determining a genuine tree break

[topender]

Hi all

We here in the tropics have a lot of wild weather, so we get a lot of tree breakage, my question is how do you determine what is a hairy hominid breakage as oppose to the weather, obviously you would ignore old breaks..yes?.
it would be nice for some input from others, to help determine what area has been visited ot marked with breaks.

cheers

"Not all the wander are lost"

[Dion]

As far as I know topender the best way to determine if you have a tree break or not is to note whether or not it’s a twisted break. Not only snapped but twisted.

Also try and determine whether or not there could have been anything around that could have caused it to break like a fallen branch for instance.

Sometimes the branch will just become weak through wear and tear and through grubs which eat away at the wood making it weak and susceptible do breakage this happens a lot.

I have known kids to go through and snap trees just for fun

But if you have gone through all possible explanations and nothing seems to fit then I guess it could quite possibly be yowie related.

[Dean Harrison]

That is a good question because too many people become a little ambitious and read far too much into natural forest occurrences.

Many of the trees that people have shown to me over the years are from a variety of tree that rots from the inside and becomes very brittle and snaps or are simply old which bares the same result. Others are most probably a result of high winds.

Branches do break by themselves and trees fall all on their own.

Be sure the tree is healthy. Be aware of your surroundings and check for any sign of a windstorm. Check that it is of achievable height.

The biggest aspect to look for and won't be a natural occurrence - twisting of the foliage/branch/small tree (whatever the case maybe). If it is twisted, then its not wind, no autonomous fall and not a result of an Australian native animal.

Below are some pictures of what is not natural.

[deadpool]

This is just me, but one of the tests i'd do is try and break a branch from the same type of tree. If/then, compare both.

[Dean Harrison]

Here are a couple of pictures I received today from Nigel and Jeannie. We seem to find these frequently. Is it Black Cockatoo or Yowie? The main point of interest is the fact that most of these are found all at the same height on the tree??

DMH

[deadpool]

We have black cockatoos (none of our hairy friends, alas) where I live - if you want, I can try and find some examples, might make it a bit easier to determine?

[stickyfingers]

... just a thought... (probably a silly one)... if the bites are recent... and there were remnants of saliva on the bark... would that indicate a Yowie?... I'm not sure but birds... (black cockatoo's for example)... don't secrete saliva do they???... (if I'm wrong I'm sure someone will correct me)... and surely the saliva would produce some sort of DNA sample for analysis perhaps?... and if birds DO secrete saliva at least the DNA would prove it either way anyway???... as I said... just a thought... Stickyfingers.

[forestguy]

Hey Dean - are these the sort of things you mean with twists? These 2 are from when we went out with Homerbear to his spot:

FC Tree Twist 2.JPG

FC Tree Twist.JPG

Topender - mate, you kicked the thread off... have you got some pics to share with us all...?

[lil foot]

i read a report from the states a few months ago of an expedition that found and photographed a 6 inch live sapling that had been twisted around full circle 30 odd times till it snapped, now thats pretty conclusive i reckon

[Dean Harrison]

As lil foot said. Basically, twisted to the point where you know without any doubt it was not a result of a fall.

DMH

[Dion]

I thought I would take the time to post up some pics of tree snaps in one of my research areas in Victoria. I haven’t been out to this location for a while about a year now. The grass was very long in this location and something had taken huge strides thought it, I wasn’t able to make the strides as big as what I found. Also not far from here I found a three toed print.

Anyway here are the tree snaps, they aren’t twisted but they are healthy specimens of a tree, very thick trunks to them. Only something very strong could have snapped them

[lil foot]

err, is that the noojee ( alpine) trout farm in first pic? your secret spot is foiled chewy.

[topender]

I would gladly post some pics, if i had any, unfortunately there is only the two of us yowie-obsessed-types up here myself and iwantobelieve, there is no shortage of sites of interest , which have some history of activity...whats hard is timing my days off with his available days. we have tentative plans to visit several good sites, we have all the good gear..gps, nightvision..twoways..trailcams etc, now its a race against the wet season, so when we get out and get some pics we will submit

not all that wander are lost

[Dion]

err, is that the noojee ( alpine) trout farm in first pic? your secret spot is foiled chewy.

I do believe your right lil foot well spotted