Bulletin

Issue: January/February

News

Big Brother in the wild

'Spy cameras' in the wild went live online from La Trobe University recently with the launch of the Gould League's interactive website - Australian Wildlife Cam.

The new web site reveals the day-to-day life and secret behaviours of Australian animals such as sugar gliders, bats, kookaburras and bull ants through small infra-red cameras. The cameras have been placed in nests at the Melbourne Wildlife Sanctuary on La Trobe's main Melbourne campus at Bundoora.

With feeds delivered via the Univer-sity's IT network, the website - www.gould.edu.au/wildlifecams - enables students of all ages to participate in online scientific research. The site has been developed by environmental education leaders, the Gould League with Telematics Trust funding.

Eminent Australian biological scientist and La Trobe Chancellor, Emeritus Professor Nancy Millis - who is also Patron of the Melbourne Wildlife Sanctuary - says the website and recorded video from the nest boxes are invaluable research tools, providing students with insights into animal behaviour and the opportunity to contribute to scientific research.

Gould League Chief Executive Officer, Jim Grant, says the animals are wild, and free to come and go as they choose.

'The cameras provide live video streaming and record any movement in the nest boxes which can then be reviewed for education and research,' Mr Grant says. 'You can see some amazing footage of animal behaviour on the website.'

Teachers can use online curriculum resources, activities and information sheets and download data from behavioural graphs for student curriculum activities.

The site's launch coincided with the Science Teachers' Association of Victoria annual conference held at La Trobe late last year.

Gould League worked with Nocturnal Solutions and Melbourne Wildlife Sanctuary to source and install the hardware and software and built the website with web development partner, DDSN Interactive.

La Trobe's Dr Adrian Daniell, Education Officer at the Melbourne Wildlife Sanctuary, installed the nestboxes and cameras, settled in the new residents and fought off feral invaders. He also contributed biological information on the site.

The Sanctuary - a joint venture between the Gould League and La Trobe University - is being developed into a world-class eco-tourism and environmental education facility for Australia's natural heritage in Melbourne's rapidly growing north-eastern 'green wedge corridor'.

Nine times the size of the MCG, the 28-hectare Sanctuary re-creates an open range environment for fauna which existed in the Melbourne area before European settlement. Development plans include laboratories, classrooms and interpretive material for use by school children, university students and researchers.

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