Blue Mountains Gum Haze & Marsupials
Blue Mountains & Central Tablelands Sandstone Escarpment, NSW, Australia · Oceania · temperate_forest
About this place
Examine Eucalyptus terpene Rayleigh scattering, koala CYP2C hepatic detoxification, and wombat elastic-groove cubic scat mechanics (Yang et al., 2021).
For kids: Find out why whole valleys glow sky-blue from fragrant gum-tree mist—and how wombats shape neat little dice-cubes in their tummy!
Blue Mountains Gum Haze & Marsupials · 360° Habitat Camp
What to look for
- Terpene-hazed eucalypt canyon — Volatile cineole/pinene Rayleigh scatter. Centre the distant gorge veiled in volatile eucalypt terpene aerosols
- Ribbon-gum koala sleeping fork — Phascolarctos cinereus CYP2C & trunk hugging. Locate the smooth-barked Eucalyptus viminalis fork favored by folivorous koalas
- Sandstone slab & wombat cube cairn — Vombatus ursinus two-stiff-band colon. Scan the elevated rock perch where bare-nosed wombats deposit cubic territorial scats
Source: Johnson et al. (2018), Nature Genetics — Koala CYP2C gene expansion; Yang et al. (2021), Soft Matter — Intestinal non-uniform stiffness forms cubic wombat feces.
Ask together: If a wombat wants to leave a scent note balanced on top of a round rock so neighbors can smell it, why is a flat-sided cube way better than a round marble?
Field quiz
Kids' question: How do Australian wombats make cube-shaped droppings that stay put on top of round rocks without rolling off?
- Two stiff bands and two stretchy bands inside their intestine gently press grass into four corners!
- They pat them flat afterwards with tiny wooden trowels
- They eat square sandstone pebbles
Answer
Two stiff bands and two stretchy bands inside their intestine gently press grass into four corners!
Adults' question: What genomic discovery explained how koalas taste and safely metabolize toxic terpene-rich Eucalyptus foliage (Johnson et al., 2018)?
- Massive tandem expansion of cytochrome P450 (CYP2C) liver detox genes paired with amplified bitter-taste and aquaporin receptors
- Complete absence of liver tissue compensated by gill excretion
- Converting cineole directly into diamond crystals in the spleen
- Outsourcing all digestion to external fungus gardens in burrows
Answer
Massive tandem expansion of cytochrome P450 (CYP2C) liver detox genes paired with amplified bitter-taste and aquaporin receptors
360° photo: Bidgee, CC BY-SA 3.0
See it live: Live check: NSW Eucalypt Tablelands Tower Cam
- By day
- Resident peregrine falcons overlooking eucalypt bushland, galahs, cockatoos & starlings The Orange water-tower cam overlooks NSW tableland eucalypt woodland at ~860 m elevation just west of the Blue Mountains escarpment.
- By night
- Quiet NSW bushland night watch while nocturnal koalas, possums & wombats forage below Nocturnal grazing lets bare-nosed wombats avoid daytime heat stress while maintaining one of the lowest basal metabolic rates among mammals.
Other language: Русский