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Environment and Heritage
Environment and Heritage

Reptiles

Most Australian reptiles live on land but some are aquatic animals.

A pale-headed snake (hoplocephalus bitorquatus) sticks out its tongue in Pilliga West State Forest
Image Credit: Jake Hansen/DCCEEW
A Bellinger River snapping turtle (Myuchelys georgesi)
Freshwater turtles

Freshwater turtles are reptiles with hard shells that protect them from predators. They spend most of their life in the water, only coming on land to migrate between water bodies or to nest. 

A Broad-headed snake (Hoplocephalus bungaroides), a threatened species, coiled on a moss-covered rock with its head raised in an alert posture, displaying its distinctive black and yellow banding.
Snakes

Australia has around 140 species of land snake and 32 recorded species of sea snake.