I recently had an interesting experience in Tasmania. I was there for work, and I had to work every morning at the University of Tasmania, but then I had my afternoons and evenings free. The result was that I had lots of free time in which I could go searching for interesting animals – and Tasmania is excellent for wild mammals in particular – but I was tethered to Hobart, having to be back in the lab every morning. I stayed with some ecologist friends and they gave me many good tips and pointers for where to go in and around Hobart, which I thought I could share here.

Despite their ubiquity, it can be hard to get a picture of a pademelon that is not it hopping away.

Tasmanian Pademelon

For me, this is by far the easiest mammal to find in and around Hobart. Any grassy area is likely to have a pademelon or 20 grazing on it after dusk, and taking a flashlight and wandering around just about anywhere except the downtown core is likely to produce a pademelon sooner or later. For some concrete locations, try the Mount Nelson Signal Station or the Waterworks Reserve. I saw enough pademelons to qualify as a plague on the grassy slope that forms the dam wall at Waterworks.

Bennett’s Wallaby

Also common in and around Hobart, anywhere you’re likely to come across padymelons you’re also likely to see Bennett’s, though they are a little thinner on the ground. I saw maybe one Bennett’s for every ten padymelons. If I had to recommend one particular place, I’d say try the Waterworks reserve, particularly the grassy slope dam wall.

Long-nosed Potoroo

Hard to see anywhere, but apparently becoming more common on Bruny Island. I saw one driving the roads of North Bruny after dusk.

Eastern Bettong

Not the easiest animal to come across, but I saw two both times I visited the Truganini Reserve (walking in from the Mount Nelson Signal Station) after dark. I never saw them anywhere else, although someone I know saw one on the Mount Nelson oval while spotlighting.

Brushtail Possum

Australia’s version of a raccoon, they were common everywhere in suburbia, including suburban parks and bushland. Walking around suburbia at night is likely to produce at least one before long.

Tasmanian brushies are famous for their unusual colours, but unusually coloured ones are the minority. Most of the brushies I saw were the normal grey colour. If it’s unusually coloured ones you’re after, I think the black ones were most common at Knocklofty Reserve, while I saw a white one (aka “Golden Possum”) in the Truganini Reserve on one visit and across the street from the entrance (climbing a telephone pole outside someone’s house) on another.

Ringtail Possum

Common, although less so than the brushies. Searching any suburban bushland around Hobart should produce one eventually. I think I encountered them at the highest density at Knocklofty Reserve.

Krefft’s (formerly Sugar) Glider

Sparse but findable, I saw a least one per evening spotlighting at Truganini, Knocklofty, and Waterworks reserves.

Bare-nosed Wombat

Present, but in low numbers, around Hobart, and I don’t know of anywhere to see them in the immediate area. The closest place I know of would be Maria Island, where they are as close to guaranteed as any wild animal can be.

Platypus

The only place I know of around Hobart is the pool by the Cascade Brewery (-42.897011, 147.290514). I didn’t see it there, but I only waited a minute or so. Give it a couple hours, at least, if you really want to see it.

Eastern Barred Bandicoot

The more common of the two bandicoots in the area, they are findable at a lot of places, however the easiest place I know of to see them was the Mount Nelson oval, where they come out after dusk (and after any evening dogwalkers have gone home) to forage on the grass. A spotlight around the oval should produce several.

Southern Brown Bandicoot

I only saw one around Hobart, at the Knocklofty Reserve.

Dusky Antechinus

The only place I know of in the area with a good chance of seeing on is the Jurassic Garden at the Inala Reserve on Bruny Island. The garden is predator-proofed and this seems to have given the small mammals a reprieve. The one I saw was a real chonker and wandered around in broad daylight.

Swamp Antechinus

Again, easiest at Inala Reserve on Bruny Island. However, I’ve been told they are more common in the predator-proofed area that surrounds the Inala Cottage than the Jurassic Garden, so it might be worth booking a night in the cottage if you really want to see one.

Velvet-furred Rat

Apparently common in the Jurassic Garden at Inala, though I didn’t manage to see it in my (admittedly very short) 10 minute visit.

Eastern Quoll

Famously easy to see on Bruny Island, particularly North Bruny. A night of spotlighting the roads around North Bruny can easily produce double-digit numbers of them.

Spot-tailed Quoll

I’ve never seen any around Hobart, but someone mentioned to me that the tourist area at the top of Mt Wellington is a good spot for them. Apparently they come out after dark to forage through the trash bins.

Tasmanian Devil

Present around Hobart but in extremely low numbers. The closest place with a good chance of seeing them is Maria Island, where apparently there is a den under the tourist accommodation block. However, note they are introduced, not native, on Maria.

The closest place with at least a passable chance of seeing a native devil is the Tasman Peninsula, where diseased devils were removed and then healthy devils reintroduced. Someone I know was looking for masked owls and saw one cross a road on the peninsula (I didn’t get the precise location).

Thylacine

Extinct, but ubiquitous around Hobart in artwork, street art, branding, and licence plates. Any visitor to Hobart will see them everywhere.