Author(s): Steve Wilson

Wildlife

'A Field Guide to Reptiles of Queensland' covers all of Queensland’s 440 named species, including 135 that occur nowhere else. Colour photographs make for quick identification, aided by line drawings, keys, distribution maps and descriptions. Queensland is home to an extraordinary diversity of reptiles. This is because it has so many different types of habitat. In the tropical rainforest lives one of Australia s most spectacular dragons, the Boyd s Rainforest Dragon. The arid south-west is home to the deadly Inland Taipan. In the deeply cracked black soil plains of the Mitchell Grass Downs, Collett s Snake hides from the baking midday sun. In the far north there are even isolated pockets of New Guinean animals, among them the magnificent Green Tree Python, which lives in the Iron and McIlraith anges and can be found by day coiled around thick vines. And few Queensland homes are without delightful nocturnal geckos.