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Surfers not worried about shark attacks

The sight of a dorsal fin knifing through the waves might send many swimming for the shore, but a survey of surfers shows it won’t deter many from catching a wave. A University of South Australia study published in Marine Policy reveals 44% of surfers say a shark sighting would not stop them from being in the water. While more than half of the 391 surfers surveyed had seen a shark while they out on the water, 60% were not afraid of the marine creatures. The survey also revealed more surfers have been bitten by sharks than we think. But the global survey of surfer attitudes towards sharks, undertaken by behavioural scientist Dr Brianna Le Busque, found surfers had generally positive views on these apex predators. Le Busque told Cosmos, to date there has been very little research on surfers’ perceptions of and interactions with sharks. “A lot of the shark policies, shark nets and things like that are implemented, in part to protect surfers. But there hasn’t really been a lot of research to actually ask them what they want,” she says. Le Busque says the study may help to change people’s negative perceptions of sharks. This is important because fear of sharks can act as a barrier to conserving them. “Shark conservation is important. As apex predators at the top of the food chain, if sharks become endangered or extinct this can have flow on effects for the entire ecosystem.” Globally, 100 million sharks are killed each year with a quarter of shark species threatened by extinction. But conserving sharks is complicated because they can harm humans, and many people fear them. “When people are afraid of sharks, they don’t want sharks to be conserved … it’s also a driving motivation for having certain shark policies. So things like shark culls, shark nets, they are implemented because of people’s fears of sharks,” Le Busque says. Le Busque says research indicates the public have a higher perception of risk when it comes to sharks, compared to the low likelihood of encountering one. Surfers’ relaxed views on sharks contrasted with those of the wider public. This was despite the survey finding quite a high share of surfers (17%) had been bitten, or knew someone who had been bitten by a shark. Le Busque says, this is quite a high percentage, higher than shark attack statistics suggest. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/nature/surfer-shark-survey/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by Petra Stock. Image: Shutterstock

Travel Trouble

“That is what makes him a predator”: Graham Norton names worst ever guest

Graham Norton has called out his "least favourite guest" on his long-running talk show in his new tell-all book. The BBC presenter was on a book tour for his new memoir Forever Home in his native Dublin when he opened up about the star's "chilling" behaviour before he even arrived on set. Two years before the avalanche of allegations about convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein came to light in 2017, he appeared on Graham's famous red sofa. He joined Doctor Who actor David Tennant, Oscar winner Olivia Colman and singer Jessie J in 2015. “I often talk around who my least favourite guest was, but someone reminded me, I have a really good answer to this now,” Norton said, according to Irish news outlet <a title="www.joe.ie" href="https://www.joe.ie/movies-tv/graham-norton-worst-guest-756066?fbclid=IwAR16hRsekgbR7OCKoYxJMIzG08n1nkAKcuASfa4ErXuXOpByUu3Y0X3WXeE">Joe</a>. “And actually, it was weird, because he asked for my e-mail. And he e-mailed me something very nice, a complimentary thing. And then he decided he wanted to be on the show, because he was going to promote something." “And it was a show that was fully booked, so I replied saying ‘Oh, thank you so much, but the show is fully booked’. He e-mailed back: ‘What if I blah de blah de blah’." “And he e-mailed back again, ‘But I think...’, and I just had to turn to my booker and say ‘Can you please deal with this?’ And at the time, I thought that sort of attitude, that kind of ‘Oh no, I’m going on’, that is what makes you a very good producer." “But of course, now that we know what we know, that is what makes him a predator. It was that kind of weird, tunnel-vision thing. And it was sort of chilling in retrospect, because I was just laughing at those emails. But you realise ‘Oh my God, that is an insight into how that man is’.” Weinstein is serving a 23-year prison sentence after a New York jury found him guilty of sexual assault. Image credits: Getty Images

Australia’s oldest dinosaur was a peaceful vegetarian, not a fierce predator

Ipswich, about 40 kilometres west of Brisbane, seems an unlikely place to find dinosaur fossils. Yet the area has produced the oldest evidence of dinosaurs in Australia. A fresh look at these fossils now reveals they aren’t what they first seemed, and it’s prompting us to reconsider how the story of Australia’s dinosaurs began. In research <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2021.1984447">published</a> today in Historical Biology, we reanalyse a sequence of 220-million-year-old tracks from the Ipswich Coal Measures, thought to have belonged to a carnivorous dinosaur. We show they actually belonged to an early sauropodomorph — a distant relative of the plant-eating sauropods that roamed the planet much later, during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. This is the first time fossil evidence of early sauropodomorphs has been found in Australia. <h2>Subterranean dinosaur tracks</h2> The Ipswich area was once the principal source of coal for Queensland. Its suburbs including Ebbw Vale, New Chum and Swanbank were dotted with underground mines during the late 1800s and the first half of the twentieth century. These mining operations involved the creation of deep shafts and tunnels, from which miners could access deposits of coal sandwiched between other layers of rock. Some tunnels would descend hundreds of metres below the surface. The coal would be removed from the seam by hand, and pillars were left in its place to support the ceiling of the resulting underground “room”. It was difficult and dangerous work. In 1964, miners working at the Rhondda colliery in New Chum made a startling discovery. As they removed the coal from a seam they were following 213 metres below the surface, a series of giant, three-toed tracks became exposed in the ceiling of the mine shaft. For the miners, it was as if a dinosaur had just walked over their heads. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427699/original/file-20211021-16-1f6x0w5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427699/original/file-20211021-16-1f6x0w5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> These tracks remain the oldest-known dinosaur fossils in the entire continent. They’d been made by a dinosaur walking across a layer of swampy vegetation, which would be extracted as coal 220 million years later. Buried under fine silt and mud, they’d been preserved as natural casts. It had been assumed some type of predatory dinosaur made the tracks. The only problem was the footprints were reportedly about 40–46 centimetres long. This would suggest the track-maker was just under 2m high at the hips. This isn’t necessarily large for a theropod such as Allosaurus fragillis, which was about this size. Tyrannosaurus rex was even bigger, with a hip height of about 3.2m. But the tracks found in Ipswich were created during the Late Triassic about 220 million years ago — 65 million years before Allosaurus and 150 million years before T. rex. And fossil evidence from around the world indicates theropods of a larger size didn’t appear until the start of the Early Jurrasic Period, 200 million years ago. Was something unusual afoot in Australia during the Late Triassic? As part of a broader review of Australian dinosaur tracks, we decided to take a closer look at the Rhondda colliery tracks. The mine has long been closed, so the original tracks are no longer accessible, but archival photographs and a plaster cast are held at the Queensland Museum. <h2>Dispelling the myth of the ‘Triassic terror’</h2> Using the photos and cast, we created a 3D digital model of the track to allow a more detailed comparison with other dinosaur tracks from around the world. Our study revealed two important things. First, the footprints were not as big as initially reported. Excluding drag marks and other unrelated surface features, they are close to 32–34cm long (not 40–46cm as previously documented). Second, the shape of the footprints and the sequence in which they were made is more consistent with early sauropodomorphs. Sauropodomorphs were the distant relatives of the lumbering sauropods of the Late Jurassic and subsequent Cretaceous Period. The towering Triassic terror of the Ipswich Coal Measures was no more. In its place was a peaceful plant-eater. <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427698/original/file-20211021-24-ztn4dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="Australia's oldest dinosaur, reconstructed based on a fossilised tracks founnd in 220 million year old rocks from Ipswich." />The remains of early sauropodomorph dinosaurs have been found in Upper Triassic rocks, aged between 220 million and 200 million years, in continental Europe, Argentina, Brazil and South Africa. And by the start of the Jurassic, 200 million years ago, they had achieved a near global distribution, with fossils in North America, China and Antarctica. This isn’t surprising, given the continents at the time were still connected in a single landmass called Pangaea. Our new interpretation of the Rhondda colliery tracks shows early sauropodomorphs lived in Australia, too, and that Australia’s first dinosaurs were friendlier than we thought. <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/steven-w-salisbury-3400">Steven W. Salisbury</a>, PhD; Senior Lecturer, School of Biological Sciences, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-queensland-805">The University of Queensland</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/anthony-romilio-131227">Anthony Romilio</a>, PhD, Independent Researcher, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-queensland-805">The University of Queensland</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-oldest-dinosaur-was-a-peaceful-vegetarian-not-a-fierce-predator-170275">original article</a>. Image: Anthony Romilio

Family & Pets

Incredible drone footage captures face off between two apex predators

Drone footage captured by a couple holidaying in Western Australia has left people shocked as a massive crocodile intimidates a bull shark. The footage was captured at a popular swimming and fishing spot called Ivanhoe Crossing, which is near Kununurra. Chelsea Wood and her boyfriend were fishing in knee-deep water before deciding to put the drone up to capture some footage. "Before we knew the bull shark and salty were there, we were hanging out with a family with a couple of young girls," she told 9News. "They were just metres from where we took the footage." <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z-UA44HKxEU"></iframe></div> <div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text redactor-styles redactor-in"> The shark seems to be swimming towards the crocodile before quickly changing direction. Chelsea said her partner and the other locals couldn't believe what the drone had captured. "We were pretty shocked and lots of people in Kununurra were shocked as well," she said. "That's where the locals hang out and take a dip in the water and we had been doing the same over the last couple of days." </div> </div> </div>

Travel Trouble

Vigilante citizens arrest child sex predator

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text redactor-styles redactor-in"> Two civilians from Perth have made a spectacular citizens' arrest on an alleged child sex predator at a park. Police told <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/child-sex-predator-citizens-arrest-perth-park/6b4cbe13-416c-401c-84ff-08e15122831b" target="_blank">9News</a> that the men, aged in their 30s, posed as a 14-year-old boy on dating app Grindr to lure the 61-year-old. Perth detectives said that they exchanged sexually explicit messages with the 61-year-old and arranged to meet him at Creyk Park in Perth's south-east. After meeting with the man, the 30-year-olds called Triple Zero and kept him there until police arrived. Perth Police have since advocated against this behaviour but commended the pair for not hurting the 61-year-old. After police met the older man, they searched his phone and allegedly located the sexually explicit messages. They then raided his home and seized other electronic devices. Russ Alan Portelli was refused bail and will front court again next month after being charged with using electronic communication with intent to procure a person under the age of 16 years to engage in sexual activity. </div> </div> </div>

Legal

How can we protect our grandchildren to be safe from online predators?

Many teenagers use mobile phones and social media <a href="https://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/teens-social-media-technology-2015/">almost constantly</a>. And children are <a href="https://www.pewinternet.org/2010/12/01/is-the-age-at-which-kids-get-cell-phones-getting-younger/">gaining access</a> to these devices and platforms at increasingly younger ages. This is a challenge for grandparents who need to keep up with their children’s use, the evolution of devices, and how this changes how they have to parent. <a href="https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2818048.2819928">Studies show</a> carers feel anxious and lack sufficient knowledge about their children’s use of devices. They’re worried about their children being exposed to <a href="https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=3171581.3134699">sexual images</a> and messages online. They’re anxious their children could provide <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074756321630824X">personal information</a> to a stranger or, worse, <a href="https://d1e2bohyu2u2w9.cloudfront.net/education/sites/default/files/tlr_component/common_sense_education_digital_citizenship_research_backgrounder.pdf">develop a relationship with a stranger online</a> whom they might meet in person. When grandparents try to restrict their children’s online interactions, children usually find a way around it. Instead, we should have conversations with children from a young age about cybersecurity. This will help them develop the skills they need to be safe online. What are children exposed to? Social networking – which includes interactions through gaming, as well as texting and social media – brings with it exciting opportunities and unique risks. <a href="https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/roblox-little-girl-avatar-raped-1202865698/">Online gaming</a> presents unique dangers because user-generated games (where content is developed by gamers on platforms such as <a href="https://www.roblox.com/">Roblox</a>) are not regulated. This means children can be exposed to inappropriate sexualised and violent content. <a href="https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/kids-on-social-media-and-gaming/index.html">Children</a> are vulnerable when they interact with other users on social media, in chat rooms and within gaming. This could involve <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022427815599426">grooming</a>by a sexual predator either to meet in person or send <a href="https://esafety.gov.au/parents/big-issues/unwanted-contact">sexually explicit images</a>. A report, <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/-/media/cesc/esafety-corporate/research/esafetyresearchparentingdigitalage.pdf">Latest Research: Parenting in the Digital Age</a> by the <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-the-office/research-library">Office of the eSafety Commissioner</a>, found 24% of 8-17-year-olds met someone in real life after initial online encounters. While the study by the eSafety Commissioner found children and teenagers usually attempted to assess the danger of meeting someone unknown face-to-face, such as by looking for similar interests and ensuring there was no sexual content in the online communication, sexual predators use deceptive tactics to lure their victims into meeting in person. Another <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/-/media/cesc/documents/corporate-office/youth_and_gaming_doc.docx">Australian study</a> found half of children played online games with someone they didn’t know. Boys were more likely to do so than girls. How do children deal with online situations? Research has been mixed on how young people manage cybersecurity risks. One <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00909882.2016.1248465">study</a> found that children who are at least 11 years old seem to have some awareness of the consequences of online interactions. They use safety measures including removing comments, tags and images and blocking and deleting content when interacting online. They also rarely use photos of themselves and disable their geolocations to protect their identities. But children also engage in risky behaviours such as <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/state-of-play-social-media-usage">sharing passwords</a>and contacting strangers. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0144929X.2016.1181210">Some findings indicated</a> the more teens use social media sites, the more they tend to disclose personal information. In <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26273881">one US study</a>, researchers asked nearly 600 students aged 11-13 about cybersafety. The results indicated 40% accepted friend requests from people they do not know, and they were more concerned with protecting their personal information from grandparents than strangers online. Several studies found children think parental restrictions are <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1261169">intrusive</a>and invade their privacy. This includes teens feeling <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-21905-5_1">disrespected</a> and even stalked by their parents, which leads to a loss of trust. What can we do? Restricting children’s online use is unhelpful. Parents should talk to their children about healthy and age-appropriate online interactions. This includes avoiding disclosing personal information (real name, date of birth, phone number, address, school, or pictures that reveal such information). Parents should provide guidance and explain the consequences of online dangers to their children in a way that does not instil fear but explains their concern. Parents should talk to their children about online risk and safety behaviours from a <a href="https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=3171581.3134699">young age</a>, as soon as they start using online games and engaging on social media sites, to help them build a stronger foundation for their <a href="https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=3171581.3134699">transition to adolescence</a>. They’re worried about their children being exposed to <a href="https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=3171581.3134699">sexual images</a> and messages online. They’re anxious their children could provide <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074756321630824X">personal information</a> to a stranger or, worse, <a href="https://d1e2bohyu2u2w9.cloudfront.net/education/sites/default/files/tlr_component/common_sense_education_digital_citizenship_research_backgrounder.pdf">develop a relationship with a stranger online</a> whom they might meet in person. When parents try to restrict their children’s online interactions, children usually find a way around it. Instead, parents should have conversations with children from a young age about cybersecurity. This will help them develop the skills they need to be safe online. What are children exposed to? Social networking – which includes interactions through gaming, as well as texting and social media – brings with it exciting opportunities and unique risks. <a href="https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/roblox-little-girl-avatar-raped-1202865698/">Online gaming</a> presents unique dangers because user-generated games (where content is developed by gamers on platforms such as <a href="https://www.roblox.com/">Roblox</a>) are not regulated. This means children can be exposed to inappropriate sexualised and violent content. <a href="https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/kids-on-social-media-and-gaming/index.html">Children</a> are vulnerable when they interact with other users on social media, in chat rooms and within gaming. This could involve <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022427815599426">grooming</a>by a sexual predator either to meet in person or send <a href="https://esafety.gov.au/parents/big-issues/unwanted-contact">sexually explicit images</a>. A report, <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/-/media/cesc/esafety-corporate/research/esafetyresearchparentingdigitalage.pdf">Latest Research: Parenting in the Digital Age</a> by the <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-the-office/research-library">Office of the eSafety Commissioner</a>, found 24% of 8-17-year-olds met someone in real life after initial online encounters. While the study by the eSafety Commissioner found children and teenagers usually attempted to assess the danger of meeting someone unknown face-to-face, such as by looking for similar interests and ensuring there was no sexual content in the online communication, sexual predators use deceptive tactics to lure their victims into meeting in person. Another <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/-/media/cesc/documents/corporate-office/youth_and_gaming_doc.docx">Australian study</a> found half of children played online games with someone they didn’t know. Boys were more likely to do so than girls. How do children deal with online situations? Research has been mixed on how young people manage cybersecurity risks. One <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00909882.2016.1248465">study</a> found that children who are at least 11 years old seem to have some awareness of the consequences of online interactions. They use safety measures including removing comments, tags and images and blocking and deleting content when interacting online. They also rarely use photos of themselves and disable their geolocations to protect their identities. But children also engage in risky behaviours such as <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/state-of-play-social-media-usage">sharing passwords</a>and contacting strangers. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0144929X.2016.1181210">Some findings indicated</a> the more teens use social media sites, the more they tend to disclose personal information. In <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26273881">one US study</a>, researchers asked nearly 600 students aged 11-13 about cybersafety. The results indicated 40% accepted friend requests from people they do not know, and they were more concerned with protecting their personal information from parents than strangers online. Several studies found children think parental restrictions are <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1261169">intrusive</a>and invade their privacy. This includes teens feeling <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-21905-5_1">disrespected</a> and even stalked by their parents, which leads to a loss of trust. What can parents do? Restricting children’s online use is unhelpful. Parents should talk to their children about healthy and age-appropriate online interactions. This includes avoiding disclosing personal information (real name, date of birth, phone number, address, school, or pictures that reveal such information). Parents should provide guidance and explain the consequences of online dangers to their children in a way that does not instil fear but explains their concern. Parents should talk to their children about online risk and safety behaviours from a <a href="https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=3171581.3134699">young age</a>, as soon as they start using online games and engaging on social media sites, to help them build a stronger foundation for their <a href="https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=3171581.3134699">transition to adolescence</a>. Written by Marika Guggisberg. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/children-can-be-exposed-to-sexual-predators-online-so-how-can-parents-teach-them-to-be-safe-120661">The Conversation.</a>

Caring

Craig McLachlan accused of being a "sexual predator"

Australia actor Craig McLachlan has denied claims of indecent assault, sexual harassment, exposing himself and bullying female co-stars. Fairfax Media and the ABC report a number of McLachlan’s female cast members in the 2014 theatre production of The Rocky Horror Show alleged the star abused, harassed or assaulted them. McLachlan has been accused by multiple actresses of allegedly “touching their genitalia”, “groping their breasts”, “exposing himself” and “pressing his penis against them”. Many of the actresses have also made claims to police. The award-winning actor, best known for his roles in the Doctor Blake Mysteries, Neighbours and Home & Away, has said in an email to Fairfax Media the claims are “baseless” and “they seem to be simple inventions, perhaps made for financial reasons, perhaps to gain notoriety”. “These allegations are ALL made up,” he said. Actress Erika Heynatz, who went to the police about McLachlan’s behaviour, described him as “really calculated and very manipulative, a predator”. Another actress, who had also reportedly worked with McLachlan, said her “biggest pet peeve is that people think he is this ukulele-playing larrikin that they see on the Today show every couple of months when he comes on to spruik something he’s doing”. “He’s a larrikin, up for a laugh and certainly, when we all first met him, that’s indeed how he came across. But there is another side to this man that he has very, very craftily and cleverly disguised from people for so long. It’s like this split personality. The other personality is this sinister, predatory behaviour,” she said. Actress Angela Scundi, who worked with McLachlan on The Rocky Horror Show, said the star allegedly made inappropriate comments about her breasts and recalled an incident when McLachlan only wore boxer shorts when he hugged her. “He pushed his pelvis into me and moved around so I could feel his penis against my body,” Scundi, who played a phantom in the production and was the understudy to Heynatz’s Magenta, said. “Craig grabbed my hand and said to me, ‘Every day I am falling more and more in love with you’.” Scundi, who has reportedly made a statement to police, also alleges McLachlan asked her to come into his dressing room, closed the door, took off his boxer shorts and stood up naked. “I said ‘What the f***?!’ and turned away to leave. He responded with laughter, saying ‘No, no, no. Don’t go, sorry, I’m just so comfortable’.” “I have NEVER done anything like this,” McLachlan reportedly said in his emailed statement. In the statement, McLachlan said: “I am, and have been at all relevant times, in a stable relationship with my long-term partner.”

There’s a deadly predator lurking in this photo

Did you spot the hidden danger lurking in the garage? Luckily, the Sunshine Coast homeowner spotted the 1.8 metre carpet python hiding in his garage. He called Lockie Gilding, of Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7, who promptly disposed of it. “I just picked him up, bagged him up, and took him to nearby bushland and released him into the bush,” Mr Gilding told the <a href="https://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/can-you-see-the-6ft-long-snake-in-this-picture/3188970/" target="_blank">Sunshine Coast Daily</a>. “He was pretty and happy and relaxed,” said Mr Gilding, “He would have just been happy to have a warm place.” <img width="422" height="317" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/06/14/01/4166B95200000578-4601642-Snake_catcher_Lockie_Gilding_found_the_six_foot_carpet_python_sq-a-8_1497400081218.jpg" alt="Snake catcher Lockie Gilding found the six foot carpet python squeezed in between two boxes" class="blkBorder img-share b-loaded" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" id="i-1da62a695be20c51"/>

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