Antipodean mystery and intrigue

The Southern Cape

The Southern Cape showcases the beauty of Oceania and the culture of the Aboriginal people, whose roots date back 60,000 years.

The largest of all kangaroosRed Kangaroo
It is a mammal, which feeds its young with milk, but it is also a marsupial.

The young is born in an embryonic, immature state and continues its development in a pouch, rather than inside its mother’s belly.

Red kangaroo
The largest carnivorous marsupialTasmanian Devil
The Tasmanian Devil has been the largest carnivorous marsupial since the disappearance of the Tasmanian Tiger in 1936. It measures about one metre, including its tail, with an average weight of 8 kg.

Tasmanian Devil
A large mammal that digs burrowsWombat
This marsupial is the largest mammal in the world that digs burrows: it is on average 1 m long and weighs more than 25 kg.

There are three subspecies of them: the one presented here, in Pairi Daiza, is endemic to the island of Tasmania, to the south of Australia.

Wombat
A bird that doesn’t flyDouble-wattled Cassowary
The Double-Wattled Cassowary is a large running bird (it therefore doesn’t fly) being up to 1m70 in tall and weighing nearly 70 kg.

It can be very aggressive and has powerful legs with three toes and some fearsome claws. Its neck is of a beautiful blue with red excrescences.

Double-wattled Cassowary
The male is an ultra-modern dad!Emu
This is the second largest running bird (it therefore doesn’t fly) in the world, after the ostrich : up to 2 metres tall and weighing nearly 50 kg.

It has powerful feet with 3 toes (the ostrich has only 2 of them) and it can run very fast and for a long time.

Emu
Nocturnal AnimalsSwamp Wallaby
The Swamp Wallaby is a small-sized kangaroo (about 80 cm for the body and 70 cm for the tail) with dark red-brown fur with orange patches on its belly and chest.

Swamp Wallaby
A mammal that lays eggsShort-beaked Echidna
This small mammal, about 50 cm long, is extraordinary! Along with the Platypus, it is part of the order of the monotremata, the only mammals that lay eggs. It is covered in fur and spines and can roll up into a ball like a hedgehog to protect itself.

Short-beaked Echidna
the biggest beak amongst all birdsAustralian Pelican
This beautiful pelican, medium-sized and with a wingspan of almost 2m50, lives on waterways, at coasts and on large bodies of water that contain enough food to support their large collective gatherings.

Australian Pelican
A bird with a remarkable laugh Blue-winged Kookaburra
This stocky-looking bird, with its big pointed beak, and lovely metallic-blue wings, lives in the rainforests where it occupies large hunting territories so that it can feed its family.

The Blue-Winged Kookaburra is sedentary but, being rather shy, it is difficult to observe.

Blue-winged Kookaburra
Able to sleep up to 20 hours a dayThe koala
It can live for a little over twenty years and, depending on age, gender, and available food, measure up to 85 cm and weigh 14 kg. It has a dense fur, as insulating as that of Arctic animals.

The koala