Tag animals

Platypus

Platypus Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is an egg-laying mammal living in the rivers and waterways of the eastern  Australia. As far north as Queensland and including Tasmania. When Europeans first saw it in 1798, Captain John Hunter, the second Governor of… Continue Reading →

Tasmanian Devil

Tasmanian Devil The Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is a carnivorous marsupial belonging to the family Dasyuridae. Once living across mainland Australia, it is now only found in Tasmania. It is about the size of a small dog, and following the… Continue Reading →

Spinifex Hopping Mouse

Spinifex Hopping Mouse The spinifex hopping mouse (Notomys alexis) inhabits the central and western Australian arid zones. It lives in spinifex-covered sand flats, sand dunes, loamy mulga, and melaleuca flats. We would mostly see them at night, bounding quickly across… Continue Reading →

Mountain Devil

Mountain Devil I had a Mountain Devil (Moloch horridus) as a pet when a child. I would find an ants nest and place him there and come back a couple of hours later to collect and take him home. Feeding rates have… Continue Reading →

Greater Bilby

Greater Bilby The Greater Bilby (Macrotis lagotis) plays an important role in traditional indigenous culture across the deserts of Central Australia. The large rabbit-like ears of the Greater Bilby (often just called Bilby) have also made it a famous Australian… Continue Reading →

Bush Turkey

Bush Turkey Bush Turkey or Australian bustard (Ardeotis australis) is a large ground bird living in grassland, woodland and open country across northern Australia but is increasingly rare or extinct in the south. I remember seeing large groups after good… Continue Reading →

Mulgara

Mulgara The Mulgara is an Australian native carnivorous marsupial and feeds on a relatively wide range of insects, scorpions, centipedes, locusts, spiders, rodents, and other small marsupials and reptiles. The Mulgara is also closely related to predators like the Tasmanian… Continue Reading →

Marsupial Mole

Marsupial Mole The Southern Marsupial Mole’s scientific name is Notoryctes typhlops. Aboriginal people of the Western Desert call it Itjaritjari (great sounding name!).  It is not a ‘mole’, but a small, unusual pale gold marsupial with no visible eyes or ears. It has… Continue Reading →

Triops australiensis

Triops australiensis The first Triops australiensis was identified for me in 1965 by Dr Ride from the Perth Museum.  He was on a field trip to Yamarna, where I grew up, to study hopping mice, and we had heavy rains,… Continue Reading →

Witchetty Grubs

Witchetty Grubs Endoxyla leucomochla, Witchetty Grubs or Bardi as I knew them as a child in the Great Victoria Desert, was an occasional delicacy that women would dig up and roast on the fire. Witchetty may originate in Queensland, where… Continue Reading →

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