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16 December 2009
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		Wildfacts Get the facts on Australasia's wildlife

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The wetlands in the north of Australia. © BBC

Lightning in the Northern Territories wet season. © BBC Martin Cohen

Kakadu
The Top End of Australia is a landscape of great contrasts. These are the 'wet-dry' tropics, under the influence of the monsoonal north, and here the seasons swing regularly between months of dryness and weeks of deluging monsoon rain.

Kakadu National Park, one of the richest and most spectacular wilderness areas in Australia, is a landscape of eucalypt woodlands, rocks and wetlands that changes dramatically with the seasons. The land can be green, or it can be tinder dry and can easily burst into flames. There are waterfalls that may run in torrents, or dwindle to just a trickle, and wetlands that may be full of water or just dry mud.

The wildlife too is tremendously varied, including strange lizards and spectacular concentrations of waterbirds. This is also an area of great cultural significance, with rock paintings thought to be 12,000 years old.

	Find out more on the Nature website...
	Wildfacts: find out more about the animals that live in the far north Black flying fox Cane toad Dingo Frilled lizard Red-tailed black cockatoo Saltwater crocodile

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		Merten's water monitor Merten's water monitor is an amphibious lizard that lives just as easily in water as it does on land. It cruises through the waterways of the north with the aid of its long, flattened tail, closing its nostrils when submerged but keeping its eyes open. It does most of its feeding underwater, taking live prey such as crabs and fish, but also 'tasting' for carrion with its tongue. It can stay underwater for about thirty minutes at a time, but it does come out on to dry land to bask.
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		Magpie goose Hundreds of thousands of magpie geese are attracted to the northern floodplains each year to breed and raise their young. They feed on seeds and tubers and nest in huge colonies. Distinctive with their knobbed heads, they crowd the waterways along with many other species of waterbirds, including egrets, herons and storks. Magpie geese are unusual in their breeding habits in that males often mate with two females and all share the duties of raising the young.
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		Frilled lizard The frilled lizard is one of the oddest-looking lizards of Australia. It's a 'Top End' specialist, and spends almost all its time up trees, coming to the ground only to feed. The lizard's huge 'frill', which can be 30cm across, seems to be mostly for display. Both sexes have frills, but males use them when threatened or when they encounter other males in their territory, especially in the breeding season. In spite of their ferocious appearance, frilled lizards feed largely on insects.
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