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Lord Howe Island Stink Insect Komodo Dragon

People thought there were none left. Just a few were found. They are black and have 6 legs. They do not fly. They are big insects. Possibly the rarest insect on Earth, the Lord Howe Island stick insect was for 80 years thought to be extinct. Their disappearance from Lord Howe Island was caused by rats, which came ashore from a wrecked ship in 1918 and thrived. By 1930, the stick insect and 5 species of native bird had disappeared. However, in 2001, on a rock seastack called Ball's Pyramid 23 kilometres southeast of Lord Howe Island, a climber spotted seventeen of the insects. Ball's Pyramid is a 548 metre tall rock with steep, sheer sides, sticking out of the ocean. It is the world's tallest and most isolated seastack. It has no beach for a boat to land. Experienced rock climbers are the only people who visit. Following the rediscovery of the Lord Howe Island stick insect, staff from Melbourne Zoo and New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Department travelled to Ball's Pyramid and, in the middle of a storm, climbed the rock to search for the insect. To make matters more complicated, the insects are nocturnal, so the climb and the search took place at night. They collected four Lord Howe Island stick insects and brought them back to Australia. One pair was taken to Melbourne Zoo and the other was taken to Sydney. The pair at Melbourne Zoo mated successfully, and the first egg hatched, appropriately, on Threatened Species Day, 7 September At Melbourne Zoo, the Lord Howe Island stick insects are held in a glasshouse where the temperature and humidity are controlled and kept as close as possible to conditions on Lord Howe Island. The difficulty was that so little was known about the insect and its habits and even finding out about their diet was an initial challenge. Each time eggs are laid, they are weighed, measured and housed individually so that observations and notes can be made. Appearance The adults measure up to 15 cm long, weigh up to 25 g. They are a glossy black colour. They cannot fly. Other kinds of stick insect hang upside down and move slowly, but the Lord Howe Island stick insects walk and even run along the ground. This, and the fact that they are so large, has given them the local nickname 'land lobsters'. The females have strong hooks on their legs and have a thicker, heavier body than the males. Habitat and distribution The insects were found only on Lord Howe Island, but now the only known habitat is Ball’s Pyramid.

Lifecycle Mating occurs at night., after which the female lays eggs. In her lifetime, a female lays up to 300 eggs. Females of other stick insect species stay in a tree and drop their eggs to the ground. However the female Lord Howe Island stick insect goes down to the ground, pushes her abdomen into the soil and lays batches of eggs, nine at a time, at ten day intervals. The 4 mm long eggs are oval in shape. The eggs remain under the soil and hatch after six and a half months. The bright green newly hatched young are active during the day. They camouflage themselves by swaying like a leaf in the wind. As they get older, their colour changes to brown and then to black each time they moult, or shed their skin as they grow. As they get older, they become more active at night. Diet The only vegetation growing on Ball’s Pyramid is a kind of melaleuca, and this is what they are fed at Melbourne Zoo. Ten species of banyan and fig trees that grow on Lord Howe Island have been grown at Melbourne Zoo and have been successfully used as an alternative food. Threats to Survival When these stick insects were common on Lord Howe Island they would shelter in Banyan trees during the day, becoming active at night to feed. It is believed that they got to Ball's Pyramid either by floating on vegetation from the island or by being carried and dropped by seabirds. On the seastack, they found cracks in the rocks to shelter during the day, and melaleuca plants to feed on at night. Before the stick insects can be re-introduced to Lord Howe Island, there would have to be a thorough and successful program to eradicate rats from the island.

They are the biggest lizards. They live on a just few islands in Indonesia. They hunt large animals such as buffalo and deer. Females lay eggs. Appearance and behaviours The Komodo dragon is the largest of all the lizards. They belong to the family of monitor lizards. Lizards are part of the reptile group of animals.reptile Komodo dragons grow to about 2.5 metres in length. Males weigh about 100 kilograms and females about 85 kilograms. All Komodo dragons have a long neck and a tail that is longer than its body. Male dragons have bigger heads and longer tails than the females. All dragons have short, powerful legs with strong, sharp claws. They can deliver a crushing blow with the tail. Dragons are generally a sandy brown colour with dark markings, though this may vary. The Komodo dragon has a forked tongue which it flicks in and out. When the tongue flicks out it collects scents (smells) in the air, and when it flicks in, information about the scents is picked up by a special organ inside the dragon's mouth that lets the animal's brain know what the smells are. A Komodo dragon rests in this position Dragons are good at climbing trees and can run quite fast. Komodo dragons, living in the wild, are found mainly on the Indonesian islands of Komodo and Rinca. These islands are part of the 22 islands that make up the Komodo National Park in the Indian Ocean. Rinca Island. The Komodo dragons live in the forests and open grasslands on the island Diet They are carnivorous (eats only meat), and are ferocious predators (hunters). Adult dragons eat wild pigs, deer, young buffalo, and on the island of Rinca, long-tailed macaque monkeys. Komodo dragons have been known to attack humans but this is rare. Dragons bite their prey and inject a venom that causes the bitten animal to bleed. The bite becomes infected, either from germs in the dragon's mouth or from the environment that the animal travels through until it dies. The dragon follows the dying prey and eats it when it catches the weakened animal or when the animal is dead. To catch a monkey, the Komodo dragon lies in wait, camouflaged against the ground. When the monkey is close, the dragon gives the monkey a mighty wack with its strong tail.

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