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Australian Wildlife

Indeed, many of the major species of animals and plant species are not to be found outside this country, as they evolved after the continent had split away (although there are similarities with the wildlife of South America and Africa).

ANIMALS

MAMMALS:

Mammals are defined as animals having hair on their bodies and suckling their young on milk. In Australian wildlife there is a complete absence of many of the higher Mammals ('Placentals' or Eutherians') found elsewhere. However, there are many species of old mammals here that that live no other place in the world. In fact, we have over 450 species of mammals, of four different types. Some of these are:

a. Marsupials

This is the main group of Australian mammals. These animals that give birth to very undeveloped young that not fully formed. After the birth the mother then protects the babies by keeping them in a body pouch. This pouch acts like a warm nest, and contains the mother’s mammary glands that supply nourishment (milk) to the young.

• Kangaroos are the largest living marsupials. They have greatly lengthened hind legs, and move around with a hopping gait. They have a strong muscular tail that is used for balance when hopping, and as a prop for resting or fighting. Their forelegs are small, and they have relatively small head with large very mobile ears. In terms of the ecology of the land, kangaroos perform the same function as large grazing animals such as Wildebeest in Africa, or sheep and goats in Europe.
• The more than fifty species of Kangaroo come in all sizes. They vary from the large Red Kangaroos that can stand up tall at 1.5 m (5 ft) in height and can leap up to 9m (30 ft) at high speeds, down to the Kangaroo Rat, which (surprise) is not much bigger than a rodent rat. Hopping in the middle are many different types of Wallaby.
• Wombats A lumbering, herbivorous animal that lives in burrows in dense forests and eucalyptus woodlands, eating grasses, leaves and roots. They are the marsupial equivalent of the pig.
  
• Phalangers are tree-living marsupials, including the different types of Possum and the Koala, found throughout Australia.
• Quokkas are small, timid creatures that remind us of rats or mice (but they are much cuter!).

There are also a range of marsupial carnivores. The largest surviving example is the Tasmanian devil, principally a scavenger but can be a vicious hunter, it performs the same function as the European cat (the cat is a great ecological pest in Australia). The larger Tasmanian tiger, about the same size as a dog, is thought to be extinct...but who knows? There have been sightings in recent years, and even a few blurred photos... perhaps it is still there. Other marsupial carnivores include voracious insect-eaters about the same size as a mouse - and as timid.

b. Monotremes:

These are among the strangest animals on earth: mammals that give birth by laying eggs, but when the eggs are hatched the young gain nourishment from their mother's milk via primitive mammary glands. There are two main species:

Platypus that lives in the streams of South Eastern Australia, eating water crustaceans and insects. It is a shy animal, nesting in holes in the banks of the river. It has a duck-like bill, and poisonous spurs on its paddling feet.
• Echidna, or spiny ant-eater, the only native Australian mammal that lives everywhere on the continent. A normally solitary animal, it digs its way out of trouble on soft ground, or among rocks it wedges down into a nearby crevice. On harder ground it rolls itself up into a spiny ball.

c. Placentals:

These animals that give birth to live and viable young, who are capable of survival outside of the mother’s body. The young gain their first nourishment from their mother’s mammary glands. This group includes mice and man. Australian animals in this group are all relatively 'recent' immigrants, and include:

• Dingo: The wild dog introduced by the Aboriginal people over 5,000 years ago. These people came to Australia perhaps 50,000 years ago and have one of the oldest and most valuable of human civilisations.
• Rodents: Modern rats and mice first arrived here with traders from the islands to the north of the Australian continent, who have been visitng these shores for perhaps 1,000 years.
• Bats: including the large fruit bat that congregates in thousands in the tropical north and has spread gradually south more recently.
• Also in the seawaters surrounding Australia, there is a wide variety of aquatic mammals such Whales and Seals in the Southern waters. Dugong, Trapang, and Trochus live in the northern waters. There are also Dolphins, which are the delight of so many people.

BIRDS:

The earliest known evidence of an Australian bird comes from Victoria, where a few fossilised feathers have been dated as 110 million years old (possibly a relative of Archaeopteryx?).
There are over 700 species of birds in Australia. They range from primitive bird types, such as the giant flightless Emu and Cassowary, all the way to the highly developed species, like the Fan-tail Lyrebird, a spectacularly beautiful bird that can use its voice to mimic perfectly many other birds, as well as the human voice singing, or machines such as a chain saw or a camera motor-wind! If they are kept in city zoos, they even mimic the sounds of the traffic going past on the busy roads.

Other birds include the Bower-bird , which constructs intricate and decorative bowers of sticks, leaves and feathers, and then decorates them in different colours (each species chooses a different colour). This playground is then used to attract the female who (of course) is never allowed to live within its glory but must make do with her own nest the male constructs some distance away.

Others among many types of bird in Australia include:

a. Birds of Prey:

These are the 'raptors' and hunting birds. They are to be identified by their forward facing eyes and a beak that curves abruptly:

• Owls: Including the Tawny Frogmouth Owl - a master of camouflage, that can sit motionless on a tree all day, pretending to be a branch.
• Eagles: including the magnificent Wedge-tailed Eagle, one of the largest raptors on earth.
• Hawks and Kestrels

b. Song Birds:

These birds come in many differing shapes and sizes, many with glorious colourful plumage, some are relatively plain so that they can camouflage themselves behind leaves and grass while singing. Here are some of the many species:

Honey-eaters: The only birds in the world to have a hollow brush-shaped tongue, used to probe flowers and gather the nectar.

Wrens: In Europe there is only species of wren but Australia has many types of this tiny bird. Some of the wren species are highly coloured and can be seen as a tiny flock of beautiful gems flitting through the undergrowth, while others are plain and carefully hidden.

Butcher-birds: These bird live up to their name, by catching small song birds, and hanging them from thorny hooks near their nests. Despite their muderous habits, some like the Pied Butcher-bird, have beautiful song voices.

Other song birds include the larks, the finches, and especially...

Parrots and Cockatoos:
These spectacularly colourful and noisy birds are seed and fruit eaters. Often they can mimic human speech, if kept in captivity and trained. The most spectacular is perhaps the Rainbow Lorikeet, from Queensland, whose plumage really lives up to its name. The Red-tailed and Yellow-tailed Cockatoos and the Sulphur-crested Cockatoos are very large and noisy, and live well beyond the human lifespan.

Kingfishers: a group that includes Kookaburras or 'Laughing Jackass', frequently heard laughing in groups at sunrise or sunset.
Waterbirds: this group includes such bird as the Ibis, the Pelican, the Black Swan, Spoonbills, Herons, Ducks and many species of migratory Waders.
Sea Birds: common sea-birds in Australian sea waters include the Gull, Terns, Gannets, and Mutton birds, albatrosses, and of course the Little or Fairy Penguins.

REPTILES:

Australia has a large diversity of these egg-laying and cold-blooded animals. This list includes:

FISH:

Australia has myriad varieties of fish, including the Queensland Lungfish which is a living fossil, and breathes with a single lung instead of gills. There are over 2,000 species of bony sea-fish  (including at least 100 species of Sharks, several of which are dangerous to humans, as well as 50 species of Rays), and 180 species of freshwater-fish. Many species are edible including of course the Barramundi, a large tropical freshwater-breeding salmon, recently voted the best tasting fish in the world. Shellfish include oysters, abalone and crayfish.

INSECTS:

Australia has most insect species in abundance: are about 110,000 species. We have 2,000 species of flies (OF COURSE!), as well as 5,000 species of bees and many species of beetles, butterflies, and ants. There is also 2,000 species of Spiders, some of which are extremely venomous such as the Red-backed and Funnelweb spiders (in keeping with Australia's perhaps undeserved reputation for dangerous animals - we don't have bears or lions). The giant termites build huge hill-like nests up to 6m (20ft) high in the tropics.

AND THE SUPER-WORM:

In Gippsland, Victoria, there live the giant Earthworms that grow to be 0.9 to 3.7m (3 to 12ft) in length. They are the longest worms in the world. There is even a museum devoted to them.