Watarrka Waterhole Wildlife

Book excerpt: Watarrka National Park lies within the Red Centre of Australia, approximately halfway between the township of Alice Springs and the giant sandstone monolith of Uluru. The Park covers a region of outstanding scenic beauty, cultural importance and biodiversity significance at the western end of the George Gill Ranges. It lies within one of the driest regions of Australia, and the planet, but the rocky gorges, sheltered creek lines and perennial waterholes provide a refuge for plants and animals from an earlier and wetter period of Australia’s history. This book is a compilation of the very best of over a million images collected from camera traps running almost continuously at Watarrka waterholes between 2015 and 2022. These images form part of a scientific dataset tracking biodiversity change under a warming and drying climate. They also provide much insight into the species behaviours and interactions of wildlife largely unaffected by human presence.