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Lizzie’s Lumps Scott Cam was very worried when he discovered a large lump on his dog, Lizzie. Lizzie is the site manager on Backyard Blitz. The lump suddenly appeared on her front leg, and grew at a tremendous rate. Scott took Lizzie to see the Burke’s...
The Beautiful Firetail finch (Emblema bella) has an olive back, finely-barred underparts and a bright red rump. The males are blacker underneath than the hens, and the juveniles are duller in colour than the adults. Beautiful firetails live in coastal heathland and...
Don visited Dr Justin Marshall at the University of Queensland’s Department of Vision, Touch and Hearing. Dr Marshall and his colleagues have discovered that the ultraviolet pigments on budgerigars’ feathers play a big role in their attractiveness to...
Radiographer, Emese Gal, suffers from a rare genetic disease called Neurofibromatosis 2 (also called Central Bilateral Acoustic NF) which causes tumours to grow on both auditory nerves. Emese lost her hearing three years ago, but thanks to a stray dog and the Lions...
Don visited the Animal Eye Care Clinic in East Malvern, Victoria. He talked with specialist veterinary ophthalmologist, Dr Robin Stanley, about the incidence of hereditary eye diseases in dogs. As well as treating these diseases, the clinic performs regular eye...
Dr Terry Martin first became interested in birds at the age of 10, when given a pair of Zebra Finches. Terry’s love of birds has continued through to the present day. He is now an avian veterinarian and aviculturist, and has just published a book on colour mutations...
Father Emu On a recent trip to Kalbarri, in Western Australia, Don noticed a male emu looking after a brood of chicks. Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) Emus are large, flightless birds. Although they can’t fly, they are very fast runners, reaching speeds of around...
Imperial Blue Butterfly John Dengate came across a caterpillar covered by a swarm of ants. At first glance it seemed as though the ants were killing the caterpillar, but as John explained, these two insects have a very special relationship. Imperial blue butterfly...
Kosci’s Comeback You may remember the wild brumby we met a few weeks ago on ‘Burke’s Backyard’. She was captured in the Kosciuszko National Park and broken in by master horseman, Pat Parelli, using the principles of ‘Natural...
The Australian budgerigar is the world’s most popular pet, and therefore the world’s most popular bird as well. Don highly recommends breeding budgies as a hobby, particularly for kids. As well as being very easy and great fun, it teaches them about basic...