Moresby Range is a national park in

Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stretches north to the Torres Strait, and west to the Gulf C ...

, Australia, 1,314 km northwest of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. It is part of the

Coastal Wet Tropics Important Bird Area The Coastal Wet Tropics Important Bird Area comprises a disjunct 521 km2 stretch of coastal and subcoastal land in tropical Far North Queensland, Australia. It extends from just south of Cairns in the north for about 150 km to Cardw ...

, identified as such by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because of its importance for the conservation of lowland

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equatori ...

birds. The national park is located on the coast south of the mouth of the

Johnstone River The Johnstone River, comprising the North Johnstone River and the South Johnstone River, is a river system located in Far North and North Queensland, Australia. The headwaters of the river system rise in the Atherton Tablelands. The north ...

a few km from Innisfail in the

Cassowary Coast Region The Cassowary Coast Region is a local government area in the Far North Queensland region of Queensland, Australia, south of Cairns and centred on the towns of Innisfail, Cardwell and Tully. It was created in 2008 from a merger of the Shire ...

. The range reaches elevations of around 160 m above sea level. It belongs to the

Wet Tropics The Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site consists of approximately 8,940 km2 of Australian wet tropical forests growing along the north-east Queensland portion of the Great Dividing Range. The Wet Tropics of Queensland meets all f ...

biogregion and lies within the Johnstone River water catchment. About 8% of the park is classed as wetlands. The

Spectacled flying fox The spectacled flying fox (''Pteropus conspicillatus''), also known as the spectacled fruit bat, is a megabat that lives in Australia's north-eastern regions of Queensland. It is also found in New Guinea and on the offshore islands including Wood ...

is the only rare or threatened species to have been identified in the park. In 2010, five cassowaries which inhabit the park were tagged with GPS

datalogger A data logger (also datalogger or data recorder) is an electronic device that records data over time or about location either with a built-in Scientific instrument, instrument or sensor or via external instruments and sensors. Increasingly, but ...

s with VHF transmitters to enable monitoring of their movement.

References

National parks of Far North Queensland Protected areas established in 1973 1973 establishments in Australia Important Bird Areas of Queensland {{Queensland-national-park-stub

See also

References