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Moonlit Sanctuary
Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park is a biopark within the Pearcedale Conservation Park located at Pearcedale on the Mornington Peninsula near Melbourne, Australia. It aims to display the fauna that was found in the Mornington Peninsula and Western Port Biosphere Reserve prior to European settlement as well as working towards the recovery of threatened Australian fauna. The park is open all year except on Christmas Day. The sanctuary, as part of Pearcedale Conservation Park, is an institutional member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association (ZAA). It is ECO Certified at the Ecotourism level by Ecotourism Australia. History Development of the zoo started in December 1998, with construction of a visitor center, a wetland habitat with a lake, and more than 30 animal enclosures, as well as many Australian trees and other plants. The zoo was opened in September 2001. Evening walks Moonlit Sanctuary operateevening walks which are an environmental immersion experience. A gui ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pearcedale, Victoria
Pearcedale is a township and coastal rural locality in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 49 km south-east of Melbourne, Melbourne's Melbourne city centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Casey and the Shire of Mornington Peninsula Local government areas of Victoria, local government areas. Pearcedale recorded a population of 3,867 at the 2021 Australian census, 2021 census. A bus service operates to and from Frankston railway station, Frankston station via Baxter, Victoria, Baxter. Geography Pearcedale is a township and rural locality on the northwestern corner of Western Port, in the northern extremities of the Mornington Peninsula. The land is relatively flat with a rich and sandy soil type ideal for market gardening. Its mangrove saltmarsh coastline on Watson Inlet, west of Quail Island (Victoria), Quail Island, includes the Langwarrin Creek estuary as well as numerous other small creek estuaries. These mangrove saltmarshes are of interna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cunningham's Spiny-tailed Skink
Cunningham's spiny-tailed skink (''Egernia cunninghami''), also known commonly as Cunningham's skink, is a species of large skink, a lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is native to southeastern Australia. Etymology Both the specific name, ''cunninghami'', and the common names are in honour of English botanist and explorer Allan Cunningham. Description ''E. cunninghami'' can reach up to 40 cm (16 inches) in total length (including tail), and may be confused with the blue-tongued lizards (genus '' Tiliqua''). Cunningham's spiny-tailed skink has a distinctive keel on each scale, which gives it a slightly spiny appearance. It is extremely variable in colour, ranging from dark brown to black, with or without blotchy patches, speckles, or narrow bands. Wilson, Steve; Swan, Gerry (2006). ''A Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia, Second Edition''. Sydney: New Holland Publishing. 512 pp. . Habitat ''E. cunninghami'' prefers to live communally in the crevices of roc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lace Monitor
The lace monitor or tree goanna (''Varanus varius'') is a member of the monitor lizard family native to eastern Australia. A large lizard, it can reach in total length and in weight. The lace monitor is considered to be a least-concern species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Taxonomy John White, the surgeon-general of New South Wales, described this species as the variegated lizard (''Lacerta varia'') in 1790. George Shaw reported that several specimens were taken back to England. French naturalist François Marie Daudin gave it the name ''Tupinambis variegatus'' in 1802, and noted two forms. German naturalist Blasius Merrem established the genus '' Varanus'' in 1820, with ''V. varius'' as the first mentioned member set as its type species by John Edward Gray in 1827. French zoologists André Marie Constant Duméril and Gabriel Bibron described two specimens in 1836, one in their possession and one from the collection of English zoologist Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Koala
The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the wombats. The koala is found in coastal areas of the mainland's eastern and southern regions, inhabiting Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It is easily recognisable by its stout, tailless body and large head with round, fluffy ears and large, spoon-shaped nose. The koala has a body length of and weighs . Fur colour ranges from silver grey to chocolate brown. Koalas from the northern populations are typically smaller and lighter in colour than their counterparts further south. These populations possibly are separate subspecies, but this is disputed. Koalas typically inhabit open ''Eucalyptus'' woodland, as the leaves of these trees make up most of their diet. Because this eucalypt diet has limited nutritional and calor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Grey Kangaroo
The western grey kangaroo (''Macropus fuliginosus''), also referred to as a western grey giant kangaroo, black-faced kangaroo, mallee kangaroo, sooty kangaroo and (when referring to the Kangaroo Island subspecies) Kangaroo Island grey kangaroo, is a large and very common kangaroo found across almost the entire southern part of Australia, from just south of Shark Bay through coastal Western Australia and South Australia, into western Victoria, and in the entire Murray–Darling basin in New South Wales and Queensland. Taxonomy Long known to the Aboriginal Australians, for Europeans, the western grey kangaroo was the centre of a great deal of sometimes comical taxonomic confusion for almost 200 years. It was first noted by European explorers when Matthew Flinders landed on Kangaroo Island in 1802. Flinders shot several for food, but assumed that they were eastern grey kangaroos. In 1803, French explorers captured several Kangaroo Island western grey kangaroos and shipped them to P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helmeted Honeyeater
The helmeted honeyeater (''Lichenostomus melanops cassidix'') is a passerine bird in the honeyeater family. It is a distinctive and critically endangered subspecies of the yellow-tufted honeyeater, that exists in the wild only as a tiny relict population in the Australian state of Victoria, in the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve. It is Victoria's only endemic bird, and was adopted as one of the state's official symbols. Taxonomy The helmeted honeyeater is one of four subspecies of the yellow-tufted honeyeater. The taxonomic history of ''L. m. cassidix'' is complicated. Schodde and Mason affirm its subspecific status but suggest that there is intergradation across eastern Victoria and south-eastern New South Wales between it and the nominate subspecies ''L. m. melanops''. This conclusion disallows ''L. m. gippslandicus'' as a taxon, and suggests that ''cassidix'' occurs more widely through West Gippsland than is currently recognised. However genetic research, conducted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gippsland Water Dragon
The Australian water dragon (''Intellagama lesueurii''), which includes the eastern water dragon (''Intellagama lesueurii lesueurii'' ) and the Gippsland water dragon (''Intellagama lesueurii howittii'' ) subspecies, is an arboreal agamid species native to eastern Australia from Victoria northwards to Queensland. There may be a small introduced population on the south-east coast of South Australia. Etymology The specific name, ''lesueurii'', is in honor of French naturalist Charles Alexandre Lesueur. Description Australian water dragons have long powerful limbs and claws for climbing, a long muscular laterally-compressed tail for swimming, and prominent nuchal and vertebral crests. (A nuchal crest is a central row of spikes at the base of the head. These spikes continue down the spine, getting smaller as they reach the base of the tail.) [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gang-gang Cockatoo
The gang-gang cockatoo (''Callocephalon fimbriatum'') is a parrot found in the cooler and wetter forests and woodlands of Australia, particularly alpine bushland. It is the only species placed in the genus ''Callocephalon''. Mostly mild grey in colour with some lighter scalloping (more pronounced and buffy in females), the male has a red head and crest, while the female has a small fluffy grey crest. It ranges throughout south-eastern Australia. The gang-gang cockatoo is the faunal emblem of the Australian Capital Territory. It is easily identified by its distinctive call, which is described as resembling a creaky gate, or the sound of a cork being pulled from a wine bottle. The name ''gang-gang'' comes from a New South Wales Aboriginal language, probably from one of the coastal languages, although possibly from Wiradjuri. It is probably an onomatopoeic name. Taxonomy In 1803 the British Royal Navy officer James Grant included an illustration of the gang-gang cockatoo in his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eclectus Parrot
The eclectus parrot (''Eclectus roratus'') is a parrot native to the Solomon Islands, Sumba, New Guinea and nearby islands, northeastern Australia, and the Maluku Islands (Moluccas). It is unusual in the parrot family for its extreme sexual dimorphism of the colours of the plumage; the male having a mostly bright emerald green plumage and the female a mostly bright red and purple/blue plumage. Joseph Forshaw, in his book ''Parrots of the World,'' noted that the first European ornithologists to see eclectus parrots thought they were of two distinct species. Large populations of this parrot remain, and they are sometimes considered pests for eating fruit off trees. Some populations restricted to relatively small islands are comparably rare. Their bright feathers are also used by native tribespeople in New Guinea as decorations. Taxonomy Ornithologists usually classify the eclectus parrot as a member of tribe Psittaculini in the family Psittacidae of order Psittaciformes. However, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Whipbird
The eastern whipbird (''Psophodes olivaceus'') is an insectivore, insectivorous passerine bird native to the east coast of Australia. Its whip-crack song is a familiar sound in forests of eastern Australia. Two subspecies are recognised. Heard much more often than seen, it is dark olive-green and black in colour with a distinctive white cheek patch and a crest. The male and female are similar in plumage. Taxonomy The eastern whipbird was mistakenly described by John Latham (ornithologist), John Latham as two separate species in 1801 from early colonial illustrations, first as the white-cheeked crow (''Corvus olivaceus'') and as the coachwhip flycatcher (''Muscicapa crepitans''). The bird became commonly known as coachwhip bird or stockwhip bird. John Gould recorded the aboriginal term ''Djou'' from the Hunter Region of New South Wales. Its specific name is derived from its olive colouration, though was soon placed in the new genus ''Psophodes'' by Nicholas Aylward Vigors and Thom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Long-necked Turtle
The eastern long-necked turtle (''Chelodina longicollis'')Kennett, R., Roe, J., Hodges, K., and Georges, A. 2009. ''Chelodina longicollis'' (Shaw 1784) – eastern long-necked turtle, common long-necked turtle, common snake-necked turtle. ''In'': Rhodin, A.G.J., Pritchard, P.C.H., van Dijk, P.P., Saumure, R.A., Buhlmann, K.A., Iverson, J.B., and Mittermeier, R.A. (Eds.). Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation Project of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. ''Chelonian Research Monographs'' No. 5, pp. 031.1–031.8, is an east Australian species of snake-necked turtle that inhabits a wide variety of water bodies and is an opportunistic feeder. It is a side-necked turtle (Pleurodira), meaning that it bends its head sideways into its shell rather than pulling it directly back. Distribution The species is found throughout south eastern Australia where it is found west of Adelaide (South Australia) eastwards throughout Victo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
