Wildlife and National Parks
Wildlife
Being an isolated 'island',
Australia is home to a unique array of animals. Koalas, platypuses (a small, river-dwelling animal with a duck bill and an agile, furry body resembling that of an otter), echidnas, wombats and emus are some of the animals unique to Australia.
There are also 750 recorded bird species, 300 of which are only found in Australia. The Great Barrier Reef along the east coast off
Queensland is the longest and most complex living coral system in the world, and provides a habitat for a wide range of marine animals.
National Parks
There are more than 2000 national parks and nature reserves in Australia, as well as 13 areas on the UN's World Heritage List. These are: Kakadu National Park, Uluru (Ayers Rock), the Wet Tropics of North Queensland, the Great Barrier Reef, Fraser Island, the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves, the Willandra Lakes, Lord Howe Island, the Tasmanian Wilderness, Shark Bay, the Australian Fossil Mammal Sites at Riversleigh (Queensland) and Naracoorte (South Australia), Macquarie Island and Heard and McDonald Islands.
Click here for Australian Wildlife Encounters listings!