Australian Animals

Mammals There are three types of mammals

• Most mammals are from the Placental group

Mammals But there are two other types of mammals

• Monotremes

• Marsupials

And Monotremes and Marsupials are mostly found in Australia!

Marsupials• A marsupial is a type of mammal found only in Latin

America and Australasia

• Marsupials are distinctive to other mammals (such as Humans) because they keep their young in a protective pouch which contains mammary glands (milk sacks)

Herbivore Marsupials

Kangaroos• Kangaroos are the

largest species of marsupial

• There are more Kangaroos than people in Australia

• They live in all regions of the nation – even the desert

• They are the only large animal to use hooping to move

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L0YNsvZYNQ

Wombat

• Wombats are short, muscular marsupials.

• They are mainly nocturnal, emerging at night to feed on grasses, herbs, bark, and roots.

• They dig extensive tunnels to live in during the day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE82eFD7AjI

Koala

Koalas think with their stomach!

• They sleep up to 18 hours a day and only wake to eat more.

• They rarely leave their trees, even to get a drink.

• They get water from the Eucalyptus leaves they eat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0cAx1jLbJk

Possum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnjpniYAg-o

• Possums are nocturnal and very talented climbers

• They are very vocal – they make a lot of noise – a whole range of clicks and hisses

• They are very naughty: they like to steal peoples food

The Carnivorous Marsupials of Tasmania

Tasmanian Devil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9iZvr3B_sA

• Devils are carnivorous scavengers

• They have a strong appetite and can eat up to 40% of their body weight in a day

• Despite their fierce reputation, Devils are normally not a danger to people

Tasmanian Tiger - Extinct• Oddly, the Tasmanian tiger looked and acted like a strange combination of a

wolf and a tiger. However, it is genetically not related to either.

• The last one died in 1936. They were hunted during the early 20th Century.

Monotremes

What is a monotreme?

Monotremes

They are mammals that lay eggs!

• They are a rare type of mammal that is not viviparous

The Platypus

• One of the worlds strangest animals• British scientists thought the first examples

they received were jokes!

The Platypus

• Lay eggs like a reptile• Have no stomach• Have no nipples but still feed their young milk• Are born with teeth and then permanently lose them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6QHzIJO5a8

Reptiles

Crocodilian

• Australia has the Largest species of Crocodile, the saltwater crocodile

• They are the largest reptiles, weighing 1000kgs and growing up to 6 meters long

• They kill an average of one or two people a year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q7vNOK26Cc

Venomous Snakes

The Eastern Brown Snake and Tiger Snake

• Both are deadly• The Brown Snake, common in Canberra, are highly aggressive.• Their venom can cause paralysis or death.

Other reptiles

Blue Tongue Lizard Goanna Frill-necked Lizard

Birds

Emu• An Emu is a Australian flightless

Brid

• Weighing up to 60kg, and It’s the second largest bird on earth after the Ostrich

• Despite this weight, they can ran up to 50kmh

• They have two sets of eyelids

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGyG1ZiG8_o

Kookaburra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXA0-YAoo9Q

Their laugh is how they mark their territory