Kangaroo Island Natures Wonderland



Kangaroo Island is a true wildlife sanctuary. Owing to its isolation from the mainland, the Island has suffered less from the impact of European settlement and retains more than half of its native ‘old-growth' vegetation - a vast area of some 2,250 square kilometres.



Today, more than one-third of the Island is declared Conservation or National Park and it has five significant Wilderness Protection Areas. So Kangaroo Island continues to be a special and protected place.

Kangaroo Island Wildlife

Kangaroo Island Kangaroos: the Island's isolation has seen some species evolve differently from the mainland species, a subspecies of the Western Grey Kangaroo which is smaller, darker and has longer fur than its mainland counterpart. Kangaroos and wallabies can be seen over most of the Island.

Tammar Wallabies: the Tammar Wallaby has smaller and finer features than the kangaroo and is abundant on the Island.

Australian Sea Lions and New Zealand Fur Seals: both species native to Kangaroo Island and most famously seen in great numbers around Admirals Arch and magnificent Seal Bay. Over 7,000 fur seals live and breed around Cape du Couedic.

Koalas: one of the Island's most famous characters. The koala (like the platypus and Ringtail Possum) is an introduced species and their numbers have truly exploded. Unlike on the mainland, you don't have to try too hard to get your first glimpse of a wild koala.

Heath Goannas: a magnificent lizard that grows up to a metre. A predator of smaller reptiles, young birds and eggs, it is often seen on warm days basking in the sun or scavenging on dead animals along the roads.

Echidnas: an egg-laying mammal occasionally seen in the understorey foraging for ants with its sticky tongue. Kangaroo Island echidnas have distinctive ‘blonde' spines.

Other natives: Brushtail, Western and Little Pygmy Possums, Short Beaked Echidna, Southern Brown Bandicoot, bat species, frog species, Black Tiger Snake and Pygmy Copperhead.