AUSTRALIAN MAMMALS
Life Down Under
main ideas
• Australia is home to many
unique and unusual animals
because it has been isolated
for millions of years.
• Marsupials like kangaroos
and monotremes like platy
puses are mammals that
live only in Australia.
background
information
Geologists believe that long
ago there existed a supercontinent
made up of what is now Australia,
Antarctica, Africa, South America,
India and Madagascar. Geologists
call it Gondwanaland.
Gondwanaland was populated
by dinosaurs and by the earliest
forms of mammals--monotremes and
marsupials. Monotremes are
egg-laying mammals; a marsupial produces a fetus that develops in a
pouch outside the female’s body.
About 200 million years ago,
Gondwanaland began to break up.
The continent we now call Australia
broke off and became isolated from
the rest of Gondwanaland. On
Gondwanaland, marsupials and
monotremes were mostly replaced by
placental mammals that bear more
fully developed young. Eventually
the rest of Gondwanaland broke apart,
leaving placental mammals on all continents except Australia. There, marsupials became the dominant mammalian life form.
PROGRAM
SYNOPSIS
SCENE 4 Kangaroo Kinds
2.00
David takes us for an up-close and
personal look at kangaroos, Australia’s
best known marsupials. Did you know
SCENE 1 A Word From Our Host :30 there are different kinds of kangaroos?
SCENE 5 Marsupial Melody 1:50
Cast member Stephanie introduces a
An upbeat tune describes this unique
look at Australia--home to many
unusual animals. She invites us to join group of mammals.
:30
cast member David Quinn down under. SCENE 6 More Mammals?
SCENE 2 The Big Breakup
2:50 Stephanie reminds us we have yet to
see another very unusual mammal
David Quinn fills us in on the breakup
that’s found only in Australia--one that
of the super-continent Gondwanaland
lays eggs.
millions of years ago, and how the
SCENE 7
Platypus Tag
5:00
island continent of Australia became
geographically isolated from the rest of Follow David on a field excursion to
help capture and tag a platypus, one of
the world.
the two kinds of monotremes, or
SCENE 3
Front Pack
:30
Stephanie explains that most Australian egg-laying mammals, found in
Australia.
mammals are marsupials--a group of
animals in which the female carries her
young in a special kind of pouch.
vocabulary: Gondwanaland, monotreme, marsupial, mammal
48
LES
S ON ONE
LESS
3-2-1 CL
A S SROOM CONT
ACT
CLA
CONTACT
BEFORE-VIEWING
DIS
CUS
SION
DISCUS
CUSSION
Ask students what they think of when they
hear the word Australia. Do they know where it is?
Have a volunteer find Australia on a world map or
globe. Do kids know Australia is an island? a continent? in the Southern Hemisphere?
What else do students think about in connection with Australia? Chances are kids will mention kangaroos and koalas. Most people know these
animals are found only in Australia. Ask what is so
unusual about kangaroos and koalas. (their
pouches) Can students name other animals that
are unique to Australia? (Some kids may have heard
of the platypus.)
TUNING IN
Have students watch the video
to find out why Australia has
animals found nowhere else on
Earth, and to learn about two of
these unique animals.
AFTER-VIEWING
ACTIVITY
Review the video by asking students to compare marsupials, monotremes, and placental mammals. (Marsupials give birth to live young that climb
into the mother’s pouch to complete development.
Monotremes lay leathery eggs from which the
young hatch. Placental mammals bear live, more fully
developed young.)
Make copies of the Gondwanaland parts (at
right) for your students. Review how the
super-continent broke apart. Ask if kids see similarities between Gondwanaland parts and continents on your world map or globe. Have kids cut
out the six land masses and try to reassemble them
into one big continent.
Once kids complete their continent puzzles,
check results with the solution (right)
--Gondwanaland as most scientists believe it was
shaped.
49
LES
S ON TWO
LESS
P URPOSE
To learn more about the variety of
Australian marsupials and their similarity to placental mammals that oc-
3-2-1 CL
A S SROOM CONT
ACT
CLA
CONTACT
MATERIALS:
(per student)
• paper and pencil
• scissors
• paste or glue
• 12 index cards
cupy the rest of the world.
Answers:
Notoryctes - Mole
Petaurus - Squirrel
Myrmacabius - Anteater
Dasyurus - Cat
Dasycerus - Mouse
Thylacius - Wolf
CURRICULUM
CONNECTIONS
WHA
WHATT TO DO
DO::
1. Reproduce enough copies of the activity
sheet, “Mammal Match,” for your class. Cut
each copy in half as marked.
2. Distribute the top half of the activity sheet,
labeled “Marsupials,” and direct students’
attention to the illustrations. Do any of the
animals look familiar? Can anyone name any
placental mammals that look similar? Ask
students to cut out the marsupial pictures
and paste each on an index card.
3. Distribute the bottom half of the activity
sheet, labeled “Placentals.” Have students
cut out the pictures and paste each on an
index card.
4. Ask students to match marsupials with their
placental counterparts. Why do students
think each pair is a match? What features
do the two seem to have in common? Based
on what they know about each corresponding placental, ask students to make some
“educated guesses” about each marsupial.
How big do kids think each marsupial is?
How much does it weigh? In what kind of
habitat does it live? What does it eat? Discuss answers, then divide the class into 6
groups.
5. Have each group of students choose a marsupial placental pair for further study. Let
each group use the library to research its
animal pair and then report its findings back
to the entire class.
After each group has reported its findings, discuss the activity. From students’ research, do they find that the animals in each
pair closely resemble each other in the way
they live as well as in the way they look? In
what ways are the two different?
SOCIAL
STUDIES
Australia is not only famous for its unique animals. It has many
interesting facets. It started as a British penal colony; is the home of the
Great Barrier Reef--the largest living thing on Earth; is the land of the Aborigines, the original inhabitants of the continent; and more. Have students
find out more about Australia’s history, people, or places, then write or give
an oral report about their findings.
50
Name:
Date:
Notoryctes
Petaurus
Myrmacabius
Dasyurus
Thylacius
Dasycerus
Squirrel
Cat
Wolf
Anteater
Mouse
3-2-1 CLASSROOM CONTACT T M
© 1991 Children’s Television Workshop
Mole
51