Wild Animals of Australia *image heavy*

[wpk]

Last year I went to Australia for about five weeks, it was an amazing trip. Here are just a few photos of the wildlife that I took.

Bush Turkey, these guys were all over the north and east parts of the country.

Wallabies

Kookaburra

Thorny Devil

I don't recall the name of this bird, something in the Ibis family?

A rainbow python I think it was called:

A shy echidna

Wild camels

Possum (very different looking from ours)

Termite mound (approx 15-20ft tall)

A few more birds

Kangaroo

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And of course, the saltwater crocs!

We did a boat trip where they hung chunks of meat over the side of the boat with a pole.

Scuba diving on the great barrier reef (only going to put a couple up, I have hundreds of em)

 

[hali]

fab pics

 

[Isa]

Wowwww Beautiful pics!!
I do not even know which one if my favorite, there are so many of them that I love, well acually, I love them all. I am sure you learned a lot of things there and I am sure you had a lot of fun. It is the first time I see a Thorny devil, very intersting reptile! And you have to love kangaroos and wallabies, arent they just so precious
Thanks so much for sharing and if you have more, please do not hesitate to post them

 

[terryo]

OMG! These pictures should be in N. G. They are amazing. Thank you.

 

[jdawn]

What an exciting trip! Amazing photos~ Thanks!

 

[wpk]

I have something like 2000 pics from my trip, though many are not of the wildlife. They'd probably crash the server if I posted them all!

 

[Tom]

I'm so jealous! I've never been to Australia and always wanted to go. Your pics are fantastic! Comments:
1. I have a kookaburra. Neat birds.
2. I'd love to have a moloch, they seem like really cool lizards. (Thanks Australia for BANNING ALL exportation!)
3. Those aren't wild camels, they are feral and semi-domesticated.
4. Your reef pics are AMAZING! More than anything, I want to dive the Great Barrier Reef. They'd have a tough time getting me OUT of the water!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing your pics with us!!!

 

[wpk]

Here are a few pics (only a few) from the Australia Zoo. These are not from the wild like the others I posted, but there are still some good ones (including a few torts). This zoo is owned and operated by the Irwin family.

For a few bucks you could hold a koala for a bit and get your photo taken, money well spent.

Galapagos torts

Longneck turtles

This is a tazmanian devil, he didn't want to pose.

Cassowary

Wombats

Not sure what species this is. These were running free around all over the zoo.

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There was a large open space where you could walk around and pet the kangaroos. They were very docile here.

And of course the koalas. Sleepy buggers!

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3. Those aren't wild camels, they are feral and semi-domesticated.

They are feral yes, but not domesticated. They were brought over to help explore the outback back in the early 1800s, and some went feral and they have been living completely wild every since. Some of the aboriginal tribes will go out and round them up and sell them to the middle east as the breed in australia is superior to the ones in the middle east.

 

[Yourlocalpoet]

I would sincerely love to go to Australia, you're photos are fantastic. I love the koala's.

 

[jensgotfaith]

What an amazing opportunity and one I'm sure you won't ever forget. Was the trip for fun or educational?

 

[wpk]

What an amazing opportunity and one I'm sure you won't ever forget. Was the trip for fun or educational?

It was for fun but it ended up being hugely educational. If only it wasn't so expensive!

 

[t_mclellan]

The unknown lizard is an Australian Water Dragon (Physignathus lesueurii),
& the "Spiny Devil" is a Moloch (Moloch horridus)

 

[egyptiandan]

Great pictures

The python looks to be a Scrub or Amethystine python.
The tortoise is an Aldabra tortoise
The turtles are short necks and look to be Macquarie river turtles, Emydura macquarii
The lizard looks to be an Australian water dragon.

Danny

 

[ChiKat]

WOW those pictures are fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing!!
I love the scuba diving pics. I've only gone snorkeling (in Hawaii, Mexico, and Costa Rica) but that was still pretty cool
I would love to go to Australia some day. Definitely on my to-do list

 

[Skyler Nell]

WOW!what amazing animals and pictures!!
the croc that is on the side of the boat jumping for the meat..is he missing an arm? or am I just imagining things?

 

[wpk]

WOW!what amazing animals and pictures!!
the croc that is on the side of the boat jumping for the meat..is he missing an arm? or am I just imagining things?

Yes, he's missing one of his forelegs. Crocs are amazing animals, if they lose a limb they can actually shut down the blood flow to that area so they don't bleed out. They also don't get infections...ever. An open stump like that in dirty river water won't get infected. Scientists are studying that now to try and see if we can figure out how to replicate it. They're awesome animals, perfectly adapted to their environment. They've been at it for something like 70 million years and will keep going as long as we don't kill them all off. (They're experiencing a resurgence since Australia put conservation efforts in place.)

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Great pictures

The python looks to be a Scrub or Amethystine python.
The tortoise is an Aldabra tortoise
The turtles are short necks and look to be Macquarie river turtles, Emydura macquarii
The lizard looks to be an Australian water dragon.

Danny

There were longneck turtles in that enclosure, looks like my amateur photographer skills weren't enough to capture them.

 

[Angi]

I would be afraid to get in a boat that had a croc jumping next to it. I think I would be too chicken to snorkle in a place that has croc and other scary critters too. But I love the pix!

 

[Skyler Nell]

I thought it was missing a limb. That is incredible, learn something new everyday! Thanks for sharing

 

[Isa]

OMG you are so lucky! You hold a Koala in your arms. I love koalas, they are so cute (well of course I have never seen one in person, only in pics)

 

[wpk]

I would be afraid to get in a boat that had a croc jumping next to it. I think I would be too chicken to snorkle in a place that has croc and other scary critters too. But I love the pix!

We didn't snorkel near the crocs, that's pretty much asking to get mauled! I'm not sure if they were joking or not, but one of the river boat tours we did said that they didn't have lifejackets on board because there were so many crocs and the best way to survive was just to get as close to shore as possible and get out of the water as fast as possible! (They didn't sound like they were joking but those Aussies have a strange sense of humor!)