8:00pm – Thursday, September 24 on ABC1
Giant Cuttlefish
What has three hearts, blue blood, a beak like a parrot, and can change its colour in a second? The answer is a cuttlefish, and right now in spring-time, the eggs of one particular species – the giant Australian cuttlefish – are starting to hatch. There’s one place in the world where a quarter of a million of these amazing animals migrate each year for a spectacular love-in and that’s where Mark Horstman takes you for a dive to find out why their unique nursery is subject to a mortal threat.
Daniel O’Doherty
If you’re ever been on the road during school drop off or pick up time you’ll be familiar with the traffic chaos caused by concentrated bursts of parents chauffeuring their darlings to and from class. So, what’s the environmental impact of the school run? One proactive schoolkid decided to work out the effect of travel on his school’s carbon footprint and what could be done to reduce it. His project won the 2008 Action Against Climate Change Eureka Schools Prize.
Sea Urchins
Not all visitors to Tasmania are received with open arms and some, like the New South Wales Sea Urchin, are definitely outstaying their welcome. An unusually strong East Australian current has brought warmer waters to Tasmania and allowed urchin larvae to survive a long journey from their home in New South Wales. But they are typical tourists; they show no respect for the locals and leave a path of devastation in their wake. Surfing scientist, Ruben Meerman, reports on the damage these spiky invaders are causing the local fishing industry and the surprising approach scientists have developed to stop them in their tracks.
Catalyst will be repeated on ABC2 – Friday, September 25 at 5:30pm
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