In September Arid Recovery hit the airwaves with the Conservation Conversation and if you haven’t tuned in, then you’ve been missing out!
Exploring all things animals, the show focuses on questions that kids from the area have asked each month at market day. We hope to get the kids thinking about wildlife, biology and conservation.
As expected, the kids are most interested in animals of the Aussie outback and we leave no stone unturned in our quest to provide them with fun facts. We’ve covered everything from roos, emus, pythons and even had interest in the burrowing bettong (oh, boy that got us talking!). But every now and then we get a question that will leave even us biology nerds a little perplexed. Last week we had a young boy enquire about the number of owls left in the wild. Although I could tell you that there are 11 species of owls living in Australia at the moment, answering how many there are was another matter. Nonetheless, after a quick consultation with our good ‘ol friend Google we were able to provide a somewhat more detailed answer.
On the other hand, some of the less difficult “questions” give us a chuckle. My personal favourites include “Sheep have baby lambs” and “snakes are poison”. I find it hard not to laugh at these comments, but here at Arid Recovery we can turn any small anecdote into an in-depth discussion about wildlife and the natural world.
Without a doubt, there has been a certain re-occurring theme over the course of the show. Kids just love to talk about snakes. Averaging 6 snake questions a show, the kids from Roxby Downs are going to be herpetologists before we know it. If there isn’t at least one child in every family in Roxby that can tell us why snakes are venomous then we have not been doing our jobs properly.
Finally, one thing that does set us apart from other radio shows in the region is our good taste in music. True to our form our playlists incorporate an eclectic mix of old and new tunes inspired by the animal kingdom. In fact, my favourite part of the show is the preparation of songs for our playlists. From Karma chameleon by Boy George to Cats in the cradle by Harry Chapin, no song is too daggy for the Conservation Conversation.
Our final show for the year is scheduled for the 12th of December at 3pm. So, if you’re interested in animals, want to bop along to some classics or get involved in the general shenanigans that is the Conservation Conversation then don’t forget to tune in to RoxFM 105.5 or stream online.
