Animals

Diurnal (active during the day), Oviparous (meaning lays eggs). Can lay up to 35 eggs usually in cracks in the soil.

Active at night. Can breed throughout the year, but mostly between July to November. Pregnancy lasts just 12 days, so they can produce up to five litters of young per year, with an average litter size of two. Can breed after 4 months of age. Average lifespan is 18 months to 2 years. Males need 13-20 hectares while females need 2-3 hectares.

Breeding season: spring to early autumn. Females lay up to 4000 pigmented eggs enclosed in a white frothy floating foam raft hidden amongst aquatic vegetation.

Breeds August-March. A bulky shallow nest is built in rushes or reeds or on floating platforms in open water. May also nest in branches or stumps of waterside trees. In the breeding season, breeding groups of up to 7 birds form. All members of the group assist with incubation of the eggs and feeding the young.

Immediately after biting their prey the adults secrete digestive enzymes into their prey. Diving beetles store air in a bubble held beneath their hardened wings. They use this oxygen during their underwater dives so they can hunt food and find mates. When prey numbers get too low, the beetles fly to a new water body and settle there. Adults lay their eggs in the water where tiny predatory larvae hatch out. The larvae spend their entire larval stage in the water before digging into the muddy banks and pupating.

Viviparous (live bearing). Produces 6 or more live young. Prefers to live communally. Active by day. Life span up to 20 years.

Breeds after rain in July-December. A platform of twigs is constructed in a shrub or tree up to 5 m high. Both male and female incubate the eggs and care for the young.

Viviparous (live young). Produces 1 to 6 live young each year in late December. Litter mass and size increases with female size. Diurnally active, basking skink.

Nocturnal. Digs deep burrows in the soil, including in levee banks and dam walls. Survives over summer and long droughts in their burrows. Can survive in poor water quality. Prolific breeders when conditions are suitable. Females look after hatchlings for several weeks in a brood chamber under their tail. Life span of 5-7 years.

Breeds August-January. Builds an untidy cup nest in tree hollows, stumps, fence posts, walls and celiings of buildings. Is considered a pest in Australia. Willl readily compete with native bird species for nest sites. Forms large flocks in winter.