Animals

  • "Bothriembryon (B.) sophiarum sp. n. A–D holotype WAM S66478 (H = 14.4 mm) E Protoconch and early teleoconch sculpture; scale line 0.5 mm."

    20 Sep 2016

    No Dissection Necessary

    Earlier this year, Western Australian Museum Technical Officer (Molluscs) Corey Whisson and fellow scientist Dr Abraham Breure published a research article called "A new species of Bothriuembryon (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Bothriembryontidae) from south-eastern Western Australia" in ZooKeys.

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    Article
    Western Australian Museum

  • 14 Jun 2016

    Western Swamp Tortoise

    DPAW’s Threatened Fauna: An Overview – Western Swamp Tortoise

    Pseudemydura umbrina

    Western Australia’s Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPAW) keeps an extensive list of threatened fauna in line with the Wildlife Conservation Act. On this list, 26 reptiles are listed as “fauna that is rare or likely to become extinct.” This includes the Western Swamp Tortoise, otherwise known as the Short-necked Tortoise, or Western Swamp Turtle.

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    Article
    Western Australian Museum

  • The distinctive wedge-shaped tail is evident from a great distance.

    12 May 2016

    Wedge-tailed Eagle

    Scientific Name

    Aquila audax

    Other names

    Eaglehawk. Waalitj (Noongar name).

    Description

    A huge, very dark eagle with long wedge-shaped tail, long fingered wings and completely feathered legs. Australia’s largest bird of prey and one of the largest eagles in the world.

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    Photo Galleries
    Western Australian Museum

  • A photoshoot for the taxidermy mammal collection for Western Australian Museum records. Is this tiger hungry, or just camera shy?

    29 Feb 2016

    Behind the Scenes: Mammal Gallery Decant

    The Mammal Gallery decant from the Western Australian Museum - Perth to the Collections and Research Centre (CRC) at Welshpool has been a huge undertaking for all involved. 

    It allowed Museum staff the opportunity to update records and complete conservation work on the precious specimens. 

    Soula Veyradier, Manager, Western Australian Museum - Perth, said that the decant was a unique opportunity to work with the animals outside their display cases.  

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    Photo Galleries
    Western Australian Museum

  • A taxidermied specimen (American Bison) on display behind a glass case in the Mammal Gallery

    25 Jan 2016

    The Mammal Gallery

    The Western Australian Museum are getting ready to build a New Museum for Western Australia, and an initial step in this process is to decant the thousands of specimens and objects from the WA Museum – Perth into safe storage at the Collections and Research Centre (CRC) in Welshpool. This article explores the history and decant of the Mammal Gallery, with insights from Western Australian Museum Mammology Dr Kenny Travouillon.

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    Photo Galleries
    Western Australian Museum

  • Chuditch (Western Native Cat)

    18 Jan 2016

    Chuditch

    DPAW’s Threatened Fauna: An Overview – Chuditch / Western Quoll

    Dasyurus geoffroii

    Western Australia’s Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPAW) keeps an extensive list of threatened fauna in line with the Wildlife Conservation Act. On this list, 44 mammals are listed as “fauna that is rare or likely to become extinct.” This includes the Chuditch (Noongar name), otherwise known as the Western Quoll, or Western Native Cat.

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    Article
    Western Australian Museum

  • 11 Jan 2016

    The Bird Gallery

    The Western Australian Museum are getting ready to build a New Museum for Western Australia, and an initial step in this process is to decant the thousands of specimens and objects from the WA Museum – Perth into safe storage at the Collections and Research Centre (CRC) in Welshpool. This article explores the history of the Bird Gallery, with insights from Western Australian Museum Ornithology Curator, Ron Johnstone.

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    Article
    Western Australian Museum

  • Colourful bird in flight

    18 Sep 2015

    Last Migration: The Story of the Red Knot

    On 4 March 2015, Grant Lodge found a recently dead shorebird on a beach near Broome. The bird had a number of coloured leg flags and bands, which identified the bird as being part of a scientific data collection system.  Mr Lodge preserved the specimen and contacted Ron Johnstone, the Curator of Ornithology at the Western Australia Museum. On its arrival at the museum, the specimen was prepared into a research study skin (registered number A39016) and was identified as a Red Knot (Calidris canutus piersmai).

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    Article
    Tara Sidebottom

  • Plate 1

    11 May 2015

    Explore our Egg Collection

    The Western Australian Museum is home to a large egg collection that has been put together over many years by the Museum's Curator of Ornithology, Ron Johnstone, and others. 

    The egg plates in this gallery are from the Museum's collection and were photographed by Douglas Elford for the Handbook of Western Australian Birds - Volume I

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    Photo Galleries
    Western Australian Museum

  • Dale’s Gorge, Karijini NP

    5 May 2015

    Wildlife of the Pilbara

    The Western Australian Museum Terrestrial Zoology team recently ran a field trip to Karijini and Millstream-Chichester national parks in the Pilbara, to collect tissue samples for the Molecular Systematics Unit’s Conservation Genetics of the Pilbara Fauna Project, funded by the Net Conservation Benefits Fund. Survey teams used a variety of techniques to sample for reptiles, mammals, frogs, trapdoor spiders, pseudoscorpions, land snails, insects and other invertebrate groups. Key habitats examined were gorges, mulga woodland and spinifex hummock-grassland on heavy clay soils.

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    Photo Galleries
    Lintette Umbrello

  • Image of the leucistic magpie on Museum grounds

    1 Apr 2015

    A Grey Magpie?

    Here is a magpie that does not see life in black and white!

    Let me introduce to you an inhabitant of the Museum’s garden that is quite unusual: a grey magpie…

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    Article
    Western Australian Museum

  • Native Western Australian stick insects; species Eurycnema osiris, family Phasmatidae; commonly known as Darwin Stick Insect

    23 Mar 2015

    A behind-the-scenes look at our stick insect collection

    The Phasmatodea are an order of insects commonly known as stick insects or leaf insects which occur in warmer zones over the world. They are among the best camouflaged creatures in the animal kingdom, mimicking perfectly the leaves, branches and twigs of their surroundings. Their taxonomic classification is quite arduous due to a deficit of reference books in this field of zoology and scientific disputes remain as to their classification.

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    Photo Galleries
    Jessica Scholle

  • Photo of a man climbing out of a hole taken during a subterranean biology field trip.

    18 Mar 2015

    Collecting in the Dark Zone

    Beneath our feet lies a hotspot of subterranean biodiversity. The Terrestrial Zoology Department perform research on the ecology, biology and taxonomy of Australian subterranean organisms. Over the last few decades, a substantial number of new species discovered by the research team has contributed to increase our knowledge of the State’s biodiversity. However, this underground fauna lives in hidden habitats, often inaccessible for sampling.

    Which methods do scientists employ to collect this fauna in the field?

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    Article
    Western Australian Museum

  • Christmas Island

    16 Mar 2015

    Remarkable travels of migratory birds

    Some migratory birds are able to travel thousands kilometres. In this audio our curator of Birds, Ron Johnstone, explains how scientists were able to study birds that migrate from Indonesia to Australia, and often further. 

     

     

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    Article
    Western Australian Museum

  • Native Australian butterfly; underside of a Belenois java teutonia, family Pieridae; commonly known as Caper White

    2 Feb 2015

    A behind-the-scenes look at our butterfly collection

    Butterflies are a group of insects which belong to the order Lepidoptera and include about 17,950 species. Of the 400 butterfly species distributed in Australia, approximately half are endemic, found nowhere else in the world.

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    Photo Galleries
    Jessica Scholle

  • The omnious sign warning would-be treasure hunters……..

    17 Jul 2014

    Bone Hunters at the Museum

    The Terrestrial Zoology department recently exhumed specimens that had been buried for skeletonising with the help of a team of Museum staff members and volunteers. These specimens were buried whole or partially flensed (flesh stripped from the bones) to allow naturaly occuring invertebrates in the soil eat the remaining soft tissues from the bones. Twenty-five specimens were exhumed, including several marine mammals, sea turtles and the jaws of an elephant. The bones of each specimen were carefully cleaned by brushing the soil off and then scrubbing in soapy water.

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    Photo Galleries
    Lintette Umbrello

  • Native Australian butterfly; underside of a Belenois java teutonia, family Pieridae; commonly known as Caper White

    1 Apr 2014

    A behind-the-scenes look at our butterfly collection

    This small photo gallery gives a behind-the-scenes look into the butterfly collection. It will be enhanced in the near future with a Smartphone and tablet app that the Western Australian Museum is currently developing. This Smartphone and tablet app will aim to reveal what happens behind-the-scenes at the Museum, explaining the research performed and showcasing our collections.

    The Western Australian Museum is always aiming to offer products that our audiences want, and invites you to give your opinion about this app project by answering a short survey:

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    Photo Galleries
    Jessica Scholle

  • a white-shelled land snail on a rock

    18 Nov 2013

    Barrow Island’s brand new bugs

    Twenty-five brand new bugs from Barrow Island and neighbouring areas of WA's northwest  have been described in the latest Records of the Western Australian Museum.

    The Terrestrial Invertebrates Fauna of Barrow Island volume describes 25 new species including a snail, two spiders, a silverfish and 21 flies, and one new genus of wolf spider.

    WA Museum Head of Terrestrial Zoology, Mark Harvey, said the new volume, sponsored by Chevron Australia, contains 22 scientific papers written by a total of 43 authors using data from more than 20 years of collecting.

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    News
    Niki Comparti

  • A small spotted and well camouflaged lizard on a rocky surface

    9 Oct 2013

    Geraldton's new gecko revealed!

    Scientists from the Western Australian Museum have discovered a rare new species of gecko in the State’s Mid-West and will reveal it to the public for the first time at the WA Museum – Geraldton on Tuesday, October 22.

    WA Museum reptile curator Dr Paul Doughty said the Cloudy Stone Gecko (Diplodactylus nebulosus) is a new species of gecko lizard endemic to the Geraldton region.

    “The species only occurs from Mt Lesueur in the south, in the hills to the east of Geraldton and up to the Hutt River,” Dr Doughty said.

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    News
    Niki Comparti

  • Biologists on Jetty on East Wallabi Island, get ready to find some reptiles

    25 Sep 2013

    Wildlife of the Houtman Abrolhos

    In February 2012 the WA Museum Terrestrial Zoology department conducted fieldwork on the Houtman Abrolhos Islands, off the coast of Geraldton, WA. This was the last in a series of surveys beginning in 1977 to catalogue and study the biodiversity of vertebrate fauna on the islands. On this final fieldtrip important genetic samples were obtained to further investigate the phylogeographic relationships between vertebrate populations on different islands.

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    Photo Galleries
    Lintette Umbrello

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