Australian Reptile Park – Part 2

The Reptile Park has one of the biggest saltwater crocodiles in captivity.  Elvis is about 5 metres (15 ft) long and boy is he fast!  We got to watch a keeper feed him a chicken wing and the speed at which this huge beast could move and strike was shocking.

Salties can be extremely aggressive and have been known to stalk small boats in Darwin Harbour as well as attack and eat unwary humans.  They are excellent swimmers and inhabit rivers, water holes, lakes, and even the sea in northern (tropical) Australia, which means that even the beach is unsafe up north.  We’re too far south in Newcastle to have to worry about salties, which is a very good thing.

 We were lucky to see an echidna at the park because they are shy and often hide.  In fact, this one was hiding; it probably just didn’t realize that part of it’s back was showing.

Echidnas are very interesting animals.  They are monotremes, mammals that lay eggs and also nurse their young.  A fertilized egg is held in a female’s reproductive tract until it is the size of a grape.  It is then delivered to the mother’s pouch where it stays for about ten days before the puggle (baby echidna) hatches.  After about 50 days in the pouch, the puggle’s spines become so long and prickly that it must move to an underground burrow which the mother has dug.  Leaving the growing puggle for a few days at time, the mother goes out foraging, returning to feed her baby.  When the puggle is 200 days old, mum nurses it one last time and then abandons the burrow, and the young adult is on its own.  This complex reproduction and puggle-rearing process is quite remarkable, I think.

Sacred kingfisher birds are found throughout Australia

Crested pigeons look like punk birds and are also found throughout Australia

Dwarf bearded dragons are native to Western Australia

Lace Monitor

 Lace monitors, also called goannas, can grow to be two metres (6 ft) long.  They spend much of their time up in trees, coming down to forage for food on the ground.  Interestingly, females lay eggs in a hole they excavate in termite mounds, especially those found up in trees.

Termite mound in a dead tree

After laying 6 - 12 eggs, the female leaves the mound, letting the termites re-cover the eggs inside their nest which keeps them at a constant temperature.  It is believed but apparently not yet documented that the female returns to the termite mound to dig out the young when they hatch.

Cane toad

Cane toads were brought to Australia in 1935 in hopes that they would eat a beetle that was destroying sugar cane crops.  Unfortunately, there is no evidence that the toads had any impact whatsoever on the beetles but instead they have become a serious pest.  With no natural predators, the cane toad population has exploded. Aggressive feeders, they have a significant negative impact on native insect, bee, and frog populations.  Cane toads are also toxic, releasing deadly venom from their skin when attacked.  Native animals killed by toads include goannas, snakes, freshwater crocodiles, and dingos.  In humans the toxin can cause intense pain and temporary blindness.  Outside of Australia, humans have even died from eating the toads or their eggs.  Cane toads live up to 15 years and are highly adaptable to different climate conditions which means they are spreading rapidly across the country.  Scientists are working to find a way to control toads in Australia but have had limited success so far against this scourge.

We learned an awful lot about Australian animals, reptiles, and amphibians at the park and we also had a lot of fun there.