The Heart of the Desert The Heart of the Desert
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Uluru. Photo by Tomek Niewiadomski
Nature

The Heart of the Desert

The Magic of Uluru Rock
Aleksandra Reszelska
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time 4 minutes

In Europe, buildings tell the most interesting stories, however in Australia, the rocks, coastlines and trees hold a fascinating history. Here, the culture is magically enchanted in nature.

Aboriginal Australians have their own creation myth, which anthropologist Charles P. Mountford describes in his book The Dreamtime: Australian Aboriginal Myths (created in collaboration with artist Ainslie Roberts):

“In the beginning, before there was any life, the earth was flat and featureless, unbroken by any mountain range, watercourse, or major natural feature. Nor was it inhabited by any living thing. [. . .] The aborigines believe that their world is flat, and so limited in area that, should they travel to the horizon, which to them is the edge of the universe, they would be in danger of falling into bottomless space. Then, at some time in the long-distant past, which the aborigines poetically refer to as the D

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Dog or Demon? Dog or Demon?
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Illustration by Natka Bimer
Nature

Dog or Demon?

The Grinning Devil
Szymon Drobniak

Constantly moving, omnivorous, with a disarming smile. If only it didn’t get into so many fights. Meet the Tasmanian devil.

As with every marsupial, it’s not quite clear what’s going on here. It just happens that the mammals inhabiting the Australian continent are the avant-garde of the chordates, individualists shaped by millions of years of geographical isolation from the rest of the world. Supposedly similar to other four-legged creatures, but there’s always something a bit off, something that doesn’t fit. As if somebody used structural plans we know well, but got lost here and there, sticking original ideas onto the well-known forms of the animal body.

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