Kids Page Trees for Mahogany Gliders

Recently schools on the coastal lowlands trialed a kit on Mahogany Gliders developed and produced by the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland. These schools were Kennedy, Lower Tully, Ingham, Murray River Upper and Bambaroo primary schools. All are in localities where Mahogany Gliders are known to occur, and Bambaroo has a significant sized remnant of critical mahogany glider habitat adjoining the school.

To support this educational unit the Bushcare program, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, Greening Australia and the Wet Tropics Tree Planting scheme worked together to produce resources for Nursery care and hygiene including monitoring sheets, Mahogany Glider key food and habitat species identification sheets, seed collection and propagation notes including learning how to identify phenological stages of seed growth and record observations. The schools participated in a workshop on the above resources and participated in a field trip with fun and games to identify species and discuss issues in relation to threats to mahogany gliders.

Each of the trial schools either had existing shadehouses in need of some attention/modification or received a new shadehouse. All were supplied with necessary equipment which could enable them to produce approx 450 trees, as a result of funding from WPSQ. All of the schools have end purposes for their trees ranging from involvement in a community planting to planting with rangers in their area or making interpretive plantings in their school grounds and will continue to work with staff from Education Qld, Greening Australia, QPWS and WTTPS to provide continued support.

The program was officially launched on Wednesday, 11th of July, 2001 along with the Recovery Plan for Mahogany Gliders by the State Minister for Environment, Hon. Dean Wells. Additional schools in the Mahogany Glider area are now participating in the education unit this year.


Getting to know seeds

Growth of a seed

Step 1:

  • Put cotton wool balls into a jar
  • Fill the jar with them

Step 2:

  • Put some bean seeds between the cotton wool in the jar
  • Seeds should be about 5 cm apart

Step 3:

  • Keep the cotton wool moist as the seeds begin to grow

Step 4:

  • After a few days, the roots will grow
  • Which way are they pointing?

Step 5:

  • When the roots are 3 cm long turn the jar upside down
  • Wait 3 to 4 days
  • Which way are the roots pointing now?

What is inside a seed?

Step 1:

  • Put 2 lima beans in a jar
  • Put 2 lima beans beside the jar
  • Pour water into the jar and leave for a day

Step 2:

  • Take the beans out of the water
  • Look at the outside of the beans
  • Are they the same as the other beans?

Step 3:

  • Peel off the skin of the wet bean
  • Split the wet seed in half

Step 4:

  • Look at the parts of the seed.
  • Can you identify the parts

Step 5:

  • Can you see the baby plant?
  • Can you see the seed's food supply?
  • Which takes up more space inside the seed?

Can you make a generalisation about the way roots and leaves grow from your observations?


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