A day in the life of a -Lord Howe Island Stick Insect Specialist

Before starting his zookeeping career, Rohan worked on his family’s farm in Northern Victoria and in animal management on a Hollywood movie set. However, he has spent the past two decades dedicated to working inside Melbourne Zoo’s temperature-controlled greenhouses, supporting the conservation of an intriguing insect species.

The Lord Howe Island Stick Insect (Dryococelus australis) was considered extinct until a tiny population was found in 2001 on Ball’s Pyramid, a volcanic outcrop 23 kilometres off the coast of Lord Howe Island. At the time of their rediscovery, they were considered the rarest invertebrate in the world. While there weren’t many stick insects left, Zoos Victoria’s conservation breeding program gave the flightless, nocturnal arthropod a second chance.

“We’re trying to do something that’s rarely done, and that is returning something home. This is a great story of survival,” says Rohan.

Joining Zoos Victoria in 1996, Rohan worked with mammals before switching to insects in 2003, just as the Lord Howe Island Stick Insect breeding program was established. Since then, the insect has become a symbol of hope for conservationists around the world.

Many have visited Melbourne Zoo to catch a glimpse of the rare insect, including Dr Jane Goodall, one of the world’s greatest conservationists.

“Sir David Attenborough also visited the conservation breeding program in 2012. He was just as wonderful in person as he presents on TV,” Rohan remembers.

All in a day’s work

Aside from a few paragraphs written in 1916, little was known about the species before the conservation breeding program was established. Since then, the team’s knowledge has expanded and been dutifully recorded.

“All my records go into ZIMS (Zoological Information Management System). Every month, I enter up to 5,000 entries for this program. For the first few years, every egg was measured for length, width and weight. Because if we lost the population, at least we had information. Everything was written down that we could write down, and to some degree, it still is,” Rohan explains, before adding, “We’re always learning. I haven’t stopped learning since the start of the program.”

Watering and changing plants, sterilising nest boxes, cleaning habitats, and collecting, incubating, freezing and hatching eggs are all in a day’s work for Rohan, who also completes a monthly census where every Lord Howe Island Stick Insect is counted. Rohan and the team also work closely with Melbourne Zoo’s Horticulture team to ensure an abundance of key plant varieties (including Melaleuca howeana, a compact shrub endemic to Lord Howe Island) are grown to feed the insects.

Sharing the story

Education is another part of Rohan’s mission. By giving presentations to school children, Rohan raises awareness and support for this special species that has survived against the odds. He also wrote a children’s book called Phasmid: Saving the Lord Howe Island Stick Insect, published by CSIRO Publishing.

“The book gets the story out. If people don’t know, they don’t care. But if they

Did you know?

Lord Howe Island Stick Insects can live up to 18 months

Females can produce up to 300 eggs in their lifetime can build a connection with a species, then they care. If we don’t take care of the little things, then we’re in real trouble. And we need more people to take care of the little things,” explains Rohan.

Dedicated to the cause

Rohan is optimistic that the Lord Howe Island Stick Insect has a future in the wild, thanks to collective efforts towards eradicating rodents from the sparsely populated island.

“It’s looking positive. We were there last year doing research and everything’s coming back… bird populations, plants are growing, insects are calling at night. The ecological bounce back is amazing,” says Rohan.

Support from the Lord Howe Island community and New South Wales Government has been vital to the success of the program, with San Diego Zoo, Bristol Zoo and Melbourne Museum also involved. From the expert mountain climbers who first scaled Ball’s Pyramid to collect insects for the program, to the tireless work Rohan and his team continue today, it has been a sustained effort. “This breeding program is known all around the world. It’s amazing what small teams of people who are highly committed to their craft can achieve,” says Rohan.

Returning the species home is the focus of the program, which has produced 17 generations of stick insects at Melbourne Zoo. While that day hasn’t yet come, the possibility of captive-bred Lord Howe Island Stick Insects being released into the wild gets closer every day as research continues at Melbourne Zoo.

“This is the most important work I’ll ever do. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for the survival of this species,” Rohan says. ZN