Mammals2020-11-18T13:53:44+11:00

The common wombat has short, slightly rounded ears, a large, hairless nose and coarse, thick fur. The pouch opens to the rear as an adaptation to ensure it does not fill with soil while the animal is digging.

The dingo is a medium-sized dog weighing in at 15-20kg. Despite its common image of a reddish-brown coat, colouration varies and includes very pale creamy-brown forms and even black and tan.

Eastern grey kangaroos have a woolly fur which is silvery-grey to dusky greyish-brown in colour. An adult male can reach a height of nearly 2.2m when standing erect and weigh in excess of 60kg.

Echidnas or spiny anteaters can grow to about 40cm long and weigh up to 7kg. It has a bare, tube-like snout and a long, sticky tongue. The feet are dark and have a set of powerful black claws.

The fat-tailed dunnart has a head and body length of 60-90mm, tail 45-70cm in length and weighs only 10-20g. It has large black eyes, large ears, a pointed snout and a fat tail when in optimum condition.

The Feathertail glider is a tiny gliding marsupial and the smallest in the world. Its unique tail resembles a feather, with stiff, tiny hairs horizontal on each side of the tail.

Goodfellow’s tree-kangaroo has soft reddish-brown fur and golden bands on their tail. Meanwhile, each individual has its own unique pattern of brown. The limbs, face and underbelly are golden.

A familiar sight over much of eastern Australia, grey-headed flying foxes or fruit bats are usually seen at dusk, leaving their preferred roosting site in large numbers, heading out to favourite feeding areas.

The Kangaroo Island kangaroo is found only on Kangaroo Island, off the South Australian Coast. With no natural predators, the kangaroos are the slowest moving kangaroo species.

Koalas are short and stocky animals with dense, woolly fur which is light grey in the northern part of the range and brownish grey in the south. The underside is white, while the large flat nose is black.

The Parma wallaby is a small animal, with a length between 45-55cm, not including the length of the tail, which is about the same length again. The male of the species is larger and more robust than the female.

The duck-like bill is covered in bluish, leathery skin and the fur is a velvety dark brown velvety on the back and creamy yellow underneath. The species has webbed feet to assist with their aquatic lifestyle.

Red-tailed phascogales are recognisable by their distinctive tail – rust coloured at the top with a black and bushy end. It measures 10cm in the body and weighs just 60g.

The Tasmanian devil is the world’s largest surviving marsupial carnivore and was once found on the mainland of Australia, but now only found in Tasmania.

The largest of the wallabies, the yellow-footed rock wallaby also has the most colourful markings. Its tail is ringed brown and yellow, its paws are yellow, and its back is covered in soft grey fur.