Piccaninny Plains Sanctuary


Piccaninny Plains Wildlife Sanctuary is a 1700 km² nature reserve on the Cape York Peninsula of Far North Queensland, Australia. A former cattle station adjacent to Mungkan Kandju National Park, it is managed by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy. It is jointly owned by The Tony and Lisette Lewis Foundation and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, by which it was purchased in 2008.

Landscape and climate

The location of Piccaninny Plains in the middle of the Cape York Peninsula between national park and Aboriginal land forms a habitat corridor that helps link the east and west coasts of the Peninsula. The property contains several diverse ecosystems such as gallery rainforest, tropical grasslands, wetlands and floodplains. The Archer and Wenlock Rivers flow through the property. The climate is tropical monsoonal, with most rain falling in the wet season, December to April. Rainfall averages 1600 mm annually.

Fauna

Animals found on Piccaninny Plains include the palm cockatoo, trumpet manucode, yellow-billed kingfisher, magnificent riflebird and spotted cuscus.