Elsey is a national park in the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
of
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, extending from 2 km to 19 km east of
Mataranka and 378 km southeast of
Darwin.
Features of the park include Mataranka Falls, and the “Mataranka Thermal Pools”
Roper region, Northern Territory
The thermal spring
A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...
s are home to a well known colony of the little red fruit-bat, species ''Pteropus scapulatus
The little red flying-fox (''Pteropus scapulatus'') is a megachiropteran bat native to northern and eastern Australia. The species weighs about half a kilogram, one US pound, and is the smallest species of ''Pteropus'' in mainland Australia. ' ...
'', an attraction that has also been discouraged from inhabiting the site for the strong odour of their camps. These fruit eating bats roost during the day at the stands of bamboo, often in large numbers, and leave at night to feed on nectar from trees.
Pandanus species at Bitter Springs, Elsey National Park, Northern Territory, Australia.jpg, Bitter Springs
File:Elsey National Park.JPG, Trees in Elsey National Park
File:Elsey national park.jpg, Elsey National Park.
File:Walter Baldwin Spencer - Crossing Salt Creek near the Roper River, Eastern Arnhem Land, Australia, July 1911 - Google Art Project.jpg, Walter Baldwin Spencer - Crossing Salt Creek near the Roper River, July 1911
File:Mataranka Thermal Springs.jpg, Mataranka Thermal Springs.
See also
* Protected areas of the Northern Territory
The protected areas of the Northern Territory consists of protected areas managed by the governments of the Northern Territory and Australia and private organisations with a reported total area of being 24.8% of the total area of the Northern Te ...
References
External links
Official fact sheet and map
National parks of the Northern Territory
Protected areas established in 1991
1991 establishments in Australia
{{Australia-protected-area-stub