National Geographic: Australias Animal Mysteries Page #5

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they cover the mound with sand.

The egg chamber itself lies

at the heart of the mound.

Beginning in the spring and

continuing for three to four months,

the female will come about once a

week to lay a single egg.

The mallee regions are marked by

sharp temperature fluctuations

between day and night and

as the seasons change,

but the egg chamber must be kept at

an almost constant 92 degrees.

Once the female has laid her egg,

she will heave the tending

of the mound to her mate.

To determine the temperature,

he probes the sand.

With a sensitive spot either

in his bill or tongue,

he gets a reading as accurate

as any thermometer.

Regulating the temperature by

removing sand to release heat

or adding sand to conserve it is an

almost constant job for the bird,

a consuming task to

which he dedicates himself

for up to nine months of the years.

Roughly every two months,

a chick will work its way up through

the thick soil and wander off,

never to see its parents again.

From the depths of the forest echoes

a haunting and memorable sound...

the lyrebird, master of vocal mimicry.

Seemingly endless in its variety,

the lyrebird's repertoire

include other bird calls,

as well as man-made sounds.

The mating ritual is highlighted

by a shimmering display of

the bird's immense fan-like tail.

In central Australia,

heavy rains have flooded to desert.

But storms are few and short-lived in

this harsh, arid country.

As the claypans begin to dry up

the water-holding frog demonstrates

a remarkable adaptation.

Increasing its body weight by

as much as 50 percent

with water absorbed through the skin,

the frog burrows into the softened clay

to a depth of more than three feet.

Once underground, it will enter

a sleep-like state

its active life essentially over

until the desert once again sees rain.

Encased in a cocoon-like bag

of dead skin,

the frog will remain in its chamber,

sealed beneath the now dry

and hardened earth.

In times of drought, these amazing

creatures have been known to stay buried

for two years or more.

Only when the rains finally come

and the earth begins to soften

can the frog begin to emerge.

It must mate quickly

so that his young will mature

in time to soak up their own water supply

and bury themselves

until the next rains come.

In the forests of

southeastern Queensland,

a major scientific discovery

was made in 1972.

Since that time,

a bizarre animal unique in the world

has been making history.

The first noteworthy fact was that

it existed at all

Australians had always believed that

in their country

there was no such thing

as a frog that lived in water.

Since the time of the original discovery,

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