Back to OP.
True questions:
- Is there a difference between “the outback” and “the bush?”
1a. Is “outback” properly written “Outback”/cap “O?”
Yes, please!
I’ll take this one. I used to work for Parks & Wildlife in the NT.
The NT government has had a fairly longstanding practice of removing “problem crocs” from areas frequented by humans. In this case, this part of the Katherine River is frequented by kayaking tourists, fisherpeople, a popular boat tour, even swimmers. (My sister has swum here recently!) Crocs can be deemed problematic if they’re big scary fuckers like this one, or if they act aggressively toward humans or boats.
The removed crocs are sold to croc farms for breeding purposes. They can’t just be released elsewhere, as crocs are very territorial, and will travel long distances to return to a favoured home range.
As for the ten year hunt, it’s newspaper hyperbole mostly, but there had been sightings and records of a big 'un in this area for a long time, and traps set there regularly without success.
Where do kangaroos come from? Well… when a mommy kangaroo and a daddy kangaroo love each other very much, they have a special way of hugging…
[What a fun thread!]
And how the heck do you trap a croc anyway?* Corral and dart them (as with the Loch Ness croc)? Throw chickens with undigested Quaaludes? Wiki unaccountably is mum.
*Croc Traps: band name.
Which part of the country do the big ass crabs that walk on land live?
Croc traps are large floating steel mesh boxes baited with (usually) a whole chicken.
Do you mean coconut crab? They live on islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans. Not including Australia. Coconut crab - Wikipedia
Christmas Island, and Australian Territory in the Indian Ocean.
I don’t think that’s them (though those are horrifying). I have a vague memory from a few years back of some of our Aussie dopers talking some form of giant crab that was invading not just the beach but actually marching (sidling?) on into town and they were everywhere.
OMG, I guess it is them after all. How the hell do people deal with that? Obvious answer is I guess they’re used to them but I’m just about paralyzed by looking at photos of them :eek:
I’d have said the more famous arthropod residents of Christmas Island are the 50 million red crabs that migrate annually from the forest to the beach. They’re more impressive for their numbers and behaviour than for their size, about 10cm across.
Oh, hell no. I’ll stick with the koalas, thank you (I have the San Diego zoo koala cam on and I’ve been looking at the back of one’s woolly, non-moving head for about two hours now.)
“It is the largest land-living arthropod in the world, and is probably at the upper size limit for terrestrial animals with exoskeletons in recent times…”
Cool fact–thanks! Definitely going into my cocktail-party conversation tool kit.
Still in play:
Dingos are almost exactly comparable to coyotes. Do Americans parents worry that a coyote will go on a rampage at a local playground?
The few documented cases of dingos displaying aggression toward humans usually have extenuating circumstances. The tragic death of a young kid on Fraser Island, for example, was partly caused by habituation, unwitting tourists feeding wild animals and changing their behaviour.
Outback vs. bush: I think outback is less commonly used, and is more likely to refer to more remote, and especially desert regions. Bush, after all, implies some vegetation. Don’t capitalize it, despite the Wikipedia article… :dubious:
There are some more idiomatic usages, e.g., “going bush,” to leave civilization.
Perfect segue. Another “Ask an Aussie” I thought of today, even before I learned (just now) about “going bush.”
Is “walkabout” a fairly normal word out there (solo experience of wanderlust, whatever)–I only heard or read it used by a semi-rich American drunk I once worked for, on his way to rich-drunk it merrily around the world for a few months, and I thought he was affected as hell after I went and looked it up for using the damn word in America unless it was exactly necessary.
I believe some native American tribes had some similar initiation activity, although the word certainly comes from the Australian term.
- Yes, certainly. While there’s no demarcation line The Outback is Central Australia and remote. There are very few population centres except Alice Springs (pop 25,000), the landscape is generally flat, few trees, no permanent rivers. The only significant industries are mining and grazing.
The bush extends right to the coastline, varies widely in climate and topography. The bush has trees, scrub, better access to water and people live in the bush.
The bush or this
or this
Walkabout started as a shorthand for the behaviour of Aboriginal people in the 19th century, who would leave what they were doing without explanation to attend to social and religious obligations. Because this was usually secret business, even from other indigenous people they would not give warning or say where they had been.
Its taken on a more general usage for anyone going off without an apparent reason or plan, so a few old folks I know who like to ramble around talk about it as going walkabout. Or your car keys may have gone walkabout if they are not where you think you left them.
As well as outback and the bush, there is also Woop Woop [not to be confused with Wagga Wagga]. You can get a good view of the Never Never from there.