We all know that thanks to the isolation of the continent of Australia,
a lot of animals developed here in a different way from the rest of the
world.
Or more correctly, they got to keep their uniqueness since no
other, more successful animals got to come here to outcompete them and
take over.
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This is true, partly. Not all Australian animals are unique - there are
also the introduced
ones that are found elsewhere, but luckily just not
enough to destroy the unique fauna.
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The most unique Australian animals are of course the monotremes
platypus and echidna. They are not only unique by Australian standards,
in fact they are the most unique animals in the world.
Monotremes are mammals that lay eggs. Now this is really against the
definition of mammals, but on the other hand how would you classify
them as reptiles because they do produce milk and they do have fur.
There used to be more of them, but platypus
and echidna
are the only
survivors, and they are only found in Australia, except that two other
species of echidna is
also found in New Guinea. It cannot get more unique.
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The other group of unique animals are marsupials.
Even though
there are
some marsupials also found in South America and New Guinea, Australia
has by far the most and the species we have here are not found on other
continents.
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Marsupials are the animals with a pouch, they don't have a placenta
like most other mammals, and their young is born tiny, then grows
bigger inside the pouch. Kangaroos
are the most obvious example as the
pouch is well visible, however koalas,
wombats,
and possums
all have
a
pouch too.
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Our dingo
is also unique, although
it is a placental
mammal, it was
introduced a very long time ago by Aboriginal People, and is not found
anywhere else in the world.
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The most unique of our birds is emu.
There are other
ratites (ostriches
etc) found on other continents, but emu is native to Australia.
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Our most unique reptile
is
the saltwater
crocodile - the largest
crocodile
in the world
and a man eater. We also have many unique turtles,
frogs
and insects.
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And finally, we have the world's largest coral
reef with many
unique
species found nowhere else in the world.
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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