Top 9 Amazing Australian Animals

Due to millions of years of isolation, Australia is home to many unique species of plants and animals. Interestingly, more than 80% of Australia’s animals and plants found nowhere else in the world. Here the list of 9 amazing Australian Animals.

9

Dingo

Interesting Facts About Dingo

• Dingo is an amazing wild dog found in Australia. It is believed to be dingoes were introduced to Australia by Indonesian seafarers about 5000 years ago. Dingoes live in the wide range of habitats including woodlands, forests, deserts and grasslands.
• Dingoes can be 3.5-4 feet in body length and up to 15 kg in weight. Their short and soft fur comes in golden, reddish or light brown colors.
• They live alone or in a small group that contain up to 10 members.
• Dingoes are the Australia’s largest terrestrial predator. They hunt alone or in groups. The group attack from dingoes normally happens to kill a larger prey like Kangaroos. The diet of dingoes consists of rabbits, rats, wallaby, magpie goose and kangaroos.
• To communicate with each other, dingoes howl like the wolves.

8

Greater Bilby

Interesting Facts About Greater Bilby

• Greater bilby is a ground dwelling omnivorous animal that endemic to Australia. They inhabit in woodlands and semi-arid shrublands.
• The greater bilby measure up to 55 cm in length and between 0.5 and 2.5 kg in weight. They are famed for their pointed snout and long ears. The soft, silky coat of greater bilbies are blue-grey in color. The female bilbies are smaller than the males.
• Greater bilbies are solitary animals and they come together only during mating season.
• Greater bilbies are powerful diggers and live in long, deep burrows. The burrows of greater bilbies can be up to 3 meters in length. So that greater bilbies can’t be easily found by predators like dingoes, red foxes or feral cats.
• They are nocturnal creatures and only come out at night to find food. They spend whole daytime in resting in their long burrows. Greater bilbies mainly feed on fruits, seeds, larvae and fungi.

7

Black Swan

Interesting Facts About Black Swan

• The black swans are large waterbirds that mainly found in wetlands and freshwaters in Southern Australia. As the name suggest its body is almost black with white wingtips. They also have striking red bills.
• The large black swans have a length between 1m and 1.4 m and weigh up to 9 kg. The wingspan of black swans measure between 1.5 m and 2 m.
• On flight, the black swans will make ‘V’ like formation.
• Black swans breed between February and September. During his period, they built nest using grasses and weeds. They lay 4-7 eggs in the breeding seasons and incubate them for 30-45 days.
• After breeding season, black swans undergo molting and it will over a month for the regrowth.
• Black swans eat plants, aquatic plants, grasses and grains.

6

Echidna

Interesting Facts About Echidna

• Echidna is a small primitive found mainly in Australia. Their small body is covered with both fur and spines. The spines of echidnas are actually modified hair made of keratin. These long spines help the echidnas to defend against the predators. Echidnas are also known for their long snout.
• Echidnas measure only 13-17.5 inches in length and up to 6 kg in weight.
• When sensing the danger from predators like dingoes, feral cats or red foxes, the echidnas will curl into a ball like a shape and expose their long spines.
• Echidnas are also known as spiny anteater because they have sticky, long tongue like an anteater and they use it to catch ants and termites. They also have no teeth.
• Echidnas are among the only two existing egg laying mammals called monotremes. The platypus is another egg laying mammal in the world.
• Instead of nipples like other mammals, echidnas have special glands in their pouches that produce milk.
• To detect the underground prey like ants or termites, echidnas use their keen sense of smell.

5

Wombat

Interesting Facts About Wombat

• Wombat is a strange looking animal native to Southeastern Australia. They live in open grasslands or mountainous areas. There are three species of wombats in total – bare-nosed wombat and two hairy-nosed wombats.
• Wombats grow between 30 inches and 45 inches and weigh up to 36 kg. Their fur comes in grey, brown or black in color.
• Wombats live in burrows. With the strong front teeth and powerful claws they can make burrows up to the length of 1 meter.
• The hairy-nosed wombats are very social and live in colonies. But the bare-nosed wombats are solitary and they dig their own burrows.
• With the powerful legs, the wombats can reach up to a speed of 25 miles per hour.
• Wombats are nocturnal creatures which forage for food only at night. Their diet consists of grasses, roots, sedges and roots.

4

Emu

Interesting Facts About Emu

• Standing at a height of 6 feet and weigh between 54 kg and 58 kg, the emu is Australia’s largest living bird. It is also the third largest living bird in the world, agster South Cassowary and Ostrich. This flightless bird found in woodlands, grasslands and forests of Australia.
• Emus have a long neck with a sharp beak. Their feather is soft and light brown in color. The legs are long and strong with three toes on each foot. Emus also have long, sharp talons on each foot which help them to fight against the predators.
• With the strong legs, emus can hit a speed of 30 miles per hour. They are also excellent swimmers.
• They mate during summer and lay 8-10 dark-green colored eggs. The incubation by the male bird lasts for about 8 weeks.
• Emus are omnivorous birds, which mean they eat both plants and animals. They mainly feed on flowers, rodents, buds, insects, and lizards. Like ostriches, the emus also swallow small rocks to grind the food.

3

Platypus

Interesting Facts About Platypus

• The platypus is one of the most unusual and strange looking animals in the world. Because they have flat bill like a duck, a tail like a beaver and a body like an otter. This strange but amazing platypuses are endemic to Eastern Australia.
• An adult platypus measure 12-15 inches in length and up to 2.4 kg in weight. They have very dense, thick, waterproof fur that help their body to remain warm in the water. Platypus also have webbed feet like a duck which aid in swimming.
• The suck-like flat bill of platypuses is actually a sensory organ which features thousands of receptors. It allows platypuses to detect the prey such as shell fishes or shrimps.
• Unlike females, the male platypuses are very dangerous, because only they have venom-producing spurs on the hind legs. This venom is not lethal to humans but very painful.
• Platypus is belonged to family of egg laying mammals known as monotremes. There are only two living monotremes in the world – platypus and echidna.

2

Koala

Interesting Facts About Koala

• Koala is a tree dwelling animal native to Australia. This cute creature has strong resemblance with bears, but it is actually a marsupial mammal. They found in eucalyptus forests and woodlands of Southeastern Australia.
• Koalas can be reach 24-35 inches in length and weigh up to 15 kg. Koalas are renowned for their thick, wooly fur that comes in grey or reddish brown in color.
• Koala is a nocturnal animal. They spend most of their lifetime in resting on trees. In fact, Koalas are well adapted to life on trees. The strong limbs aid in climbing and rough paws provide excellent grip.
• The word koala means ‘no water’. As the name suggests, koalas drink very little water. Because they get enough moisture from the eucalyptus leaves they eat. They eat up to 1kg of eucalyptus leaves each day.
• There are about 700 different types of eucalyptus in the world. But koalas only feed 40-50 types of eucalyptus. With acute sense of smell, koalas can differentiate different types of eucalyptus.

1

Kangaroo

Interesting Facts About Kangaroo

• The amazing kangaroos are only found in Australia. They found in variety of habitats including forests, woodlands, grassy plains and savannahs. There are four types of kangaroos – red kangaroo, antilopine kangaroo, eastern grey kangaroo and western grey kangaroo, all are endemic to Australia.
• Kangaroos are the national symbol of Australia. Interestingly, there are more kangaroos than humans in Australia.
• The red kangaroo is the largest species of Kangaroo and the largest terrestrial mammal of Australia. An adult red kangaroo has a length between 1.3m and 1.6m and weighs up to 90kg.
• Kangaroos are the only large mammals that use hop as the main method of locomotion. With long, powerful legs kangaroos can cover a distance of 15 feet in a single hop.
• The female kangaroo has pouches where newborn, undeveloped babies called joeys stay for about 9 months, until they develop enough live in the outside world.
• Kangaroos are extremely social and live in groups called mobs or herd. Typically a mob of kangaroos contains 50 or more members.
• Kangaroos are herbivorous animals. They feed on leaves, flowers, ferns, insects and grasses.