Kangaroo Island

Eighteen years ago I went to south-east Australia to work on cotton around the town of Narrabri, in the north-east corner of New South Wales. In Sydney I sought out the giant fruit bats hanging from the trees in Centennial Park, and in the Royal National Park to the south I had a superb view of the Superb Lyrebird - famous for being able to imitate all the sounds that surround it (including chain saws and cameras). But to be sure of seeing some of Australia's iconic animals, I flew to Kangaroo Island off the coast of Adelaide.

In my time watching Cape Fur Seals in South Africa, I was made aware there was a sub-species in Australia - a relatively recent arrival - the Australian Fur Seal (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus). I read it could be found on Kangaroo Island. When I arrived on the island I went straight to the beach, where I saw a breeding colony I assumed were fur seals.

However, I then read that the Australian Fur Seal will 'haul out' on the island, but it doesn't breed there - and this was definitely a breeding colony.

Though not all the adults seemed fond of the offspring.

So, if not Australian Fur Seals, what? There is another species of fur seal on Kangaroo Island, that has a breeding popoulation of around 100,000 - the New Zealand or Long-nosed Fur Seal (Arctocephalus forsteri). It is darker than the Cape Fur Seal, and has a more pointed nose. But these do not seem to fit that description - they are paler, with a blunt nose and flat head.

They are a close relative of the fur seal: the Australian Sea-lion (Neophoca cinerea) - which prefers to bask on the beach, rather than on rocks which fur seals prefer. There is a population of about 15,000 on the island.

But let's not neglect the birds that make up the background.

They are Greater Crested Terns (Thalasseus bergii) - the same species as in my post on South Africa, but of the cristata subspecies.

Inland there is plenty of water - just what animals need.

The Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) is native to Australia.

The Cape Barren Goose (Cereopsis novaehollandiae) is one of the rarest geese in the world, limited to less than 8,000 individuals on the coast of south-east Australia. It was first described in 1801 by the English ornithologist John Latham, who named many of the well-known birds of Australia (including the emu).

The Black-tailed Native-hen (Gallinula ventralis) is a common rail native to Australia.

Australia has its own Magpie, Gymnorrhina tibicen, also described by John Latham. It is an accomplished singer, with a range over four octaves, and a superb mimic of other animals. Tibicen means flute-player in latin. Nine subspecies are now recognised, and on Kangaroo Island it is G. t. telonocua, - only described in 1999. The Australian Magpie is common in human habitation, and males will attack people who pass too close to their nests.

The Galah (Cacatua roseicapilla) is one of the commonest and most widespread cockatoos in Australia.

The Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus funereus) is a native of south-east Australia. It was first described in 1794 by the English naturalist George Kearsly Shaw, a co-founder of the Linnean Society and keeper at the Natural History Museum. Here it is the smaller western sub-species, C. f. xanthanota.

Rosenberg's Monitor (Varanus rosenbergi) is found in southern Australia. It was described as a sub-species of the Sand Goanna (Varanus gouldii) in 1957 by the German herpetologist Robert Mertens (who died after being bitten by his pet Savanna Twigsnake, for which there was no antivenom). In 1980, it was elevated to the status of species. It is named after the German naturalist Hermann von Rosenberg, who spent much of his time in the then Dutch East Indies and who was credited by Alfred Russel Wallace as being of great help to him during his time in the Malay Archipelago.

The Black Tiger Snake (Notechis ater) is the island form of the mainland N. scutatus. It accounts for one in six snake bites in Australia, and the mortality rate without treatment is around 50%.

The first of the iconic Australian animals: the Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus). Cute, mentally challenged, and a marsupial! Most people know marsupials keep their newborns in a pouch, but I guess not many know that the males have a bifurcated penis - to match the two vaginas posessed by the females. Its name comes from gula, which means 'no water' in the Dharug language of the aboriginal inhabitants of Sydney (koalas obtain most of their water from the eucalyptus leaves they eat). The natural distribution of the koala is south and east Australia, with those in the south being larger and darker than those in the north. They have been introduced onto kangaroo island, at the western limit of their range.

The most famous marsupials are the kangaroos. The Western Grey Kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus) is one of the four species in Australia. It is found along the south coast, but the nominal of the two subspecies is the one endemic to Kangaroo Island - smaller and darker than the mainland populations - the first population of the species to be seen by Europeans when the explorer Matthew Flinders landed on the island in 1802. As you see, they are quite tame.

Wallabies are simply small kangaroos. The Tammar Wallaby (Macropus eugenii) is one of the smaller wallabies. Its name comes from once being common in thickets of Tamma shrubs (Allocasuarina campestris). It's nocturnal, so I was lucky to see it in the fading light of evening.

The wallaby were more wary of strangers than the kangaroo - and here a mother seems to be preventing her child from wandering too close to a potentially dangerous English tourist.

Long and dusty unlit roads are a real danger to nocturnal mammals, and 'road kill' is a common site in Australia. This Common Bushtail Possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When I was a schoolboy I spent a lot of time in the Natural History Museum in London. One of my fascinations was the monotremes - the egg-laying mammals - and in particular a glass case holding a stuffed echidna. There are now only four species, and three of them are found only in New Guinea. The fourth is the Short-beaked Echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) found throughout Australia, as well as parts of New Guinea. Kangaroo Island has its own sub-species, T. a. multiaculeatus. Watching a live echidna snuffling around by my feet - really a childhood dream come true.