William Dampier found a reptile that he called a ‘guano’, but this name had nothing to do with bird droppings. Ask students to investigate the effectiveness of different baits to attract lizards into a jar pit trap (p. Ask students to evaluate the various methods proposed for controlling the spread of cane toads. Ask students to find out how many species of Australian reptile and amphibian are endangered and how many have become extinct. Ask students to list as many Australian frog and toad species as they can. Ask students to list as many Australian snake species as they can. Ask students to list as many Australian lizard species as they can. There are generally strict laws on keeping these animals. Ask students to use a hand lens or a USB microscope to make a close study of feathers of different kinds, and create a poster which explains how feathers work to keep birds warm. Ask students to make a nesting box, attach it to a suitable tree and investigate its effectiveness over a year. (One key word in the search might be ‘acclimatisation’, and an advanced search in Trove, limited to the date range 1890 to 1920, and sorted with the earliest items first, will help.) As an example, in the 1890s, kookaburras were introduced into a state where they had not been seen before. Ask students to investigate acclimatisation of Australian bird species. Do an internet search using ‘bird friendly garden Australia’ or ‘attracting birds Australia’. 13), a bird bath/water source and a hide (p. This would include food plants, possibly a compost heap (p. Ask students to design, plan and implement a bird-friendly garden in the school grounds. Find designs on the internet by searching using ‘nesting box design Australia’. Ask students to research the best design for a nesting box for a local bird (or mammal). Organise a debate on the topic: Feral birds are pests and should be destroyed. Have the students give a presentation of what they discovered. Ask students in pairs to photograph or film seagulls or other birds which interact aggressively with others of their own species, and mount a display showing and explaining the sequences that the birds go through (p. Ask students to identify three areas where birds roost or nest in the vicinity of school or home. Ask students to carry out a census, over a week, of the bird species seen in the school or home area and prepare a display on this topic. For help, do an internet search using the phrase ‘bird calls Australia’. Ask students to undertake a bird census of their home or school area, relying only on song. Ask students to identify four introduced bird species in the neighbourhood of home or school. Ask students to list as many Australian bird species as they can. This is enough to get students interested. 
Ask the students for contributions of animal skulls and have them use dentition to identify the species they belonged to.Įven a school in the middle of a large city should have a dozen species of bird, either on the ground or flying over it. As a class, make a school compost heap (page 13) and study what lives in it over time. Ask students to make a nesting box, attach it to a suitable tree and investigate its effectiveness over the year. Ask students to explore the available newspaper evidence of changing uses of various marsupial skins by carrying out searches at using phrases such as ‘marsupial skins’, ‘platypus rug’, ‘koala skins’ and ‘kangaroo hunt’. Ask students to research the best design for a nesting box for a local mammal (or bird). Which children’s stories might have been written to get children to think differently about hunting wildlife? (This is an older tradition than you may think!). 
Organise a debate on the topic: Flying foxes should be removed from towns and cities.Are there any mammals that have absolutely no hair? (The most likely candidates would be hippos, rhinos, elephants, whales, porpoises, dolphins, seals-and echidnas.).Ask students to research the viruses that flying foxes carry in Australia.As a class, evaluate the assumption that Australia is ‘the land of marsupials’.
Ask students to classify these species into monotremes, marsupials, native placental mammals and introduced placental mammals.Ask students to find out how many mammal species are found on the Australian continent and seas.Ask students to list as many Australian land and sea mammal species as they can.Australian Backyard Naturalist Chapter 1: Mammals Remember
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