Tuesday - June 27, 2006

Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Mate

The link to this story was sent in to me by reader Phil R. who plainly stated that he was suffering from a case of insane giggles just thinking about some stoopid schmuck spending years in college earning degrees in biology and animal science only to reach the apex of his career sniffing dingo pee. I can’t believe I’m posting it here. Bear with me for a few minutes while I too try to stop giggling insanely. In the meantime, carefully read the last sentence and feel free to offer your scientific advice to our intrepid team of idiots researchers.

   

How Is Dingo Urine Gathered?
Carefully, Study Says
_{Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:27am ET14}

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian researchers say they have discovered a new repellent that can help with everything from rehabilitating old mine sites to reducing the amount of roadkill. It’s dingo urine.

Researchers at Curtin University have been startled by the effectiveness of urine from Australia’s wild dogs in scaring off kangaroos which chew through areas of new-growth vegetation.

The university’s Michael Parsons said the discovery could have important applications in helping to re-establish plant life on old mine sites by repelling kangaroos, unique Australian marsupials which number in the tens of millions.

Researchers looked at the effectiveness of chemicals found in the urine of dingoes and non-native predators like coyotes. “When we presented tame kangaroos with coyote urine, they became interested in the new smell, but when presented with the dingo urine they were startled and fled,” Parsons said.

He told Reuters Tuesday that the effect of urine on wild kangaroos was even more dramatic. Parsons’s team is looking at ways of delivering the repellent effectively at mine sites and how much would be needed, as well as whether it could be used to reduce the number of collisions between kangaroos and vehicles on outback roads.

He said the university was also trying to isolate and synthesize the active chemicals in dingo urine so that it could be made in quantities large enough to be commercially viable. For now, the university is receiving supplies of the real thing from Australia’s Dingo Conservation Society, but he said how it is gathered is a tightly held secret. “At one stage we fashioned a little urine catcher to walk dingoes and collect it from, but that tended to be risky,” Parsons said.

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/27/2006 at 01:39 PM   
Filed Under: • Odd-Strange •  
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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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