Human-Animal Relationships in Literacy Education

This paper presents a case for the inclusion of human-animal relationships as a focus for literacy education. It outlines the ways in which language is implicated in human alienation from nature in a modern technology-focused life, and discusses the effects of nature-deficit disorder on human well-being. It calls for an ‘entangled pedagogy’ that attends to stories of local wildlife, and points to the importance of such a pedagogy for particular groups of literacy learners, including international students, new migrants and recent refugees, who may be unfamiliar with the flora and fauna of their new environment. As an example of entangled pedagogy the paper presents ideas for literacy lessons based on the iconic Australian magpie whose relationship with humans is, at times, problematic.

Distinctive plumage patterns enable individual recognition of the Australian Magpie Cracticus tibicen

ABSTRACT We investigated whether the plumage patterns of the Australian Magpie Cracticus tibicen, a mediumsized, black and white bird, common over most of mainland Australia and Tasmania, including cities and towns, were sufficiently different and distinctive to allow humans to identify individual birds. Eighty participants took part in our pattern matching experiment to see how many of 10 photographs of individual birds they placed correctly below a panel showing 20 individual birds, each illustrated with three different photographs. Participants were from a range of ages, although the majority were high school students. All but two successfully matched some of the birds but there were considerable differences in accuracy and speed of performance. We tested differences in accuracy and time taken by participant, gender, age, and whether testing alone or testing at the same time as four other participants. We concluded that it is possible for humans to recognise individual Australian Magpies based on the birds’ plumage.

Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen Latham, 1802).

This chapter describes the common terminologies, taxonomy, morphology, geographical distribution, physiology, diet, behaviour, reproduction, habitats, ecology, invasion pathways, environmental impact, control and human use of the Australian magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen).

Australian Magpie

The Australian magpie is one of our nation’s most popular and iconic birds. It is loved for its impressive vocal abilities, propensity to play, excellent parenting and willingness to form enduring friendships with people. Written by award-winning author Gisela Kaplan, a leading authority on animal behaviour and Australian birds, this second edition of Australian Magpie is a thoroughly updated and substantially expanded account of the behaviour of these birds. With new chapters on classification, cognition and caring for young, it reveals the extraordinary capabilities of the magpie, including its complex social behaviour. The author, who has devoted more than 20 years to studying and interacting with magpies, brings together the latest research on the magpie’s biology and behaviour, along with information on the origin of magpies, their development and health not published previously. This fascinating book has a wide appeal to bird lovers, amateur ornithologists and naturalists, as well as those with a scientific or professional interest in avian behaviour and ecology and those interested in the importance of native birds to the environment.

Observations supporting parental care by a viviparous reptile: aggressive behaviour against predators demonstrated by Cunningham’s skinks

Most reptiles exhibit no parental care and aggressive behaviour towards heterospecific predators has rarely been recorded in the natural environment. Several species of the subfamily Egerniinae are amongst the most highly social of all squamate reptiles, exhibiting stable social aggregations and high levels of long-term social and genetic monogamy. We have examined Cunningham’s skinks, Egernia cunninghami, over a three-year period during late January and early February (total 32 days) in the alpine region of New South Wales using video and thermal imaging. Four birthing sessions were witnessed during our field studies of social aggregations of skinks. Our observations monitored skink encounters, in the presence of offspring, with an eastern brown snake, Pseudonaja textilis (two separate encounters, one recorded by video/imaging) and 12 encounters with the Australian magpie, Gymnorhina tibicen. All events were associated with aggressive chasing and/or attack by adult skinks. The first snake encounter involved the active targeting of a recently born juvenile with the mother of the juvenile attacking the snake (running towards the snake, biting and remaining attached for several seconds). The second encounter (the following year) comprised two adult skinks attacking and biting a snake, Pseudonaja textilis. All magpie encounters resulted in chases by adult skinks.