Australia’s Unique Animals

Australia’s isolation from the rest of the world over millions of years has led to the evolution of forms of life found nowhere else. Probably the strangest of all is the platypus. This monotreme (egg-laying marsupial) has webbed feet, a ducklike bill, and a tail like a beaver’s. It lays eggs, and the young suckle from their mother. When a specimen was first brought back to Europe, skeptical scientists insisted it was a fake —a concoction of several different animals sewn together. Then there’s the koala. This fluffy marsupial eats virtually indigestible gum (eucalyptus) leaves and sleeps about 20 hours a day.
There’s only one koala species, although those found in Victoria are much larger than their brethren in more northern climes. Australia is also famous for kangaroos. There are 45 different kinds of kangaroos and wallabies, ranging from small rat-size kangaroos to the man-size red kangaroos. The animal you’re most likely to come across in your trip is the possum, named by Captain James Cook after the North American “opossum,” which he thought they resembled. (They actually aren’t related at all.) The brush-tailed possum is commonly found in suburban gardens, including those in Sydney. Then there’s the wombat. There are four species of this bulky burrower in Australia, but the common wombat is most frequently found. You may come across the smaller hairy-nosed wombat in South Australia and Western Australia.