Extirpation: Local Extinction

How you can protect native wildlife from your pet cat Here are just some of the ways you can prevent your pet cat from preying on native wildlife.

You can read more about the event we held in May on the Inspiring the ACT website!

Art and Science: Creative Collaborations for Conservation Local artists, scientists, and conservation aficionados were invited to an evening of collaboration and conversation in May at Extirpation: Local Extinction, an event held at the Australian Nationa…

Congratulations to the winners of the People's Choice Award and Professionals' Choice Award for 2017!

The winner of the People's Choice Award was Jeanette Muirhead with "Dasyurus maculatus".

The winner of the Professionals' Choice Award was Sharyn Leach with "Feisty yet Shy, Tiger Quoll (Dasyurus maculatus) Part 2".

A big thank you to all of the artists who were involved in last night's event!

Thanks to everyone who joined us tonight at Extirpation: Local Extinction and for helping us make it such a great event!

Are you ready Canberra?

Join us tonight for Extirpation: Local Extinction!

How to find the event tonight:
ANU Innovations Theatre
Anthony Low Building 124,
Garran Rd, Acton ACT

Only one more sleep till event night!

We can't wait to see some amazing art and hear from the panel!

Are you ready to celebrate the ACT's threatened species?

Join us at the ANU Innovations Theatre at 6:00pm! Panel starts at 6:30pm!

Extirpation: Local Extinction – Events 56 followers

Our ninth artist profile is Di Mortimer (Dianne Mortimer)! You can read about her below:

For more than two decades Di has been exhibiting her paintings regularly throughout the ACT and surrounding regions, both in group exhibitions and as a member of local art organisations. She became an active member of the Wildlife and Botanical Artists group shortly after its inception and over the years has been privileged to hold a number of executive positions within this active group of nature loving artists.

Over a number of years Di has sought to develop design concepts and extend skills in a range of art mediums. In more recent times her focus has been on representing and interpreting aspects of nature largely in two dimensional mediums, employing techniques in drawing, watercolour, pastel, acrylics, printing and collage as well as combinations of these in mixed media paintings.

Di constantly finds the beauty of Australia’s natural environment a source of great pleasure and an excellent resource to draw upon for works. Weekly bushwalks and photography with members of the Australian Native Plant Society into the many reserves in and around the ACT continue to inspire and arouse her awareness of the wonderful heritage we have to appreciate and must strive to preserve.

WABA: http://waba.net.au/d-mortimer-profile/

Meet the Smoky Mouse (Pseudomys fumeus)! The species is listed as critically endangered in NSW, and endangered in the ACT and nationally.

The Smoky Mouse may look like a household pest but they are actually native and endemic to the ACT, NSW, and Victoria.

Their size is similar to that of a small rat, with an average adult weight of 52g. Their fur is pale-grey to bluish-grey in colour, with a grey to white belly, and a dark ring around their eye.

The Smoky Mouse lives in small groups around patches of heath, sometimes with one male and up to five females. They live in a large complex burrow system with several nesting chambers.

The Smoky Mouse is found only in a small number of fragmented sites. This, along with predation from foxes and feral and domestic cats, makes them vulnerable.

Sources:
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedspeciesapp/profile.aspx?id=10686
http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=88
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:c8ba3449-d6f3-405a-9c8a-7b4db471c52a
http://www.environment.gov.au/resource/smoky-mouse-pseudomys-fumeus
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/determinations/smokymouseFD.htm

Introducing the Two-spined Blackfish (Gadopsis bispinosus)!

This species is found only in the Murray Darling Basin, ranging from north-east Victoria through to the ACT and southeast NSW. The Two-spined Blackfish is listed as vulnerable in the ACT and can only be found in the Cotter catchment.

Previously the species could also be found in other catchments in the ACT including the Murrumbidgee and Paddys rivers, and possibly the Naas/Gudgenby system. The species is threatened by overfishing, habitat alteration and introduced fish species.

The Two-spined Blackfish is a small to medium sized fish ranging in length from ~200mm up to ~350mm. They range in weight from ~50g up to ~200g. The species has yellowish-brown to olive green colouring with blotchy brown spots on the back and sides with a creamy or light grey underside. The dorsal fin is long, almost reaching the tail and has 1 to 3, usually 2, spines. The species has very small scales on its body and is covered with a thick mucus coating.

The Two-spined Black fish spawn (reproduce) in spring to early summer when the water temperature reaches ~16C. Females lay between 20 and 500 large eggs with each egg 3-5mm in diameter. The eggs are deposited onto the bottom surfaces of rocks and are guarded by the male fish until they hatch.

Photograph Copyright Tarmo Raadik.
http://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/3876

Sources:https://www.mdba.gov.au/sites/default/files/archived/mdbc-NFS-reports/2203_factsheet_native_two-spined_blackfish.pdf
http://www.environment.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/617814/two-spined_blackfish.pdf

Our eighth artist profile is Shelley Richardson (ShelleyLee Art)! You can read about her below:

Shelley is a self-taught, pen and ink illustrator from Gundaroo, NSW. She has been creating art in various forms as gifts for friends and relatives throughout her life, however, it was not until 2014, after having an accident, did she focus on achieving her long-held dream of creating art on a full-time and semi-professional basis.

Shelley has a passion for creating quirky illustrations that make people smile. She is driven by a love of Australian wildlife and the bush. Shelley hopes to portray through her intricate pen and ink illustrations the individual characteristics of the animal, highlighting their beauty and in some instances their struggle for survival.

Featuring the vulnerable and endangered, Shelley only suggests the animal’s habitat through fine line work. This is the way in which she hopes to draw attention to the fading and disappearing habitats of our Australian animals, habitats critical to their survival.

Shelley is an exhibiting member of the Wildlife and Botanical Artists (WABA) and the Art Society of Canberra.

She has been awarded:
• Best in Show – ‘Blossom Nap’ – Australian Pygmy Possum, The Art of Nature Exhibition 2014
• People’s Choice Award – ‘Dragon Refuge’ – Grassland Earless Dragon, ACTEWAGL Catchment Art Awards in 2015.

We’re excited to see Shelley’s artwork at Extirpation: Local Extinction!

Website: https://www.shelleyrichardson.net/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shelleeart/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/shelleyrichardson5202/

Australian Wildlife Art | Gundaroo | Shelley Richardson Shelley is a self-taught, pen and ink illustrator with a studio in Gundaroo, NSW.

Meet the Grassland Earless Dragon (Tympanocryptis pinguicolla)! This species is endangered both in the ACT and nationally. It is found in the ACT and NSW, and is thought to be extinct in Victoria.

The species inhabits native temperate grasslands and uses burrows, rocks, and grass tussocks as shelter.

The Grassland Earless Dragon grows to a maximum of 16 cm in length and has three white lines running from neck to tail. The species also lacks an external ear opening.

Decline in the species’ numbers is thought to be due to loss and fragmentation of habitat resulting from human activities and w**d invasion. Only 5% of the ACT’s native temperate grasslands – the species’ habitat – remain.

There is currently a captive breeding colony of the Grassland Earless Dragon at the University of Canberra, and offspring have been successfully released into the wild.

Sources:
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:8f331b35-bbfa-444b-8018-8728271a3cd4https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/43f24013-b621-4ff6-bf09-34da942e8ced/files/tympanocryptis-pinguicolla.pdf
http://www.environment.act.gov.au/cpr/conservation_and_ecological_communities/threatened_species_factsheets/factsheets2/factsheet_3
http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=66727
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedspeciesapp/profile.aspx?id=10817