An Alphabet of Mammals #2: N to Z

This is the second of my two-part Alphabet of Mammals series, which began here. If you're an orderly sort of person you might like to look at that first, especially to see what my guidelines are for including species and groups. (Very briefly I strive for each letter to introduce one species or group of species from both Australia and elsewhere, with wriggle room.) Or, you could just dive in here and visit part 1 at your convenience later or never. Either way, here we go again!

N is for Australian Sea Lion (Neophoca) and coatis (Nasua) [!]

OK, here's where I've had to invoke the rule that says I can use scientific names if common ones aren't available (ie if I haven't got photos to illustrate a species with an appropriate common name). Appeals will be considered...

Australian Sea Lion Neophoca cinerea, Bay of Islands, Esperance, mid-central southern
coast of Western Australia. It is the only member of its genus, and is found from Spencer Gulf
in South Australia west to Geraldton on the west coast of WA, though more than 
75% of them now are found in South Australia. Formerly they bred as far east
as the Bass Strait, until the pernicious sealing industry of the early 19th century destroyed
the colonies. They are listed as Endangered and numbers seem to be still falling. We can
only seek to learn more about them, apply that knowledge, and hope.

White-nosed Coati Nasua narica, Costa Rica. Coatis are a group of four species of
medium-sized omnivores from the Americas in the family that also includes raccoons.
This one occurs through Central America, from the northern tip of South America to
the far southern US. Coatis are diurnal and live in sometimes large troops, eating
invertebrates, fruit and a range of vertebrates, bird and reptile eggs. At tourist
sites (eg the Iguazu Falls) they can become bold and aggressive as the result
of irresponsible feeding.

O is for oryxes and Olinguito

Galla Oryx Oryx gallarum, Shaba NR, central Kenya. This is one of six species of Oryx,
big powerful arid-land antelopes from south-western and north-eastern Africa. All but one
have long straight ringed horns and dark patterns on light-coloured bodies. Two species, 
Arabian and Scimitar-horned Oryx, from the Middle East and northern Africa, 
were declared extinct in the wild, but both have rescued by captive breeding and 
managed re-releases. The Galla Oryx (centred on northern Kenya and extending 
just over its borders) was until recently included as part of  the Beisa or 
East African Oryx complex. Both species (and another related one) are Endangered.

I would not normally impose such a poor photo on you, but this time there's a
special reason for doing so. This is an Olinguito Bassaricyon neblina, at Bellavista
Lodge in Ecuador, just north of Quito but up in the cloud forest (neblina means cloudy). I took 
the photo in 2013, immediately after it had been first described earlier in the year. You can read 
a more detailed version of its story here (written just after I'd seen it) but in brief, after years of 
belief that the bigger Olingo B. gabbii, in the raccoon and coati family of omnivores,
represented just one species, in that year three species were announced, including this 
smaller montane species. (There are now four olingo species recognised.)
A pair had been coming to the lodge for some time, taking advantage of bird feeders,
and our visit happened to coincide with one of theirs. No flashes allowed of course
and my camera was struggling, but I regard these of some of the most exciting
photos I've taken. In fact, here's another, which gives a slightly better overall view.

Note the long tail, which is not prehensile.

P is for pademelons and Proboscis Monkey

Red-necked Pademelons Thylogale thetis, Mount Clunie NP, northern NSW.
Pademelons form a group of seven species of small forest wallabies, four of
which are only found in New Guinea, the rest in eastern Australia. This one lives in
wet forests, including rainforests, of near-coastal southern Queensland and
northern NSW, coming out to feed in adjacent grasslands in late afternoon and early 
morning. I took this photo from the verandah of our cabin early one morning.

Male Proboscis Monkey Nasalis larvatus, Labuk Bay, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.
This extraordinary monkey is the only one of its genus and is endemic to Borneo, 
where it lives in mangroves and adjacent coastal forests. 
The huge nose is believed to act as a resonating chamber.

Q is for Quokka

Quokkas Setonix brachyurus, Rottnest Island, off Perth, south-western WA.
I've already featured a few kangaroo groups here, but this is an Australian blog after all. The Dutch 
explorer Willem de Vlamingh thought they were giant rats (well he was a sailor, not a zoologist) 
and named the island Rottnest (ie 'rats' nest') for them. Quokkas are alone in their genus, 
small and chunky with short tails. On the mainland they live in dense coastal vegetation 
along the south-west coast and are very shy, having predators, especially foxes, to contend with. 
On Rottnest however the land is fairly open, and there are no foxes but there are plenty of 
tourists which can provide their own challenge for coexistence. 

R is for right whales and Rakali 

Southern Right Whale Eubalaena australis, off the Nullarbor Cliffs,
Great Australian Bight, far western South Australia. In summer this whale feeds
in the rich Southern Ocean around Antarctica, but in winter comes north to 
the waters off the southern continents to breed. This site, known as the 
Head of the Bight, attracts Right Whales every year to calve in the 
big sheltered bay. By September, when these photos were taken, the calves 
(see below) are almost big enough to travel, and they're preparing to swim 
south again. In the 19th and 20th centuries they were hunted 
almost to extinction, but numbers are now recovering.

To stand on the cliffs and look down on these magnificent travellers is a 
very special experience indeed.

Rakali (also boringly known just as 'water rate') at Forbes, central western NSW.
This is a very handsome big old Australian rodent (relatively speaking - its ancestors probably
reached Australia about five million years ago, as we drifted close enough to Asia).
In the 1990s the federal environment department (its name changes with the seasons so
I don't even try to keep up these days) recognised that people have an unfortunate but
understandable* down on rats, so recommended that the name Rakali be adopted. It's
a name used by the Ngarrindjeri people of the lower Murray and it's gradually gaining
traction. Rakali eats fish, shellfish, yabbies, water birds, small reptiles and mammals, 
frogs and insects. They shelter and breed in burrows in banks.
*ie given that most people's experience is with introduced urban rats.

S is for sloths and squirrels

Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth Bradypus variegatus, Rincon de la Vieja NP,
northern Costa Rica. There are six living species of sloths, the remnants of a
rich and diverse South American non-marsupial mammal fauna which was largely
exterminated by the influx of mammals from North America when the two 
continents were joined by the Isthmus of Panama just three million years ago.
There are two Families of sloths, one of them represented by just one species 
of two-toed sloth (referring to the 'fingers' actually); they look very similar indeed
but actually parted company some 28 million years ago! Sloths live their
lives upside down (not necessarily as dramatically as this one), live on foliage,
and come down only to defecate - and no-one really knows why they do so.
This species is widespread from Brazil to central America; I have read that in 
Costa Rica they account for more mammal biomass than any other
mammal except humans. (For more on sloths - and their fellow survivors,
anteaters and armadillos - see here for something I posted a few years ago.)

Variegated Squirrel Sciurus variegatoides, Rincon de la Vieja NP, Rincon de la Vieja NP,
northern Costa Rica. Wherever I've been fortunate enough to travel, in every non-frozen
continent outside of Australia, I have enjoyed squirrels. This is unsurprising, as there are nearly
300 species of them. They are rodents and many are agile arborealists, though there is a
diverse group of burrowing ground squirrels (see under X below), and there are also 
50 species of gliding squirrels in Asia and North America. 
This lovely squirrel, which comes in a variety of colours, hence the name, is common
throughout central America. Actually it might be time for a full post on squirrels.

T is for tree kangaroos and Tayra

Lumholtz's Tree Kangaroo Dendrolagus lumholtzi, Malanda, Atherton Tableland,
north Queensland. I love the tree kangaroos' story; starting with a small terrestrial ancestor, 
some of whose descendants took to the trees where some evolved into possums and others 
came down again to found the great diversity of modern kangaroos. Then, one of them 
- probably a rock wallaby - again took to the trees, where they evolved into 14 species 
of living tree kangaroos, 12 of which are confined to New Guinea, the other two being from
 north Queensland. All live in rainforests. They climb powerfully by hugging the tree and
 'hopping' up the trunk, balanced by the long heavy tail. They don't hesitate to leap down 
to lower trees or the ground. Lumholtz's is confined to the Atherton Tableland, 
while Bennett's Tree Kangaroo is found north of the Daintree River. 
They are wonderful animals and this sighting, which took many years to achieve, was a thrill. 

Tayra Eira barbara, Trilha dos Tucanos Lodge in the Atlantic forest near São Paulo,
Brazil. This is a most impressive giant weasel, with a body length of up to 70cm plus tail.
Unlike many weasels though the Tayra is omnivorous - in fact this one was busily
scoffing bananas at a bird feeder. It is found in forests throughout central America and 
much of northern and eastern South America. Tayras are excellent climbers and
just about any small animal can be part of their diet. 

U is for Uromys (Giant White-tailed Rat)

Giant White-tailed Rat Uromys caudimaculatus, Wooroonooran NP, tropical Queensland.
I didn't strictly take this photo, but I did put out the trail camera that did the work when this 
beauty came out of the rainforest to investigate the fruit scraps that we'd put out for the
Long-nosed Bandicoots and Musky Rat-kangaroos that we'd seen. It is a giant among
Australian rats too, with body and tail each more than 35cm long and weighing 
close to a kilogram. It's a shame we can't see the tail with the last third strikingly white.
They forage on the ground for seeds of rainforest trees which they crack with their powerful
teeth; some seeds are buried for 'later on' and if not recovered will germinate. It seems
that this rat thus plays an important role in distributing such seeds. They also compete
with bandicoots, Musky Rat-kangaroos and Striped Possums for Bess Beetles (Family
Passalidae) in rotting logs, climb trees looking for bird nests and hunt crabs
in the mangroves. It's very adaptable rat and we were delighted to even catch a brief view of it.

V is for Vontsira and viscachas

Ring-tailed Vontsira Galidia elegans, Amber Mountain NP, northern Madagascar.
This is one of ten members of the Family Euplenidae, the Madagascan carnivores,
and the only one we saw, so a bit special for us. It is distantly related to the mongooses,
and this and others in the family are often wrongly called mongooses. This one
unexpectedly came out of the forest while we were having lunch in this very rich 
little park (18,000ha). It mostly kept its distance but undoubtedly checked later to see if 
we'd forgotten anything. They are small (weighing less than a kilo) and hunt
for just about anything smaller than themselves.

Southern Viscacha Lagidium viscacia, Lauca NP, far northern Chile. Lauca is a
remarkable place, more than 3000 metres above sea level where the Atacama Desert
meets the Andes; more on it here if you're interested. Viscachas are old South Americans rodents,
whose distant ancestors rafted across a narrower Atlantic from Africa perhaps 45 million
years ago. In addition to the viscachas their descendants include Capybaras, agoutis,
Guinea Pigs and South American porcupines. There are four species of viscacha, all
living high in the Andes from Ecuador to southern Patagonia. This species is found from 
far southern Peru (just north of Lauca), down to central Patagonia. A relatively big
rodent, weighing some 3kg, it lives in colonies among the rocks, sunning, like this one,
during the day and coming out later to graze on tough grasses, mosses and lichens.

W is for Waterbuck and wombats

Male Ellipsen Waterbuck Kobus ellipsiprymnus, Shaba NR, central Kenya. There are two 
species of waterbuck, big powerful antelopes which live in grasslands near water. This
one is from eastern Africa and another species (the Defassa Waterbuck) lives from
central Africa across western Africa - until recently they were lumped together. 
They live in small herds and only the males have the curved and spiralled horns.

Southern Hairy-nosed Wombats Lasiorhinus latifrons, Brookfield CP, South Australian 
Murraylands. While I could have used a better photo of the better-known and far more
familiar Common Wombat of south-eastern Australia, I thought that this one (a poor scan
of an old slide) might be more interesting. There are three species of living wombats,
large burrowing marsupials whose closest relative is the Koala. This species lives 
in limestone country in the Murray mallee districts of South Australia (such as here)
and on the Nullarbor Plain in the far west of SA and adjacent WA. They are well 
adapted to life in an arid landscape where free water is scarce; a slow metabolism
assists in water conservation. Unlike the Common Wombat they are highly sociable, 
living in networks of burrows that have been occupied for generations, with scores of 
entrances and covering up to 30 hectares. (The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat, now 
restricted to a few small woodland reserves in central Queensland, is listed as Critically 
Endangered and though intensive recovery programs are slowly increasing its numbers, 
there are still only about 400 individuals in the world.)

X is for Xerus (Unstriped Ground Squirrel)

Unstriped Ground Squirrel Xerus rutilus, Tarangire NP, northern Tanzania. Yes I was 
struggling a bit with X, or I'd not have doubled up on a squirrel (having featured all
squirrels just above). But, as it is X I don't feel too embarrassed and this one 
represents a distinct subfamily of squirrels. There are some 130 
species of ground-dwelling squirrels, including marmots, prairie dogs and chipmunks. 
They are found in North America, Eurasia and Africa, including this one, 
the only one of its genus and found in semi-arid landscapes in north-east Africa.
They are mostly solitary animals, but in emergencies will share their burrows 
with other ground squirrels, including those of other species.

Y is for Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby and Yellow-crowned Brush-tailed Tree Rat [!]

I've tried to use group names as far as possible, but Y has defeated me, and this time my response has been to use a couple of mammal names whose adjectives start with Y.

Yellow-footed Rock-Wallaby Petrogale xanthopus, Brachina Gorge, Ikara/
Flinders Ranges NP, South Australia. Rock-wallabies are among my very 
favourite marsupials, a closely-related group off 17 species (though there are probably more, 
with some recently-evolved distinct species in the northern Great Dividing Range looking
pretty much identical physically). It seems that they separated from the pademelons (see 
P above) as the land began to dry out, adapting to the new aridity. The most recent
connection however seems to be with the tree kangaroos (T above). Adaptations
include broad sandshoe-like feet for gripping rock faces, a heavy tail for balancing
and a habit of leaving youngsters, just out of the pouch, in a cave or rock shelter for 
safety while mum forages on the dangerous cliff faces. To watch a rock-wallaby
glide effortlessly up a cliff is like watching water flow uphill. Yellow-foots are
perhaps the most beautiful of all though threatened like all of their kin,
 with the Flinders and Gammon Ranges being their strongholds, plus outliers in
the Barrier Ranges across the border near Broken Hill, and some ranges in 
central Queensland where we've seen them in Bladensburg NP.

Yellow-crowned Brush-tailed Tree Rat Isothrix bistriata at Muyuna Lodge in the 
basin of the upper Amazon River in northern Peru. This attractively plump long-furred
rat is one of a group of five South American brush-tailed rats, which are not well-known
but appear to all live in trees, sheltering in tree hollows by day while sometimes watching
the world go by. This one is found across the western Amazon basin, in 
seasonally flooded tropical lowland rainforests.

and... Z is for zebras (of course)...

Mountain Zebras Equus zebra, Goegap NR, north-western South Africa. This is one
of three zebra species, though not the one that is by far the most common and widespread
across the plains of southern and eastern Africa, the Plains Zebra E. quagga.
Mountain Zebras are restricted to small scattered populations in dry rocky country 
in western South Africa and Namibia. I wrote a bit more about zebras here,
a few years ago.

Thank you for persevering, if you've indeed got this far. If you have, I guess you found something of interest here, which I'm glad about. Mammals are one of my foremost natural history passions, along with birds and orchids... (Everything else too really, but these are the ones I seem to most come back to and try to learn more about.) See you next time, for something quite different though.

NEXT POSTING THURSDAY 14 MAY

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An Alphabet of National Parks; #3 O to Z

Here is the last of this somewhat monumental series, which began here. (The hyperbole in that sentence refers only to length of the series!) I got a sense from the readership numbers that the interest - or perhaps stamina - shown for the first episode was flagging by the second, but I'm committed to completing it so hopefully you'll accompany me for this last lap. Again we briefly visit some special parks here, 35 of them across six continents. (And despite the post title, I'm afraid I can't offer a Z park, or indeed an X.)

 O 

Male Golden Whistler Pachycephala pectoralis in the shadows of a tree fern in a wet gully
in the Otway NP (part of Great Otway NP) in southern Victoria, south-west of Geelong.
I was introduced to this park many decades ago and loved its shady wet forests and creeks.
Since then it has been expanded to cover over 100,000ha of the Otway Ranges and
the eastern end of the Great Ocean Road and its hinterland.

 P  

Early morning on Paradise Pool in the Paluma Range NP north of Townsville
in north Queensland. This is just behind the Big Crystal Creek campground where
we stayed; it's a nice place but you need to know that there are no defined camp sites,
unlike most Queensland parks, so it can get very crowded. The park is at the
southern end of the Wet Tropics World Heritage area, and protects a fairly modest
17,000ha of forested range, including important Southern Cassowary habitat.

Noisy Pitta Pitta versicolor right alongside our camper trailer as we were about to pack up to leave. 
It was a special moment and allowed us to leave feeling positive about our brief stay.

Slender Anole Anolis limifrons, Piedras Blancas NP, in far southern Costa Rica,
almost on the Panama border. The park protects 14,000ha of rainforest and coastline,
but as is often the case in Costa Rica, the situation is more complex than that,
with adjacent private reserves adding to its value and an Austrian foundation buying private
land within the reserve and handing it to the government to include in the park.
We stayed at the excellent and conservation-focused Esquinas Lodge which is
within the park. This acrobatic little lizard entertained us one afternoon by leaping 
between leaves when we were restricted to our cabin, fortunately with a good verandah, 
by a heavy and protracted rain storm.

Mating Hourglass Tree Frogs Dendropsophus ebraccatus, seen on a night walk
from the lodge. We can just see the hourglass shape on the back of the female,
but this male is lacking it.

 

Bottlebrush Hakea H. francisiana, Pinkawillinie CP on the northern Eyre Peninsula
of South Australia. This park is not well-known but covers 130,000ha, mostly of sandhills, 
and I enjoy detouring through it when I'm in the area.
Most eastern Australian hakeas have white flowers, but not this sandplain beauty
which is found from the Eyre Peninsula west to the Indian Ocean.

 

Karri Eucalyptus diversicolor, Porongorup NP north of Albany, WA. The towering Karri 
forms magnificent forests in the wet south-west corner of the state, but this is an isolated 
eastern outlier. Porongorup is a small park, only 2600ha, but is rich, comprised of granite domes 
and wetter forest than the surrounding plains. From the park we can see the better-known 
Stirling Ranges NP (see below) across the plain, a very different sandstone reserve. 

Q  

Uganda Kob Kobus thomasi; the Ugandan national emblem crossing the vast grassy thorntree savannah 
Queen Elizabeth NP (QENP henceforth) in the far south-west of the country. This is a huge park
and a very rewarding one, protecting 200,000ha of dry grassland and woodlands, and big lakes.
Like the rest of Uganda it has largely recovered from the horrors and ravages of the Amin years.

Euphorb woodlands, here featuring Candelabra Trees, dominate much of the park too.
This is a beguilingly rich habitat.

Pied Kingfisher Ceryle rudis battering an unfortunate fish into submission alongside
the Mazinga Channel between the small Lake George and the huge Lake Edward. 
We took a memorable boat ride along the channel one afternoon. 
This is a common and widespread bird, but always a pleasure.
For much more on this wonderful park, start here.

R

View over the forests of Ranomafana NP in the south-eastern highlands of Madagascar.
At over 40,000ha it is larger than many Madagascan parks, and protects a range of 
forest habitats, and their inhabitants.

Scaly Ground-roller Geobiastes squamiger on the forest floor of Ranomafana.
It is the only member of its genus, and the ground-roller family is endemic to Madagascar.
Like nearly all the Madagascan fauna it is threatened with extinction but is apparently
a little more secure than many others. 

Satanic Leaf-tailed Gecko Uroplatus phantasticus. What a name, but more importantly,
what an extraordinary animal even in this veritable land of the extraordinary! Madagascar
has well over 100 gecko species (and still counting), a remarkable number for
such a relatively small area.

 

Steam issuing from a fumarole in Rincón de Vieja NP, in far northern Costa Rica,
on the slopes of the active volcano of the same name. This is a fairly small national
park at just 14,000ha, but it is part of a much larger complex of parks, the 160,000ha
Guanacaste Conservation Area. Rincón de Vieja NP protects cloud forests on the upper
slopes and dry forest lower down.

Turquoise-browed Motmot Eumomota superciliosa in the drier forest of Rincón de Vieja.
This stunner is quite common in north-western Costa Rica, and is the national bird 
of neighbouring Nicaragua.

Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth Bradypus variegatus, in a classic sloth pose.
These, along with the anteaters and armadillos, are the only living descendants
of the original South American mammals; more about them here.

Very large deciduous kurrajongs Brachychiton sp. growing near our camp at 12 Mile Lagoon
on the Normanby River in Rinyirru (Lakefield) NP north of Cooktown on 
Cape York Peninsula in tropical Queensland. It is vast - some 540,000ha - and
utterly magnificent, with grassy plains, woodlands, rivers and numerous wetlands.
We camped there for the first time recently (I'd been there decades ago) and loved it.
I'm not sure of these trees; my instinct definitely tells me Brachychiton but the only
two species listed for the park are both 'small trees'. Any help gratefully received!

The Nifold Plain is a grassy expanse in the north of the park, studded with hundreds
of large fluted termite mounds. It's a mesmerising drive.

Comb-crested Jacana Irediparra gallinacea doing its 'lily trotting' thing, just in
front of our second camp on Sweetwater Lake in the north-west of the park.

S

Scott River Spider Orchid Caladenia thinicola, Scott NP in the far south-west
of WA. Despite being only 3200ha of sandy heath and wetland, this is botanically 
one of the richest parks in the region. Needless to say I was especially interested
in the orchids! This one is only found in the south-west corner, on deep sand.

And from a tiny and little-known park to a famous and huge one.

Big male Leopard Panthera pardus on a huge rocky outcrop in the vast plains of
Serengeti NP in northern Tanzania. Visiting this park was another highlight of my 
natural history life, as was this beauty. The Seregeti alone covers 1.5 million hectares, but 
with the adjacent Ngorongoro Crater and the Masai Mara system, that area is doubled.
More on the fabulous Serengeti (including more cats) here.

Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse Pterocles exustus coming to drink, in wave after wave, at a small pool
in the Serengeti; we watched them for ages. The ones with the complex patterns are the females.
Sandgrouse intrigue me, highly adapted to nomadic desert living and famously carrying water in
their absorbent belly feathers for long distances to the chicks in nests on the baking plains.

Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus with buffalo skull. I'm not sure why this
image appeals to me, but I'm sure it's nothing deep!

Dramatic dry volcanic landscapes help define Shaba National Reserve in central Kenya.
While it only covers 24,000ha it connects with two other reserves to increase the protected area.
I introduced one of these, Buffalo Springs National Reserve, in the first post of this series.

Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus seeking daytime shade under a thornbush in Shaba. 
We saw our first ever Cheetah earlier in this trip in Tarangire NP in Tanzania, and this is
the third park where we encountered them; we were very fortunate.

Male Southern Gerenuk Litocranius walleri, a species I'd long wanted to see.
It is a remarkable antelope which appears to be evolving towards a giraffe
form. To further supplement its long legs and neck it will stand erect on
its hind legs to reach high into the canopy to browse. 
More on Shaba here.

A wet day from a viewpoint in the Stirling Ranges NP, north of Albany in south-west WA.
This is a magnificent park, covering 116,000ha and stretching for 60km from east to west. 
It is botanically of world significance, with over 1500 flowering plant species recorded,
some 90 of which are found only within the park.

White Spider Orchid Caladenia longicauda, Stirling Ranges. This one is widespread
in the south-west, but the presence of an actual flower spider on the flower
convinced me to use this photo.

Western Yellow Robin Eopsaltria griseogularis in the park campground. This species is
almost endemic to the south-west, but there is also a population on Eyre Peninsula
in SA. It's a good story and I've summarised it here.

Jump-up country in remote Sturt NP in furthest north-west NSW. It's a local term for 
capped plateaus that are often referred to as mesas elewhere. Sturt is huge - until recently it was
the second-largest in NSW (after Kosciuszko), with 325,000 splendid arid hectares. (However in 
2023 the government purchased Thurloo Downs station to the east along the Queensland border
and its 437,000ha bumps Sturt into third place.) Still, it's vast!
In addition to the jump-up country there are extensive plains of sandy Mulga woodland
and chenopod (saltbush) shrubland, plus gibber plains of wind-polished pebbles
eroded from the jump-ups.

Wedge-tailed Eagle Aquila audax guarding a road-killed Red Kangaroo in Sturt.
The highway north from Broken Hill to Tibooburra (on the edge of the park)
is now sealed in its entirety. The park itself is generally accessible to 2WD
vehicles, though only when dry (which it mostly is!).

Lesser Dog-faced Fruit Bats Cynopterus brachyotis Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve,
by the narrow Johore Strait which separates Singapore from Malaysia. The reserve
was declared in its current form of 130ha in 2002. It comprises a river, channels, ponds
and mangroves, accessed by an excellent series of walking tracks, including a lovely
boardwalk through the mangroves, plus many bird hides. 
These small fruit bats (compared with the ones we're most familiar with in Australia)
greet the visitors to the reserve from their roost on the ceiling of the entrance to the
visitors' centre.

Common Greenshank Tringa nebularia and Saltwater Crocodile Crocodylus porosus,
from one of the hides. The weird thing is that I was photographing the greenshank,
and didn't notice the crocodile until I was editing the photo. Hmm.
The reserve is especially important for migrating shorebirds. The crocodiles
are officially extinct in Singapore and it is unclear whether the Sungei Buloh population
is a previously unnoticed remnant, or comprises animals wandering across from Malaysia.

T

Sunset over the rainforest at Tambopata National Reserve in the Amazon basin of
south-eastern Peru. It protects 300,000ha of superb lowland rainforest and is only
accessed by a 100km river boat trip from the frontier town of Puerto Maldonado. To 
the south it adjoins the much larger Bahuaja-Sonene NP, of 1.3 million hectares.
There are two excellent accommodations available, at Refugia Amazonas and 
deeper in at the Tambopata Research Centre. Both are run by a trust which
supports both research and local communities through nature-based tourists (like us!).

This herd of White-lipped Peccaries Tayassu pecari (there were many more than you can see here)
came out of the forest to forage in the clearing round the research centre, ploughing up the ground
 presumably in search of tubers. We stood above them on the balcony and were enthralled 
by them for ages. I really loved our time in Tambopata; you can read much more about it here, 
including some history and more photos of the peccaries.

Tarangire River Valley in Tarangire NP in north-eastern Tanzania, with woodland including
palms and thorn trees extending to the horizon. This is not one of the more famous
Tanzanian parks (eg Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater) but it is huge, nearly 
300,000ha, and full of wildlife. Moreover, from our egocentric viewpoint,
it was our introduction to east Africa and we were delighted by it.

Lions (females and youngsters, the male doubtless having fed first and retired to digest)
feeding on last night's kill, a young buffalo. Bad luck for it, exciting for us.

Lilac-breasted Roller Coracias caudatus, truly I think one of the world's most beautiful birds.
Fortunately for us they are common and widespread.

Two African giants, both of them common in Tangarire. We enjoyed many elephant
groups and learnt much about their behaviour from Gareth, our excellent guide.
African Baobabs Adansonia digitata are common in Tarangire; an oldster 
like this could be a thousand years old.

Windblown sandstone cave in Timmallallie NP in the Pilliga Forest on the north-west
slopes of NSW. This is of cultural significance to the local Gamilaraay community,
and there are petroglyphs in some of the overhangs.
Timmallallie protects some 40,000ha of dry eucalypt and cypress pine forest within the 
much larger half a million hectares of the Pilliga, the largest inland forest in NSW.
I did a post recently on the Pilliga and especially Timmallallie, here. 

The wildflowers in spring and autumn are alone worth a visit to the area, but this
one is special as it found nowhere else. It is Hibbertia covenyana and it was
only described in 1990 from plants growing by the highway through the forest!

Rwetyepme/Mount Sonder in Tjoritja/West MacDonnell NP, central Australia. This is one
of Australia's best-known arid mountain range national parks, lying west of Alice Springs.
The park stretches some 130k to the west, though the range extends well beyond that. (It also
runs to the east of Alice.) It covers some 250,000ha, incorporating not only the ranges themselves
with a series of gorges cutting into them, several with permanent waterholes, but also fringing
plains of mulga and ghost gum woodland.

Ancient Ghost Gum Corymbia aparrerinja at Rungutjirpa/Simpsons Gap.
I celebrated this wonderful arid land species here; this includes more Tjoritja Ghost Gums.

Spinifex Pigeon Geophaps plumifera courting along the Ormiston Pound/Ormiston Gorge walk
among the spinifex at the western end of the park. This is one of our favourite day walks in Australia.
You can find a lot more about the park here, where I posted about it in 2021.

This granite formation in Torndirrup NP near Albany in south-west WA is continued in Antarctica,
a dramatic reminder of when Australia and Antarctica were joined as part of Gondwana.
The park only comprises 4000ha, but the scenery and especially the wildflowers are dramatic.
Access is by a well-maintained system of walking tracks and lookouts.

My favourite memory of Torndirrup is of this glorious purple-red 
Cut-leaf Banksia Banksia praemorsa. I've not seen a flower of this color elsewhere,
and this species is limited to this stretch of coastline.

Cerro Paine Grande and los Cuernos (the Horns) rising above Lago Nordenskjold,
Torres del Paine NP, Chilean Patagonia. The mountains are carved by ongoing glacial
action (one glacier is clearly visible here at the right hand end of the Cerro Paine Grande). 
The blue of the lake is due to glacier-ground rock powder. This huge park (180,000ha) is
700k south of Hobart, at 51 degrees south. I don't enjoy cold and wind, but this place
utterly captivated me when I first saw it 19 years ago and five subsequent visits have
only reinforced this. It's a landscape like no other that I know. 

Porcelain Orchid Chloraea magellanica, on the plains of Torres del Paine. 
I don't expect orchids in such an environment, but I saw at least four species
that grow commonly here. For a bit more on these species see here.

Essence of Patagonia! A herd of Guanacos Lama guanicoe in front of the snowy Cordillera del Paine.
For more on these American camels (and the others) see here.

Darwin's (or Lesser) Rhea Rhea pennata father and chicks in the Patagonian landscape,
Torres del Paine. The smaller and southernmost of the two rhea species, common
in the park but less so elsewhere. For more on them, in the context of the 
ancient ratite group in general, see here.

Green (or Plumed) Basilisk Basiliscus plumifrons basking in the mangroves by one of the
waterways that provide the only access to Tortugeuro NP and the little town of the same
name on the Caribbean coast. In the 1940s canals were constructed to join rivers and 
lagoons to assist the logging industry. Fortunately the logging ended in the 1970s and
now the canals enable many visitors to enjoy the park's 31,000ha of mangroves, waterways,
rainforest and 30km of coastline. This truly spectacular lizard can run across the surface of
the water using its long hind toes and tail.

Neotropical River Otter Lontra longicaudis eating a catfish lunch on a log by the Rio Suerte 
('Lucky River'!) on our trip out of Tortuguero. We were fortunate indeed - this is not 
an animal that is readily seen, especially this well. It is rare and not at all well understood.

This extraordinary animal, 10cm across, is a tailless whip-scorpion, Family Phrynidae, which
was residing in one of our rooms. It's not a scorpion (or even really a whip-scorpiom!). They
hunt at night or in caves or under bark, but have no sting. It's still the only one I've ever seen.

U

Mighty Uluru catching the very last of the sun (the shadow has reached the base of the rock) at
Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa NP in central Australia. It is 385m high and three kilometres long. It awes
and moves me every single time. For more on Uluru, including the history, see here. 

Kata Tjuta (for a while renamed the Olgas) is within sight of the rock, though 25k away across the plains.
This is the first touch of sunrise on the rounded heads, as seen from a dune near the Uluru viewing point.
The largest dome is 200m higher than Uluru! More on Kata Tjuta here.

Hawkmoth caterpillar, Family Sphingidae, making slow progress on the 
hard red stony soil at the base of Uluru

Sandhill Ctenotus Ctenotus brooksi with a beetle snack, Kata Tjuta.

W

Thirrka (or Blanche Cup) spring in Wabma Kadarbu Mound Springs CP in far northern
South Australia. In background is Wabma Kadarbu itself (also known as Mount Hamilton),
a large but now dry mound spring. The 12,000ha park conserves a network of 
mound springs rising from the subterranean aquifer known as the Great Artesian Basin.

Sunset on Belougery Split Rock in Warrumbungle NP in central western NSW.
The park mostly comprises a spectacular volcanic mountain landscape, including this rock
which overlooked the campground where we stayed a couple of years ago.
I am surprised to read that it only covers 23,000ha; it feels bigger.

Turquoise Parrot Neophema pulchella in the Warrumbungles. This exquisite little parrot
is now largely restricted to NSW where its range has contracted drastically due to
woodland clearing and previously the pernicious aviary trade and hunting. 
Now the Warrumbungles, along with the adjacent Pilliga forest, is one of its last strongholds.
A full post on the Warrumbungles here. 

Warm temperate rainforest of Coachwood Ceratopetalum apetalum in Washpool NP,
north-eastern NSW.  This 59,000ha park in the ranges contains some of the most
extensive unlogged forests in NSW. It is also contiguous with the Gibraltar Ranges 
National Parks (see previous posting in this series) as part of the Gondwana Rainforest 
of Australia World Heritage Site. This photo was taken on the delightful
Coombadjha Nature Stroll, with Superb Lyrebirds providing the sound track.

A dusty or smoky (I can't recall which) sunset through a thorn tree in remote
Waza NP in far northern Cameroon. This dry 170,000ha park was my introduction
to the Sahel, the vast swathe of arid woodland across Africa south of the Sahara.
Tragically in 2013 a French family was kidnapped and held to ransom here when 
Boko Haram insurgents crossed the border from Nigeria; two years later the same group
murdered a busload of local people. I'm not sure if Waza has reopened but it's the only
park in this series that I can't recommend that you visit, at least until things change.

A herd of Korrigum Damaliscus korrigum in Waza; formerly regarded as a subspecies 
of Topi, the Korrigum exists in scattered populations across the Sahel from
Burkina Faso to the Central African Republic. Despite its aridity and limited 
management resources Waza supports rich wildlife, including large mammals.

Sandstone outcrop in ironbark woodland with regenerating cypress pines
in Weddin Mountains NP, on the south-west slopes of NSW. This is a 
favourite of ours and we've camped there several times over the years in the
shady, quiet and extensive campground just three hours from home. More on it here.

Goonoo Donkey Orchid Diuris goonooensis, Weddin Mountains. 
It's wet enough here for spring to be rich in wildflowers, including orchids.
This species is fairly common across the western slopes, despite the name -
the Goonoo is a forest just north of Dubbo.

Early morning on the Barcoo River by the campground at Welford NP, south-west Queensland.
This relatively remote 124,000ha park offers a variety of habitats including spinifex-covered
sand plains, red dunes, stream lines and waterholes. We thought it magnificent, as 
you'll see here.

A small flock of Australian Bustards Ardeotis australis near the old station homestead, 
which is now the park headquarters. The fencing is a relic of the pastoral days.

Peat bog in Wild Nephin NP in County May, western Ireland. It has only existed in its
present form and with the current name since 2018, though it is based on the older and smaller 
Ballycroy NP. It protects 15,000ha of Atlantic Peat Bog, one of the largest surviving in Europe.

Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum on a dandelion (not a weed here, unlike in
Australia) near the park's excellent visitor centre. This is one of many species
which is doubtless already benefitting from the park's planned rewilding project,
though the focus of that is a former commercial pine forest in the mountains
in the east of the park.

Musky Rat-kangaroo Hypsiprymnodon moschatus foraging by our rainforest
camp at Henrietta Creek in Wooroonooran NP in north Queensland. This 
important park protects 80,000ha of tropical rainforest in the ranges
of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area south of Cairns.
This little kangaroo is the most ancient and smallest of the living
macropods, and gives us an idea of what the ancestral kangaroos were like.

View across the superb mallee woodland of Wyperfeld NP from the Eastern Lookout
on a sand dune. Wyperfeld protects an impressive 357,000ha of mallee and woodland
in the north-west of Victoria. We camped there for the first time just last year.

On our last morning there I did my regular early morning walk (not always the same one)
and to my delight this exquisite male Chestnut Quail-thrush Cinclosoma castanotum appeared 
almost at my feet - I've never known a quail-thrush to be so confiding.
The quail-thrushes are all solely Australian with the exception of one New Guinea species.
Most are birds of arid or semi-arid lands, including this one, which is mostly a mallee
specialist, though may also be found in adjacent dry woodlands. 

Y

Epiphytic orchid, Odontoglossum (or Oncidium) sp. Yanacocha Biological Reserve,
a short distance north from Quito but on the other side of the Pichincha Volcano.
It is run by the Jocotoco Foundation to protect cloud forest on the volcano flanks;
the foundation manages 15 such reserves across Ecuador, focussing on threatened
bird species, but of course protecting important habitat for other species in the process.
(And no, this doesn't strictly meet my definition of 'national park' for the purpose of
this blog post, but I've already set a precedent by including Monteverde last time, and 
you know... my blog, my rules. :-) )

Sword-billed Hummingbird Ensifera ensifera at Yanacocha. This amazing bird was
an important reason for our visit - the biggest hummingbird of all, and with the longest
beak relative to body size of any bird in the world. It has an elongated distribution 
in the mid-level Andean slopes from Venezuela to Bolivia but it's thin on the 
ground and it took me a few visits to see it.

Evening light over the rainforest from a lookout platform high in a giant Kapok Tree
in Yasuní NP in the Ecuadorian Amazonia. This is a vast area of protected tropical
rainforest (over a million hectares) but it is being compromised by oil extraction.

Ecuadorian Squirrel Monkey Saimiri macrodon, part of a large group feeding
on fruit by the streamside on our way out of the park; the waterways are the only
way to travel in and to the park.

Green-banded Urania Moth Urania leilus, taking minerals from the bank of a stream.
It is common in Amazonia to see great congregations of butterflies and moths 
feeding like this on river and stream banks.

And that brings to a close this alphabet of some very eclectic and very wonderful parks around the world. Of course we're wreaking great destruction on nature, here in Australia and throughout the world. We have proved to be very poor stewards indeed overall, but while there are reserves like these and good and committed people managing them, we must continue to hold some hope. Thanks for travelling this journey with me. It's been a lot work and a lot of fun. For you I hope it's only been fun!

 

The next post will also be the last of 2025, a celebration of the year via one photo per month. See you then, and hopefully again in 2026! 

NEXT POSTING WEDNESDAY 31 DECEMBER

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