Animals - Native vs Invasive Species

There are many animals that live in the ESBS plant community that thrive on the nectar provided by the native flowers. These flowers also provide pollen for native bees, hover flies, and butterflies. These insects in turn provide food for larger predators such as bandicoots, birds, frogs, and lizards.  

Dense shrubs make good shelter for insects, birds, and small marsupials. These animals not only rely on the plants for shelter and food, but they also help disperse the seeds by eating the fruits and passing them in their droppings, or when seeds catch on their fur/feathers. When pollinators move from flower to flower, they spread the pollen and help plants reproduce

Native Animals of Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub

Eastern pygmy possum (Cercartetus nanus) 

[Image: Eastern pygmy possum in leaf nest. Credit: Sue Brookhouse/DCCEEW 187246]

• Not to be confused with the mountain pygmy possum, the eastern pygmy possum is found in Banksia scrub forests along the south-east coast of Australia  
• One of the smallest possums in the world
• Feed at night on nectar and pollen, and transfer pollen from flower to flower

Yellow-tailed black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus funereus) 

[Image: Yellow-tailed black cockatoo]

• A large cockatoo, easily identifiable by its black plumage
• 55-65cm in length with a wingspans of up to 100cm
• Eat seeds from native trees and shrubs and disperse these seeds through their faeces  

New Holland honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae) 

[Image: New Holland Honeyeater]

• Key pollinators for many flowering plants as are constantly moving from flower to flower in search of nectar
• Also eat small insects 

Little bent-wing bat (Miniopterus australis) 

[Image: Little bent-wing bats in colony]

• Roost in colonies of hundreds in caves, mine tunnels, and tree hollows
• Insectivores, feeding on insects that fly beneath the canopy
• Vulnerable to disturbance by humans with much of their habitat having been lost to sand mining and limestone mining, forestry operations, and land clearing

Long-nosed bandicoot (Perameles nasuta) 

[Image: Long-nosed bandicoot. Wikimedia Commons]

• An endangered marsupial that has been reintroduced at North Head in Sydney Harbour National Park
• Grows to be around 40cm long
• Dig burrows with their front feet just big enough for their snout to reach in and detect insects and other small invertebrates

Invasive Fauna of Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub

Rabbits

• Reproduce rapidly  
• Feed on plants and seedlings, and outcompete native wildlife for food
• Disturb soil when they burrow

Foxes

• Hunt native wildlife
• Disturb soil when they burrow

Deer

• Feed on plants and seedlings
• Degrade and compact soil with their hooves  
• Trample vegetation
• Often overgraze on plants and eliminate native species

Cats

• Hunt native birds and marsupials

Dogs

• Kill native wildlife and transmit disease including ‘hydatid’, a serious parasitic disease caused by tapeworms  
• Dig up vegetation and disturb soil