Australian wildlife (except birds)

[Pippan]

Wait, Australia has wild buffalo? Interesting. Is this up in the NT where (presumably) the fauna are similar to what you may find in Asia?

Yes, Asian Water Buffalo, Bubalus bubalis, were imported during the 1820s from Timor into northern Australia to provide a meat source for several military outposts on the north coast. The outposts didn't last long as those posted to them succumbed to tropical diseases, water shortages, famine etc. (in areas that had supported large Aboriginal groups for tens of thousands of years) but when some buffalo were let go, they loved their new home and bred up into their hundreds of thousands in the vast freshwater floodplains and wetlands of Australia's north. Their numbers were decimated during the government sponsored Brucellosis and Tuberculosis Eradication Campaign of the 1980s and early '90s (at the request of the cattle barons) but a few survived in the wild and are breeding up again. These days there is also a small domestic buffalo meat and dairy industry, providing milk for making Mozzarella cheese (which in Sicily is traditionally made from water buffalo milk).

In general the native mammal fauna in northern Australia (and the rest of Australia) is very different from that in Asia and the rest of the world. Australia has been an island continent for a couple of hundred million years, since before the evolution and spread of placental mammals. Thus Australia's mammal fauna continued to evolve ever more diverse marsupials, while placentals eventually spread and dominated through the rest of the world via land connections between continents at various times. There is a deep ocean trench through eastern Indonesia, between Bali and Lombok, commonly called the Wallace Line, which has remained as sea for all of that time and divided the Australian marsupial fauna from the placentals of the rest of the world. So the only 'native' placentals that made it here were bats, which could fly across that divide, a few species of placental rodents that presumably floated on logs or similar when sea-levels were much lower during ice ages, and dingoes, which were brought here by people c.5000 years ago.

 

[West Coast Birder]

Yes, Asian Water Buffalo, Bubalus bubalis, were imported during the 1820s from Timor into northern Australia to provide a meat source for several military outposts on the north coast. The outposts didn't last long as those posted to them succumbed to tropical diseases, water shortages, famine etc. (in areas that had supported large Aboriginal groups for tens of thousands of years) but when some buffalo were let go, they loved their new home and bred up into their hundreds of thousands in the vast freshwater floodplains and wetlands of Australia's north. Their numbers were decimated during the government sponsored Brucellosis and Tuberculosis Eradication Campaign of the 1980s and early '90s (at the request of the cattle barons) but a few survived in the wild and are breeding up again. These days there is also a small domestic buffalo meat and dairy industry, providing milk for making Mozzarella cheese (which in Sicily is made from the milk of the similar African Water Buffalo).

In general the native mammal fauna in northern Australia (and the rest of Australia) is very different from that in Asia and the rest of the world. Australia has been an island continent for a couple of hundred million years, since before the evolution and spread of placental mammals. Thus Australia's mammal fauna continued to evolve ever more diverse marsupials, while placentals eventually spread and dominated through the rest of the world via land connections between continents at various times. There is a deep ocean trench through eastern Indonesia, between Bali and Lombok, commonly called the Wallace Line, which has remained as sea for all of that time and divided the Australian marsupial fauna from the placentals of the rest of the world. So the only 'native' placentals that made it here were bats, which could fly across that divide, a few species of placental rodents that presumably floated on logs or similar when sea-levels were much lower during ice ages, and dingoes, which were brought here by people c.5000 years ago.

Cool, thanks for the info on the buffalo!

Yeah, I read about the Wallace line (so fascinating) in The Song of the Dodo by David Quammen. A great book - I highly recommend it to anyone interested in natural history.

 

[Dennis]

The Red-necked Pademelon (Thylogale thetis) is a forest-dwelling marsupial living in the eastern coastal region of Australia between extreme south-east Queensland and central eastern New South Wales.

It is a medium-sized, short-tailed, brownish-grey wallaby that is paler ventrally (on the belly), with distinct reddish neck and shoulders. No obvious facial markings. Tail length shorter than body length. Males larger than females.

Taken in the Lamington National Park on a recent camping trip.

Dennis.

 

[Pippan]

Cool, thanks for the info on the buffalo!

Yeah, I read about the Wallace line (so fascinating) in The Song of the Dodo by David Quammen. A great book - I highly recommend it to anyone interested in natural history.

View attachment 122460

Looks like a great book Sam

 

[MakisM1]

Yes, Asian Water Buffalo, Bubalus bubalis, were imported during the 1820s from Timor into northern Australia to provide a meat source for several military outposts on the north coast. The outposts didn't last long as those posted to them succumbed to tropical diseases, water shortages, famine etc. (in areas that had supported large Aboriginal groups for tens of thousands of years) but when some buffalo were let go, they loved their new home and bred up into their hundreds of thousands in the vast freshwater floodplains and wetlands of Australia's north. Their numbers were decimated during the government sponsored Brucellosis and Tuberculosis Eradication Campaign of the 1980s and early '90s (at the request of the cattle barons) but a few survived in the wild and are breeding up again. These days there is also a small domestic buffalo meat and dairy industry, providing milk for making Mozzarella cheese (which in Sicily is made from the milk of the similar African Water Buffalo).

In general the native mammal fauna in northern Australia (and the rest of Australia) is very different from that in Asia and the rest of the world. Australia has been an island continent for a couple of hundred million years, since before the evolution and spread of placental mammals. Thus Australia's mammal fauna continued to evolve ever more diverse marsupials, while placentals eventually spread and dominated through the rest of the world via land connections between continents at various times. There is a deep ocean trench through eastern Indonesia, between Bali and Lombok, commonly called the Wallace Line, which has remained as sea for all of that time and divided the Australian marsupial fauna from the placentals of the rest of the world. So the only 'native' placentals that made it here were bats, which could fly across that divide, a few species of placental rodents that presumably floated on logs or similar when sea-levels were much lower during ice ages, and dingoes, which were brought here by people c.5000 years ago.

Wow! Thank you for the info! Amazing what you can learn in a photography forum!...

 

[Dennis]

Eastern Water Skinks live in forests, woodlands and parks and urban gardens in eastern Australia. They shelter in holes and burrows, under logs and rocks, and near streams and ponds feeding on a diet of water beetles and other aquatic insects, snails, tadpoles, spiders, small fishes, smaller lizards and native fruit. Skinks don’t have to eat every day, but will do so when conditions are favourable.

A skink drops its tail when handled or chased by a predator. This is a survival tactic, as predators often focus on the wriggling tail while the skink escapes. The tail will eventually regrow, but it costs the skink a lot of energy.

Taken in the Lamington National Park.

Dennis.

 

[Graham121]

Eastern Blue Tongue Lizard this afternoon along local walking trail

 

[S.R.M.]

I had a short trip to Tasmania to catch up with family earlier this week, and was lucky enough to spot a wild platypus in the suburbs of Hobart! I've seen them before, but this is the first one that I've photographed.

A wild platypus in the Hobart Rivulet by Stephen Mudge, on Flickr

A wild platypus in the Hobart Rivulet by Stephen Mudge, on Flickr

 

[K9Kirk]

Never smile at a crocodile.View attachment 77684

Cool! More croc shots, please. Some shots of the big old flat dogs, if it's possible.

 

[Pippan]

Here's one for you K9, an early morning Saltie at Corroboree.

 

[Pippan]

Another Saltie, a bigger, older one, slipping quietly into the water. This one was in deep shadow and backlit by the morning sun, creating a rim-light effect. Also at Corroboree Billabong, northern Australia, in August 2024.

 

[Pippan]

Hahahaha, that's a good one. Tell us another one!

 

[Pippan]

A timid little Freshie, Crocodylus johnstoni, comes out to mix it with the big boys of the billabong.

 

[Pippan]

A couple of Agile Wallabies in a bit of a scrap at Fogg Dam, northern Australia, December 2024,