Nilmini De Silva, Rakali (January theme: Reflections)

We were quite lucky to spot Rakali from our campsite in Yango National Park although this image was taken in the wetland further away. Till the late 90’s Australians referred to Rakali as a water rat, considering it to be a pest and hunting it for it’s fur during the depression. It was only recently that we started calling it by its indigenous name in the hope that it might help us all better connect with it. Rakali are an important part of our ecosystem as they have the unusual ability to kill cane toads without being poisoned! This makes it one of the very few natural defences in the fight to contain the cane toad’s population boom and spread westward!

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.