Australian Reptile Park – Part 1

The Australian Reptile Park is a unique and special place.  It has fascinating visitor experiences as well as a strong commitment to native wildlife, especially endangered Australian species. It also has an awesome entryway straight out of Jurassic Park. 

Koalas are perishing at such a high rate that they are projected to be extinct by 2050 and Tasmanian Devil populations are also in steep decline.  Both species are dying as a result of serious diseases, loss of habitat, and vehicle-caused deaths.  In response, the Reptile Park has developed specialized breeding programs for both koalas and devils in the hopes of saving them from extinction.  So though it’s called the Reptile Park, there are a wonderful variety of species to see there.  

The park is not terribly large but makes up for it by offering many animal encounters, both casual and more formal.  Tame kangaroos, wallabies, emus stroll the grounds and it’s not uncommon to come across a giant Galapagos tortoise out for a walk or an olive python enjoying a slither on the grass.  You can also pet a koala and have your picture taken, with all proceeds going to support the work of the park.

A curious kangaroo 

That's Rosie the koala.  She's about a year old.

The park is extraordinary in other ways.  For instance, they have been providing snake venom for the production of anti-venom for 60 years and today are the only provider in the whole country.  Venom production is time consuming and dangerous. Every week the park staff “milk” 100 snakes by having each one bite the latex cover on a vial.  Venom drips into the vial and is then freeze dried.  

Milking a highly venomous tiger snake.  If you click on this photo you 

will be able to better see the angry glint in the snake's eye as it is milked.

When enough venom is accumulated it is sent to a special lab which injects increasingly strong doses into horses over a six-month period.  This does not hurt the horses but does cause them to produce antibodies to the venom.  At this point, blood is drawn and processed to separate out the antibodies which are then used for anti-venom. This dangerous, labor-intensive process has saved approximately 10,000 lives since anti-venoms were developed.

The Reptile Park also helps produce anti-venom for the notoriously toxic funnel web spider, considered the most dangerous spider in the world with a bite that can kill within an hour.  

Funnel web spider

Collecting this venom is perhaps even more dangerous than with snakes because of the spider’s massive fangs and the fact that the venom must be suctioned off them with a small pipette while keeping fingers away from the aggressive spider.

Funnel web spider fangs are longer than many snake 

fangs and strong enough to puncture plastic

The process for making the anti-venom is similar to snakes except that in this case the venom is injected into Flemish rabbits which have a natural immunity to it.  Since the anti-venom was developed in 1980 there have been no recorded deaths from funnel web spiders.  

In New South Wales it’s not all that uncommon to come across a funnel web spider in your home or yard and the Reptile Park has a program to encourage the safe capture of these arachnids which are then transported to the park for milking.  Believe it or not, the park receives about 1500 spiders a year from the community which is a significant contribution to the anti-venom program.  Dave and I encountered a funnel web spider ourselves when we were here in 2015 but it was probably a female, which are much less aggressive than males, and did not leave its funnel web so we were not in any danger. 

Click on this photo so you can more easily see the spider inside the funnel