17

Explore, the news and events magazine of the Australian Museum and Australian Museum Members, is published biannually.

Copyright Unless otherwise credited, all text and images appearing in Explore magazine are copyright © Australian Museum, 2016. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, you may not reproduce or copy any part of this publication without the written permission of the Australian Museum.

Please contact the Editor for further information.

Views expressed are not necessarily those of the Museum.

Editor Melinda Ham Design Trudi Fletcher Production Jenny Hooker Prepress Spitting Image Sydney Printing Peachy Print We welcome your feedback, comments and enquiries. Email the Editor at Melinda@melindaham.com.au Australian Museum 1 William Street Sydney NSW 2010 Open daily 9.30am – 5pm (closed 25 Dec) T 02 9320 6000 (switch) T 02 9320 6225 (Members) Australian Museum Trust President Catherine Livingstone AO Director & CEO Kim McKay AO

Behind-the-scenes sleuth

Environmental responsibility Explore is printed on Revive, a 100% recycled paper.

Cover: Photograph © James Horan

australianmuseum.net.au

FROM THE DIRECTOR The Hon Mike Baird, Premier of New South Wales, Kim McKay AO and Brian Hartzer, Westpac CEO, with Australia’s first bank note in the Long Gallery

Welcome to a very special edition of Explore, celebrating our 190th anniversary in 2017.

As you’ll discover in this issue, our activities for this milestone year celebrate the rich history of Australia’s first museum, while looking towards its future.

It’s been a year since our last issue, and during this brief hiatus the Australian Museum has continued its transformation.

As we enter the final decade of the AM’s second century, we begin the restoration of the historic Long Gallery – Australia’s longest continually exhibiting gallery. It will reopen in October 2017 as the Westpac Long Gallery, housing the new exhibition – 200 treasures of the Australian Museum – coinciding with Westpac’s 200th anniversary. We’re delighted to work with Australia’s first bank and the NSW Government.

We also recently opened our major summer exhibition, Spiders – Alive & Deadly, which you can read about in this issue. The exhibition showcases the latest immersive interactive experiences and highlights current scientific research.

In 2017, we will honour the AM’s record as a pioneer of Australian science with a Lord Howe Island expedition. We’ll also dive deep into the vaults of the museum to share the best from our science photography archives.

While respecting the AM’s heritage, we continue to plan for our future and have just completed the barrabuwari muru master plan (meaning “future path” in the Sydney language). Following this path, the AM will turn itself inside out; liberate more of its archived collections, and open up more of its historic site to the public. I look forward to sharing these future plans with you.

As always, I’d like to thank the AM team for all their hard work, and acknowledge the AM Trust, in particular President Catherine Livingstone, who continues to be a champion for the museum.

Finally, I would also like to thank the Australian Museum Foundation, the Lizard Island Reef Research Foundation, AM members and our wider donor community.

In this issue, you can read about many of the programs, exhibitions and research they have supported. Please join us as we celebrate our 190th anniversary in 2017.

I hope to see you at the AM soon.

Kim McKay AO Director and CEO

NEWS

App for virtual visitors Anyone with a computer or mobile device anywhere in the world can now visit the Australian Museum’s collections. They can learn about the scientific specimens and cultural artefacts, displayed in galleries, held in behind-the-scenes storage or kept in laboratories.

Combining the best of Google Photos, Google Street View, 360-degree videos and audio tours, virtual visitors can now explore items such as the megafauna fossil collection, as well as Australia’s largest ichthyology (fish) and Funnel-web Spider collections for the first time.

Loopy or what?

It’s green and furry. Is it a fungus or a fluoro moss?

Believe it or not, the Australian Museum’s experts have identified this creature as a caterpillar that will metamorphose into a Looper Moth. This caterpillar belongs to the genus Anisozyga in the family Geometridae. Our researchers are not sure of the exact species, but one member of the family is called a Weird Looper. These photos (above) came from Betsy McCabe with no address and Joel Anderson from Werombi, NSW. Please send your queries to Melinda@melindaham.com.au and we’ll publish the best ones in the next edition of Explore.

“This platform assists the AM in its mission to raise the profile of Australian science and culture on the national and international stage,” says Kim McKay AO, AM Director and CEO. The Google Arts & Culture: Natural History platform, launched in September, provides a wealth of resources for students and teachers, says Megan Lawrence, Manager of Digital Experience at the AM, who led the project’s planning and execution.

“Teachers can guide their students on a behindthe-scenes tour to learn about what happens in a DNA lab, see a taxidermist at work, and discover the unique collection stores of specimens held at the AM – all without leaving the classroom.”

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No.1 William Enjoy food with a view in the Australian Museum’s new eatery No. 1 William. A large balcony runs the full length of the venue, with floor-to-ceiling windows providing panoramic views of the city skyline and menu choices ranging from barramundi to burger and fries.

Dinosaur dissection

Solomon expedition

Thanks to almost $1 million in sponsor and donor support, the Australian Museum has received a lifesize Tyrannosaurus rex from National Geographic.

The T. rex is the world’s first anatomically complete model, made in the UK for the National Geographic documentary T. rex Autopsy. The six-metre-high dinosaur has removable bones and organs including: • a heart the size of a Mini Minor car • eyes the size of grapefruits • teeth more than 30 centimetres long

A group of Australian Museum scientists is visiting remote areas of the Solomon Islands in search of the region’s largest native mammals, Giant Rats (Solomys and Uromys) and Monkey-faced Bats (Pteralopex). The expedition is a collaboration with Professor Tim Flannery and funded by the Segré Foundation and the Australian Museum Foundation.

The Solomon Islands archipelago has unique fauna and flora – a western Pacific equivalent of the Galapagos. The AM’s expedition is charting the biodiversity of mammals in the islands, combining scientific methods and traditional knowledge of the local community.

Since the model arrived in Australia in July, the AM’s specialist exhibitions team have investigated the best ways to install it as part of an upgrade of the Dinosaur Gallery on Level 2 planned for next year.

“We always knew it would be a challenge fitting a dinosaur of this scale through the doors of the Australian Museum,” says Kim McKay AO, AM Director and CEO. “So we decided to tour the T. rex across Greater Sydney and NSW first, and then bring it back to the museum where it will be disassembled before putting it on display in 2017 as part of our own Dinosaur Festival.”

The T. rex is the second model National Geographic has given to the AM. In 2004, the AM received SuperCroc – an 11-metre-long, life-size re-creation of an ancient crocodile found in the Niger desert.

Above left: A scene from T. rex Autopsy. Photograph © National Geographic Channels Above right: Solomon Islands’ Monkey-faced Bat Right: Professor Tim Flannery, Dr Jeff Noro and Junior Novera (Solomon Islands workshop)

All but one Giant Rat and Monkey-faced Bat species are critically endangered. These two species are elusive; scientists made the first descriptions of this particular Monkey-faced Bat in the 1990s. Some historical and archaeological evidence suggests some species of Giant Rats, and populations of Monkey-faced Bats, are already extinct.

These unique animals, endemic to primary rainforest, evolved in the absence of mammalian predators. Today, logging and feral cats are their biggest threats.

EXPLORE Summer 2016/17 | 5

SCIENCE

Forensic scientists at the Australian Museum use our DNA library to help authorities’ crackdown on the illegal wildlife trade globally.

Dr Greta Frankham is momentarily hidden in a cloud of vapour as she opens a freezer door. Hands gloved to protect against the cold – at minus 80 degrees Celsius it’s many times colder than your fridge at home – she lifts the lid of a frost-encrusted box to reveal vials of different samples. “This one comes from a liver and this one is a bit of scale,” she says.

Frankham is the acting manager of the Australian Centre for Wildlife Genomics (ACWG). Part of the Australian Museum Research Institute (AMRI), it’s playing an important role helping federal government agencies combat illegal wildlife trafficking into and out of Australia. Here, seven large freezers hold 90,000 samples of feather, muscle, skin and tissue, the DNA from thousands of species across the globe, particularly Australia, South-East Asia and the Pacific Ocean.

Moving to a lab next door, Frankham explains how she and her colleagues determine whether a creature (or a piece of it or product) seized by customs officials is indeed illegal wildlife. “We use genetic tools, like DNA sequencing, which target small informative parts of the genomes to do quick species identifications to help law enforcers build cases that stand up in court.”

The scientists use other techniques to determine an animal’s source population or region, and through a pedigree analysis whether it was wild-caught or captive-bred.

Ivory, rhino horns, live parrots, pangolin scales and shark fins: wildlife trafficking is one of the world’s biggest illicit transnational trades along with drugs, arms and human trafficking. Estimated by the UN Environmental Program and INTERPOL to be worth more than US$20 billion a year, this deadly trade is pushing rhinos, African elephants, tigers and many other animals to the brink of extinction.

Established by the now Director of AMRI and internationally recognised wildlife forensic scientist, Dr Rebecca Johnson, the ACWG is the only internationally-accredited wildlife forensic DNA lab 6|

TRAF

BY MELINDA HAM EDITOR

Dr Rebecca Johnson and Dr Greta Frankham viewing objects commonly found in the wildlife trade.

DNA evidence combats

FFICKING EXPLORE Summer 2016/17 | 7

… wildlife trafficking is one of the world’s biggest illicit transnational trades …

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in Australia. Johnson and Frankham are also the only certified forensic wildlife scientists in the country, sharing their expertise internationally and training the next generation of forensic scientists.

AMRI supervises a number of postgraduate students, including Kyle Ewart, a PhD student, from the University of Sydney, who is directly supervised by Johnson and her colleagues. Last year, when he was an honours student based at the AMRI, Ewart developed a simple, quick, inexpensive and effective rhino-horn testing technique. It involves drilling into the core of a sample of horn, extracting DNA and then amplifying a small section of DNA, a process called “DNA barcoding”.

“Some ‘rhino’ horns are fakes,” Ewart says. “They are actually water buffalo horns – or even just hair and plastic pressed together. We help determine whether a crime has taken place at all. Sometimes, it’s just a biosecurity issue or mislabelling, and at other times it’s potentially trafficking endangered species.”

Last November, the AM scientists – working with Dr Ross McEwing from TRACE Wildlife Forensics Network and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland – were invited to take their technique to Vietnam.

They trained forensic scientists in Ewart’s method at the wildlife genetics laboratory at the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources in Hanoi, testing more than 70 samples of impounded rhino horn. The Vietnamese lab is now able to provide preliminary species identification of seized rhino horn to border control authorities within 24 hours.

There is a growing urgency to convict more poachers internationally. Last year was the worst on record for rhino poaching, with a staggering 1,175 killed in South Africa alone, compared to just 13 in 2007. Only 30,000 rhinos now remain in the wild, five per cent of the number 40 years ago.

Illegally purchased for between US$65,000 to US$100,000 per kilogram, people use rhino horn in traditional medicine in China and South Asia, believing (without any scientific proof) that it cures mild to severe conditions ranging from hangovers to cancer. Additionally, with Asia’s growing affluence, many consumers want to own (and/or consume) rhino horn to affirm their social status.

Elephants face a comparable fate to rhinos. Despite mass burnings of stockpiles of tonnes of ivory, the global trade remains strong and poachers are slaughtering elephants at a terrifying pace. The rate of elephants killed has exceeded the birth rate every year since 2010. Three-quarters of Central Africa’s elephants have disappeared since 2002, while poachers wiped out nearly half of Mozambique’s elephants over the past seven years.

“Most ivory is headed to Asia, but we do get asked every now and then to perform species identification for ivory seized in Australia,” Frankham says. “It’s important for Australian authorities to know if the ivory in Australia is coming from the African or the Asian species.”

Another growing issue is the illicit trade in live animals, such as parrots and reptiles (often traded as eggs) and tropical fish, and even species you wouldn’t expect, such as echidnas, are candidates for wildlife smuggling sold to exotic animal collectors in the US and Asia.

The ACWG also deals with confiscated fish catches, and has previously provided species identification for seized shark fins which may have been destined for use in shark-fin soup.

Globally, 25 shark species are listed as critically endangered or endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

Evidence produced by the ACWG has led to convictions in Australia for illegal shark fishing.

PROFILE

AMRI students – Kyle Ewart and Alexandra Summerell

Above: Dr Greta Frankham with Kyle Ewart and Alexandra Summerell Below: Rhino horn and traditional medicine containing rhino horn Photograph © International Fund for Animal Welfare Animal Rescue

For his PhD being jointly carried out at the Australian Museum Research Institute (AMRI) and the University of Sydney, Kyle Ewart is looking at the evolutionary history, diversification and geographic distribution of two illegally traded species of Australian cockatoos; the Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, and the Pink Cockatoo.

Ewart is trying to develop some DNA markers to help prosecute traffickers.

“Anecdotally, these are two of the most common Australian species on the illegal market,” he says. “They can fetch up to $40,000 each, so it’s a very lucrative trade – and they can also live to be 85 years old in captivity.” But because of the high demand and high number of deaths of parrots in transit, many more are taken from the wild than are successfully sold. Some subspecies are now endangered.

Simultaneously, Alexandra Summerell from the University of Technology Sydney, another PhD student working with AMRI is focusing on the DNA analysis of Short-beaked Echidnas.

Breeding echidnas in captivity is very difficult, Summerell says, because of the elaborate mating rituals that a female and a host of males go through. Only three zoos in Australia have successfully bred echidnas. So it is suspicious that wildlife monitoring groups reported 150 “captive-bred” individuals for sale in Indonesia last year. Given these figures far exceed the number of known legitimately captive-bred echidnas; it is possible that many of these animals are snatched illegally from the wild.

“I’m developing DNA markers and performing population genomic analyses using echidna samples donated from a number of Australian zoos, including those that have bred echidnas. We will use these markers to test if other supposedly captive-bred animals are related at the levels expected between siblings/parents/offspring. If wild-caught animals are identified, I am also hoping to develop tools to geographically locate where they might have come from in Australia and PNG.”

EXPLORE Summer 2016/17 | 9

EXPEDITION

Riddle in the Pacific The upcoming Australian Museum expedition to Lord Howe Island strengthens the museum’s long relationship with this enigmatic place.

It remains an unsolved scientific mystery: how did the flightless, nocturnal Lord Howe Island Stick Insect (Dryococelus australis), disappear from Lord Howe Island in the early twentieth century, only to reappear in 2001 on the steep spire of Ball’s Pyramid, a volcanic tower 23 km to the southeast across open ocean?

Next year, I’ll be accompanying 20 of our researchers on the AM’s 12th expedition to Lord Howe Island, 570 km off the NSW coast. We’ll be working with people from the Office of Environment and Heritage and other government bodies to continue our efforts to understand the likely impacts of the impending eradication of the exotic rat population that drove these 15cm-long phasmids, which weigh up to 25 grams, to extinction on Lord Howe Island. The expedition is funded by the Australian Museum Foundation.

The plan is to eventually reintroduce the yabbie-sized stick insect to the main island. Since their rediscovery, they have been part of a captivebreeding program at Melbourne Zoo, and on this expedition we hope to collect some more phasmid eggs and adults from the 550-metre-high Ball’s Pyramid to diversify the breeding program’s gene pool. But we will probably never be sure exactly which of a number of theories solves the conundrum of Dryococelus’ disappearing and reappearing act.

Our team will also exhume a number of rare whale skeletons buried on Lord Howe Island and study the Currawongs and Lord Howe Woodhens.

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During our visit in April there will be particularly low tides, so we will collect marine invertebrates and molluscs and enjoy a bit of citizen science with the Lord Howe locals (the total permanent population is about 360), inviting them to bring in shell samples they may have collected over the years.

One of the world’s most intact ecosystems Lord Howe Island is 11 km long and 2.8 km at its widest, and is still 85% natural forest, of which threequarters is preserved as Permanent Park Preserve.

It is renowned as one of only five oceanic islands listed by UNESCO’s World Heritage for its diverse and endemic fauna and flora, possessing one of the world’s most intact ecosystems and home to the southernmost coral reef.

The AM’s association with the island goes back almost 150 years. It is one of the few places in Australia where scientists have long-term, continuous biological data. George Masters, an AM scientist, and two botanists from the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens first visited there in 1869, accompanying a police magistrate who was investigating an alleged murder.

The researchers brought back many unique plant samples and a further eight AM expeditions followed over the ensuing century. This enabled the museum to build up a high level of expertise and a large collection of specimens of the island’s birds and invertebrates, such as beetles, snails and bugs. Bats are the only mammals native to Lord Howe Island.

BY PAUL FLEMONS MANAGER, AMRI DIGITAL COLLECTIONS AND CITIZEN SCIENCE

One of the world’s most intact ecosystems …

Ball’s Pyramid, Lord Howe Island. Photograph © Hatty Gottschalk Above left: Lord Howe Island Stick Insect (Dryococelus australis)

EXPLORE Summer 2016/17 | 11

Between 1969 and 1973, Dr Harry Recher led museum staff in the most extensive environmental survey ever undertaken on the island, studying plant communities, birds, land snails, spiders and the general ecology of the island. The Recher Report, as it is now known, has been a fundamental document in environmental planning ever since.

I was part of the 2002 expedition with Dr Chris Reid and Gerry Cassis, carrying out a comprehensive survey of the island’s terrestrial invertebrates.

I have very fond memories of sleeping in an igloo on top of Mount Gower, and at sunset sitting on the edge looking down 800-metre cliffs to the sea and then out towards Ball’s Pyramid, pondering the conundrum of how the “land lobster”, as the Lord Howe Island phasmid was first known, made its way to that remote forbidding spire.

To donate to the AM Foundation’s drive to raise $50,000 for a special research trip to Ball’s Pyramid, please contact Michel Zwecker, Development Manager, phone 9320 6208, email Michel.zwecker@austmus.gov.au

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The igloo on the summit of Mount Gower Below: Dr Chris Reid and Paul Flemons collecting beetles on the summit of Mount Gower

BY CHRIS CARBONARO LIZARD ISLAND REEF RESEARCH FOUNDATION INTERN

What’s in a name?

Below: Scientists on Mary-Ida and Sarah dinghies

The centuries-old tradition of naming boats is steeped in custom and superstition: boats are always female and you never change the name of your boat or you’ll face bad luck forever.

The team at the Australian Museum’s Lizard Island Research Station (LIRS) has taken these traditions on board as they name their 15 boats, which are constantly used by visiting scientists from James Cook University, the University of Queensland and other leading marine research institutions from Australia and around the world.

In a bid to thank the many generous donors who support their research projects and facilities, the LIRS team have named their boats after these donors and their family members.

Dozen dinghies Pip married to donor Dick Smith Freya donated by Thyne Reid Foundation Ellie granddaughter of Charlie Shuetrim (Lizard Island Reef Research Foundation Trustee) Sam member of the Myer family Sarah member of the Myer family L&M named after Lance & Marianne Pearce, a long-serving maintenance couple at the station Marie Elisabeth donated by Geoff and Elisabeth Haddy Mary-Ida associated with the John Villiers Trust Louise associated with the Fred P Archer Charitable Trust Lily associated with the Thyne Reid Foundation Mimi associated with the John Villiers Trust Primrose donated by Lady Primrose Potter These 12 dinghies are roomy and stable, perfect to transport researchers to the reefs surrounding Lizard Island.

The three big boats Kirsty K daughter of donor Kevin Kalkhoven Macquarie 1 30th Anniversary donation from the Macquarie Group Foundation Macquarie 2 30th Anniversary donation from the Macquarie Group Foundation The three big boats are used for larger research teams and for people who need to reach reefs away from the Lizard Island Group; the outer ribbon reefs and inshore reefs near the mainland coast, essential for cross-shelf studies.

EXPLORE Summer 2016/17 | 13

PHOTO FRAME

BY VANESSA FINNEY MANAGER, ARCHIVES AND RARE BOOKS

Unlocking the vault

Reflections of science Just two decades after the invention of photography in Europe in 1839, some of the first Australian experiments with scientific photography took place at the Australian Museum.

From the 1860s, Gerard Krefft, the AM’s Curator, saw the potential for photography to capture the specimens he was collecting. Henry Barnes, the AM’s taxidermist, became his expert assistant.

Together they worked to document the detail of Sydney’s natural history; from fossils, skeletons and bones to taxidermy and freshly-caught fish, sharks, and whales.

As the AM marks its 190th birthday, these carefully-made images tell a unique story of the museum’s quest to become scientific. Krefft expanded collections, established his own scientific reputation and introduced the rigorous methods of the new natural science to Australia. Their evocative photographs are works of both art and science.

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Krefft and Barnes sometimes included enigmatic glimpses of themselves in their photos to provide a human-size scale for their specimens.

Krefft (above left) overlooks a skeleton of Blainville's Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon densirostris), found near Lord Howe Island in 1869 and mounted ready for display in the AM’s Long Gallery.

A casual Krefft (above right) reads the newspaper with a freshly caught Alfred Manta (Ceratoptera alfredi) in the AM’s courtyard in 1868.

Scientists were quick to see the potential of the cameras as scientific tools.

Photography allowed scientists, for the first time, to capture and study complex, fleeting details of fish, such as this tiny Bullseye (Pempheris compressus) (right). If you look closely, you might even see the photographer himself, reflected in the fish’s glossy eye.

EXPLORE Summer 2016 | 15

PHOTO FRAME

Working with light To get the light they needed for the long exposures of early cameras, Krefft and Barnes often took specimens outdoors into the AM’s gardens and courtyards to photograph.

Krefft frequently exchanged photographs with his network of scientific colleagues around the world. Crocodiles have always been a favourite with museum visitors, and they were also highly valued for scientific exchanges.

The holotype of the Australian Freshwater Crocodile (Crocodilus johnsonii) (left) Krefft photographed in 1873 and sent to the British Museum in London.

At a time when Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theories were still hotly debated in Sydney, in 1882 AM Curator Edward Ramsay purchased a Gorilla gorilla skeleton (above left), together with a fierce mounted specimen, which was displayed just inside the main front entrance.

This Australian Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius) (above right) was presented to the AM in 1867.

It was described by Gerard Krefft with taxidermy by Henry Barnes.

It is still held in our bird collection today. This glass plate image is among the first photographs taken at the museum.

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AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM EUREKA PRIZES

Sea slug saga Hayden Ingle swimming in Coogee Pool Photograph © Pene Ingle Below: Glaucus atlanticus

Have you ever heard of a glaucus? “No-one I know had ever heard of a glaucus. There is so little known about them,” says 12-year-old Hayden Ingle, a passionate snorkeller, underwater photographer, and Year 6 student at Banksmeadow Public School.

“And yet we see them every day at the (Coogee) Swimming Club attached to blue bottles. I searched on the internet and then finally found something about them in a magazine. So I decided to make a video so more people would know.”

And what a video it was! Hayden’s nan, mum and class teacher encouraged him to enter The Bluebottle and the Glaucus in the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes and Hayden scooped first place in the 2016 University of Sydney Sleek Geeks Primary School category.

“I would really encourage all kids to enter the Eureka Prizes next year,” Hayden says.

“Standing on the stage, getting my prize and surrounded by all these scientists, I could see all these people interested in the future and felt anything could happen!”

So what is a glaucus? You can watch Hayden’s video to find out! Glaucus atlanticus are sea slugs; a type of nudibranch with a gas-inflated sac in

their stomach that enables them to float upside down on the ocean’s surface and feed on bluebottles’ tentacles and then use the poison for their own defence.

To make his video, Hayden edited together underwater stills and footage he had shot over years in the ocean. Since he was 15-months old he has snorkelled off Coogee and also up the coast off Lord Howe Island.

“I used to hang off my mum’s back or use a boogie board when I was little,” Hayden says. “Now I go out almost every day before school and after school in summer and in the holidays.” He hopes to become the next David Attenborough one day!

Melinda Ham 2016 University of Sydney Sleek Geeks Science Eureka Prize – Primary Year 6, Banksmeadow Public School, NSW Watch Hayden’s film, The Bluebottle and the Glaucus

EXPLORE Summer 2016/17 | 17

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COVER STORY

BY MELINDA HAM EDITOR

Spiders are alive & deadly Face your fears and deepen your knowledge about these clever creatures.

As you casually step through the darkened entrance, out of nowhere a sea of spiders scuttles along the floor towards you. As you run away, the tide of hundreds follows. If you turn to look back, they’re still coming to get you.

Welcome to Spiders – Alive & Deadly, the most extensive and comprehensive spider exhibition Australia has ever witnessed, which opened at the Australian Museum in time to celebrate Halloween.

The spiders at the entrance are an augmented-reality floor projection, but step inside and you’ll see about 225 real spiders freeze-dried, 180 jars of preserved spiders and more than 20 species of live spiders on display – over 400 eightlegged, blue-blooded specimens in all, and some scorpions and centipedes too.

“Not many people are indifferent to spiders,” says Graham Milledge, manager of the AM’s Arachnology Collection. “They either can’t stand them and they’re arachnophobic, to a greater or lesser degree, or they’re fascinated by them.”

The exhibition is a collaboration with Questacon in Canberra. AM experts collected all the spiders, provided the science and text panels, shot the videos and commissioned the bulk of the augmented-reality experiences. The exhibition was on display at Questacon before technicians moved all the displays by featherbed, climate-controlled container trucks to Sydney in October.

Spiders are survivors. They’ve existed for 300 million years, and there are over 46,000 described species. While some cosmopolitan spiders are on display, Australia is home to more than 80 of the 114 different spider families in the world and that’s the exhibition’s focus. You’ll see some memorable web-weavers, hunters and burrowers including:

SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) image of a Funnel-web Spider (Atrax robustus) Above right: Redback Spider (Latrodectus hasselti)

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Peacock Spider (Maratus volans), a type of jumping spider which is only about 5mm long, with a distinctive rainbow-coloured flap-like extension to its abdomen, like a peacock’s tail.

Sydney Funnel-web Spider (Atrax robustus) has potentially lethal venom that attacks the human nervous system – although the last death was in 1980. Funnel-webs live in damp, dark places such as rotting logs or under rocks. Wandering males sometimes hide in shoes during daylight hours.

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A freeze-dried specimen of a Wolf Spider (Allocosa obscuroides) Below: Venom lab in the Spiders exhibition

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Redback Spider (Latrodectus hasselti) is another spider sometimes lethal to humans but there have been no fatalities since 1956. These nocturnal spiders catch insects, small lizards and even snakes in their webs.

Australian Tarantula (Phlogius sp.) is smaller than many of its South American cousins. The majority of the spider’s food consists of other invertebrates, primarily insects. Although capable of taking small vertebrates, they would be an uncommon item on the menu.

“On your journey around the various displays,” says Catherine Timbrell, the AM’s producer of exhibitions, “you’ll learn where spiders live, how they reproduce, how they see and move, and why and how they produce venom and silk.”

To experience how a spider catches its prey, you can even pop your head up into a Perspex dome display to watch the result of Tent-web Spiders weaving a web like a pop-up dome tent around you.

Milking it Next visitors come across a glassed-in room. One wall is fluoro-yellow and is lined with jars of spiders from the AM’s “wet collection” – specimens stored in preservative liquid. Inside is the Venom Lab, and peering through the window (and also up on the screen above), you’ll see a technician milking a spider for its venom.

“First, we anaesthetise the spider with CO2, and then manoeuvre a pair of pipette tips so they gently slip over each fang and electro-stimulate them so they release their venom,” explains Lachlan Manning, the Live Exhibits Officer. “With smaller spiders, we gently lay them on their backs on a foam mat and pin around them to restrain them.”

‘I hope that people … will leave with a bit more confidence around spiders.’

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A Net-casting Spider is milked for its venom

EXPLORE Summer 2016/17 | 21

Female Sydney Funnel-web Spider (Atrax robustus)

watch … Tentweb Spiders weaving a web like a pop-up dome tent around you.

The venom is then sent to Professor Glenn King's venom library at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, where his team are developing new pharmaceuticals to treat chronic pain and stroke, as well as create pesticides.

In another area you can enter an eight-metre by four-metre cave and immerse yourself in the life of the Tasmanian Cave Spider (Hickmania troglodytes). This is a joint production with the Bookend Trust, a not-for-profit organisation that encourages children to consider careers in science through immersive programs.

“Imagine, this spider spans 18 centimetres, the size of a dinner plate,” says Timbrell. “You’ll find out everything you wanted to know about its life cycle.” This cave also uses augmented reality, as you – the visitor – become a torch beam, illuminating different information displays in the cave.

Halfway through, you encounter live nocturnal spiders such as a Wolf Spider (family Lycosidae), Black House Spider (Badumna insignis), Leaf-curling Spider (Phonognatha graeffei), and Trapdoor Spider (Misgolas sp.), visible by red LED lights.

Another live highlight in the exhibition is an expectant mother Communal Huntsman Spider (Delena cancerides). “It’s the only spider that stay with their young, even share food together, like a fly or a cricket, and live together in a community,” says Manning. “If the mother has to leave the eggs to hunt for food, an older offspring will babysit.”

And what will visitors take away from the exhibition?

“I hope the exhibition educates people that most spiders are harmless,” says Milledge. “Despite repeated stories in the popular press, for example, that White-tailed Spiders (Lampona murina) cause necrosis, it’s been scientifically proven not to be true. Spiders play a valuable role in our ecosystem and have a fascinating diversity and beauty.”

Left: Dome Tent-web Spiders interactive Above right: Helen Smith carefully gluing down the feet of a freeze-dried Huntsman Spider for the Sydney Spiders display Right: Red and Black Spider (Oncodamus bidens)

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Behind-the-scenes spider preparation The spider exhibition was several years in the making and one of its chief architects is Dr Helen Smith, Research Associate and Technical Officer in the AM’s Arachnology Collection.

As a child, Smith built model aeroplanes. Now, with meticulous precision and concentration, she uses similar skills to prepare spider specimens. Over two years, she arranged all 225 freeze-dried spiders displayed in this exhibition into many different poses; some hiding, some just standing, some displaying to a prospective mate.

“First I kill them with ethyl acetate,” Smith says. “This leaves the spiders relaxed, so they’re easier to manoeuvre.”

Then, looking through a microscope, she pins them out onto balsawood using entomology pins. “I don’t want them to curl in the wrong way when they dry,” she says, explaining that this pinning process alone can take up to an hour for each spider – especially getting a Peacock Spider into a displaying position.

The next step is to freeze the spiders and then a slow process of freeze-drying them – done over several weeks. “Sometimes, if the spider had eggs in its body or ate a big meal before it died then the freeze-drying doesn’t work well,” she says.

After freeze-drying, Smith removes the pins, but sometimes disaster strikes when a leg breaks off. Smith doesn’t despair; she uses PVC glue to speedily stick the leg back on. Then she can mount the spider in a display case for visitors to enjoy.

“I hope that people who come to the exhibition will leave with a bit more confidence around spiders and appreciate them more,” Smith says. “That they understand how important spiders are; that they are great pest controllers.”

Book tickets online at australianmuseum.net.au Download the Spiders App at the App store EXPLORE Summer 2016/17 | 23

SCIENCE

Australian Museum researchers are co-leading a new national consortium to sequence DNA of all our unique Australian mammals for the first time.

You never know what’s lurking in the Australian Museum. Near the end of 2014, Australian scientists discovered a brand new mammal species. Named Wilkins’ Rock-wallaby (Petrogale wilkinsi), this new species was not identified by the first intrepid expeditioners in remote and rugged northern Australia. Instead it was “discovered” hiding in the collections of Australia’s natural history museums.

This exciting discovery not only highlighted our profound lack of knowledge about Australia’s biodiversity, but also the extraordinary value of our natural history museums. It also made experts wonder what other unique and marvellous discoveries were simply waiting to be found – even in supposedly well-studied groups such as mammals.

Australia is justifiably famous for its unique terrestrial mammal fauna (more than 300 species).

As well as iconic marsupial and monotreme species, such as platypuses, echidnas, koalas and wombats, we are home to many species of rodents and bats found no-where else on earth. All these groups are also of immense international scientific interest.

Unfortunately, Australia’s mammal fauna is facing increasing levels of threat. In the last 200 years, more than 30 species have become extinct, including the Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger), Pig-footed Bandicoot, Eastern Hare-wallaby and Long-tailed Hopping Mouse. Many others are now threatened and extinctions are continuing.

Over the last few decades, while many mammal species have diminished, advances in DNA sequencing technology and computing power makes genomic-scale analysis increasingly feasible and affordable. These advances open the door to genetic data on an unprecedented scale to fundamentally improve our understanding of Australia’s mammal diversity and aid its conservation.

To harness these technological advances, a coalition of more than 30 partners, including 24 |

SEQU

UENCING THE FUTURE

BY DR MARK ELDRIDGE PRINCIPAL RESEARCH SCIENTIST, TERRESTRIAL VERTEBRATES

Short-beaked Echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus)

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SCIENCE

Red-necked Pademelon (Thylogale thetis), Common Wallaroo (Macropus robustus), Rufous Bettong (Aepyprymnus rufescens)

Australia’s natural history museums, university researchers and wildlife management agencies has recently established the Oz Mammals Genomes (OMG) Consortium.

Bioplatforms Australia (BPA) is investing $1m in this project (through the Commonwealth Government NCRIS program), with co-investment from universities, CSIRO and museums nationwide.

Dr Rebecca Johnson, director of the Australian Museum Research Institute, is co-leading this group with Professor Craig Moritz of the Australian National University – a fantastic opportunity for the AM to be part of this ground-breaking work.

The OMG Consortium aims to increase substantially the amount of genomic data available about Australian mammals; to develop our genomics research capacity and improve public awareness of Australian mammals’ diversity.

While we already have several high-quality rodent and bat genomes, the only Australian marsupials genomes available are for the Tammar Wallaby and the Tasmanian Devil.

However, the genomes of several other Australian marsupials, including the koala are already well underway. The OMG Consortium aims to produce a gold standard marsupial reference genome to anchor future genomic studies, and to increase the number of available genomes from a more diverse range of Australian marsupials, including bandicoots and possums.

Another OMG Consortium priority is to use a genomic approach to establish the interrelationships amongst all 300 Australian mammal species and some closely related species from Papua New Guinea and nearby islands.

Our current knowledge of how our mammal species are related is incomplete and often lacks 26 |

resolution, as it is only based on a small number of DNA sequences. Using recent technological advances, we plan to generate DNA sequences from thousands of genes for each species, and so derive a more definitive picture of their inter-relationships and evolutionary history.

Since these techniques are well-suited to get DNA from museum specimens, we will be able to include all 30 recently extinct Australian mammal species in this tree of relationships for the first time.

We also expect that because we can use museum specimens of poorly known species as a source of DNA, we may also “discover” more new species.

The OMG Consortium is also working with government agencies and NGOs (including Australian Wildlife Conservancy, Arid Recovery and Bush Heritage) who are actively managing threatened mammal species to provide the tools and expertise to guide management decisions.

Many Australian mammals, including Greater Bilbies, Burrowing Bettongs, Great Stick-nest Rats, and Barred Bandicoots, are now extinct over most of their former area of distribution.

However, conservation programs including captive breeding and translocations are establishing or re-establishing populations on islands or in large fenced reserves or other protected sites. The OMG Consortium aims to provide wildlife managers with genomic data for up to 20 high priority species to enable management decisions to be made with greater clarity and certainty.

These exciting new developments in DNA technology heralds a new era of conservation management for some of our most iconic native animals with the aim to stem the tide of mammalian extinctions and provide hope for other threatened species in the future.

What the Scott sisters saw Imagine looking from Balmain across Sydney Harbour in the 1850s; you would see the pulse and shimmer of water, sandy beaches and bush. On the opposite shore, buildings begin to crowd Dawes Point in The Rocks, and in the far distance stands the South Head lighthouse.

This was what naturalist and artist Helena Scott saw, and used as a colourful backdrop to capture the rich detail and habitat of the Tailed Emperor Butterfly, (Polyura sempronius).

As the Australian Museum took shape on the corner of Hyde Park, Helena and her sister Harriet collected, studied and drew the butterflies and moths living in abundance around their Sydney and Hunter River homes.

Barred from the adventures of exploration and education by their gender, but trained by their father in scientific observation and drawing, the Scott sisters created their own field of discovery by giving minute attention to the natural world around them.

Together they produced an archive of scientific observations and more than 600 drawings and detailed paintings now held at the AM. Vanessa Finney Manager, Archives and Rare Books See the Scott sisters’ stunning images on display from 7 February 2017.

EXPLORE Summer 2016/17 | 27

AM FOUNDATION

Mudmen unmasked Asaro village artisans share mask-making traditions with Australian Museum visitors.

Jimmy grew up as a little boy in Komunive village, in the Asaro area of the Eastern Highlands Province in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

In the round house by the log fires at night and in and around Komunive, his grandfather and uncles ensured he acquired all the knowledge, skills and lore of his community to become a fine man. They taught him the traditional songs and dances and how to make masks. His grandfather was noted as the village’s best mask-maker and dancer.

Although Jimmy attended the European primary school and high school and learned to read and write, he could find no job in the provincial capital, Goroka, and so headed back to Komunive and settled down to village life.

Over the ensuing years, Jimmy became involved teaching the younger generation what he learnt from both his father and grandfather. Since then, he and his clansmen have participated in various shows in Goroka and elsewhere performing the dances from Komunive.

Over the last three months, Jimmy and his community became very excited because the AM invited the dancers to Sydney. The little boy, who all those years ago sat by the log fire and clung to every word his grandfather spoke to him, was now going to Australia with three of his own apprentices to share the knowledge and skills of the masks and dances of the Komunive people.

PNG has more than 800 distinct languages spoken by people that inhabit the island. From the highlands to the coast, each community has lived for hundreds of years with their unique history, knowledge and language.

The Highlands as a region is home to numerous cultural groups and one of the most recognizable are the Komunive – Jimmy’s people.

28 |

The Komunive live at the foot of Mount Daulo and the start of the great Asaro Valley that runs east towards Goroka. They are well known for their distinctive masks that start as a ball of grey clay.

Making the mask The rich gluey clay, dug up from nearby creeks, is carefully carried to a clearing in the village centre.

In the hands of an expert mask-maker, the clay is shaped and moulded to remove any impurities and then rolled into small round lengths.

The mask-maker finds a flat surface, sometimes on a large piece of plank. There he places one ring of clay, then another on top. He smooths the layered rings with his fingers and thumb on the inside and outside, until an oval-shaped head emerges.

The mask-maker then forms facial features, including eyes, ears and nose, placing them around the oval-shaped head. Grotesque-like eye sockets and balls are set in and ears and noses protrude from the sides and front of the face.

The gaping mouth, sometimes with a protruding grey tongue, has a row of pigs’ teeth with large gaps pressed in on the lips. The mask-maker occasionally adds tattoos or patterns on the forehead and cheeks. Once completed, the mask is partially sun-dried and, because of the clay’s moisture content, is quite heavy.

When the masks are ready, the dancer (always male) wears a basic loincloth and swathes his body with the same clay, while also placing sharp bamboo tubes on his fingers. An assistant then lifts the mask over the dancer’s head, covering it entirely. This is the Asaro Mudman; recognised within Papua New Guinea and globally.

As the dance begins in very slow motion, the grotesque figure gently and deliberately walks

BY DR MICHAEL MEL MANAGER, AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM WEST PACIFIC COLLECTIONS

Komunive village, Goroka, Papua New Guinea Photograph © Michel Zwecker

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Asaro Mudmen ready to perform at the Australian Museum

forward. The elongated fingers cackle and move about the air in front of the dancer, brushing flies away. There is no singing. No accompanying instrument. Just silence. Now and again the Mudman brings his elongated fingers together.

Between five and ten dancers move up to and around the onlookers. Children recoil and shrink to hide, while some cling tightly to their parents as others run away. The Asaro Mudmen amble, meander and drift their way around the space to chase away the nasty, malevolent and wicked.

Sydney trip Jimmy and his three apprentices performed, presented and interacted with hundreds of visitors who came to the AM – the project was entirely 30 |

funded by the Australian Museum Foundation. The young and not so young made masks, painted their hands and stuck on the bamboo fingernails. They also wore the masks. For a little while there they all were in Komunive.

Outside the AM, Jimmy and his clansmen also saw the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, walked along Bondi Beach, shopped at Woolworths and Coles, and even tasted KFC. The Komunive community has now handed over three Komunive masks to the AM to continue to show and share their culture with everyone who visits. As Jimmy leaves Sydney, he is certain that his grandfather would be proud of him as a dancer, a teacher, a leader, and cultural ambassador of the Komunive of Asaro.

Male Cape York Graceful Tree Frog (Litoria bella) Below: Dr Jodi Rowley recording a frog call in the field

A beauty of a frog Australian Museum scientists have identified a new species of bright green tree frog in northern Australia. The newly named Cape York Graceful Tree Frog (Litoria bella) escaped attention until now by masquerading as its southern relative, the Graceful Tree Frog (Litoria gracilenta). This discovery brings the number of known frog species in Australia to 239.

Up to this point scientists believed the Graceful Tree Frog, a small tree frog commonly heard after spring and summer rain along the east coast of Australia, occurred all the way from north-eastern New South Wales up to northern Cape York Peninsula in Queensland.

However, our team; Keith McDonald, Stephen Richards, Greta Frankham and myself, discovered subtle differences between Cape York frogs and their southern counterparts, which made us suspicious.

By examining and comparing the frogs’ colour and body measurements, DNA sequences and advertisement calls, we found that the frogs living on the northern Cape York Peninsula are a distinct species. We were also surprised to discover that this new species – Cape York Graceful Tree Frog – is more closely related to similar frogs in Papua New Guinea than to its southern relative.

The Cape York Graceful Tree Frog is found between Moa Island in the Torres Strait in the north, down to about 20 km south of Coen on the Cape

BY DR JODI ROWLEY AMPHIBIAN BIOLOGIST

York Peninsula in the south. The southern-most location of the new species is 220 km from the most northern record of the Graceful Tree Frog in the Endeavour Valley near Cooktown.

The scientific name of this new species, bella, means “pretty” or “lovely” and this striking frog certainly lives up to its name, with a bright green head and back, orange belly, bright orange hands and feet and iridescent bluish-purple inner thighs.

Our discovery of this little green gem of the frog world is further evidence that we have a long way to go to fully document and understand the amazing biodiversity of northern Australia.

EXPLORE Summer 2016/17 | 31

CITIZEN SCIENCE

BY DR LUCY APLIN VISITING RESEARCH FELLOW

9:41

AM 100%

Facebook for birds The Cockatoo Wingtag project is building a picture of the extensive social networks and daily routines of 100 of Sydney’s tagged birds.

“AC” (wingtag number 006) is one of many Sulphurcrested Cockatoos that calls Sydney home. It spends most of its time foraging around the Royal Botanic Gardens, or moving between parks, gardens and balconies in Woolloomooloo and Potts Point.

Every few days, AC leaves the Botanic Gardens early to fly across Sydney Harbour, passing over Taronga Zoo to reach Clifton Gardens. By 9am, AC then returns home, always via a more indirect route, including a stop in Cremorne Point.

What attracts it to these sites across the city at these specific times? Does it commute alone, or is there a social component to its decisions?

Researchers from the Australian Museum, the University of Sydney and the Royal Botanic Gardens are hoping to answer these questions through our citizen science project.

AC wears a small GPS tracking device that records its location every five minutes, and we use this detailed information to confirm data from more than 100 other birds we’ve tagged over the last five years.

Each bird has a plastic yellow wingtag with a unique identification number corresponding to a name – many assigned by members of the public.

Citizen scientists then report when they see a cockatoo through the “wingtag” phone app or at cockatoo.wingtags.com. To date, we’ve received more than 14,000 citizen science reports.

This enormous breadth of data reveals that this population of cockatoos largely inhabit city parks, 32 |

where they breed in old eucalypt (Eucalyptus spp.) and plane (Platanus × acerifolia) trees. They move between gardens, parks and balconies to forage.

Perhaps most surprisingly, given that Sulphurcrested Cockatoos are strong fliers, is evidence from both citizen science and GPS tracking that suggests most individuals spend their life within a two-to-five kilometre range.

We are also using data to investigate interactions between birds using a “social network” method.

Here, we measure the links between birds seen together at the same location and close in time.

Each bird pair then gets a link from 0% (never seen together) to 100% (always seen together).

Even though all birds were originally wingtagged in the Royal Botanic Gardens, our social network analysis shows that they are actually part of four communities; two groups centred on Sydney Harbour’s northern shores, a third around the Botanic Gardens, and a fourth that prefers Centennial and Moore Parks.

AC is one the “Royal Botanic Gardens’ community” that spends most time within 2.5 km of the gardens, and in suburbs from Woolloomooloo to Rushcutters Bay. However, these birds still occasionally move to other areas and interact with new individuals, leading to a fully connected Sydney network.

But why do Sulphur-crested Cockatoos thrive so well in the city? Our future research hopes to answer this question.

Left: Citizen scientists lodge their sightings through the Cockatoo Wingtags app – Bruce [094] is featured here Below: Dr Lucy Aplin is an expert in avian cognition, visiting the AM from the University of Oxford to analyse Sulphur-crested Cockatoo social networks

… a winning combination of ‘braininess’ and sociality.

One hypothesis is that they have a winning combination of “braininess” and sociality. Recent neuroscience research shows that parrots have “primate-like” numbers of neurons in their forebrain, comparable only to corvids, such as Ravens (Corvus corax). More generally, researchers suspect that their cognitive ability is on par with small monkeys.

Other research also suggests that big-brained bird species that are flexible and innovative can invade, survive and persist in cities better than those with more fixed behaviour.

In my previous research at the University of Oxford, I conducted experiments with small songbirds where we taught individual birds a new foraging behaviour and mapped how this behaviour spread rapidly via social interactions throughout an entire local population, creating a “new tradition” that persisted over time.

So could it be similar in cockatoos? Do their social networks act as a “Facebook for birds”, allowing them to exchange beneficial ideas and behaviours to adjust flexibly to urban living?

If you are a citizen scientist, we’d love you to help us do this research.

Join others reporting their bird observations, either on the “wingtag” app, at cockatoo.wingtags.com or by emailing cockatoo.wingtag@gmail.com Also, send us your reports, pictures and videos of weird and wonderful cockatoo behaviours. We are particularly interested in innovative foraging behaviours, such as levering lids off wheelie bins or pulling up bin liners to access out-of-reach food. With your observations, we will track these behaviours’ frequency across Sydney and test whether communities of birds share similar foraging techniques.

EXPLORE Summer 2016/17 | 33

AM MEMBERS

Behind-the-scenes sleuth

Blogger and Australian Museum Member Anna Brophy goes behind-the-scenes at the AM, marvels at pickled creatures and discovers a new respect for spiders.

After an infamous incident with a Bunsen burner in 1989, I was scared off science at school. Recently, however, I was asked to brush off the lab coat and head to the Australian Museum to debunk some myths about what really goes on behind those ancient, sandstone walls.

I glued my “I heart science” face on, and stepped into the mysterious chambers out the back of this imposing building. The sheer size and number of artefacts – along with a decent whiff of naphthalene – genuinely took my breath away. Textbook science is so yesterday. As the vaults were literally opened for me, so, too, were the secrets of living history and the mechanics behind how these exhibitions appear.

Turning 190 years old next year, the AM itself is steeped in history, and given there are 18 million objects in that building, the scientists, various staff and dedicated volunteers working to catalogue these items are welcome to sort out my pantry any day.

Rows of intricately preserved and labelled specimen jars line the “wet collection”. I peered into this world of pickled creatures with awe. Over at 34 |

mammals and ornithology, I quickly learnt to look up and all around, as stuffed birds and animals hung from ceilings and adorned ledges. Trays were rolled out where I was introduced to specimens offering insights into a vibrant and diverse world.

Next, I walked bravely across to the arachnid storage. Lucky I grew up in a farm house. I was all over these eight-legged creatures that pre-date dinosaurs, well, almost. The intricate pinning of these specimens and preserving them in realistic positions was not a job to take on with sleep deprivation.

Much of this work was in preparation for the current spider exhibition.

And so my tour uncovered many of the AM’s “skeletons in the closet” and thanks to this experience, one little spider made it safely home to its web when it scurried across my bathroom tiles later that day. I had new-found respect for my furry-legged friend.

Become an AM Member for behind-the-scenes access.

Follow Anna’s blog.

Thank you The Australian Museum would like to acknowledge the generous support of our donors, corporate partners and research partners in helping us realise our vision as a place of exploration and discovery.

These generous individuals and organisations contribute to our scientific research, education and public programs, and assist in the acquisition of items to enrich our collections.

Patrons The late Senta Taft-Hendry Ann Macintosh Trust Brian Sherman AM and Dr Gene Sherman AM Chris and Gina Grubb Alasdair and Prue Macleod Memocorp Australia Pty Ltd Helen Molesworth

Benefactors Mary Holt and the late Dr John Holt

President's Circle Claude and Maryanne Gauchat Chris and Gina Grubb Ian and Stephanie Hardy Bill and Alison Hayward Judy Lee Diccon and Elizabeth Loxton Robert Rich Brian Sherman AM and Dr Gene Sherman AM

Director's Club David Armstrong Jenny Crivelli David Rickards Tracey Steggall Shona and David Thodey Anonymous

Treasures Circle Robert Albert AO RFD David and Megan Armstrong The Calvert-Jones Foundation Carrawa Foundation Jenny Crivelli John Dickinson Warwick Evans Claude and Maryanne Gauchat Belinda Gibson Chris and Gina Grubb Brian Hartzer W & A Johnson Family Foundation Keith and Maureen Kerridge Jim Lennon in memory of Jean Lennon Lindblad Expeditions Catherine Livingstone AO Diccon and Elizabeth Loxton Alasdair and Prue Macleod Memocorp Australia Pty Ltd Mark Nelson

Gretel Packer The Paradice Family Foundation Patterson Pearce Foundation Prof Jan Scott, Paul Connor and Prof Ian Hickie AM

Guardians Martin and Ursula Armstrong Ken and Roddy Bell Margot and Stephanie Chinneck Jane Mathews AO Justice Robert McDougall Kim McKay AO Alice Oppen OAM John Pearson John and Christina Stitt Vonwiller Foundation Wendy Walker

Custodians Ann Macintosh Trust Michelle Atkinson Bill and Annette Blinco Natalia Bradshaw Pauline & Alan Campbell Philip Cornwell Hugh Dixson Belinda Gibson Derek Heath Karina Kelly John Leece AM and Anne Leece Howard Lewis Lily W MĂźng Endowment Anne Pickles David Robb Jane and Neville Rowden Alison Scott Cassandra Seaton David and Daniela Shannon Jeremy Spinak Tehmi Sukhla Anne Sullivan Vera Vargassoff Wavish Family Foundation Richard Whillas Anonymous

Supporters Antoinette Albert James and Belinda Allen Rae and David Allen Lindsay and Giselle Barlow Dinah Beeston Jane Beniac Ron Brierley

Kerin Brown Elizabeth Cameron Michael Coleman Trevor Danos Margaret and Peter Donovan Jeffery & Christine Goss Jacob Grossbard Greg and Beth Hammond Ronnie Harding Peter Homel Dan Howard SC and Dr Rosemary Howard Rebecca Johnson Warwick Klabe Gilles Kryger Eugenia Langley A J Loewenthal David Lowes Lynne Madden Ross McNair and Robin Richardson Tony and Fran Meagher David Norman Bruce Norton Lynn Ralph Judy Ranka Frank and Judith Robertson Alan Rydge Alan and Yvonne Sebesfi Dr Fiona Sim Fiona Sinclair Christopher Still Anne Udy Francis Walsh Michael and Mary Whelan Trust Ray Wilson Caitlin Woods Michel Zwecker Anonymous

The late Paul L Fischer John L Gordon Robin Guthrie Mark Hanlon J Holliday The Late John Hume Raymond Kirby AO and Mrs Deirdre Kirby Roger Langmead David Leece Leighton Llewellyn James McColl Mineralogical Society of New South Wales Inc Dr Max Moulds George & Edna Oakes Dorothy O'Reilly John Rankin Dr William Rieger John Rohde Paul Scully-Power AM Michael Shea Trevor Shearston The late Muriel Snell George Stacey Prof Gunther Theischinger The late Margaret Tuckson David Twine Janet Walker Anonymous

Partners The Australian Museum is principally funded by the NSW Government Principal Partner Westpac Major Partners 3M Adventure World 303 Mullenlowe Samsung

Bequests Estate of the Late Clarence Chadwick Estate of the late Patricia M Porritt John and Maryilyn Evans on behalf of the late Christine Neild Estate of the late Jacqueline Heather Field Estate of the late Phillip Jack Estate of the late Merrill Pye Estate of the late William S Tatlow Estate of the late Gwendoline A West Estate of the late Jessie Campbell Wise

Partner ANSTO Media Partners JCDecaux National Geographic Channel News Corp Australia

Gifts to AM Collections Steven and Janine Avery Ursula Burgoyne Sam and Louise Dawson Rod and Robyn Dent in honour of Pat Dent and the Wanindilyaugwa tribe Charles M Ellias

Supporting Partners Archie Rose Distilling Co Australian Geographic Bamstone City of Sydney Cortell Australia Digital Camera Warehouse Guardian Global IAS Fine Arts Logistics IBM Australia Kent Street Studio Oatley Fine Wine Merchants Valiant Hire

EXPLORE Summer 2016/17 | 35

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