Nocturnal Wildlife at Walkabout Park

International Internship Research Project

This information about Nocturnal Animals of Interest living at Walkabout Park was produced by Mr François Boudot as part of his Masters Thesis "Inventory and valorization for the ecotourism of the night-wildlife frequenting the Australia Walkabout Wildlife Park".  François Boudot, Graduate in Agricultural Engineering at the Institut Polytechnique LaSalle Beauvais, completed three residential internships at Walkabout Park between 2012 and 2015. This assessment of night animal activity at Walkabout Park is an extract from his final research project. The basis of his research was 6 months of on-the-ground nightly observation and analysis of the type and behaviour of the wildlife active after dark at Walkabout Park. The observation area spanned the 80 acres of natural bushland inside Walkabout Park's fox-proof fence. Observation tools included personal observation and photography plus motion sensor camera traps. The period of research was from February through July 2015, incorporating the full range of seasonal weather conditions. 

The Australian bush comes alive with wildlife at night. These creatures feed in the trees and under the bushes after dark.

Some are carnivorous like the Spot-tail quoll looking for meat and eggs. Some are insectivorous like the long nosed bandicoot digging for bugs and worms. The flying foxes busily pollinate the night flowering gums while the Tawny frogmouths catch moths and the sugar gliders chew on the bark to reach the nourishing resin.

Click on your nocturnal "Animal of Interest" to read all kinds of fascinating facts about it.

Walkabout Park's bilbies and Tasmanian devils are not actually living wild, but they are important to mention as they are such iconic Australian species. Wild Sleep Out visitors can play tug-of-war with the Tasmanian devils, and see the bilbies hopping around in the moonlight in the "Bilby Camp" looking for bugs and worms.