Animals & Gardens

Highlights

The name “dragon” comes from the color of the interior of the mouth. When opened, it gives the appearance of breathing fire. This action is used to deter predators or male rivals during the breeding season.

This mid-sized stocky arboreal lizard has prominent spines along its sides, a large triangular head and a spiny jaw pouch that looks like a beard when swollen. The color on its upper parts varies from shades of brown, gray, reddish-brown to bright orange while the ventral surface ranges from pale to dark gray with white elongated spots edged with black.

Mature males have dark beards that become black during courtship and breeding. Adults can grow up to 2 ft. in length, the tail accounting for more than half of this and males are larger than females. They are omnivores, consuming many types of insects, small vertebrates and vegetation including fruits and flowers. They are preyed on by dingos and monitor lizards. They reach sexual maturity at one to two years of age and females lay clutches of from 11-30 leathery oblong-shaped eggs in early summer in nests dug in sandy soil. The young hatch unattended three months later. Forming a shield-like structure around the snout is a spiny jaw pouch which, when inflated, looks like a beard and is used in courtship displays as well as to deter predators from attacking.

Bennett’s wallaby is a member of the macropod family. Macropod means “large foot” and refers to a family of marsupials including kangaroos and pademelons native to Australia.

Well-developed males tend to be aggressive with each other and they fight by ‘boxing’. When these wallabies feel threatened, they stamp their feet to alert others. They can also communicate using their ears, scent marking, and some vocalizations like growling and hissing.

Bennett’s wallaby has grey to reddish fur coloration, white cheek markings, and a patch of reddish fur on the neck. It has a white or light grey abdomen and a dark brown muzzle. Its head-body length reaches up to 40 inches, males being generally larger than females. Its ears are longer in proportion to other wallaby and kangaroo species and can turn to the side, which contributes to its keen hearing.

Highlights

Blue-tongued skinks are threatened by habitat loss, increasing wildfires due to climate change, agricultural toxins, and predation by foxes, dogs, and feral cats.

The blue-tongue skink spends most of the day searching for food. Although it is slow-moving, its brown-banded body helps it camouflage into the surrounding landscape.

When threatened, blue-tongue skinks open their mouth wide and deploy their ultraviolet blue-tongued, sharply contrasting their pink mouth. They also flatten their body to appear larger, thereby frightening potential predators.

Blue-tongued skinks get around using a serpentine (snake-like) movement, slithering on their bellies and using their feet to push themselves along.

Highlights

A Bird With Many Hidden Talents

The emu is the second largest bird in the world and a very vocal communicator. It has a unique throat pouch, which allows it to make deep booming, drumming, grunting, and even hissing sounds. Despite their size, emus are excellent swimmers and their strong legs enable them to jump up to 7 feet in the air. While running, an emu’s stride is nearly 9 feet long and they can sprint long distances, reaching speeds of up to 30 miles per hour. Although emus have wings, they are flightless. Their feathers have a unique design, which gives them a hair-like appearance and protects them from the sun.

The laughing kookaburra is the most prominent member of the kingfisher family and gets its name from its maniacal-sounding call, replicating a variety of chortles, deep laughs, and hoots.

Nicknamed the “bushman’s alarm clock” for its early dawn and dusk cackling, family groups of kookaburras live in the same territory year-round and communicate boundaries to other groups with their distinctive calls.

Laughing kookaburras can alter their loud vocalizations to find others for courtship, raising alarms, showing aggression, and begging for food.

During the mating season, one to ten males form a line and follow a receptive female, sometimes for weeks. The female chooses the most persistent male that walks behind her
for the longest time. To deter predators, they curl into a ball or dig a shallow hole into the ground, and expose their sharp spines.

The short-beaked echidna is one of the five living species of egg-laying mammals. It has a compact body covered with sharp spines on the back and sides, short legs and tail, and a long, tubular snout. It lacks teeth but has a long, sticky tongue to catch its prey. Its very strong claws are used for digging and foraging for insects. Females have pouches on their undersides and males have small spurs on the hind legs.

Highlights

The tawny frogmouth is named for its wide, frog-like beak. This nocturnal and carnivorous bird is often mistaken for an owl.

Masters of camouflage, tawny frogmouths sleep on low tree branches during the day. When disturbed, they stiffen their body and stretch their neck, simulating a broken tree branch – a behavior called “stumping.”

If provoked, they react with a hissing noise, a startling snap of their yellow-lined beak, and a defensive pose that makes them appear larger.

Tawny frogmouths are threatened by vehicle collisions, habitat loss and degradation, agricultural toxins, and predation by feral cats, dogs, and foxes.

Highlights

Yellow-footed rock wallabies are threatened by predation by foxes and feral cats, habitat fragmentation, wildfires, and drought due to climate change.

The yellow-footed rock wallaby lives among rocky cliffs, faces, gorges, and boulder fields. It is mainly nocturnal, sheltering in small caves, cracks, and crevices during the heat of the day.

Yellow-footed rock wallabies can jump up to 12 feet. They have strong back legs and long tails, which counterbalance as they dart among the steep slopes.

Also known as ring-tailed wallabies, the soles of their feet are rough and surrounded by coarse hair, helping them to increase traction and get a firm grip on the rocks. They can be identified from other wallaby species by their distinctive pattern of yellow and brown rings on their long tails.