There
are four main types
of reptiles of Australia.
They are snakes, lizards,
crocodiles and turtles. Reptiles are well
represented in Australia, with a wide distribution and more than 860
species.
Lizards and snakes are the most diverse groups, particularly
in the outback where most other kinds of animals find the climate too
dry.
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Types of Reptiles of
Australia - Snakes
Although there are some very poisonous snakes in Australia, the
majority of our snakes
are not dangerous to humans. The groups of pythons (Pythonidae - the
largest snakes in Australia) and
colubrid snakes (Colubridae - many of which are tree snakes in
Australia) consist of entirely harmless species in Australia.
Colubridae is the largest snake family in the world (about 2/3 of all
snake species), however in Australia we have relatively few of them.
That said, our poisonous snakes, (all belonging to the same family,
Elapidae), are some of the world's most poisonous, including the most
poisonous species in the world - the inland taipan. Other poisonous
ones
include the groups of brown snakes, black snakes and death adders.
Despite its name, King
Brown belongs to the group of black snakes, not
the brown ones.
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Types of Reptiles of
Australia -
Lizards
We have some impressive lizards
such as the large goannas and monitors. We also have dragons, geckoes,
skinks and legless lizards. The largest monitors are perenties and lace
monitors. The most impressive dragon is the frill
necked lizard. The
best known geckos are house
geckos, that are often found in homes in tropical regions, however
there are many others that live in the bush. Skinks is the largest
group of lizards in Australia, which
includes blue
tongue skinks (world wide they are second largest after geckos).
Legless lizards are related to geckos but have no legs. They are native
to Australia and Papua New Guinea.
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Types of Reptiles of
Australia -
Crocodiles
Our crocodiles
are world famous and we have two species of them. The smaller
freshwater crocodile is a harmless species while the larger, Australian
saltwater crocodile, is a very dangerous animal. It's the world's
largest crocodile and it eats humans if it can. Crocs have a continuous
evolutionary history since the times of dinosaurs, when they were
closely related to birds.
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Types of Reptiles of
Australia -
Turtles
Finally we have turtles.
There are two kinds of them too - the freshwater and the saltwater
turtles. Saltwater turtles are huge (for turtles) and not so common to
spot, while freshwater turtles are quite small and easily seen in
freshwater lakes and billabongs. Turtles, too, have a long history -
the earliest known turtles are even older than crocodiles.
Note:
This site uses
British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will
find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all
correct in the language used in Australia.
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