Our garden and environs attract a large range of native wildlife. All pics are from our garden (except the Tassy devil ones and the Tiger snake , which was taken about 1 hour south of here). Spiders & insects are on this page http://sites.google.com/site/ferrolithicpark/Home/my-environment/tasmanian-animals/spiders-and-insects


Mammals & marsupials (animals who nurse their young in pouches)

Possums
Wallabies
Potoroos
Bandicoots

( Rabbits - an introduced bloody pest which have been unsuccessfully eradicated because the calicivirus needs mosquitoes which need water to breed - and there's not enough of that locally to make a difference.)

Echidna - A tough spiny ball of muscle which uses powerful claws and limbs to dig its way to safety if threatened. It spirals down into the ground to escape but its sharp quills are enough to deter most.














Other species e.g. quolls,& Tasmanian devils http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasmanian_Devil live further afield.  The devil population has halved in recent years due to a type of infectious cancer which is lethal. The devils often bite each other in play and battle and transmit the disease readily. I am a human not a veterinary  pathologist but a few  years ago I was sent tumour tissue samples for analysis and comment when the disease was first recognised. It was quite unlike any human tumour I had ever encountered. However a scientific paper was written and this is my only claim to fame on this front.

Ladds P, Loh R, Jones ME, Tucker P. Probable lymphosarcoma in the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii). Proc Aust Soc for Vet Path Annu Conf Proc •• 38, 2003

A more recent paper :

 http://www.vetpathology.org/cgi/content/full/43/6/890  Here is a pictorial summary - rather gruesome. There is a concerted international effort to discover a treatment or vaccine for the disease , whilst quarantining as many uninfected devils as possible to hopefully prevent extinction of this icon.  http://www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter-nsf/Attachments/LBUN-6W93A6/$FILE/Scientificpublications.pdf
It is currently surmised that any vaccine will come too late to prevent extinction within 10 years. So sanctuary sites may be the only hope.

The problem arises because it seems the tumour cells are too similar to the devil's own cells to be recognised as "foreign" by the immune system.

No-one knows what has caused this "infectious " cancer. Some have pointed the finger at poisons used in the forestry and agricultural sectors (1080 , atrazine, simazine) - such agents are used as herbicides and "browsing control" to prevent seedlings from being devoured by hungry native animals. Devils eat other animals (top of the food chain) and it is possible they could accumulate toxins , as happens in  fish. Others refute these claims. Cause & effect is not always clear cut & generally hard to establish.

A good summary is posted here http://harpers.org/archive/2008/04/0081988


Reptiles

Lizards

Skinks, e.g the nicely camouflaged metallic skink

http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=5414

Here's one hiding under some bark. Being a cold day he didn't mind me getting close.



Blue-tongue lizards (below, stealing fruit scraps). They get rid of garden snails and slugs. The head is around 2 1/2" long. This video shows their defensive tactics. http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ufv_cs8sI2c They will bite if provoked. Some people keep them as pets - we have more than enough running loose to keep us entertained.












Lizards are the  secret ingredient in this fine Aussie drop .You need a special licence to harvest and pickle them though.
























Mountain dragons (below). Lively little devils, lots of facial character.




Snakes - all venomous - whip snakes (<1m long) - I have only seen 2-3 over the years ; tiger snakes (saw the first one last summer under my car) ; copperhead (none seen but they are around).

Tiger snakes and copperheads can be aggressive in mating season , and bites can be fatal. There is an anitivenene.


Here's one identical in size (4ft) to the one under my car. This pic was taken on a bushwalk last summer. It was a female evidently guarding her nest near a small pond. Ponds attract frogs i.e. snake food.

Zoom functions on cameras are useful. This snake would defnitely strike if I came closer than 5-6 ft away.







Birds

A vast array of native and migratory species. many make loud and ugly harsh primitive noises - especially cockatoos , which screech. They sound a bit like pterodactyls, perhaps.

Big birds including Forest Ravens ("crows") , Black Currawongs, Black Cockatoos http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=tM2C3KNXxhM whose presence portends rain , White Cockatoos http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=NW6ZDxNA13w, Kookaburras , Eagles(wedge-tailed , sea) and Hawks
Medium birds include wattle birds , pallid cuckoo, rosellas (native parrots) , occasional seabirds e.g. gulls
Small birds include honeyeaters , wrens , robins , thornbills , blackbirds (introduced).


Australian Goshawk (juvenile) - note the "beetle brow" -  a characteristic finding



A soaring hawk ; video here http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=9kvV9yoazew









Kookaburra



Yellow throated honeyeater

  < This one was recovering after concussing himself on a window.

   Green Rosella , often flock in small groups and forage on the ground looking for insects in the late afternoon







                                                      

I have also seen the rare and endangered 40 spotted pardalote, described in the book as a "small , cryptic dull bird"
Here , I found a juvenile male that had flown into a window i.e. a bad driver. I nursed him  back from concussion to full health within a couple of hours. In reality , all I did was protect him from our dog.








Amphibians

There are plenty of small frogs , in various garden ponds and in the gully where it is damp. Frogs are a sign of a healthy environment and I enjoy being reminded of this. Here is one of many brown tree frogs that emerge from our pond each year. You can read a little more and hear it's croak here http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=5218