Rainforest Revelations

Archive for March, 2012

Have you had a chance to check out the spectacular new Daintree Rainforest website?  Magnificent beauty and extraordinary biodiversity presented through a gallery of images in full-screen format by company photographer, Neil Hewett.  The complexities of the oldest surviving rainforest in the world continue to challenge humanity as it strives to comprehend the continuity of growth, the intricate relationships and the incredible diversity established over 160 million years.  The image gallery is partitioned into aerial, fauna, flora, forest, insect and spider lists, for your convenience. We hope you enjoy …

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Torrent Fig, Ficus adenosperma graces the banks of Cooper Creek.

Brendan, a visiting Fig enthusiast, plans his holidays around figs.  Everywhere Brendan and his wife go they are looking for Ficus species.   I learned a lot about figs from Brendan on my guided interpreted tour, including how addictive fig-hunting can be.  Brendan is a botanist with a penchant for figs and he is writing a book about … you guessed it … figs.  This will be the ultimate source for people who want to know more about figs.  Ficus adenosperma will be added to the illustrious pages.

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Giant Water Spiders (Megadolomedes australianus) are found along the edges of creeks in the Cooper catchment (and no doubt other areas of coastal northern Queensland).  They are enormous, with a leg-span of around 180 mm.  The body length of the female reaches about 40 mm and the smaller male is 15-20 mm. Their appearance is generally shaded brown with a flecked or mottled pattern.

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Another inhabitant of the ancient Daintree Rainforest has revealed that its highly-refined evolutionary attributes may yet provide a solution to a vexing medical problem.  MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), is one of a number of greatly-feared strains of Golden Staph (Staphylococcus aureus) that are often found in hospitals and have become highly resistant to most antibiotics.

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