Mammals
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Many of the more than sixty species of native mammal in Kakadu are not easily seen because of their shy nature or nocturnal habits.
Sugar gliders, brush-tailed phascogales and northern quolls are some of the many small mammals that hide during the day in tree-hollows. Brown bandicoots shelter in logs or dense grass. If you are camping, you might see bandicoots as they search for their food at night.
Some mammals move between habitats in response to changing conditions. During the dry season, dusky rats shelter in the deep cracks of dry floodplain soils. When the monsoon rains arrive and flooding begins the rats move into adjacent woodlands.
Of the eight kinds of macropod (kangaroo) found in the park, agile wallabies and antilopine wallaroos are the most common. You may see them as they feed in open grassy areas. From campgrounds you may hear dingoes howling at night, or glimpse them as you travel through the park. These canines are thought to have reached Australia in the company of humans about 5 000 years ago.
About one-third of all Australian bats are found in Kakadu. You may spot some of the smaller species flying at dusk to catch insects. The largest bats are flying-foxes. During the day they roost in large noisy colonies in mangroves, paperbark forests and monsoon rainforests. At night they feast on fruit and the nectar of woodland flowers, pollinating flowers and dispersing seeds as they feed.
Common or notable mammals
- Agile wallaby Macropus agilis Gornobolah
- Antilopine wallaby Macropus antilopinus Garnday (female) Garndagdi (male)
- Black fruit bat Pteropus alecto Na-ngamu
- Black wallaroo Macropus bernardus Barrk
- Black-footed tree-rat Mesembriomys gouldii Barri
- Brown bandicoot Isoodon macrourus Yok
- Brush-tailed phascogale Phascogale tapoatafa Wumbu
- Dingo Canis familiaris dingo Dalkgen
- Dugong Dugong dugong Mardingunjngunj
- Northern quoll Dasyurus hallucatus Njanjma
- Short-eared rock wallaby Petrogale brachyotis Badbong
