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On September 21, the Victorian Parliament delivered a major step forward for Victoria’s traditional owners, by passing the Yarra River Protection (Wilip-gin Birrarung murron) Act 2017. Until now, the Wurundjeri people have had little recognition of their important role in river management and protection, but the new legislation, set to become law by December 1, will give them a voice.

The Act is remarkable because it combines traditional owner knowledge with modern river management expertise, and treats the Yarra as one integrated living natural entity to be protected.

The new law recognises the various connections between the river and its traditional owners. In a first for Victorian state laws, it includes Woi-wurrung language (the language of the Wurundjeri) in both the Act’s title and in its preamble. The phrase Wilip-gin Birrarung murron means “keep the Yarra alive”. Six Wurundjeri elders gave speeches in Parliament in both English and Woi-wurrung to explain the significance of the river and this Act to their people.

The Act also gives an independent voice to the river by way of the Birrarung Council, a statutory advisory body which must have at least two traditional owner representatives on it.

Read more: Three rivers are now legally people, but that’s just the start of looking after them.

Giving legal powers to rivers has become fashionable recently. Aotearoa, New Zealand passed legislation in March to give legal personhood to the Whanganui River, the voice of that river being an independent guardian containing Māori representation.

Within a week of that decision, the Uttarakhand High Court in India ruled that the Ganga and Yamuna Rivers are living entities with legal status, and ordered government officers to assume legal guardianship of the two rivers (although that decision has since been stayed by the Indian Supreme Court).

All of these developments recognise that rivers are indivisible living entities that need protection. But the Victorian legislation differs in that it doesn’t give the Yarra River legal personhood or assign it a legal guardian. The Birrarung Council, although the “independent voice” of the Yarra, will have only advisory status.

Speaking for the silent

The practice of giving legal voice to entities that cannot speak for themselves is not a new one. Children have legal guardians, as do adults who are not in a position to make decisions for themselves. We also give legal status to many non-human entities, such as corporations.

The idea of doing the same for rivers and other natural objects was first suggested back in 1972. In general terms, giving something legal personhood means it can sue or be sued. So a river’s legal guardian can go to court and sue anyone who pollutes or otherwise damages the river. (Theoretically, a river could also be sued, although this has yet to be tested.)

So how will the Yarra River be protected, if it doesn’t have legal personhood or a guardian?

Like the Whanganui River Settlement legislation, the Yarra River Protection Act provides for the development of a strategic plan for the river’s management and protection. This includes a long term community vision, developed through a process of active community participation, that will identify areas for protection. The strategic plan will also be informed by environmental, social, cultural, recreational and management principles.

These Yarra protection principles further enhance the recognition of traditional owner connection to the Yarra River. They highlight Aboriginal cultural values, heritage and knowledge, and the importance of involving traditional owners in policy planning and decision-making.

And the Birrarung Council will have an important role to play. It will provide advice and can advocate for the Yarra River, even if it can’t actually make decisions about its protection, or take people who damage the Yarra River to court.

Importantly, the Council does not have any government representatives sitting on it. Its members are selected by the environment minister for four-year terms and once appointed they can’t be removed unless they’re found to be unfit to hold office (for example, for misconduct or neglect of duty). This makes sure that the Council’s advice to the minister is truly independent.

So, although the new law will not give the Yarra River full legal personhood, it does enshrine a voice for traditional owners in the river’s management and protection – a voice that has been unheard for too long.

Katie O'Bryan is a member of the National Environmental Law Association, Environmental Justice Australia and the Australian Conservation Foundation.

A record 60,000 people took part in the Big Butterfly Count but each participant saw on average only 11 butterflies, the lowest since the count began in 2010

Summer’s washout failed to dampen the prospects for the red admiral, one of the UK’s most popular butterflies, whose numbers rose by 75% compared with last year, according to the annual Big Butterfly Count.

Other butterfly species were less fortunate, however, with declines seen across the three common species of white butterflies. The green-veined white and both the large white and small white were down more than a third on last year, reflecting difficult weather conditions.

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AEMO sees the new build of renewable energy as critical to meet power supply shortfalls, noting in its latest report that more renewables will mean less need to burn gas for electricity. It also warns more gas will be needed if one of the country's ageing coal generators fails.

Construction boom in large-scale solar farms and wind projects in Australia hits major road hump, with "retrospective" rules imposed by market operator causing delays, and in some cases added costs and equipment changes.

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Allendale, Northumberland I count 50 butterflies working the double row of sedums spilling their sticky scent onto the early morning air

There’s an urgency to the swallows’ flight as they hurtle low over the field, snatching flies that the restless cattle have disturbed. With a late brood just fledged from the barn, they have a keen need for food. There’s also a sense of limited time in the frenzy of bees and butterflies rummaging through late flowers within the walled enclosure of the garden. This little domain within the valley provides them with an end-of-season smörgåsbord. Most of the plants I grow are for both day- and night-flying insects, chosen for their pollen and nectar or as food plants for caterpillars.

The sun has only been up for half an hour. A butterfly is pressed against the house wall to absorb warmth after the night. A red admiral with pristine wings. I inch up slowly so I can study its striped antennae, its black-haired body, its legs braced against the stone. It is one of many, drawn by the mass of sedums that are spilling their sticky scent onto the early morning air. I count 50 butterflies slowly working the double row planted either side of the path. As the day heats up they will become a restless throng, jostling with the numerous bumblebees, flies and honeybees among the deep pink flowers.

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The main news of the week was Brendan Pearson's departure from Minerals Council of Australia. The numbers opposing a clean energy target are dwindling rapidly.

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Report shows least cost way to meet Paris climate goals and cut emissions is to fast-track Australia's transition to renewable energy.

The abrupt and unexpected departure of the Minerals Council of Australia’s CEO, Brendan Pearson, may well be a crucial tipping point in Australia’s debate over domestic energy policy.

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Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 28 September 1917

Though the Food Controller may consider that the supply of fresh-water fish is not of great importance, the cormorants evidently hold a different opinion. There were two busily sampling what they could catch on one of the Delamere meres; they thought a big, lazy bream well worth diving for. Was it this idea which attracted a passing shag – the smaller and much rarer green cormorant – to see what it could find on the canal near Mossley? Probably it was either lost or fagged out when migrating, for it allowed itself to be caught, and when I last heard of it, three days ago, was thriving well in captivity. The big cormorant often wanders inland for a little fishing, but the shag is seldom met with far from the sea.

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Southpaws seem to be more common among cats and dogs than humans. Eric Isselee/Shutterstock.com

This is an article from I’ve Always Wondered, a series where readers send in questions they’d like an expert to answer. Send your question to alwayswondered@theconversation.edu.au

While watching my cat engaging in yet another battle with my shoelace, I noticed that he seemed mainly to use his left front paw. Do animals have a more dextrous side that they favour for particular tasks, just like humans? – Mike, Perth.

The short answer is: yes they do! Like humans, many animals tend to use one side of the body more than the other. This innate handedness (or footedness) is called behavioural or motor laterality.

The term laterality also refers to the primary use of the left or right hemispheres of the brain. The two halves of the animal brain are not exactly alike, and each hemisphere differs in function and anatomy. In general terms, the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body and the right hemisphere controls the left side.

Laterality is an ancient inherited characteristic and is widespread in the animal kingdom, in both vertebrates and invertebrates. Many competing theories (neurological, biological, genetic, ecological, social and environmental) have been proposed to explain how the phenomenon developed, but it remains largely a mystery.

Animal ‘handedness’

Humans tend to be right-handed. Lefties or “southpaws” make up only about 10% of the human population, and more males than females are left-handed.

Great apes show similar handedness patterns to humans. Most chimps, for instance, seem to be right-handed. But not many studies have looked at laterality in non-primate animals.

Read more: Why are most people right-handed? The answer may be in the mouths of our ancestors.

There is some evidence to suggest that dogs and cats can be right- or left-pawed, although the ratio seems to be more evenly split than in humans, and it is unclear whether there are sex differences.

If you’re a pet owner you can do an experiment for yourself. Which paw does your cat or dog lead with when reaching out for something, or to tap open a pet door?

To test your pet dog, you can place a treat-filled Kong toy directly in front of your dog and see which paw he or she uses to hold it to get the food out. A dog may use either paw or both paws.

To test your pet cat, you can set a “food puzzle” by putting a treat inside a glass jar and watching to see which paw your cat uses. Don’t forget to repeat it lots of times and take notes to see whether the effect is real or just random chance!

Don’t forget to repeat the experiment lots of times.

Horses also seem to prefer to circle in one direction rather than the other. Meanwhile, one study suggests that kangaroos are almost exclusively lefties, although the neural basis for this is unknown.

Lateralisation and brain function

In humans, the left hemisphere is mainly associated with analytical processes and language and the right hemisphere with orientation, awareness and musical abilities, although this dichotomy is simplistic at best.

Is there evidence of lateralised brain function in non-human animals too? A team of Italian researchers think so. They found that dogs wag their tails to the right when they see something they want to approach, and to the left when confronted with something they would rather avoid. This suggests that, just as for people, the right and left halves of the brain do different jobs in controlling emotions.

Laterality is also connected to the direction in which hair grows (so-called stuctural laterality), or even to the senses (sensory laterality). Many animals use they left eye and left ear (indicating right brain activation) more often than the right ones when investigating objects that are potentially frightening. However, asymmetries in olfactory processing (nostril use) are less well understood.

Research suggests most kangaroos are southpaws. Ester Inbar/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

The left or right bias in sensory laterality is separate from that of motor laterality (or handedness). However, some researchers think that side preference is linked to the direction of hair whorls (“cow licks”), which can grow in a clockwise or anticlockwise direction. More right-handed people have a clockwise hair pattern, although it is unclear if this is true of other animals.

The direction of hair growth and handedness are also related to temperament. Left-handed people might be more vulnerable to stress, as are left-pawed dogs and many other animals. In general, many animals, including humans, that have a clockwise hair whorl are less stress-prone than those with anticlockwise hair growth. The position of the hair whorl also matters; cattle and horses with hair whorls directly above the eyes are more typically difficult to handle than those with whorls lower down on the face.

Elsewhere in the animal kingdom, snails also have a form of laterality, despite having a very different nervous system to vertebrates like us. Their shells spiral in either a “right-handed” or “left-handed” direction – a form of physical asymmetry called “chirality”. This chirality is inherited – snails can only mate with matching snails.

Chirality is even seen in plants, depending on the asymmetry of their leaves, and the direction in which they grow.

As an aside, left-handedness has been discriminated against in many cultures for centuries. The Latin word sinistra originally meant “left” but its English descendant “sinister” has taken on meanings of evil or malevolence. The word “right”, meanwhile, connotes correctness, suitability and propriety. Many everyday objects, from scissors to notebooks to can-openers, are designed for right-handed people, and the Latin word for right, dexter, has given us the modern word “dextrous”.

Why is the brain lateralised?

One adaptive advantage of lateralisation is that individuals can perform two tasks at the same time if those tasks are governed by opposite brain hemispheres. Another advantage might be resistance to disease – hand preference in animals is associated with differences in immune function, with right-handed animals mounting a better immune response.

Does it matter if your cat, dog, horse or cow favours one paw (or hoof) over another? Determining laterality – or which side of the brain dominates the other – could change the way domestic animals are bred, raised, trained and used, including predicting which puppies will make the best service dogs, and which racehorses will race better on left- or right-curving tracks.

And even if your dog or cat never clutches a pen, or uses one limb more than the other, just be grateful that they haven’t yet developed opposable thumbs!

This article is dedicated to the memory of Bollo the cat, who inspired this question but has since passed away.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.

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