Peebinga Conservation Park is a 34 km² nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

 lying 40 km north of the town of Pinnaroo

Pinnaroo, South Australia

Pinnaroo is a town in the Murray Mallee region of South Australia, near the border with Victoria 243 km east of Adelaide. Pinnaroo is on the Mallee Highway, and the railway line between Tailem Bend and Ouyen. The roadhouses on the highway are the first food and leg-stretch stop on the bus route...

 in the Murray Mallee

Murray Mallee

The Murray Mallee is the grain-growing and sheep-farming area of South Australia bounded to the north and west by the Murray River, to the east by the Victorian border, and extending about 50 km south of the Mallee Highway....

 region of south-eastern South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

, about 240 km east of Adelaide and 10 km west of the Victorian

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

 border.

Description

The park contains much land that was previously cleared for agriculture. It is characterised by remnants of mallee woodland

Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands

Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands is a Major Vegetation Group which occurs in semi-arid areas of southern Australia. The vegetation is dominated by mallee eucalypts which are rarely over 6 metres high...

 on low, stabilised dune

Dune

In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by wind. Dunes occur in different forms and sizes, formed by interaction with the wind. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind...

s. with regenerating open shrubland

Shrubland

Shrubland, scrubland, scrub or brush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity...

 and grassland

Grassland

Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...

 on sand plains.

Flora and fauna

As well as grass

Grass

Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...

es, the vegetation features Ridge-fruited and Slender-leaved Mallee with Warty Cypress Pine

Callitris verrucosa

Callitris verrucosa is a species of conifer in the Cupressaceae family.It is found only in Australia.-References:* Conifer Specialist Group 1998. . Downloaded on 10 July 2007....

 over Broombush

Melaleuca uncinata

Melaleuca uncinata, commonly known as Broombush or Broom Honeymyrtle, is a plant in the Paperbark family native to southern Australia...

; the higher areas have Square-fruited

Eucalyptus tetraptera

Eucalyptus tetraptera, Square-fruited mallee,also Four-winged mallee is a low, straggly mallee with smooth, grey or whitish-grey bark. Juvenile leaves are stalked, ovate to broadly elliptical, to 12 x 7 cm. Adult leaves are stalked, elliptical to lanceolate, thick, to 25 x 7 cm,...

, Red

Eucalyptus oleosa

Eucalyptus oleosa, red mallee, is a native tree of Australia. The leaves were once harvested for the production of cineole based eucalyptus oil. These days Eucalyptus cneorifolia is used because of a higher oil content in new growth....

 and White Mallee

Eucalyptus dumosa

Eucalyptus dumosa, White Mallee is a mallee of the relatively dry country of South Australia from the northern Flinders Ranges and Murray Mallee eastwards to central western New South Wales and north western Victoria...

s.

Fauna found in the park includes Western Grey Kangaroo

Western Grey Kangaroo

The Western Grey Kangaroo is a large and very common kangaroo or macropod, found across almost the entire southern part of Australia, from just south of Shark Bay to coastal South Australia, western Victoria, and the entire Murray-Darling Basin in New South Wales and Queensland...

s and Short-beaked Echidna

Short-beaked Echidna

The short-beaked echidna , also known as the spiny anteater because of its diet of ants and termites, is one of four living species of echidna and the only member of the genus Tachyglossus...

s.

Birds

The reserve has been identified by BirdLife International

BirdLife International

BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...

 as an Important Bird Area

Important Bird Area

An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...

 (IBA) because it supports a relatively large population of Malleefowl

Malleefowl

The Malleefowl is a stocky ground-dwelling Australian bird about the size of a domestic chicken...

. It previously had a population of the Eastern Mallee subspecies of the Western Whipbird

Western Whipbird

The Western Whipbird is a passerine bird found in several scattered populations across southern Australia. It is predominantly olive green in colour....

 (Psophodes nigrogularis leucogaster), which is now locally extinct. Purple-gaped Honeyeater

Purple-gaped Honeyeater

The Purple-gaped Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitat is Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation.-References:...

s are present.