Wildlife, Cake & Cocktails

Like us on Facebook for pictures and updates: www.facebook.com/WildlifeCakeCocktails/ For our first botanical episode, we cross over to Dr Noushka Reiter in Melbourne, research scientist with the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and part of the Threatened Species Recovery Hub. We discuss orchid conservation, highly-threatened Mellblom's Spider Orchids, their pollination by tiny Thynnid wasps, and much more. We enjoy some delicious white-orchid cocktails and while chocolate cake. You can check out the amazing Botanic Gardens on Facebook @BotanicGardensVictoria and Twitter @RBG_Victoria. You can also follow the awesome work from the Threatened Species Recovery Hub on Facebook @nespthreatenedspecies and Twitter @TSR_hub

Like us on Facebook for pictures and updates: https://www.facebook.com/WildlifeCakeCocktails/ We cross over to Christmas Island to speak with Hamish Noller, reptile enthusiast and recent UQ Wildlife Science graduate. We're also joined bv Jason Turl, ranger at Parks Australia, to chat about the Christmas Island Blue-Tailed skink, now extinct in the wild but maintained in two captive breeding colonies, one where Hamish is volunteering. We also discuss Christmas Island's other reptiles, many other threatened species, general ecology, and throw back some blue-island ice tea with caramel-chocolate slice :) You can check out Hamish's adventures at Instagram.com/hamwildo/ The Swell Lodge at Instagram.com/swelllodge/ And Jason's photos at Instagram.com/wildsideaustralia/

We had an awesome time with Dr Rowley talking frog conservation, the new FrogID citizen-science project, and much more, over some coffee and cupcakes. After checking out Jodi's talk at the Caboolture Region Environmental Education Centre, we head out to have a play around with the #FrogID app around the CREEC reserve and creek system. We're also joined by Scott Eipper from Nature4You and some keen local froggers. What an amazing night with some interesting people! Thanks again to CREEC and FrogID for letting us tag along! Cheers :)

This time we're talking Blue-Tongue Lizard morphs, RepX Brisbane Reptile Expo, and much more with our special guests Joe Ball and Scott Owen. Joe is an incredibly knowledgeable and innovative blue-tongue lizard breeder here in Brisbane, a world leader in producing phenomenal coloured morphs of blue-tongue, and a RepX Ambassador. Scott is one of the organizers of the upcoming RepX Brisbane Reptile Expo and is joining us on the couch to talk about the spectacular event coming this March. We had a fantastic afternoon chat, escaping the heat with Lounge Lizard cocktails and Blue-Velvet Cake. Cheers folks, and see you at RepX 2018 Brisbane Reptile Expo! This March 25th, all the details at RepX.com.au

We're herping Mt Glorious, this time with UQ Herpetological Society! WCC is back in the field, looking for nocturnal reptiles with Cameron Baker and other keen herpers. Cameron is a PhD student studying the movement ecology of Australia's apex-predator, the estuarine crocodile. He also leads the occasional herping trip as senior member of the UQ Herp Society board. We had a great time chatting with this awesome crew of reptile-fans, and found some fantastic creatures along the way too!

We speak with Kerry Waldman in San Diego, USA, discussing wildlife and fire, particularly the massive fires in southern California and their implications for ecosystems. Kerry is a former navy engineer turned environmental management student, a biking enthusiast working towards a career with US National Parks, and generally passionate about his local parks and wildlife. We had an awesome chat about fire ecology in Australia and USA and much more while enjoying chocolate cake, an India Pale Ale (the beer of San Diego, I'm told), and a San Diego Mule cocktail. Episode 15 - Wildlife & USA Forest Fires, now up! Cheers, plenty more WCC on the way

Here we go!! Kicking off the summer holidays here in Queensland, we're searching for Leaf-Tailed Geckos with wildlife education consultant Scott Eipper from Nature4You. We're joined by Lisa Owen from UQ, as well as some lovely, festive, homemade rumballs :) This episode, we head down for a night walk through the rain forests of Mount Tambourine, located in the picturesque Scenic Rim region of south-east Queensland. While spot-lighting for the incredibly camouflaged Southern Leaf-Tailed Gecko (Saltuarius swaini), we discus the various recently discovered species of leaf-tails, their fascinating evolution and adaptations, and more. We also find some very cool species of frogs, snakes, spiders, and glow worms. What an amazing night!! You can check out Scott and his wife Tie's awesome menagerie at facebook.com/wildlifedemonstrations or wildlifedemonstartions.com.au Happy Holiday Herping!

We're back in Karawatha Forest! After some wet and wild weather, we headed out to Karawatha again, hoping the local frogs would be out and about. I'm joined by Callum McKercher, UQ frog biology student and Lisa Owen from Scales Wildlife Services for a nighttime wander and chat. We discuss frog behaviour, conservation, some new great ape discoveries, and much more. Our froggy walk also gave us a chance to try out FrogID, the fantastic new citizen-science app from the Australian Museum! This free smartphone app lets you identify your local area's frog calls by simply recording their froggy songs. Furthermore you can submit frog calls to the FrogID database, adding to the first nation wide frog count to help understand the state of our native frogs. We had an awesome time using this tool to ID some cool native species, even if we couldn't see them all To get involved in this fun, free, ground-breaking citizen science project, check out FrogID at the links below. Cheers, hope you enjoy! https://www.frogid.net.au/

WCC Episode 12 is here for your Friday wildlife science fix! We're very lucky to be joined by Nick Leseberg, Uni of Qld PhD candidate and Night Parrot researcher for Bush Heritage Australia. Nick has worked as a field ecologist on a variety of projects throughout Australia/PNG and is currently studying conservation biology of Night Parrots (Pezoporus occidentalis), the worlds most elusive bird! We discuss the fascinating life of the Night Parrot (as far as we currently know!), working with cryptic species, bioacoustics, and much more. We also sip a few Desert Bird cocktails and peck at some poppy seed cake :)What a pleasure to sit and chat with one of the few people alive who've seen, let alone heard the calls of this rare species. Cheers, and enjoy!

Another WCC Audio Podcast coming at you! We discuss Feral Cats and Native Bird Conservation with Professor John Woinarski from Charles Darwin University. Prof. Woinarski has spent over 40 years in research and management of native Australian wildlife. He's worked with birds, mammals, reptiles, and more, with much of his work centring on conservation ecology in northern Austrlia. Calling us from Melbourne, we discuss some of John's recent research on the impacts of feral cats on native birds, as well as his recent field work, while sipping on Jungle Birds and eating Finnish Tiger Cake :) More WCC on the way soon! Cheers, Janne Torkkola, Host/Co-Producer

Another episode of WCC here for your Sunday night! We had a great time with the amazing Corinne Unger, geomorphologist and mined land rehab expert. Corinne has worked in the mining industry in a wide variety of roles, from soil conservation to mine rehabilitation. She's also spent time in research and implementation of Australia's national policy for abandoned mines, and is currently working on a PhD at the University of Queensland. We discuss circular economies, mining impacts, mined land rehabilitation, and much more over some Jewel Mine cocktails and a vegan Black Forest cake. Cheers!

A collection of audio from suburban Brisbane, lorikeets calling while feeding on eucalyptus blossoms during a Spring rainstorm.

A collection of captured audio from our herping trip to Karawatha Forest near Brisbane, Australia

We're frogging in Karawatha! WCC is back with another herping podcast, this time joined by UQ PhD student Nicholas Wu and honours student Callum McKercher, both studying frog biology. After some lovely Spring storms over the weekend we head to Brisbane's Karawatha Forest to look for some local native frog species. After a few mojito and cosmo mini-cheese-cupcakes, we discuss frog ecology, conservation, the effects of Chytrid fungus, shedding physiology, metamorphosis, frogs as environmental indicators, and much more! Unfortunately the drier conditions of the day meant we struggled at first, but we still found plenty of frogs and had an amazing evening with these two frog-fans! Enjoy :)

Hi folks! Welcome to the first of what will hopefully be many Herping podcasts, another WCC Conversations audio show. I'm joined by UQ Wildlife Science student Hamish Noller (a.k.a. That Reptile Guy), and WCC producer Kristian Summers from Summers Sound Solutions for some "road-cruising". We took a night-time drive on the search for snakes and other wildlife through the long and winding forest roads of Mount Glorious, a beautiful section of the D'Aguilar Range National Park just west of Brisbane. On the way we discuss the basics of herping and looking for wildlife, and much more, as well as finding some amazing animals, including a Stephen's Banded Snake and a rare, highly venomous Death Adder! Plenty of photos and such from the journey on the way soon, for more follow us at www.facebook.com/WildlifeCakeCocktails/ Cheers, Janne

Here we go! WCC Episode 7. Koala Rescue QLD with Ray Chambers, another WCC Conversations audio podcast, now up for your enjoyment! Along with his brother Murray, Ray operates Koala Rescue QLD, a state wide 24-hour Koala rescue service based on the Sunshine Coast. A not-for-profit service, they provide rescue & transport to injured, sick or orphaned Koalas across the state. Koala Rescue QLD also spend time promoting Koala awareness and planting trees for QLD's Koalas. We had a great time discussing Koala's rescue procedures, the broad range of threats faced by Koala populations, and much more, while I struggle with a Koala Mojito (kinda gross...) and some rocky road. Check out the links below, its a great cause and free service they provide for these lovely creatures! You can donate to KRQLD directly or through their GoFundMe campaign. Additionally, you can book in a car service with WB Motors in Caloundra, with half of the fee directed to saving Koalas throughout Queensland. So, here it is, WCC Episode 7.

Here we go! WCC Episode 6. Venomous Snakes with Scott Eipper is now up :) Running Nature4You from southwest Brisbane, Scott is a a wildlife handler, education consultant, author of numerous articles and books on Australian fauna, and a well-known venomous snake expert. We had an amazing time discussing venomous reptiles, herping, wildlife, some interesting new snake-bite and venom research, and much more over lemon and lime cheesecake (topped with native redlime pearls!) along with Snake in the Grass cocktails. Many thanks again to our co-hosts Hamish Noller and Ahlia Karam for joining us on the new purple couch for another awesome night of science, stories, and mayhem. Cheers! :) Also, for details on our Nature4You Death Adder Mug Giveaway Competition, follow us at facebook.com/WildlifeCakeCocktails Check out Nature4You at: wildlifedemonstrations.com facebook.com/wildlifedemonstrations/ instagram.com/ youtube.com/channel/UCTE_s5ootO2xwGwoGnIY7oA

We crossover to South Africa to chat with primatologist & wildlife scientist Lisa Owen, currently on tour as a teaching assistant for a wildlife management field course with twenty UQ students. We discuss rhinoceros conservation and management in Africa and Australia, as well as some of Lisa's latest adventures including facing her arachnophobia by handling a friendly baboon spider. In conservation news we discuss the struggle faced by Bornean Orang-Utan populations and Queensland's proposed new Special Wildlife Reserves, all while I struggle with a Baileys Mocha Monkey cocktail and some cheesecake. Sweet stuff ;)

For our first WCC Conversations Podcast, ecologist Chris Jolly joins us from the Northern Territory to talk Northern quoll conservation, cane toads, Targeted Gene Flow, and more. A PhD student at the University of Melbourne's Ecology & Evolution Lab, Chris also has an interest in reptiles so, naturally, we get sidetracked by snake talk because they're cooler than mammals :) Of course, there will be a chocolate ganache cake and something called a Hop Toad involving rum, lime, and apricot brandy, which I recommend sipping SLOWLY while you listen along. Enjoy!

Reptile Vet Dr Joshua Llinas drops by to talk reptile medicine including virology, paramyxoviruses, bornaviruses, the infamous Sunshine Virus from here in South East QLD, and much more. Hamish Noller from That Reptile Guy & Asha Constance from The Might Kind will be hanging out on the couch to help us with dessert and daiquiris :)