Epic Films, an independent film group operating in Adelaide, South Australia, has released a trailer for a project entitled Wastelander Panda.

The pilot for an in-development television series, Wastelander Panda features an anthropomorphic, machete-wielding panda wandering a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The trailer has been likened to a hybrid of "Mad Max, Kung Fu Panda, and The Book of Eli".

The project began when when film students Victoria Cocks and Marcus McKenzie outlined the story of a young girl, Rose, who is raised by a panda. The 24-minute pilot features a $2000 mechanical panda head designed by Lion of the Sun Productions. [Trailer after the cut]

This is a somewhat self-serving announcement, but MiDFur the 13th has just been held in Melbourne, and I (Fred Patten) have been inducted into its Furry Hall of Fame.

MiDFur's Furry Hall of Fame members are picked by prior inductees, which include Bernard Doove, Anthrocon/Uncle Kage, 2 Gryphon, Paul Kidd, Stan Sakai, BigBlueFox, Jenner and CynWolfie.

Humphrey B. Bear, a character familiar to generations of Australians, is up for sale. The mute brown bear, with his waistcoat, straw boater and yellow bowtie, first appeared on Australian television in 1965, and entertained pre-schoolers for decades.

Over the years, the show Here's Humphrey won several Logie Awards, and Humphrey appeared on PBS in the United States. He was also given a special "Citizen of the Year" Award at the 1994 Australia Day celebrations.

In 2009, however, Banksia Productions - which owns rights to the character - went into liquidation, and they're looking for buyers for Humphrey. The winning bidder will get four Humphrey B. Bear costumes, plus all intellectual property rights (including 1776 taped episodes of Here's Humphrey).

How To Train Your Dragon - the story of a young Viking who defies generations of tradition by befriending a dragon - was a hit for DreamWorks in 2010.

Loosely based on a children's book series by Cressida Cowell, the movie grossed nearly $500 million worldwide, and won the 2010 Ursa Major Award for Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture.

Now the story is being adapted for the stage.

This week saw the opening of Australian family film Red Dog.

Based on the 2002 novel by Louis de Bernières, the movie tells the real-life story of a Kelpie/cattle dog cross who travelled throughout the Pilbara region of Western Australia in the 1970s.

Reviews of the film have been positive, and at present it has an 85% rating on rottentomatoes.com.

What do you get when you mix a kangaroo, an elderly woman, and a pair of police officers in a sleepy Outback town? One very interesting story!

Last Sunday, a rogue kangaroo attacked Phyllis Johnson, 94, while she hung laundry in her backyard. Phyllis, who suffered mostly cuts and bruises, told the Courier-Mail from hospital in Charleville, Queensland that she tried to fight the marauding marsupial off with a broom:

I thought it was going to kill me. It was taller than me and it just plowed through the clothes on the washing line straight for me.

After being knocked down she crawled back to her house and her son called the police. Charleville police chief Senior-Sargent Stephen Perkins said his officers were forced to pepper-spray the kangaroo to avoid being injured as well.

A: Basket sponge
B: Dolphin wearing sponge
C: Debris on the sea bed
D: Hidden fish

Researchers in Shark Bay, Australia have identified tool use and cultural transmission of the tool use in dolphins.

The scientists observed some dolphins occasionally pulling basket sponges from the sea bed and using them to cover their snouts as they foraged for food on the sea bed. The sponges presumably provided them protection from the rocks and shells on the sea bed. However, it wasn't known why the dolphins bothered to forage there.

The research team now report that dolphins perform this activity to catch fish living under the sand's surface.

Australia's newest furry convention, FurDU (Furry Down Under), has announced reaching capacity for 2011.

FurDU organizer FlameDrake revealed that the 100-person cap on attendance was insisted upon by the Vibe Hotel, the same venue FurDU launched in April 2010. [tip: Jet Dingo]

Oz Kangaroo confirmed that staff are in discussion with several larger hotels on the Gold Coast, in the hope of lifting this cap in future years.

Australia's MiDFur has been noticed by reporters for local broadsheet The Age.

The article contains quotes from artist and guest of honour Stan Sakai, convention organizer CynWolfe, and a local philosopher.

Stan will also feature on Get Cereal TV and The Conversation Hour this Wednesday.

The event, now in its 12^th year, is to be held this weekend in Melbourne, Victoria.

See more: MiDFur XII's trailer, venue tour and etiquette comic.

The Melbourne Herald Sun has taken an interest in government payments made to "cult" TV series Wilfred, running on network broadcaster SBS. Film Victoria put up over AU$500,000 across sixteen episodes, while Screen Australia contributed almost AU$1 million.

The show features drug use, sexually-themed conversation, and psychological mind-games between Wilfred (Jason Gann dressed as a dog) and his owner's boyfriend, Adam, who finds himself drawn into competition with Wilfred for his owner's affection.

Despite critical acclaim, Family First Senator Steve Fielding was not impressed:

I don't think taxpayers' money should be used to finance film projects that display acts of bestiality.

Several videos are available on the show website; U.S. viewers may also get their own version in the future. [tip credit: Higgs Raccoon]

A new Australian convention — Furry Down Under, or FurDU — hopes to draw fans to Queensland's Gold Coast on 23-25 April.

The event is based in the Vibe hotel, not far from Surfers Paradise beach. Registration will be AU$30, while hotel rooms are AU$149 for two people.

The first forty registered attendees are also to receive a "generic tail".

The con was initial to be held in Melbourne, but the venue changed when organizers Oz Kangaroo and FlameDrake moved.

Inflatable ‘roo and fursuiter Oz Kangaroo has announced his plans to start Australia’s first furry convention.

Named Furry Down Under - or FurDU for short - the con is set to start in April 2009 with a $60 registration fee (not including accommodation) and have close access to a number of leisure facilities.

The most intriguing difference that FurDU has from other conventions is that - instead of a hotel or convention centre - FurDU is set to take place in a newly built apartment block, where each attendee for the fee of $150 per night gets their own fully furnished apartment with bedrooms, kitchens and bathrooms. This is Australia’s first planned fully-featured convention, set to complement large furmeets such as FurJAM and MiDFur. The website for FurDU is coming soon.

(Ed's note: This was later found not to be the first Australian convention. MidFur X occurred a few months following the initial publication of this article.)

Tursiae has created a chart of sexual activity, past and present, within the Australian furry community.^[1]

The OzFurry YiffChart was first announced on Tursiae's LiveJournal late last month,^[2] and promoted on FurNet IRC channel #ozfurs. Individuals were invited to submit lists of prior relationships under terms of confidentiality.

Recent updates have resulted in charted individuals being coloured by state, except for those residing in low-population states which might cause them to be identifiable.

New antibiotic found in wallaby milk

Scientists have discovered a bacteria-fighting compound 100 times more effective than penicillin - in wallaby milk.

Researchers found the highly-potent compound, tagged AGG01, was active against a wide variety of fungi and bacteria including antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

Research team leader Dr Ben Cocks said the discovery could have a profound impact on both human and animal health.

"This compound has the potential to be commercially synthesised and may prove vital in the war against increasingly resistant human and animal diseases," Dr Cocks said.

He said researchers from the Victorian government's Department of Primary Industries made the discovery while investigating the chemical properties of Tammar wallabies' breast milk to determine how their immune-deficient newborns built up resistance to bacteria while in the pouch.

Using online biological information, they searched the wallaby's genome to identify more than 30 factors in the breast milk that contribute to fighting bugs.

Compound AGG01 was found to be effective against a relative of the hospital superbug MRSA, or golden staph, as well as ecoli, Streptococci, Salmonella, Bacillus subtilus, Pseudomonas spp, Proteus vulgaris, and Staphylococcus aureus.

Original Story is here

Australians living in the nation's drought-ravaged capital have been warned to keep their distance from aggressive kangaroos after the iconic marsupials attacked one woman and killed a pet dog.

Eastern Grey kangaroos, which can grow 1.7 meters (5.6 feet) tall and weigh 70 kg (154 lb), have started moving out of the parched bush into inner Canberra suburbs during the day to look for grass and water, increasing their contact with people.

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