Native Animals

Early European explorers were very impressed by the richness and diversity of native animals across the Darling catchment, even though they had difficulty capturing and keeping specimens.

It took until the 1950s to realize the total diversity of animals along the Darling. In total, 113 species have been recorded in the catchment, 101 of these are native.

Marsupials are the dominant group with 50 species, but native rodents and bats are strongly represented. Only one species, the rare Pilliga Mouse, is restricted to the Darling catchment and is confined to a small area near the catchment’s eastern boundary (the Pilliga scrub).

The most common native animals include kangaroos, bandicoots, koalas, wallabies, betongs,
dunnarts, bilbys and possums. It also includes 19 species of native rodents, and 25 species of bats, flying foxes and dingos. The dingo is the only native carnivore occurring along the Darling.

At least 25 of the original 101 species of native animals have disappeared; eight are extinct. Most of these were small mammals susceptible to degradation of habitat and the introduced animals.