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Australian Mammals

Echidna
The Short-beaked Echidna has a long sticky tongue for catching ants and other insects. It is a monotreme - that means it lays eggs. The prickly coat gives it protection - much like a hedgehog or...
Short-beaked Echidna
(Tachyglossus aculeatus)
3 images

Platypus
The Platypus has short legs and a flat streamlined body. It has distinctive duck bill and webbed feet to assist swimming. The male has a 1.5cm long venom spur on the hind foot. The platypus has thick...
Platypus
(Ornithorhynchus anatinus)
5 images

Bettongs and Potoroos
The Rufous Bettong is a small marsupial (rat-kangaroo) with silvery grey and ginger fur, with a lighter coloured almost hairless tail. They have pointed ears, a hairy muzzle, pale red fur round the...
Rufous bettong
(Aepyprymnus rufescens)
2 images 		The Brush-tailed Bettong is a small marsupial in the kangaroo family. The body is greyish brown above and paler below. It has a long tail with black crest along the end half. The underside of the...
Brush-tailed Bettong
(Bettongia penicillata)
3 images 		The Tasmanian Bettong is brownish grey above with whitish underside.
Tasmanian Bettong
(Bettongia gaimardi)
1 image 		The Musky Rat Kangaroo is the smallest member of the kangaroo family (macropod). It is a small marsupial that looks like a miniature kangaroo. The fur is rich brown fur with some darker hairs. The...
Musky Rat Kangaroo
(Hypsiprymnodon moschatus)
1 image
The Long-nosed Potoroo is grey-brown above with whitish underside. In Queensland populations the nose is quite short but is longer in populations further south. There is a bare patch of skin around...
Long-nosed Potoroo
(Potorous tridactylus)
2 images

Cuscus, Brushtail Possums
The Spotted Cuscus has thick woolly fur and is variable in colour. The female is a creamy color and the male ranges from creamy-grey to orange-rust colour with irregular spots. Some juveniles are...
Spotted Cuscus
(Spilocuscus maculatus)
2 images 		The Common Brushtail Possum is a large possum with bushy tail and pointed ears. Grey with a black band across the snout, they have a white to brownish-yellow belly. It is nocturnal and, during the...
Common Brushtail Possum
(Trichosurus vulpecula)
4 images 		The Mountain Brushtail Possum is grey above and whitish below. Some forms are black. Short rounded ears. The Common Brushtail Possum is similar but has more pointed ears.
Mountain Brushtail Possum
(Trichosurus cunninghami)
2 images 		The Northern Brushtail Possum is reddish-grey. Females are silver-grey. They have short thick fur. The tail is bare underneath and short-haired above.
Northern Brushtail Possum
(Trichosurus arnhemensis)
1 image

Feathertail Glider
The Feathertail glider is the size of a mouse with grey/brown back and white belly. The only glider with a flattened tail that looks like a feather. It can glide up to 20m using its tail as a rudder.
Feathertail Glider
(Acrobates pygmaeus)
2 images

Gliders
The Squirrel Glider looks similar to the Sugar Glider but is larger and has more pointed nose, narrower ears and bushier furry tail. The underside is white
Squirrel Glider
(Petaurus norfolcensis)
1 image 		The Sugar Glider is a small possum. It has a membrane from its fifth finger to the back ankle. Using the membrane it can glide about 50 m between trees. In flight, it uses its long bushy tail for...
Sugar Glider
(Petaurus breviceps)
7 images 		The Yellow-bellied Glider is grey above and creamy to orange below. It is larger than the Sugar Glider and Squirrel Glider and has longer fluffy tail
Yellow-bellied Glider
(Petaurus australis)
1 image

Kangaroos and Wallabies
Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroos have short, woolly chestnut brown fur, with pale belly. Their neck, cheeks, and feet are yellow. The face is greyish-brown, with a double golden stripe running down...
Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo
(Dendrolagus goodfellowi)
3 images 		The Agile Wallaby is a medium sized wallaby. Light sandy brown with paler underneath. Has pale cheek stripe and light stripe on thigh. The edges of ears are black. They live in small social groups...
Agile Wallaby
(Macropus agilis)
7 images 		The Common Wallaroo is a large dark grey or reddish kangaroo with coarse fur and a black nose. The males are much larger than females..
Common Wallaroo
(Macropus robustus)
3 images 		The Eastern Grey Kangaroo has uniform woolly grey-brown fur, slightly darker on shoulders and mid back. The tail is tipped with black Spends most of the day resting under a shady tree, only moving...
Eastern Grey Kangaroo
(Macropus giganteus)
7 images
The Parma Wallaby has greyish brown back with white throat and chest. The conservation status of this wallaby is listed as
Parma Wallaby
(Macropus parma)
1 image 		The Red Kangaroo (Macropus rufus), is the largest living marsupial. It is able to go without drinking as long as green grass is available, and it adapts well to drought. In some areas both males and...
Red Kangaroo
(Macropus rufus)
7 images 		The Red-necked Wallaby has grey fur with reddish shoulders and upper back. There is a weak face stripe. Similar to Black-striped Wallaby, but does not have the pronounced back stripe or white...
Red-necked Wallaby
(Macropus rufogriseus)
4 images 		The Tammar Wallaby is grey brown above with reddish sides and legs. The conservation status of this wallaby is listed as
Tammar Wallaby
(Macropus eugenii)
1 image
The Western Grey Kangaroo is greyish-brown to reddish-brown in colour. Their muzzles have finer hairs than most other kangaroo species. Dark brown face, often with a line of white outlining the lower...
Western Grey Kangaroo
(Macropus fuliginosus)
3 images 		The Whiptail Wallaby is light grey or brownish grey, with white underneath. Dark brown forehead, with white stripe on face.
Whiptail Wallaby
(Macropus parryi)
3 images 		The Black-footed Rock-wallaby is reddish brown above with paler underside. The fur is thick and feet are dark. It has a distinct white cheek stripe. Tail is dark is brown with brush at end.
Black-footed Rock-wallaby
(Petrogale lateralis)
2 images 		The Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby is brownish above, with reddish tint towards the rear. It has white cheek stripe and pale grey side stripe. Tail has brush at end.
Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby
(Petrogale penicillata)
1 image
The Unadorned Rock-wallaby is brownish grey above and paler underneath. Weak face stripe below eye. Dark tip at end of tail.
Unadorned Rock-wallaby
(Petrogale inornata)
2 images 		The Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby is grey above and white underneath. Has reddish patches on legs and white side stripe. The tail is barred - no other Wallaby has this kind of markings on the tail.
Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby
(Petrogale xanthopus)
3 images 		The Quokka is a small wallaby about the size of a domestic cat. Grey-brown above. Fur is long and coarse. Very short ears.
Quokka
(Setonix brachyurus)
3 images 		The Red-legged Pademelon is a small brown wallaby with rust-red legs and face
Red-legged Pademelon
(Thylogale stigmatica)
1 image
The Red-necked Pademelon (pronounced
Red-necked Pademelon
(Thylogale thetis)
6 images 		The Tasmanian Pademelon is a small wallaby. It is dark brown or grey-brown above, and lighter red-brown colour underneath. The fur is dense and long.
Tasmanian Pademelon
(Thylogale billardierii)
3 images 		The Swamp Wallaby is very dark in colour with reddish orange belly. It has a dark, almost black face. The fur is coarse. A form found on South Stradbroke Island is lighter in colour.
Swamp Wallaby
(Wallabia bicolor)
5 images

Koala and Wombat
The Koala is a unique Australian marsupial, often incorrectly called a Koala Bear. The males are larger than females. Koalas from southern areas are about 30% larger than the Queensland koalas...
Koala
(Phascolarctos cinereus)
7 images 		The Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat is a stout marsupial and can weigh up to 36 kg. They have a large, blunt head and a short, neck. Their sharp claws and stubby, powerful legs make them great diggers....
Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat
(Lasiorhinus latifrons)
5 images 		Wombats are stout marsupials and can weigh up to 36 kg. They have a large, blunt head and a short, neck. Their sharp claws and stubby, powerful legs make them great diggers. Wombats can live for up...
Common Wombat
(Vombatus ursinus)
4 images

Ringtail Possums
The Greater Glider the largest glider. It is dark grey or mottled cream and grey above, with whitish underside. The tail is long and furry. The snout is short and ears are large.
Greater Glider
(Petauroides volans)
1 image 		The Common Ringtail Possum is grey-brown on the back with white underneath. Immatures are reddish brown. It has a long white tipped prehensile tail which can be used carrying nesting materials as...
Common Ringtail Possum
(Pseudocheirus peregrinus)
3 images 		The Green Ringtail Possum has thick soft greenish fur, with white patches below eyes and ears. Fur has mixture of black, grey, yellow and white giving it a greenish appearance.
Green Ringtail Possum
(Pseudocheirus archeri)
2 images

Bandicoots and Bilbies
The Northern Brown Bandicoot has brown fur that is harsh in texture. The underside is light in colour. It has a humped posture. A nocturnal animal that lives on the ground. During the day it hides in...
Northern Brown Bandicoot
(Isoodon macrourus)
2 images 		The Southern Brown Bandicoot is greyish brown above and cream below. The fur is coarse. The tail and back feet are dark brown.
Southern Brown Bandicoot
(Isoodon obesulus)
1 image 		The Bilby has long rabbit-like ears and pointed nose. The fur is silvery blue. It has a longish black and white tail. It has strong claws for digging.
Bilby
(Macrotis lagotis)
1 image 		The Long-nosed Bandicoot is a marsupial with pointed ears and a long pointed snout. The fur is grayish brown on the back and creamy underneath. The front feet and the top of the hind feet are creamy...
Long-nosed Bandicoot
(Perameles nasuta)
3 images

Fruit Bats
The Grey-headed Flying-fox has dark brown body and grey head, Reddish collar round the neck. Thick leg fur down to ankle. Roosts in large camps in branches of large trees.
Grey-headed Flying-fox
(Pteropus poliocephalus)
5 images 		The Spectacled Flying Fox is a very dark coloured large bat with light brown fur around the eyes like spectacles.
Spectacled Flying-fox
(Pteropus conspillatus)
1 image

Vesper Bats
Little Bentwing Bats are small bats that roost in mine tunnels and caves. They have chocolate-brown fur on their back and light brown fur on their belly. The tail is as long as the body. They gather...
Little Bentwing Bat
(Miniopterus australis )
2 images

Antechinuses, Quolls, Dunnarts, Tasmanian Devil
The Agile Antechinus is a small carnivorous marsupial of the Dasyurid family. It is greyish brown above and pale below. It has hairy thin tail. It is very similar to the Brown Antechinus (Antechinus...
Agile Antechinus
(Antechinus agilis)
1 image 		The Eastern Quoll has black or brown fur with white spots. It has no spots on the tail, unlike the Tiger Quoll.
Eastern Quoll
(Dasyurus viverrinus)
2 images 		The Tiger Quoll is reddish brown or dark brown above with white spots. The only Quoll with a spotted tail.<br> It spends most of its time on the ground, but is a good climber. Populations have...
Tiger Quoll
(Dasyurus maculatus)
3 images 		The Fat-tailed False Antechinus is greyish brown with reddish colour patches behind the ears. It is pale underneath. The tail conical shape with fat base.
Fat-tailed False Antechinus
(Pseudantechinus macdonnelliensis)
1 image
The Tasmanian Devil is the largest surviving carnivorous marsupial in the world. It has a thick-set, squat build, with a relatively large, broad head and short, thick tail. The fur is mainly black,...
Tasmanian Devil
(Sarcophilus harrisii)
7 images

Numbat
The Numbat is a red-brown marsupial with six or seven vertical white bars on the back. It has a black stripe along the head. The snout is pointed , and they have a small mouth and a long, sticky...
Numbat
(Myrmecobius fasciatus)
1 image

Thylacine
The Tasmanian Tiger is extinct - the last Tasmanian Tiger in captivity died in 1936. There are still some who hold out hope that it may still survive in remote parts of Tasmania, but this is...
Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine)
(Thylacinus cynocephalus)
4 images

Rodents
The Water-rat has a dark back and golden coloured belly. Has partially webbed feet to assist with swimming. Fur is waterproof.
Water-rat
(Hydromys chrysogaster)
2 images 		The common House Mouse is brown above and pale grey or white underneath.
House Mouse
(Mus musculus)
1 image 		Mitchell's Hopping Mouse is a small grey-brown mouse, with whitish underparts. The tail is brown with tuft at end.
Mitchell's Hopping Mouse
(Notomys mitchelli)
1 image

Fur Seals, Sea Lions
The Australian Fur Seal is dark brown to brownish grey with mane of coarse hair. Pups black with silver. External ears visible.
Australian Fur Seal
(Arctocephalus pusillus)
2 images 		The New Zealand Fur Seal is greyish brown above, paler below. Sharply pointed snout. Bulls have thick mane. External ears visible.
New Zealand Fur Seal
(Arctocephalus fosteri)
3 images 		The Australian Sea Lion is a large seal with a blunt snout. Male dark brown or black, with white crown and back of neck. Female silvery grey above and yellow cream below.
Australian Sea Lion
(Neophoca cinerea)
3 images

Dugongs
The Dugong looks a bit like a blunt nosed whale. It has no hind legs and swims with horizontal tail fluke. The body is grey. The only hair is some bristles near the mouth.
Dugong
(Dugong Dugon)
1 image

Dolphins, Pilot Whales, Killer Whales
The Short-beaked Common Dolphin is black or dark brown with white or cream underside. The flippers are the same color as the back (black or dark brown). There is a pale marking along the side that...
Short-beaked Common Dolphin
(Delphinus delphis)
2 images 		The Long-finned pilot whale is black with a white belly. The body is robust and cylindrical in shape, tapering towards the long tail. The head is rounded. The dorsal fin is low with long base and...
Long-finned Pilot Whale
(Globicephala melas)
2 images 		The Short-finned Pilot Whale is black with a white patch on the chin. The white patch may extend down the belly. The head is large and rounded with no beak. They have seven to nine teeth on each side...
Short-finned Pilot Whale
(Globicephala macrorhynchus)
2 images 		The Killer Whale is the largest member of the dolphin family. It ids mostly black above and white underneath. The back and pectoral flippers are black, except for the gray saddle area located just...
Killer Whale
(Orcinus orca)
4 images
The False Killer Whale is a large black or dark gray dolphin with pale gray underside. The body is long with a narrow dorsal fin with rounded tip, and long pointed flippers. The snout is bulbous. ...
False Killer Whale
(Pseudorca crassidens)
3 images 		The Pantropical Spotted Dolphin is gray and develops spots on the skin as it grows older. The back is gray with pale spots, and the belly is pale with dark spots. The snout is white and it has a...
Pantropical Spotted Dolphin
(Stenella attenuata)
2 images 		The Spinner Dolphin gets its name from its habit of leaping out of the water, twirling and landing with noisy splash. The back is dark grey and belly is white. On each side there is a paler gray side...
Spinner Dolphin
(Stenella longirostris)
3 images 		Striped dolphins are bluish-gray in color with a dark back and whitish underside. They have a dark blue-black stripe running across the entire length of the body, from the eye to the anus. Striped...
Striped Dolphin
(Stenella coeruleoalba)
1 image
The Bottlenose Dolphin has a short rounded bottle-shaped snout. The large dorsal fin is slightly hooked and set half way along the body. Overall the body colour is a series of grey tones with an...
Bottlenose Dolphin
(Tursiops truncatus)
3 images

Right Whale
The Southern Right Whale is mostly black and may have white belly patches. It has short wide flippers and no dorsal fin. The body is large and rounded and mouth is highly arched when viewed from...
Southern Right Whale
(Eubalaena australis)
4 images

Rorquals
Blue whales are grayish blue mottled with lighter spots. The underside often is yellowish, due to growth of microorganisms, giving the belly a yellowish tinge. The back and sides are usually mottled...
Blue Whale
(Balaenoptera musculus)
2 images 		Bryde's Whale is dark gray with a yellowish white underside. It is the second smallest rorqual (after the Northern Minke Whale). It has three parallel ridges in the area between the blowholes...
Bryde's Whale
(Balaenoptera edeni)
2 images 		The Fin Whale is a streamlined rorqual with similar body shape to the Blue Whale. It is the second largest rorqual after the Blue Whale. The body is brownish grey above and white below. The lower jaw...
Fin Whale
(Balaenoptera physalus)
4 images 		Sei whales are dark gray with irregular white markings across the back. The body is relatively slender with short pectoral fins and sickle shaped dorsal fin. The snout is pointed. On the underside...
Sei Whale
(Balaenoptera borealis)
2 images
The Humpback Whale has a dark grey or black body, with white markings on its underside. The black and white markings are unique and can be used to identify individual animals. They have long pectoral...
Humpback Whale
(Megaptera novaeangliae)
3 images

Sperm Whales
The Sperm Whale is a toothed whale with a huge box-shaped head. The head is about a third of the total body length, and contains the largest brain of any mammal - the brain weighs in at about 9kg....
Sperm Whale
(Physeter catodon)
3 images

Camels
Thousands of camels were imported into Australia between 1840 and 1907 to open up the arid areas of central and western Australia. They were used for riding, and as draught and pack animals for...
Dromedary Camel
(Camelus dromedarius)
3 images

Cattle, Sheep, Goats
Water buffalo are large dark colour with thick neck and heavy spreading horns. They were imported to Australia in the 19th century to supply meat to remote northern settlements. The settlements and...
Water Buffalo
(Bubalus bubalus)
1 image

Deer
The Chital is a reddish deer with white spots from the neck to the rump and down onto the hind thighs. There is a dark stripe down the back. The underside is whitish. The inside legs and underside of...
Chital
(Axis axis)
3 images 		The Red Deer is the largest deer in Australia. The fur is reddish brown with a buff patch on the rump. The throat and underside are greyish. Males have a shaggy mane on neck and spreading antlers...
Red Deer
(Cervus elaphus)
2 images 		Rusa are a medium sized deer. The coarse coat is dark grey-brown in winter and reddish brown after summer moult. The underside is cream or pale grey. Some males have a white throat patch. The tail is...
Rusa
(Cervus timorensis)
1 image 		The Sambar is the most widespread introduced deer in Australia. It is dark brown or blackish with coarse, short fur and large rounded ears. The males have mane of longer fur round the neck. The...
Sambar
(Cervus unicolor)
3 images
The Fallow Deer is reddish brown with white spots on the body. The underparts are whitish. The rump is whitish bordered with black. The tail is black above and white below. The male has antlers...
Fallow Deer
(Dama dama)
4 images

Dogs
The Dingo is the only native dog in Australia. Believed to have arrived in Australia about 4000-6000 years ago, and were probably introduced through trading between Aboriginal people and Indonesians...
Dingo
(Canis lupus)
7 images 		The Red Fox is pale yellowish red to deep reddish brown on the upper parts and white or pale gray underneath. The lower part of the legs is usually black, and the nose is dark brown or black. The...
Red Fox
(Vulpes vulpes)
2 images

Horses
Brumbies are wild horses. The number of wild horses in Australia has been estimated at up to 300,000 horses. They are considered a problem as they cause erosion, spread weeds and compete for pasture...
Brumby
(Equus caballus)
2 images






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