ICONIC AUSTRALIAN ANIMALS
AND WHERE TO FIND THEM ON THE GOLD COAST THE GOLD COAST IS ONE OF THE MOST BIODIVERSE CITIES IN AUSTRALIA WITH 1730 FLORA AND 585 FAUNA SPECIES AND A VAST AREA OF THE CITY’S LAND MADE UP OF NATIONAL PARKS, CONSERVATION PARKS, DAM CATCHMENTS AND NATURE REFUGES.
T
he City of Gold Coast (the City) manages more
dropping at the end and often repeated a number of
than 730km of bush trails and some 13,000
times in quick succession.” The bush stone-curlew is a
hectares of natural areas and when you add this
relatively common, nocturnal bird and at night are often
to more than 12,000 hectares of Ramsar-listed
seen in open grassy areas where they’re on the prowl
wetlands, nearly 5000 hectares of World Heritage-
for insects and lizards.
listed Gondwana rainforest, 52.8km of sandy beaches
Where to see them: Pratten Park, Broadbeach
and more than half the city’s land mass covered in
Phillip Park, Main Beach (look around the garden beds
native vegetation, it’s little wonder the opportunities for
and forest edges)
interacting with some of Australia’s most iconic species are plentiful on the Gold Coast.
KOALA
We’ve pulled together a list of some of the city’s
The koala needs little introduction. It’s Australia’s
easiest-to-spot critters and where to find them, but
most iconic animal as well as our largest tree-dwelling
remember, never feed animals in the wild, don’t disturb
marsupial. Because koalas get all the food (and water)
their habitat or nesting spaces, and always observe
they need from eucalyptus leaves, chances are this
from a distance.
is where you’ll find them, although they do come to the ground to move between trees, particularly when
BUSH STONE-CURLEW
active in the morning or early evening. Look closely for
You’ll know if you have a bush stone-curlew living near
scratches on trees with smooth bark or at the base of
you. Their call is evocative and unforgettable. Southeast
the tree for round, 1-2cm bullet-shaped droppings. Other
Queensland’s Land for Wildlife team describes it as “a
signs there are koalas about are scratches on trees with
penetrating, strident, wail, rising with a slight waver, and
smooth bark and round 1-2cm bullet-shaped droppings
60