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Australia is a wildlife paradise full of some of nature’s oddest creations, says Karen Halabi.
Most of its marsupials – such as kangaroos, koalas, wombats, bilbies, quolls, bandicoots, sugar gliders and ring-tailed possums - aren’t found anywhere else in the world, and this vast open continent also has more mammals than anywhere else on earth as well as amazing marine life.
You can see some of these animals in wildlife sanctuaries and national parks, but you’ll also stumble across them while bushwalking in the country or even on coastal paths and nature reserves running beside our beaches. You might even be lucky enough to see kangaroos on the beach at Pebbly Beach on the NSW South Coast, or at Batemans Bay or or while you’re playing golf, pretty much anywhere in the country.
A great place to see native animals in the wild is on Kangaroo Island, barely 16 km off the South Australian coast. Australia’s third largest island, it feels like a different country, and teems with the sights and sounds of wild Australia - seals, sea eagles, koalas, wombats, wallabies and, of course, its namesake kangaroos, all in their native habitat.
Australia is a Noah’s Ark, a time capsule, set adrift 60 million eons ago when it separated from the original super-continent Gwondana and split off to become the world’s only island continent……………….
For a complete article on Australia’s wildlife or marine animals, or any other aspect of Australia, contact the author, Karen Halabi. Articles can be tailored to any length or style.
Also available: a complete rundown, state by state, on where to go to see these animals in Australia: from the tamar wallabies and koalas of Kangaroo Island, to the fairy penguins of Philip Island, the friendly dolphins of Monkey Mia, the giant maori wrasse of the Great Barrier Reef and the Tasmanian devils of our southermost island state.
©Karen Halabi 2008
Images on this page courtesy of Tourism Australia.
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