The red-bellied black snake is highly poisonous, but fortunately it is timid and will run away if you let it
Not Your Average Zoo Creatures
Australian desert animals are interesting, unique, and sometimes deadly. Yet the native Australian Aborigines consider most of these creatures good to eat!
The greatest survivors of the Australian desert animals which live in the Outback, would be the reptiles such as the Blue Tongue Lizard. They are pretty much immune to the fierce heat, but they get eaten by Dingos in the Outback and are prey to domestic dogs and cats in the cities.
These fascinating desert animals include some highly venomous snakes, as well.
Australian lizards range from large sharp-clawed Goannas, through the big but harmless Shingleback Lizard, down to the smaller Frill Neck Lizard and even the tiny Horny Devil lizards so named because they are all spiky, with what looks like a tiny Rhinoceros horn on its nose!.
The Blue Tongue Lizard is found in many Sydney suburban backyards, and most Australians treat them as pets. Some people feed these big stumpy lizards with minced meat, which should be mixed with a little dirt and gravel… otherwise it’s too rich for them. In return, the lizards eat snails and slugs and keep their numbers down in your back garden!
Australian snakes range from the aggressive and deadly Taipan, the Fierce Snake, the Brown Snake and the timid but still poisonous Red-Bellied Black Snake. Queensland has a blue-bellied black snake, which is very similar to its southern cousin here in Sydney — very poisonous but it’s shy and reluctant to bite humans.
If you see a snake in the wild, just move quietly away from it and it will leave you alone. Most people who get bitten by these deadly Australian desert animals were only bitten because they tried to kill or capture the snake.
Another way to get snake bite is to accidentally step on a snake while you’re out walking in the bush. The Death Adder is especially hard to see, since it hides in the leaf litter and wiggles the tip of its tail to attract its prey… rather like an American rattlesnake. And it is one snake that is close to invisible, and refuses to move away.
Our harmless Carpet Snake (aka the Carpet Python) is welcomed on many country farms because they like to eat all the mice and rats.
While these Australian desrt animals abound in the countryside and desert, your best way of seeing these Australian desert animals is to visit the Sydney Zoo at Taronga Park. It’s just a pleasant ferry ride across Sydney Harbor from the ferry wharf at Circular Quay.
Snakes are protected creatures in Australia, and even the locals are prohibited from keeping them without a special license. You aren’t allowed to export any of these exotic animals without a government permit, either… And Australian Customs is always on the lookout, and catching, people who try to smuggle Australian desert animals or other exotic species in or out of our country!
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