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What is an Animal of Australia?
What is an Animal of Australia?
An animal of Australia lives only in Australia. It is called a native animal because it lived there
before the first people came.
Australia is an enormous continent in the south seas. It has been surrounded by vast oceans
for millions of years.
Australia is home to hundreds of kinds of brightly colored birds, lizards and snakes, and some
very strange creatures like the platypus.
Also native to Australia are many different kinds of a special group of mammals
the
marsupials.
Australia's first people, the Aborigines, called this giant rock Uluru. It is over 500 million years
old.
What is a Marsupial?
A marsupial is an animal that carries its baby in a pouch. Australia has more marsupials than
anywhere else in the world.
A new-born kangaroo is the size of a bean. It lives in its mother’s pouch until it is about 8
months old.
Marsupial babies are very small when they are born. The baby crawls through its mother’s fur
and into her pouch.
The pouch is like a pocket that protects the baby until it is big enough to survive on its own.
Inside the pouch, the baby feeds on its mother’s milk.
This kangaroo mother keeps her baby, or joey, safe in her pouch.
Kangaroos are large marsupials with strong back legs and small front paws.
They use their back legs to jump from place to place. This is called hopping.
Kangaroos can hop at great speed, especially if they are frightened by a predator.
Kangaroos use their heavy tail to help them balance as they hop.
Kangaroos live on grassy plains or bush lands. They rest during the heat of the day and graze
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for food in the early morning and evening.
Kangaroos use their small front paws to grasp the plants they eat.
Koalas are small marsupials that live in eucalyptus, or gum trees. They eat only eucalyptus
leaves. All the food and water they need comes from these leaves. Koalas never seem to need
to drink water.
“Koala" is an Aboriginal word that means "the animal that does not drink".
Koalas only climb down one tree so they can climb up another. Koalas are nocturnal which
means they eat and move around at night. In the daytime, koalas go to sleep.
Koala paws are made for climbing. They use their long, sharp claws to grip the branches.
Wombats, like koalas, are most active at night, when it is cooler. They live in burrows they dig in
the ground.
Wombats usually stay in their burrows during the day because they don’t like feeling hot.
Wombats don’t drink water. They get water from the plants they eat and the dew on leaves.
A wombat dozes in the winter sun near its burrow.
Bandicoots are nocturnal marsupials about the size of rabbits. They have legs like kangaroos,
only smaller, and move by hopping.
Bandicoots are carnivores. They scratch on the ground to find insects and small animals to eat.
This rabbit-eared bandicoot, or bilby, has caught a grasshopper to eat.
Mammals that Lay Eggs
There are just two mammals in the world that lay eggs - the echidna and the platypus. Both of
these creatures are native to Australia.
An echidna has sharp claws to dig burrows and scratch at ant nests. Its long sticky tongue
helps it scoop up ants to eat.
An echidna, or spiny anteater, uses its sharp claws to burrow quickly into the ground if it is
frightened.
The platypus has a body like a beaver and a bill like a duck. It lives in burrows near rivers
where it finds worms and shellfish to eat.
A platypus has webbed paws to help it swim. The webbing folds away when it digs a burrow or
walks on land.
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A platypus swims with its eyes tightly shut. It uses its bill to find food on the bottom of the river.
Australian Reptiles
Snakes, lizards and crocodiles are reptiles that like to live in the warm climate of Australia.
Crocodiles live in rivers in the north. Snakes, mostly poisonous, live nearly everywhere in
Australia.
The Australian taipan is one of the most poisonous snakes in the world.
More than 500 different kinds of lizard live in Australia. Some look scary, but none are
poisonous.
The frill-necked lizard tries to look bigger to frighten its enemies. It shows its frill, stands on its
hind legs and hisses.
The frill opens as soon as the lizard opens its mouth to hiss at an enemy.
Australian Birds
Australia has 700 species of native bird. Two of them, the cassowary and the emu, have strong
legs and can run as fast as cars in city traffic. Neither bird can fly.
Emu chicks lose their stripes as they grow older.
The kookaburra is famous for its laughing call, which tells other kookaburras to keep away.
Kookaburras eat insects and small animals such as lizards. They even eat snakes!
Flocks of parrots are one of Australia’s most colorful sights. These beautiful birds include
budgerigars, galahs and cockatiels.
Farmers are not pleased to see a flock of galahs in their fields because they eat their crops.
Most Australian parrots lay their eggs in hollow trees or branches. They eat seeds, fruit, nectar
and insects. Some also eat pollen.
Brightly colored rainbow lorikeets have slender bills to help them eat nectar and pollen.
Dangerous Creatures
Australia’s dangerous animals include poisonous spiders.
The funnelweb spider and the redback spider both have poisonous fangs but they catch their
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food using their webs.
A bite from the funnelweb spider can kill a person, if they don’t receive an antidote quickly.
The dingo is a wild dog and is Australia’s largest predator.
Dingoes hunt and eat wallabies, young kangaroos and sheep.
The Tasmanian devil is a carnivorous marsupial cat. It lives in caves on the island of Tasmania.
The Tasmanian devil uses its strong teeth and jaws to crush small animals. It eats everything fur, feathers and bone.
Fierce Tasmanian devils even eat dead animals.
A wallaby is a small kind of kangaroo.
Did you know?
• Australia is the flattest and driest continent in the world.
• The Diprotodon was the biggest marsupial that ever lived in Australia. It looked like a wombat
but was as big as a rhinoceros.
• The tree kangaroo lives in trees! Unlike other kangaroos, it moves its back legs separately.
• Wallabies, euros and wallaroos are all smaller members of the kangaroo family.
• An echidna has no teeth. It crushes its food between its tongue and the roof of its mouth.
• An adult male kangaroo is called a “boomer”.
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