2020 CALENDAR! WILDLIFE OF SOUTH-EAST QUEENSLAND.
This year I am releasing another Calendar, this time with images of furred, feathered, scaly and quilled wildlife from my corner of the world. I am putting out an expression of interest before placing a bulk order, and distributing in November. I am not exactly sure on price yet, but most likely around $25 posted. Leave a comment or message me if you would like to be on the list for one (...or two) and I will contact you when they are ready! Also coming towards Christmas time, if anyone would like a print/canvas of any of my images let me know and I can look into making that happen. Australia only at this stage. Cheers, @ethanmannphotog
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#visitsunshinecoast #ausgeo #australiangeographic #visitqld #thisisqld #kangaroo #qld #mammal #wildlifewatching #sunshinecoast #mammalsofinstagram #herping #herps #sunnycoast #southeastqueensland #southeastqld #wildlife #igscwildlife #wildlifeaddict #calendar #nature_perfection #rainforest #australianwildlife #wildlifephotography #animalelite #wild #platypus #conservation #queensland #australia
Curiosity.
After a week of camera trapping with zero luck, I scored this frame of a curious and inquisitive male K’Gari dingo in the dunes on my last night on the island. He came through early evening, seeming to be inquiring about one of my flashes off to the left or frame. I have many more images in my head for these dogs, but I am extremely happy with this as a start! It is a great image to discuss ear-tagging on Fraser Island. Since 2013 when the Fraser Island Dingo Conservation Risk Management Strategy was put in place, dingos over 10kg in reasonable body condition that are exhibiting, or anticipated to exhibit problematic behaviours, are ear tagged for monitoring. This allows rangers to record behaviours and interactions to individuals. Females are tagged in their right ear and males in the left. This male is the most recent tagged dog on the island, tagged on the 28/06/2019 as a sub-adult, with a colour pattern of pink/blue/yellow and weighing in at 16kg at that time. The tagging strategy has been heavily criticised, as tags large enough to be used for ID from a distance could inhibit movement and mobility of the ear for hunting, or cause dogs harm through persecution within pack structures. There have been instances where tags have been pulled out by other dogs, leaving large tears.
@ethanmannphotog
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#kgari #ausgeo #australiangeographic #fraserisland #thisisqld #fraserislanddingo #qld #mammal #wildlifewatching #abcmyphoto #abcmyphotos #mammalsofinstagram #wildlife_perfection #wildplanetphotomag #cameratrap #ausgeo #wildtropics #wildlife #igscwildlife #wildlifeaddict #cameratrapping #dslrcameratrap #dingo #australianwildlife #wildlifephotography #wild #wongari #conservation #sanddunes #australia
The Golden Dog.
The golden dog runs sandy trails,
Scents of fish and prey he tails.
Over the spinifex and dune terrain,
Humans cover his domain.
Fishers, cars and many a child,
They slowly take away his wild.
Drains him of his native ways,
To watch the tourists, eyes agaze.
But when he starts to interact,
They tag his ear, so to be tracked.
And so the feared day has come,
A misread meeting, a distraught mum.
Persecuted by humans more,
They end his life, sand in his paw.
Culmination of a single bite,
The island’s lost more golden light,
After all this, who’s to blame?
It wasn’t like this before we came.
@ethanmannphotog .
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#kgari #ausgeo #australiangeographic #fraserisland #thisisqld #fraserislanddingo #qld #mammal #wildlifewatching #abcmyphoto #abcmyphotos #mammalsofinstagram #wildlife_perfection #wildplanetphotomag #4WD #ausgeo #wildtropics #wildlife #igscwildlife #wildlifeaddict #beach #coast #dingo #australianwildlife #wildlifephotography #wild #wongari #conservation #sanddunes #australia
Dune Wanderer.
This past week on K’Gari I still heard this phrase going around: There isn’t enough food here for the dingos to eat. Dingos have a naturally lean and fit build. They travel up to 40 km per day along the foredunes and around the high tide mark in search for washed up turtles, fish and whales. K’Gari’s dingos, interestingly have a higher average weight than their mainland counterparts. Studies have shown that their diet is predominantly made up of fish, bandicoots and echidnas, with small components of rodents, swamp wallaby and plant material as well. While camera trapping in the dunes, I got record images of a Northern Brown Bandicoot, as well as seeing two deceased sea turtles washed up on the beach. Although they look thinner than your Labrador, does not mean that they do not have diverse and viable prey options.
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#kgari #ausgeo #australiangeographic #fraserisland #thisisqld #worldanimalday #qld #mammal #wildlifewatching #abcmyphoto #abcmyphotos #mammalsofinstagram #wildlife_perfection #wildplanetphotomag #4WD #ausgeo #wildtropics #wildlife #igscwildlife #wildlifeaddict #beach #coast #dingo #australianwildlife #wildlifephotography #wild #wongari #conservation #sanddunes #australia
K'Gari is their place.
K'Gari is primarily accessed by 4WD vehicles driving the eastern beach, a stretch of 120km that is regularly patrolled by the local dingos. The hundreds of thousands of visitors that step on the island each year mean the dingos have to share their domain with humans, vehicles and planes. Many human/dingo interactions are positive and benign on the island, though this year so far has seen 3 isolated attacks, which all involved young children (aged 6-14). Three potential reasons for more agonistic behaviours could be regarding humans as competitors, regarding young humans as prey, or young dingos playing in the form of practising hunting and assertive behaviours. Human/dingo interactions (whether feeding, attracting, patting, etc.) kickstart a negative progression from attraction to habituation, habituation to interaction, and then interaction onto aggression. K'Gari is a place with highly visible efforts for management of the dingo population while balancing with tourism, and seem to have positively moved past the strategies of intense culling and hazing from the past decades, to education for tourists, fenced camping and food preparation/lunch areas, informative signage, and integrity to follow through with punishments and fines for visitors that do not follow the laws in place.
While talking with a ranger on the island, he shared that interactions with dingos may not negatively affect you, but may lead that individual dog towards interaction and aggression the next time a family with young children are on the beach. In the words of that ranger, "If there were no people on the island, the dingos would be fine".
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#kgari #ausgeo #australiangeographic #fraserisland #thisisqld #possum #qld #mammal #wildlifewatching #abcmyphoto #abcmyphotos #mammalsofinstagram #wildlife_perfection #wildplanetphotomag #4WD #ausgeo #wildtropics #wildlife #igscwildlife #wildlifeaddict #beach #urbanwildlife #dingo #australianwildlife #wildlifephotography #wild #wongari #conservation #pawprint #australia
