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Unidentified

13 Jan 2023

JaneR

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User's notes

Intriguing scratchings at the back of Hackett. Was this by an echidna ? (a wild guess). Scratchings are low to the ground, and have long cuts.

5 comments

DonFletcher wrote:

14 Jan 2023

I suspect the mammal was a hominin using some kind of machine or tool. But not a 'wise' human, Homo sapiens, so maybe Homo erectus or Homo neanderthalensis :-)

Of all animals I can think of, this marking is closest to, but significantly different from, markings I have seen from Cockatoo species, and Sambar Deer (present in this area). It is not at all like markings I have seen from Eastern Grey Kangaroos, Koalas, Yellow Bellied Gliders, Echidnas, or Goannas.

JaneR wrote:

14 Jan 2023

Hi Don,
people were my first thought (mainly because it seemed so 'aggressive'). But the markings are really quite close to the ground, and a person would have to bend over to make those marks: which is why I wondered 'echidna'.
Whoever / whatever, it would have taken quite a few minutes in a very open situation.
Thanks for your thoughts

DonFletcher wrote:

14 Jan 2023

Hi Jane,
Could it have been a kid who got a new hatchet or sheath knife for Christmas? And I should have said Homo floresiensis, the 'Hobbit', instead of neanderthalensis :-) Pity the little Flores People are not still with us. Life would be so much more interesting if there was more than one species of human on our planet, but like the wonderful megafauna of Australia, the hobbits have been gone for tens of thousands of years.

waltraud wrote:

14 Jan 2023

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo perhaps? they visit the area quite frequently. I uploaded a couple of photos of hacked Eucalyptus bridgesiana see Zanda funerea (Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo) and I observed the culprits a number of times - I was interested how YTBC find trees infested with Cassidae moths.
But the kids could be an option too. We observe a lot of nature "playing" in the reserve behind the backyards...

DonFletcher wrote:

14 Jan 2023

Hi Waltraud and Jane, I'd say they are distinctly different. YTBC excavations that I have seen and that seen are in the photos at Waltraud's link, can be distinguished by (i) the presence of the tunnel of the larva they were extracting, (ii) broken wood as well as cut wood (including a perch piece sticking out from the trunk just below the excavation if there is no natural place for the cocky to stand) and the cut wood being done in broad chisel-like bites. This excavation lacks the first two features and has thin cuts made by something (such as a machete or knife) that is much narrower than the bill of a YTBC.

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Sighting information

At least 1 Abundance
13 Jan 2023 10:39 AM Recorded on
JaneR Recorded by
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Unidentified Mammals JaneR Canberra & Southern Tablelands NatureMapr

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