Understanding Wildlife in Port Douglas – Meet the Locals!

The Wet Tropics that are located just a couple of minutes' drive from Oaks Port Douglas Resort and is home to 40% of Australia's birds, 35% of mammals, 60% of butterflies, 29% of frogs and 20% of endemic reptiles.
The Lumholtz Tree Kangaroo is one of these mammals and can often be spotted during the day, sleeping in the trees because they are nocturnal creatures. The Lumholtz Tree Kangaroo looks nothing like the kangaroo you would assume it to be but looks rather like a monkey. It has a very long tail that it almost twice the length of the rest of its body. This allows the animal to balance when it's on the trees, but unlike monkeys, it doesn't wrap the tail around branches.

The Cassowary isn't something you could expect to see anywhere else in the world. It is literally a dinosaur in the modern age. The Southern Cassowary is Australia's heaviest bird at 85 kilos. It can only be found in north Queensland. The Cassowary is 2 metres tall and has a bright blue and purple head. It will occasionally turn up close to town so you can't expect to come across one just wandering outside your Port Douglas hotel. The cassowary mostly feeds on fruits, seeds and nuts. It is known as the Gardner of the Rainforest for its ability to propagate seeds within the forest. There's still a lot that scientists don't know about this elusive bird.

The master of camouflage, Boyd's Forest Dragon is a lizard that is very difficult to spot during the day due to their mastery of blending in. The species is endemic to north Queensland and spend most of their day unmoving perched on tree trunks, stealthily waiting for their unsuspecting prey to wander up to their vicinity.

The thing about Port Douglas is that it is home to two unique and ecologically diverse environments in the world; the Great Barrier Reef and the Wet Tropics World Heritage site. The Wet Tropic is a rainforest that is made up of Kuranda, Mowbray, Mount Lewis and Daintree National Parks. The rainforest stretches across 450 km from Townsville to Cooktown. The rainforests within the Wet Tropics are the oldest continuously surviving rainforests in the world. Keep this in mind when you are exploring.

There are plenty of rainforest tours available for adults and children so do your research before you visit. Ask your resort and your travel planners for more information. The tours will provide you with valuable education as to what you are exploring as you are exploring them. You can visit waterfalls and engage in hikes.