DangerOz - New iPhone App
The Australian Museum has released a new iPhone App about Australia's most dangerous animals.
DangerOz, a new iPhone App about Australia’s most dangerous animals, is now available in Apple’s App Store.
With photos and facts on forty different animals, as well as a geo-location feature that tells you which of these animals might be nearby, DangerOz is a must-have app for anyone who goes outdoors (or stays indoors!).
Australian Museum Web Manager, Lynda Kelly, said the app is a new information channel for people who are interested in Australian wildlife – especially those animals considered to be dangerous.
“This app is a convenient source of information for people whether they are tourists concerned about animals they’ve never encountered before or city-dwellers who may come across the unfamiliar in cupboards, gardens, out bushwalking or at the beach,” she said.
“While you’re actually more likely to be killed by a bee sting than a shark attack, and at this time of year territorial magpies are probably hurting more people than say, redback spiders, DangerOz provides information on all of these possibilities.”
The app’s geo-location feature includes a national distribution map for each animal, making it a very quick way to find out what might be nearby and what threat, if any, it poses.
“Most animals are really not a threat but people need to be best informed about what is out there. What you don't know might hurt you,” she said.
The app also rates animals according to Danger Type, such as
- ‘Don’t eat me’,
• ‘Defensive’
• ‘Has caused death’.
“Ratings are an opinion about the threat posed by an animal tempered by the likelihood of someone actually encountering and interacting with it,” said Dr Kelly.
“DangerOz ratings range from a 10 for the very lethal box jellyfish, to the hard to spot - but potentially venomous - platypus which comes in at 2.”
DangerOz is the first of a series of apps being developed by the Australian Museum to extend access to information, education, research and exhibitions.
The DangerOz iPhone App is now available for $2.99 in Apple’s App Store.
