Healesville Sanctuary, or the Sir Colin MacKenzie Fauna Park, is a zoo

Zoo

A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....

 specializing in native Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n animals. It is located at Healesville

Healesville, Victoria

Healesville is a town in Victoria, Australia, 52 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Yarra Ranges...

 in rural Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, and has a history of breeding native animals. It is one of only two places to have successfully bred a platypus

Platypus

The platypus is a semi-aquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young...

, the other being Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

's Taronga Zoo

Taronga Zoo

Taronga Zoo is the city zoo of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Officially opened on 7 October 1916, it is located on the shores of Sydney Harbour in the suburb of Mosman...

. It also assists with a breeding population of the endangered Helmeted Honeyeater

Helmeted Honeyeater

The Helmeted Honeyeater is a passerine bird in the Honeyeater family. It is a distinctive and critically endangered subspecies, formerly considered a full species, of the Yellow-tufted Honeyeater, that exists in the wild only as a tiny relict population in the Australian state of Victoria, in the...

.

The zoo is set in a natural bushland

Bushland

Bushland is any area in Australia that is predominantly indigenous flora and fauna.Bushland is the term commonly used by conservation protection groups and other environmental groups as a blanket term for natural vegetation, which may cover any kind of habitat from open shrubby country with few...

 environment where paths wind through different habitat areas showcasing wallabies

Wallaby

A wallaby is any of about thirty species of macropod . It is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo that has not been given some other name.-Overview:...

, wombat

Wombat

Wombats are Australian marsupials; they are short-legged, muscular quadrupeds, approximately in length with a short, stubby tail. They are adaptable in their habitat tolerances, and are found in forested, mountainous, and heathland areas of south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania, as well as...

s, dingo

Dingo

The Australian Dingo or Warrigal is a free-roaming wild dog unique to the continent of Australia, mainly found in the outback. Its original ancestors are thought to have arrived with humans from southeast Asia thousands of years ago, when dogs were still relatively undomesticated and closer to...

es, kangaroo

Kangaroo

A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...

s, and over 200 native bird varieties.

Conducted tours, bird shows and information areas are available to visitors.

History

Dr Colin MacKenzie

William Colin Mackenzie

Sir William Colin Mackenzie , usually known as Colin Mackenzie, was an Australian anatomist, benefactor, museum administrator and director. He was best known for creating the Healesville Sanctuary.-Early life:...

 (knighted in 1929) set up the Institute of Anatomical Research in 1920 on 78 acres (31.6 ha) of land which had formerly been part of the Coranderrk

Coranderrk

Coranderrk was an Indigenous Australian mission station set up in 1863 to provide land under the policy of concentration, for Aboriginal people who had been dispossessed by the arrival of Europeans to the state of Victoria 30 years prior. The mission was formally closed in 1924 with most residents...

 Aboriginal Reserve. The Reserve passed to the Healesville Council in 1927 and became the Sir Colin MacKenzie Sanctuary in 1934.

The first platypus bred in captivity was born at the Sanctuary in 1943 when it was managed by David Fleay

David Fleay

David Howells Fleay was an Australian naturalist who pioneered the captive breeding of endangered species, and was the first person to breed the platypus in captivity....

.

In 2009, the sanctuary was threatened by the Black Saturday bushfires, and the sanctuary evacuated their threatened species to Melbourne Zoo.

Animals and exhibits

General exhibits

• Spotted-tailed Quoll
• Tasmanian Devil
  Tasmanian Devil
  The Tasmanian devil is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae, now found in the wild only on the Australian island state of Tasmania. The size of a small dog, it became the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world following the extinction of the thylacine in 1936...
  
  
• Dingo
  Dingo
  The Australian Dingo or Warrigal is a free-roaming wild dog unique to the continent of Australia, mainly found in the outback. Its original ancestors are thought to have arrived with humans from southeast Asia thousands of years ago, when dogs were still relatively undomesticated and closer to...
  
  
• Emu
  Emu
  The Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae) is the largest bird native to Australia and the only extant member of the genus Dromaius. It is the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. There are three subspecies of Emus in Australia...
  
  
• Powerful Owl
  Powerful Owl
  The Powerful Owl , also known as the Powerful Boobok, is a species of owl native to south-eastern and eastern Australia, the largest owl on that continent...
  
  

• Barn Owl
  Barn Owl
  The Barn Owl is the most widely distributed species of owl, and one of the most widespread of all birds. It is also referred to as Common Barn Owl, to distinguish it from other species in the barn-owl family Tytonidae. These form one of two main lineages of living owls, the other being the typical...
  
  
• Laughing Kookaburra
  Laughing Kookaburra
  The Laughing Kookaburra, Dacelo novaeguineae, is a carnivorous bird in the kingfisher family Halcyonidae. Native to eastern Australia, it has also been introduced to parts of New Zealand, Tasmania and Western Australia. Male and female adults are similar in plumage, which is predominantly brown and...
  
  
• Helmeted Honeyeater
  Helmeted Honeyeater
  The Helmeted Honeyeater is a passerine bird in the Honeyeater family. It is a distinctive and critically endangered subspecies, formerly considered a full species, of the Yellow-tufted Honeyeater, that exists in the wild only as a tiny relict population in the Australian state of Victoria, in the...
  
  
• Apostlebird
  Apostlebird
  The Apostlebird , also known as the Grey Jumper, is a quick-moving, gray or black bird about 13 inches long. It is a native to Australia where it roams woodlands, eating insects and seeds at, or near, ground level...
  
  
• Eastern Blue-tongued Lizard
  Eastern blue-tongued lizard
  The Eastern Blue-tongued Lizard is a subspecies of large skink which is common throughout Eastern Australia, often found in bushland and suburban areas where conditions are suitable...
  
  
• Ridge-tailed monitor
• Lace Monitor
  Lace monitor
  The Lace Monitor, or Lace Goanna, Varanus varius, is a member of the monitor lizard family, Australian members of which are commonly known as goannas. It belongs to the subgenus Varanus....
  
  
• Jacky Lizard
• Burton's Legless Lizard
• Death Adder
  Acanthophis
  Acanthophis is a genus of elapid snakes. Commonly called death adders, they are native to Australia, New Guinea and nearby islands, and are among the most venomous snakes in the world...
  
  

Koalas

• Koala
  Koala
  The koala is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia, and the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae....
  
  
• Short-beaked Echidna
  Short-beaked Echidna
  The short-beaked echidna , also known as the spiny anteater because of its diet of ants and termites, is one of four living species of echidna and the only member of the genus Tachyglossus...
  
  
• Parma Wallaby
  Parma Wallaby
  The Parma Wallaby was first described by British naturalist John Gould in about 1840. A shy, cryptic creature of the wet sclerophyll forests of southern New South Wales, it was never common and, even before the end of the 19th century, it was believed to be extinct...
  
  
• Tasmanian Pademelon
  Tasmanian Pademelon
  The Tasmanian Pademelon , also known as the Rufous-bellied Pademelon or Red-bellied Pademelon, is the sole endemic species of pademelon found in Tasmania, and formerly throughout south-eastern Australia...
  
  

Birds of the Bush

• Orange-bellied Parrot
  Orange-bellied Parrot
  The Orange-bellied Parrot is a small broad-tailed parrot endemic to southern Australia, and one of only two species of parrot which migrate. The adult male is distinguished by its bright grass-green upperparts, yellow underparts and orange belly patch. The adult female and juvenile are duller...
  
  
• Swift Parrot
  Swift Parrot
  The Swift Parrot breeds in Tasmania and migrates north to south eastern Australia from Griffith-Warialda in New South Wales and west to Adelaide in the winter. It is related to the rosellas, with the feeding habits of a lorikeet...
  
  
• Rose-crowned Fruit-dove
  Rose-crowned Fruit-dove
  The Rose-crowned Fruit Dove, Ptilinopus regina, also known as Pink-capped Fruit Dove or Swainson's Fruit Dove, is a medium-sized, up to 22 cm long, green fruit dove with a grey head and breast, an orange belly, whitish throat, yellow-orange iris, and greyish green bill and feet. It has a...
  
  
• Fan-tailed Cuckoo
  Fan-tailed Cuckoo
  The Fan-tailed Cuckoo is a species of cuckoo in the Cuculidae family.It is found in Australia, Fiji, Indonesia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu.-Habitat:...
  
  
• Eastern Whipbird
  Eastern Whipbird
  The Eastern Whipbird is an insectivorous passerine bird native to the east coast of Australia, its whip-crack call a familiar sound in forests of eastern Australia. Two subspecies are recognised. Heard much more often than seen, it is a dark olive-green and black in colour with a distinctive white...
  
  

Kangaroos

• Red Kangaroo
  Red Kangaroo
  The Red Kangaroo is the largest of all kangaroos, the largest mammal native to Australia, and the largest surviving marsupial. It is found across mainland Australia, avoiding only the more fertile areas in the south, the east coast, and the northern rainforests.-Description:This species is a very...
  
  
• Western Grey Kangaroo
  Western Grey Kangaroo
  The Western Grey Kangaroo is a large and very common kangaroo or macropod, found across almost the entire southern part of Australia, from just south of Shark Bay to coastal South Australia, western Victoria, and the entire Murray-Darling Basin in New South Wales and Queensland...
  
  

Gang-gang Aviary

• Gang-gang Cockatoo
  Gang-gang Cockatoo
  The Gang-gang Cockatoo, Callocephalon fimbriatum, is found in the cooler and wetter forests and woodlands of Australia, particularly alpine bushland. Mostly mild grey in colour with some lighter scalloping the male has a red head and crest, while the female has a small fluffy grey crest...
  
  
• Bush Stone-curlew
  Bush Stone-curlew
  The Bush Stone-curlew or Bush Thick-knee is a large, ground-dwelling bird endemic to Australia...
  
  

World of the Platypus/Platypusary

• Platypus
  Platypus
  The platypus is a semi-aquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young...
  
  
• Water Rat
  Water Rat
  Water Rat may refer to:AnimalsWater Rat is a common name for several unrelated semiaquatic rodents, including:*European Water Vole, found in north and central Europe and Russia*Rakali, found in Australia and New Guinea...
  
  
• Gippsland Water Dragon
• Short-finned Eel
  Short-finned eel
  The short-finned eel, Anguilla australis, is one of the 15 species of eel in the family Anguillidae. It is native to the lakes, dams and coastal rivers of south-eastern Australia, New Zealand, and much of the South Pacific, including New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island, Tahiti, and...
  
  
• Macquarie Perch
  Macquarie perch
  The Macquarie perch is an Australian native freshwater fish of the Murray-Darling river system. It is a member of the Percichthyidae family and is closely related to the golden perch ....
  
  
• Yabby
  Cherax
  Cherax is the largest and most widespread genus of fully and partially aquatic crayfish in the Southern Hemisphere. Its members may be found in lakes, rivers and streams across most of Australia and New Guinea. In Australia the many species of Cherax are commonly known as yabbies...
  
  
• Murray Crayfish
  Murray crayfish
  The Murray crayfish, Euastacus armatus, is a species of freshwater crayfish endemic to Australia that belongs to the family Parastacidae. The Murray crayfish has the largest geographic range of any of the Euastacus crayfish in Australia, being found in the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers as well as...
  
  

Woodland Aviary

• Painted Buttonquail
  Painted Buttonquail
  Painted Button quail, Turnix varius, is a species of button quail, the family Turnicidae, which resemble, but are unrelated to, the quails of Phasianidae. This species is resident in Australia....
  
  
• Musk Lorikeet
  Musk Lorikeet
  The Musk Lorikeet is a lorikeet, one of the three species of the Glossopsitta genus. It inhabits south-central/eastern Australia. The Musk Lorikeet was first described by ornithologist George Shaw in 1790 as Psittacus concinnus, from a collection in the vicinity of Port Jackson in what is now...
  
  
• Purple-crowned Lorikeet
  Purple-crowned Lorikeet
  The Purple-crowned Lorikeet, Glossopsitta porphyrocephala, is a lorikeet found in scrub and mallee of southern Australia...
  
  
• Common Bronzewing
  Common Bronzewing
  The Common Bronzewing is a species of medium-sized, heavily built pigeon. Native to Australia and one of the country's most common pigeons, the Common Bronzewing is able to live in almost any habitat, with the possible exception of very barren areas and dense rainforests.- Description :Males of...
  
  

• Crested Pigeon
  Crested Pigeon
  The Crested Pigeon is a bird found widely throughout mainland Australia except for far tropical north areas. It is the only member of the genus Ocyphaps.There are only two Australian pigeon species that possess an erect crest, being the Crested Pigeon and the Spinifex Pigeon...
  
  
• Peaceful Dove
  Peaceful Dove
  The Peaceful Dove is a pigeon native to Australia and New Guinea. It is closely related to the Zebra Dove of south-east Asia and the Barred Dove of eastern Indonesia...
  
  
• Sacred Kingfisher
  Sacred Kingfisher
  The Sacred Kingfisher is primarily a woodland kingfisher that occurs in mangroves, woodlands, forests, and river valleys of Australia, Lord Howe Is., Norfolk Is., New Guinea, N...
  
  
• Variegated Fairy-wren
  Variegated Fairy-wren
  The Variegated Fairywren is a fairywren that lives in diverse habitats spread across most of Australia. Four subspecies are recognised. Exhibiting a high degree of sexual dimorphism, the brightly coloured breeding male has chestnut shoulders and blue crown and ear coverts, while non-breeding...
  
  

• Eastern Yellow Robin
  Eastern Yellow Robin
  The Eastern Yellow Robin is an Australasian robin of coastal and sub-coastal eastern Australia. The extent of the Eastern Yellow Robin's residence is from the extreme southeast corner of South Australia through most of Victoria and the western half of New South Wales and north as far as Cooktown...
  
  
• Satin Bowerbird
  Satin Bowerbird
  The Satin Bowerbird, Ptilonorhynchus violaceus is a bowerbird endemic to eastern Australia.A rare natural intergeneric hybrid between the Satin Bowerbird and the Regent Bowerbird is known as Rawnsley's Bowerbird.-Distribution:...
  
  
• White-browed Woodswallow
  White-browed Woodswallow
  The White-browed Woodswallow is a moderately-sized passerine bird native to inland Australia. Like all woodswallows, it has a brush-tipped tongue but feeds almost exclusively on flying insects....
  
  
• Chestnut-breasted Mannikin

Rock-wallaby

• Australian Pelican
  Australian Pelican
  The Australian Pelican is a large water bird, widespread on the inland and coastal waters of Australia and New Guinea, also in Fiji, parts of Indonesia and as a vagrant to New Zealand.-Taxonomy:...
  
  
• Black Swan
  Black Swan
  The Black Swan is a large waterbird, a species of swan, which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. The species was hunted to extinction in New Zealand, but later reintroduced. Within Australia they are nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon climatic...
  
  
• Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby
  Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby
  The Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby or Small-eared Rock-wallaby is a kind of wallaby, one of several rock-wallabies in the genus Petrogale. It inhabits rock piles and cliff lines along the Great Dividing Range from about 100 km north-west of Brisbane to northern Victoria, in vegetation ranging from...
  
  
• Chestnut Teal
  Chestnut Teal
  The Chestnut Teal is a dabbling duck found in southern Australia. It is protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974.-Description:The Chestnut Teal is darker and a slightly bigger bird than the Grey Teal....
  
  
• Dusky Moorhen
  Dusky Moorhen
  The Dusky Moorhen is a bird in the rail family. It occurs in Australia, New Guinea, and Indonesia.The New Guinea birds are smaller, at 25-32 cm in length, than the Australian race...
  
  
• Magpie Goose
• Pacific Black Duck
  Pacific Black Duck
  The Pacific Black Duck is a dabbling duck found in much of Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and many islands in the southwestern Pacific, reaching to the Caroline Islands in the north and French Polynesia in the east. It is usually called the Grey Duck in New Zealand...
  
  
• Purple Swamphen
  Purple Swamphen
  The Purple Swamphen , also known as the African Purple Swamphen, Purple Moorhen, Purple Gallinule, Pūkeko or Purple Coot, is a large bird in the family Rallidae . From its name in French, talève sultane, it is also known as the Sultana Bird...
  
  
• Australian White Ibis
  Australian White Ibis
  The Australian White Ibis , is a wading bird of the ibis family Threskiornithidae. It is widespread across much of Australia...
  
  

Arid Birds

• Scarlet-chested Parrot
  Scarlet-chested Parrot
  The Scarlet-chested Parrot , known alternately as Scarlet-breasted parrot, Orange-throated parrot or Splendid parrot, is a parrot endemic to central South Australia and inland southern Western Australia...
  
  
• Princess Parrot
  Princess Parrot
  The colourful Princess Parrot, Polytelis alexandrae, is an Australian bird of the parrot family. Its name was given in honour of Princess Alexandra of Denmark, who later married the Prince of Wales Edward VII and eventually became the Queen of England...
  
  
• Budgerigar
  Budgerigar
  The Budgerigar , also known as Common Pet Parakeet or Shell Parakeet informally nicknamed the budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot, and the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus...
  
  
• Rainbow Bee-eater
  Rainbow Bee-eater
  The Rainbow Bee-eater, Merops ornatus, is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family Meropidae. It is the only species of Meropidae found in Australia.-Description:...
  
  
• Variegated Fairy-wren
  Variegated Fairy-wren
  The Variegated Fairywren is a fairywren that lives in diverse habitats spread across most of Australia. Four subspecies are recognised. Exhibiting a high degree of sexual dimorphism, the brightly coloured breeding male has chestnut shoulders and blue crown and ear coverts, while non-breeding...
  
  
• Gouldian Finch
  Gouldian Finch
  The Gouldian Finch, Erythrura gouldiae , also known as the Lady Gouldian Finch, Gould's Finch or the Rainbow Finch, is a colorful passerine bird endemic to Australia. There is strong evidence of a continuing decline, even at the best-known site near Katherine in the Northern Territory...
  
  
• Diamond Firetail
  Diamond Firetail
  The Diamond Firetail Stagonopleura guttata is a species of estrildid finch found in eastern Australia, from Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, to south-eastern Queensland, commonly found on the slopes of the Great Dividing Range. The bird lives in eucalypt forest and woodland, mallee country,...
  
  
• Painted Finch

Wetlands Aviary

• Glossy Ibis
  Glossy Ibis
  The Glossy Ibis is a wading bird in the ibis family Threskiornithidae.This is the most widespread ibis species, breeding in scattered sites in warm regions of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Atlantic and Caribbean region of the Americas...
  
  
• Yellow-billed Spoonbill
  Yellow-billed Spoonbill
  The Yellow-billed Spoonbill is common in southeast Australia; it is not unusual on the remainder of the continent, and is a vagrant to New Zealand, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. It is around 90 cm long, and has white plumage with a yellow bill, legs and feet. It nests in trees, marshes or...
  
  
• Cattle Egret
  Cattle Egret
  The Cattle Egret is a cosmopolitan species of heron found in the tropics, subtropics and warm temperate zones. It is the only member of the monotypic genus Bubulcus, although some authorities regard its two subspecies as full species, the Western Cattle Egret and the Eastern Cattle Egret...
  
  

Wallabies

• Parma Wallaby
  Parma Wallaby
  The Parma Wallaby was first described by British naturalist John Gould in about 1840. A shy, cryptic creature of the wet sclerophyll forests of southern New South Wales, it was never common and, even before the end of the 19th century, it was believed to be extinct...
  
  
• Red-necked Wallaby
  Red-necked Wallaby
  The Red-necked Wallaby is a medium-sized marsupial macropod, common in the more temperate and fertile parts of eastern Australia, including Tasmania.- Description :...
  
  
• Swamp Wallaby
  Swamp Wallaby
  The Swamp Wallaby is a small macropod marsupial of eastern Australia. This wallaby is also commonly known as the Black Wallaby, with other names including Black-tailed Wallaby, Fern Wallaby, Black Pademelon, Stinker , and Black Stinker...
  
  

Wombat Closeup

• Common Wombat
  Common Wombat
  The common wombat , also known as the coarse-haired wombat or bare-nosed wombat, is a marsupial, one of three species of wombats and the only one in the genus Vombatus. The common wombat grows to an average of long and a weight of .- Taxonomy :The common wombat was first described by George Shaw...
  
  
• Short-beaked Echidna
  Short-beaked Echidna
  The short-beaked echidna , also known as the spiny anteater because of its diet of ants and termites, is one of four living species of echidna and the only member of the genus Tachyglossus...
  
  
• Brolga
  Brolga
  The Brolga , formerly known as the "Native Companion", is a bird in the crane family. The bird has also been given the name "Australian Crane", a term coined in 1865 by well-known ornithological artist John Gould in his Birds of Australia.The Brolga is a common gregarious wetland bird species in...
  
  

Animals of the Night

• Northern Quoll
  Northern Quoll
  The Northern Quoll , also known as the Northern Native Cat, the Satanellus, the North Australian Native Cat or the Njanmak , is a carnivorous marsupial mammal, native to Australia.- Taxonomy :The Northern Quoll is a member of the family Dasyuridae, and is often stated to be the most distinctive...
  
  
• Agile Antechinus
  Agile Antechinus
  The Agile Antechinus is a species of small carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. It is found in Australia.-Taxonomy:...
  
  
• Fat-tailed Dunnart
  Fat-tailed Dunnart
  The Fat Tailed Dunnart is a species of mouse-like marsupial of the Dasyuridae family, the family includes the Little Red Kaluta, quolls, and the Tasmanian Devil. It has an average body length of 60–90 mm with a tail of 45–70 mm. Ear length is 14–16 mm...
  
  
• Greater Bilby
  Greater Bilby
  The Bilby, Macrotis lagotis, is an Australian species of nocturnal omnivorous animal in the Peramelemorphia order. The common name Bilby usually refers to this species, but is distinguished from Macrotis leucura that became extinct in the 1950s by the name Greater Bilby. It is also referred to as...
  
  
• Squirrel Glider
  Squirrel Glider
  The Squirrel Glider is a nocturnal gliding possum, one of the wrist-winged gliders of the genus Petaurus.-Habitat:...
  
  

• Sugar Glider
  Sugar Glider
  The sugar glider is a small gliding possum originating from the marsupial family.The sugar glider is native to eastern and northern mainland Australia and is also native to New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago.- Habitat :Sugar gliders can be found all throughout the northern and eastern parts of...
  
  
• Mountain Pygmy-possum
• Feathertail Glider
  Feathertail Glider
  The Feathertail Glider , also known as the Pygmy Gliding Possum, Pygmy Glider, Pygmy Phalanger, Flying Phalanger and Flying Mouse, is the world's smallest gliding possum and is named for its long feather-shaped tail. Although only the size of a very small mouse , it can leap and glide up to 25 metres...
  
  
• Rufous Bettong
• Long-nosed Potoroo
  Long-nosed Potoroo
  The Long-nosed Potoroo is a species of Australian potoroo. It is listed as Endangered in Victoria , Vulnerable in Queensland and nationally , although the IUCN lists it as Lower Risk.At first glance the Long-nosed Potoroo with its...
  
  

• Spinifex Hopping-mouse
• Barn Owl
  Barn Owl
  The Barn Owl is the most widely distributed species of owl, and one of the most widespread of all birds. It is also referred to as Common Barn Owl, to distinguish it from other species in the barn-owl family Tytonidae. These form one of two main lineages of living owls, the other being the typical...
  
  
• Green Tree Frog
• Peron's Tree Frog
  Peron's Tree Frog
  Peron's Tree Frog, Emerald Spotted Tree Frog, Laughing Tree Frog or the Maniacal Cackle Frog is a common Australian tree frog of the genus Litoria.-Physical description:...
  
  
• Marbled Velvet Gecko

• Golden Spiny-tailed Gecko
• Smooth Knob-tailed Gecko

Cockatoos

• Australian Brush-turkey
  Australian Brush-turkey
  The Australian Brushturkey or Australian Brush-turkey, , also frequently called the Scrub Turkey or Bush Turkey, is a common, widespread species of mound-building bird from the family Megapodiidae found in eastern Australia from Far North Queensland to Illawarra in New South Wales...
  
  

• Red-tailed Black Cockatoo
  Red-tailed Black Cockatoo
  The Red-tailed Black Cockatoo , also known as Banksian- or Banks' Black Cockatoo, is a large cockatoo native to Australia. This species was known as Calyptorhynchus magnificus for many decades until the current scientific name was officially conserved in 1994. It is more common in the drier parts...
  
  
• Major Mitchell's Cockatoo
  Major Mitchell's Cockatoo
  The Major Mitchell's Cockatoo also known as Leadbeater's Cockatoo or Pink Cockatoo, is a medium-sized cockatoo restricted to arid and semi-arid inland areas of Australia...
  
  
• White-headed Pigeon
  White-headed Pigeon
  The White-headed Pigeon is a pigeon native to the east coast of Australia, belonging to the same genus as the domestic pigeon C. livia....
  
  
• Brush Bronzewing
  Brush Bronzewing
  The Brush Bronzewing is a species of bird in the pigeon family Columbidae.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests.-References:...
  
  
• Wonga Pigeon
  Wonga Pigeon
  The Wonga Pigeon Leucosarcia melanoleuca is a pigeon that inhabits areas in eastern Australia with its range being from Central Queensland to Gippsland, eastern Victoria, Australia....
  
  
• Emerald Dove
  Emerald Dove
  The Common Emerald Dove is a pigeon which is a widespread resident breeding bird in the tropical and sub-tropical parts of the Indian Subcontinent and east through Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, to northern and eastern Australia. The dove is also known by the names of Green Dove and...
  
  
• Blue-faced Honeyeater
• Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
  Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
  The Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike is a common omnivorous passerine bird native to Australia, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. It has a protected status in Australia, under the National Parks and Wildlife Act, 1974....
  
  

Reptile Encounter

• Brown Tree Snake
  Brown tree snake
  The brown tree snake is an arboreal rear-fanged colubrid snake native to eastern and northern coastal Australia, Papua New Guinea, and a large number of islands in northwestern Melanesia....
  
  
• Broad-headed Snake
  Broad-Headed Snake
  The Broad-Headed Snake is a venomous snake that is restricted to the Sydney Basin in NSW, Australia. It is one of 3 snakes in the genus Hoplocephalus, all restricted to eastern Australia...
  
  
• Chappell Island Tiger Snake
• Eastern Bearded Dragon
  Eastern Bearded Dragon
  The Eastern bearded dragon is an agamid lizard found in wooded parts of Australia. It is one of a group of species known commonly as Bearded Dragons...
  
  
• Eastern Blue-tongued Lizard
  Eastern blue-tongued lizard
  The Eastern Blue-tongued Lizard is a subspecies of large skink which is common throughout Eastern Australia, often found in bushland and suburban areas where conditions are suitable...
  
  

• Eastern Water Skink
• Eastern Brown Snake
  Eastern brown snake
  The eastern brown snake , often referred to as the common brown snake, is a species of genus Pseudonaja. This snake is considered the second most venomous land snake based on its value in mice. It is native to Australia, New Guinea and Indonesia.-Description:Adult eastern brown snakes are highly...
  
  
• Freshwater Crocodile
  Freshwater Crocodile
  The freshwater crocodile , also known as the Australian freshwater crocodile, Johnston's crocodile or colloquially as freshie, is a species of reptile endemic to the northern regions of Australia...
  
  
• Frill-necked Lizard
  Frill-necked Lizard
  The frill-necked lizard , also known as the frilled lizard or frilled dragon, is found mainly in northern Australia and southern New Guinea. Its name comes from the large frill around its neck, which usually stays folded against the lizard's body. It is largely arboreal, spending the majority of...
  
  
• Green Tree Frog

• Mertens' Water Monitor
  Mertens' Water Monitor
  Mertens’ Water Monitor , often misspelled Merten’s Water Monitor, is a member of the monitor lizard family found in northern Australia, and is a wide-ranging, active foraging, opportunistic predator of aquatic and riparian habitats. It is named after German herpetologist Robert...
  
  
• Mangrove Monitor
• Painted Turtle
  Painted Turtle
  The painted turtle is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to Louisiana and northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The turtle is the only species of the genus Chrysemys, which is part of the pond turtle...
  
  
• Pink-tongued Lizard
• Red-bellied Black Snake
  Red-bellied Black Snake
  The Red-bellied Black Snake, Pseudechis porphyriacus, is a species of elapid snake native to eastern Australia. Though its venom is capable of causing significant morbidity, it is not generally fatal and less venomous than other deadly Australian snakes. It is common in woodlands, forests and...
  
  

• Rusty Desert Monitor
  Rusty Desert Monitor
  The pygmy desert monitor is a species of small monitor lizard native to Australia. It is also known as the rusty desert monitor. The monitor lizard belongs to the subgenus Odatria along with the Pygmy Mulga Monitor...
  
  
• Spotted Tree Monitor
• Taipan
  Taipan
  The taipans are a genus of large, fast, highly venomous Australasian snakes of the elapid family.-Overview:The taipan was named by Donald Thomson after the word used by the Wik-Mungkan Aboriginal people of central Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia.There are three known species: the coastal...
  
  

Lyrebird Forest

• Australian King Parrot
  Australian King Parrot
  The Australian King Parrot is endemic to eastern Australia. It is found in humid and heavily forested upland regions of the eastern portion of the continent, including eucalyptus wooded areas in and directly adjacent to subtropical and temperate rainforest...
  
  
• White-headed Pigeon
  White-headed Pigeon
  The White-headed Pigeon is a pigeon native to the east coast of Australia, belonging to the same genus as the domestic pigeon C. livia....
  
  
• Wonga Pigeon
  Wonga Pigeon
  The Wonga Pigeon Leucosarcia melanoleuca is a pigeon that inhabits areas in eastern Australia with its range being from Central Queensland to Gippsland, eastern Victoria, Australia....
  
  
• Emerald Dove
  Emerald Dove
  The Common Emerald Dove is a pigeon which is a widespread resident breeding bird in the tropical and sub-tropical parts of the Indian Subcontinent and east through Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, to northern and eastern Australia. The dove is also known by the names of Green Dove and...
  
  

• Brush Bronzewing
  Brush Bronzewing
  The Brush Bronzewing is a species of bird in the pigeon family Columbidae.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests.-References:...
  
  
• Superb Lyrebird
  Superb Lyrebird
  The Superb Lyrebird is a pheasant-sized songbird, approximately 100cm long, with brown upper body plumage, grayish-brown below, rounded wings and strong legs...
  
  
• Superb Fairy-wren
  Superb Fairy-wren
  The Superb Fairywren , also known as the Superb Blue-wren or colloquially as the Blue Wren, is a passerine bird of the Maluridae family, common and familiar across south-eastern Australia...
  
  
• Bell Miner
  Bell Miner
  The Bell Miner, Manorina melanophrys, colloquially known as the Bellbird, is a colonial honeyeater endemic to southeastern Australia. They were given their common name because they feed almost exclusively on the dome-like coverings of certain psyllid bugs, referred to as "bell lerps," that feed on...
  
  

• White-naped Honeyeater
  White-naped Honeyeater
  The White-naped Honeyeater Melithreptus lunatus is a passerine bird of the Honeyeater family Meliphagidae native to eastern Australia. Birds from southwestern Australia have been shown to be a distinct species, the Western White-naped Honeyeater, and the eastern birds more closely related to the...
  
  
• Satin Bowerbird
  Satin Bowerbird
  The Satin Bowerbird, Ptilonorhynchus violaceus is a bowerbird endemic to eastern Australia.A rare natural intergeneric hybrid between the Satin Bowerbird and the Regent Bowerbird is known as Rawnsley's Bowerbird.-Distribution:...
  
  

Larger Wetlands Aviary

• Australasian Shoveler
  Australasian Shoveler
  The Australasian Shoveler is a species of dabbling duck in the genus Anas. It ranges from 46–53 cm. It lives in heavily vegetated swamps. In Australia it is protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act, 1974...
  
  
• Black Swan
  Black Swan
  The Black Swan is a large waterbird, a species of swan, which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. The species was hunted to extinction in New Zealand, but later reintroduced. Within Australia they are nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon climatic...
  
  
• Blue-billed Duck
  Blue-billed Duck
  The Blue-billed Duck is a small Australian stiff-tailed duck, with both the male and female growing to a length of 40 cm . The male has a slate-blue bill which changes to bright-blue during the breeding season, hence the duck’s common name . The male has deep chestnut plumage during breeding...
  
  
• Chestnut Teal
  Chestnut Teal
  The Chestnut Teal is a dabbling duck found in southern Australia. It is protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974.-Description:The Chestnut Teal is darker and a slightly bigger bird than the Grey Teal....
  
  
• Darter
  Darter
  The darters or snakebirds are mainly tropical waterbirds in the family Anhingidae. There are four living species, three of which are very common and widespread while the fourth is rarer and classified as near-threatened by the IUCN. The term "snakebird" is usually used without any additions to...
  
  

• Freckled Duck
  Freckled Duck
  The Freckled Duck is a moderately large, broad-bodied duck native to southern Australia. The duck is protected by law...
  
  
• Great Cormorant
  Great Cormorant
  The Great Cormorant , known as the Great Black Cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the Black Cormorant in Australia and the Black Shag further south in New Zealand, is a widespread member of the cormorant family of seabirds...
  
  
• Great Egret
  Great Egret
  The Great Egret , also known as the Great White Egret or Common Egret, White Heron, or Great White Heron, is a large, widely-distributed egret. Distributed across most of the tropical and warmer temperate regions of the world, in southern Europe it is rather localized...
  
  
• Grey Teal
  Grey Teal
  The Grey Teal, Anas gracilis is a dabbling duck found in open wetlands in New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands....
  
  
• Little Pied Cormorant
  Little Pied Cormorant
  The Little Pied Cormorant, Little Shag or Kawaupaka is a common Australasian waterbird, found around the coasts, islands, estuaries, and inland waters of Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, and around the islands of the south-western Pacific and the sub-Antarctic...
  
  

• Magpie Goose
• Pied Cormorant
  Pied Cormorant
  The Australia Pied Cormorant , Phalacrocorax varius, also known as the Pied Cormorant or Pied Shag, is a medium-sized member of the cormorant family. It is found around the coasts of Australasia. In New Zealand it is usually known either as the Pied Shag or by its Māori name of Karuhiruhi...
  
  
• Pied Heron
  Pied Heron
  The Pied Heron , also known as the Pied Egret is a bird found in coastal and subcoastal areas of monsoonal northern Australia as well as some parts of Wallacea and New Guinea.-Taxonomy:...
  
  
• Plumed Whistling-duck
• Royal Spoonbill
  Royal Spoonbill
  The Royal Spoonbill, Platalea regia, also known as the Black-billed Spoonbill, occurs in intertidal flats and shallows of fresh and saltwater wetlands in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. It has also been recorded as a vagrant in New Caledonia...
  
  

• Straw-necked Ibis
  Straw-necked Ibis
  The Straw-necked Ibis is a bird of the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae. It can be found throughout Australia, New Guinea, and parts of Indonesia. Adults have distinctive straw-like feathers on their neck....
  
  
• White-faced Heron
  White-faced Heron
  The White-faced Heron, Egretta novaehollandiae, also known as the White-fronted Heron, and incorrectly as the Grey Heron, or Blue Crane, is a common bird throughout most of Australasia, including New Guinea, the islands of Torres Strait, Indonesia, New Zealand, the islands of the Subantarctic, and...
  
  

Flying Foxes

• Grey-headed Flying-fox
• Black-winged Stilt
  Black-winged Stilt
  The Black-winged Stilt or Common Stilt is a widely distributed very long-legged wader in the avocet and stilt family . Opinions differ as to whether the birds treated under the scientific name H. himantopus ought to be treated as a single species and if not, how many species to recognize...