Charles Darwin National Park is located east of Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory. The park contains mangrove forest, Pandus grassland, and Eucalyptus woodlands with a high plant diversity. The Eucalyptus woodland (top photo) is a fire-maintained community. Plants that occur in this area include cycads (photos 2-4) and tree ferns (photo 5). The park was established to protect the coastal mangrove forest and its associated watershed as well as historical Aboriginal sites and World War II sites.

The East Point Peninsula Reserve is a 200 hectare recreational area with extensive walking and bicycling paths. East Point also has well known for its wallaby colony and as one of the best sites in Darwin for watching sunsets. At low tide the exposed rock areas contain tidal pools where a variety of marine life becomes trapped and visible for the naturalist.

Fogg Dam Conservation Reserve is in the lower Adelaide River catchment that provides a haven for wildlife around urban Darwin. The Adelaide River catchment is one of several connected catchments which make up the Top End wetlands. These wetlands have international importance because of their beauty, natural systems and cultural significance. However, this is a man-made wetland, the result of a failed rice growing project. It is an excellent place for birding, and the area supports numerous reptile populations. The top photograph shows an open water area, the bottom photo is a paper bark swamp.

Australia has a rich diversity of small coastal, gobbied that have adapted to the tidal zone. These fish will walk on land, climb into vegetation, and burry themselves in the mud. They make uop an important part of the biomass in coastal ecosystems.

The mangrove areas around Darwin support a variety of interesting fauna including these mudskippers and fiddler crab.

The White Bellied Sea Eagle, Haliaeetus leucogaster. Photographed at the Territory Wildlife Park. White-bellied Sea-Eagles are common coastal and near coastal areas of Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia, China, south-east Asia and India. It feeds upon fish, turtles, and sea snakes. But it will takes birds and mammals on occasion.

A dingo, photographed at the Territory Wildlife Park. Dingos are Australian dogs that may have come to Australia with the Aborigines, or another wandering group of humans. A 2004 study of mtDNA from the dingo suggested its ancestor was in southern China, about 6000 years ago. Today, dingos have bred with other domesticated dogs.

The Duckbilled Platypus, Ornithorhynchus anatinus (Shaw, 1799). Photographed at the Sydney Aquarium. An aquatic, burrowing, oviparous mammal. They feed on invertebrates and small vertebrates.

Short-Beaked Echidna, Tachyglossus aculeatus (Shaw, 1792). Photographed at the Taronga Park Zoo. This is an oviparous mammal that feeds on ants and termites. They use desert as well as rainforest habitats.

Tasmanian Devils, Sarcophilus harrisii is the world’s largest surviving marsupial carnivore. It is a nocturnal hunter and scavenger that weighs between 7.7 - 13.0 kg (males) or 4.5 - 9 kg (females). Devils will eat the carcasses of many vertebrates, but mostly of possums and macropods. Tasmanian Devils no longer exist on the Australian mainland and the species is now found only on Tasmania, mostly in open forests and woodlands, but they will also use pastures. Population densities are the lowest in the buttongrass plains of the south west and highest in the dry and mixed sclerophyll forests and coastal heath of
Tasmania's eastern half and north west coast.

Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Macropus giganteus Photographed at Waratah Park, Terry Hills. This is a huge kangaroo with some males reaching 2.25 m and weights up to 95 kg. It inhabits dry sclerophyll forests, woodlands, and open scrub in eastern Australia.

A Common Walaroo, Macropus robustus. A joey in the pouch. Photographed at Waratah Park, Terry Hills. This marsupial is also called the "Euro." Adult males may reach 1.085 m in height and weigh 60 kg. It is common over much of Australia, and likes rocky hills, escarpments, and other areas of rough terrain. Females carry the joey in their pouch for about 36 weeks. This is preceded by a pregnancy of 32-34 days.

A resting Red Kangaroo, Macropus rufus. Photographed at the Territory Wildlife Park. This is one of the largest living marsupials (the Eastern Grey Kangaroo reaches a similar size and weight). It inhabits dry woodlands, scrub, grasslands and deserts. Adult males can weigh 95 kg and reach 1.4 m in height.

Koala, Phascolarctos cinereus. Photographed at the Waratah Park, Terry Hills. This arboreal, leaf-eating marsupial may be Australia's best known animal next to the kangaroos. It inhabits eucalypt forests and woodlands. It is distributed in eastern and southeastern Australia. It feeds only on leaves from eucalyptus, note that it can grip stems in its hands in the bottom photo. While the name "bear" is often applied to this animal, it is not a bear.