East of Darwin, Australia’s largest national park – Kakadu – covers around 20,000 square kilometres with a vast biodiversity that includes 33% of the country’s bird species and 25% of its fish species
The region’s varied landscapes extend from coast and estuaries in the north, through floodplains, billabongs and lowlands to rocky ridges and stone country in the south. Kakadu is considered a living cultural landscape – its traditional owners Bininj Mungguy have lived on and tended this country for more than 50,000 years. This exceptional natural beauty and ancient cultural heritage was recognised internationally in 1981 when Kakadu first appeared on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Kakadu National Park is a timeless place of extraordinary ecological and biological diversity, supporting an astonishing array of endemic plants and animals. More than 2,000 plant species have been recorded – many of which have been used by local Aboriginal people for generations as bush foods, medicines and weaving materials.
Sugar gliders, brush-tailed phascogales and northern quolls are just some of the many small mammals that hide during the day in tree-hollows, while brown bandicoots shelter in logs or dense grass, emerging to search for food at night. Some mammals move between habitats in response to changing conditions. During the dry season, dusky rats shelter in the deep cracks of dry floodplain soils, yet when the monsoon rains arrive and flooding begins, they rats move into adjacent woodlands. Of the eight kinds of macropod (kangaroo) found in Kakadu, agile wallabies and antilopine wallaroos are the most common.
Around one-third of Australia’s bats are found in Kakadu. You can spot some of the smaller species flying at dusk to catch insects. The largest bats are flying-foxes, which roost during the day in large noisy colonies in mangroves, paperbark forests and monsoon rainforests. By night they feast on fruit and the nectar of woodland flowers, pollinating flowers and dispersing seeds as they feed. Kakadu's many habitats support more than 280 species of birds, or roughly a third of Australia's bird species. Some birds range over a number of habitats, but many are found in only one environment.
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