This biologist's penchant for mammals-was-born in the: oppressive heat of.. tropical Queensland; today it continues unabated, in the written word. TWELVE YEARS AGO, Stephenjackson was at the tail end of a three-year study into the elusive and endangered mahogany glider. Sponsored by the Australian Geographic Society, Stephen spent long, sweltering days and warm nights around Cardwell, 150 km south of Cairns, chasing gliders from treetop to treetop, chronicled in our 1997 story On a wing and a prayer(AG 47). Asked what he recalls most about the time spent with the nocturnal marsupials, he cites the physical exhaustion. "I remember that it was really, really hard work," he says. In particular, Stephen recollects the oppressive heat and the often hot-tempered gliders that "bit and cussed" at him when caught as part of the study.
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