Wildlife Wonders

Wildlife Wonders Discover the wild side of the Great Ocean Road at Wildlife Wonders, a unique wildlife sanctuary in Apollo Bay, Victoria, Australia.

Home to native & threatened wildlife & plants - by guided tour only 🦘
Learn more or book a tour: wildlifewonders.org.au

08/09/2026

Take a walk around the Sanctuary with me... My office and some of my colleagues at Wildlife Wonders today 🌞

Meet the Otways Smooth Frog (Geocrinia sparsiflora).While it has been living in the Otways all along, science has only g...
07/09/2026

Meet the Otways Smooth Frog (Geocrinia sparsiflora).

While it has been living in the Otways all along, science has only given it a name of its own recently!

Here at Wildlife Wonders, we first recorded one of these frogs calling at our gully dam in the Sanctuary in 2023, and they’ve been regulars ever since.

The story behind it is a lovely one. Scientists with the Australian Museum FrogID program were listening closely to recordings sent in by everyday citizen scientists, looking for small regional differences in frog calls. What they found was a surprise: the two species of Smooth Frog known in south-eastern Australia were actually three!

These frogs have an unusual way of raising a family. Instead of laying eggs in water, they lay them on land, in sticky clusters tucked under leaf litter, matted reeds or the base of tussock grasses. The eggs wait there through late summer and autumn while the male stays close by. Only when rain floods the nest, often in spring, do the tadpoles hatch and finish growing in the water. Development takes roughly five to six months from start to finish.

The Otways Smooth Frog lives only in the Otway Ranges, making it the most geographically restricted of the Smooth Frogs. Numbers seem healthy for now and the frogs cope with some disturbance, though such a small range means their future is worth watching closely.

Next time you join us on a Walk with Wildlife or Dusk Discovery Tour, listen out - you might be hearing a frog that only recently got its name!

Thanks to Angair for sharing the news and thanks to our Nature Guide, Erin Bradley and Wildlife Manager, Katy Schrederis for sharing their photos 💚🐸

06/09/2026

🌟 Wildlife Wonders gift shop new arrivals 🌟

These unique puzzles from Puzzle Art Australia | Premium Wooden Puzzles are so gorgeous that you’ll want to frame them after. We did!

31/08/2026

When nature has other plans…

For weeks, we’ve been watching, waiting and wondering when our emu chicks might arrive.
Eight eggs were laid, and many of you joined us in guessing the hatch date.

But, Dad left the nest.

And despite all our excitement and anticipation, there were no chicks. It’s easy to think of wildlife as following a predictable script - eggs are laid, eggs hatch, chicks appear. But nature doesn’t work that way. Not every egg hatches, and not every nesting attempt results in young.

For our emus, Dad does the incubating and takes on the responsibility of sitting on the eggs for weeks. When he leaves the nest, it’s a sign that the nesting attempt has come to an end.

For now, Dad has left the nest and returned to his usual routine with the mum emu, reminding us that nature follows its own timeline 🤎

Dad is still sitting tight, no emu chicks yet but we are all holding our hats in anticipation - it’s ANY day now! All of...
19/08/2026

Dad is still sitting tight, no emu chicks yet but we are all holding our hats in anticipation - it’s ANY day now!

All of you Wednesday voters still have half a chance…but sorry Tuesday voters. Everyone who voted Thursday or Friday or later for hatch day are still in it! 🪺 We can’t wait to see a bunch of fluffy, stripy curious chicks running around the sanctuary again! 🐣

Thank you to all the students who made it to our Wild Science Experience as part of National Science Week! It was such a...
19/08/2026

Thank you to all the students who made it to our Wild Science Experience as part of National Science Week! It was such a fantastic day, and we were lucky enough to have the sun shining as we got stuck into some hands-on conservation science. ☀️🦘🌿

From learning about wildlife monitoring and biodiversity to getting a glimpse into what it’s really like to work in environmental conservation, the students spent the day asking questions, exploring, investigating and getting their hands dirty!

A special thank you to ReHabitat for providing the biodegradable wildlife habitat pods. The students loved constructing and placing them throughout our grassland ecosystem. 🌱

These biodegradable pods are one way we can support wildlife following natural disasters such as bushfires, when natural shelter and protection can be limited. Creating habitat is an important part of helping ecosystems recover and giving wildlife places to shelter while vegetation regenerates.

It was wonderful to see so much curiosity, enthusiasm and care for the natural world from the next generation of conservationists. 🌿🦘

We hope you left with new knowledge and inspiration for where science could take you.

EnvironmentalScience National Science Week Sth Aus

When will the emu eggs at Wildlife Wonders hatch? It’s nearly time! 🐣
17/08/2026

When will the emu eggs at Wildlife Wonders hatch? It’s nearly time! 🐣

🌟 ONLY 5 SPOTS LEFT 🌟 for our Wild Science Experience day coming up on Monday August 17th for Year 10 and Year 11 studen...
10/08/2026

🌟 ONLY 5 SPOTS LEFT 🌟 for our Wild Science Experience day coming up on Monday August 17th for Year 10 and Year 11 students!

This is a fantastic experience for Year 10 or 11 students to get hands on experience working in conservation - plus the chance to talk with ecologists and other conservation workers from our partners at the Conservation Ecology Centre.

We are getting excited, it’s going to be a great day. 🐨

For all the info and how to book, visit:

wildlifewonders.org.au/wild-science-experience

We hope to see you here!

The Otways Ecological Research Forum is coming up on August 25th. Have you registered yet? You can find out more and reg...
03/08/2026

The Otways Ecological Research Forum is coming up on August 25th. Have you registered yet?

You can find out more and register here 👉 conservationecologycentre.org/otways-ecological-research-forum

We hope to see you there!

Agenda release coming soon.

🌟 BIG NEWS! The emu family at Wildlife Wonders has some exciting news to share... there are EGGS!These eggs have been la...
03/08/2026

🌟 BIG NEWS!

The emu family at Wildlife Wonders has some exciting news to share... there are EGGS!

These eggs have been laid by mum, and now it’s dad turn, who takes over incubation duties, sitting on the nest around the clock until they hatch. So in this photo we can see dad doing his job while mum is happily roaming the sanctuary as usual.

This isn’t dad’s first time on nest duty either, so we know he’s got this, and we can’t wait to see those little stripy chicks running around the sanctuary again soon!

Stay tuned for updates as we count down to hatch day 🤗

Address

475 Great Ocean Road
Apollo Bay, VIC
3233

Opening Hours

Monday 9:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 9:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 9:30am - 5pm
Thursday 9:30am - 5pm
Saturday 9:30am - 5pm
Sunday 9:30am - 5pm

Telephone

+61370461664

Website

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