Jack the Corella Update We revisited Jack the Corella and his owner and trainer, Ida Gallop. As well as being an excellent talker Jack has many amazing tricks in his repertoire, including riding on a dustpan, rolling over, and going to the toilet on command. If you...
Jamieson the Trick Horse Horse trainer Steve Jefferys wrote to Burke’s Backyard to tell us about his black stallion, Jamieson. Jamieson, aka ‘Spud’, is a 7 year old Australian Stock Horse. He has a huge repertoire of tricks including: counting...
Maurie Don introduced a new member of the Burke’s Backyard team Maurie, the Pug puppy. He spent his first night in a box beside Don’s bed, so whenever he felt lonely Don was right there to comfort him. Like all puppies, Maurie is a bundle of mischief. He...
This week, by popular demand, we showed Misty the Rainbow Lorikeet doing more amazing tricks. (See last week’s road test for more information on lorikeets – click here.) If you have a pet as clever as Misty, why not write in and tell us about it? Send your...
Problem Dog Roger the Red Setter is a fun-loving dog, who is also headstrong, easily excited and frantic around guests. Roger rampages through the garden, breaks plants, digs holes, barks incessantly at parrots that visit his backyard, and will not respond to normal...
Ralph Obituary If you thought that something was missing from this week’s program you were right: it was Ralph, the pug. Sadly, Ralph passed away on December 19, 2000. The cause of his death is not known, but it was possibly snakebite. Ralph was born with the...
Red-back Without Red Back Red-backs (Latrodectus hasseltii) are usually glossy black, with a distinctive red/orange stripe on the abdomen. However, it is not uncommon to find variations on this pattern. Don came across a red-back without any red on its back at all....
Satin Bowerbird Paul and Chris Coffey contacted ‘Burke’s Backyard’ to tell us that satin bowerbirds were constructing a bower in their garden. John Dengate visited the Coffeys and had a look at the bower, which he says was built by a group of...
Snails, Slugs and Slime Snails and slugs are very successful members of the mollusc family. They have brown or grey, soft, unsegmented bodies and two pairs of retractable tentacles on their heads. Slugs have an obvious ‘saddle’ or mantle, while snails have...
There are six species of blue tongue lizards (Tiliqua sp.) in Australia. They live in a wide variety of habitats ranging from desert, to tropical and subtropical forests and mountainous areas. These large members of the skink family are hardy, adaptable and...