There are about twelve species of Tree Kangaroos , but only two species are found in Australia - Lumholtz’s tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus lumholtzi) and Bennett’s tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus bennettianus). Most of the other species are from New Guinea and nearby islands. The Australian species are fairly easy to distinguish - Lumholtz’s tree-kangaroo has pale coloured band across the forehead and down each side of the face.

Here is a link to some cool shots from the shortlist for the 2008 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition (from the New Scientist site).

The shot of the bat in flight is neat, and I had no idea that the sandpiper photo was thousands of birds until I read the caption.

The Courier Mail reports a story about a koala that survived being hit by a car travelling at 100km/hr, near Petrie in Queensland. The koala’s head and arm were forced through the car grille by the impact.

A call was made to the Caboolture Koala Care and Rescue group, who cut around the car’s grille mesh to release the animal. The koala was taken to the Australian Wildlife Hospital at Australia Zoo on the Sunshine Coast have dubbed the 8-year-old marsupial Ely “Lucky” Grills, after the late Australian television actor.
The 8-year old male koala suffered no serious injuries in the unusual car versus koala clash.

The Savannah cat is a cross between the Serval, an African wildcat, and a domestic cat. It can grow much larger than a domestic cat.

According to an ABC report, members of the scientific community have urged the government to ban the importation of the cat which is due to become available in Australia next year. Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett has said he will prohibit the import of the pet if it is shown to be a risk for the environment.

Special koala proof fencing is used along major roads through koala habitat. The fence is chain wire about 1.5m high with a 600mm wide Colorbond sheet metal strip secured to the top of the fence and clipped to the mesh. Koalas cannot climb the fence and get onto the road. This blurry photo was taken from car at speed on the freeway. Queensland, Australia.

There has been a lot of publicity recently about the proposed cull of 500 kangaroos in Belconnen in the Australian Capital Territory. Compared with the total number of kangaroos killed each year in Australia, this is a small percentage of the total. There is a significant commercial kangaroo industry in Australia that “harvests” wild kangaroos - mainly for meat and skins. The total kangaroo quota for 2007 was about 3.6 million. There are over 50 species of kangaroos and wallabies in Australia, with the following species killed commercially:

I was recently staying at the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. One evening I noticed a Bandicoot digging in the mulch down in the yard. It was a too far away for decent photo, and my flash didn’t have the oomph to light it properly, but had a crack at it anyway. By shining a torch on the animal I could get just enough light for the autofocus to lock in after it thrashed around for a while.