Why is australia fauna unique

The Saltwater Crocodile also known as Estuarine Crocodile is a near-perfect predator—the result of millions of years of evolution. It is a ferocious, expert hunter that commands respect and fear. The salty is the largest reptile in the world with adult males growing up to 6m in length and weighing 1, to 1,kg.

Have you ever wondered why it keeps its mouth open in the sun? A crocodile cannot sweat, so instead it relies on the process of thermoregulation to control its body temperature. To avoid overheating, it will either go into the water or lie still with jaws agape, allowing cool air to circulate over the skin in its mouth. This process is crucial for many bodily functions including digestion and movement.

The pre-poop dancing and bum wiping routine of the Mistletoebird plays a vital role in the life cycle of this little native bird with its highly adapted diet. After these sweet little red-breasted birds eat mistletoe berries, it defecates by twisting its body sideways, then purposely wipes its poop on the branch its perched on.

The seeds of the berries, which are still intact, are sticky after passing through the digestive tract of the bird. These sticky seeds cling to the branch of their host tree and grow.

The parasitic mistletoe only grows high up on other trees and so this relationship ensures both the bird and bush can survive. The Tasmanian Devil, once seen throughout mainland Australia, can now only be found in Tasmania.

Fox dens, for example, are very smelly and quite messy, so the devil can quickly sniff them out. Such helpful little devils! Learn about our impact in Australia, latest news and more. The Echidna has porcupine-like spines, a bird-like beak, quoll-like pouch and lays eggs like a reptile. It also feeds their young on milk like all mammals but have no nipples — the milk just oozes out of the skin in the pouch and the puggle baby echidna licks it up.

There are four species of echidnas, including the Short-beaked Echidna found throughout Australia in places like the Great Western Woodlands. This family oriented bird does its communal call to establish the territory of the family unit and warn off other kookaburras. The family unit may vocalise together like a chorus to amplify their claim to their territory.

If any rival families are within earshot they too may respond. Interestingly, researchers have found that members of a family unit laugh in a similar manner. The Numbat is an endangered small marsupial that survives in southwest Western Australia. Due to its small size, the Numbat is hunted by many animals like feral cats, foxes, dingoes and birds of prey. Because it solely on termites which are active by day, the Numbat is the only diurnal opposite of nocturnal marsupial.

It spends nights hiding in hollow logs or burrows that are too narrow for its predators to enter. To further protect itself from predators at night, it uses its very thick-skinned rump to block the entrance. It can't be that dangerous! Climatic and geologic events helped Australia to form its unique fauna. Australia was part of Gondwana , the huge super-continent of the southern hemisphere. About 50 million years ago Australia became an island.

Due to this isolation and the lack of predators, Australia's unique fauna developed. Marsupials that originated in Gondwana adapted in Australia, and survived until today. Australia's climate became drier about 15 million years ago, resulting in more uniquely adapted species. Now this is only a very short introduction into the geology of Australia. I really don't want to bother you with a lengthy scientific excursion.

If you are interested to read more, you'll find some interesting books at the bottom of this page. Kangaroos and Koalas are marsupials everyone outside Australia knows. They just represent Australia's famous wildlife. With a little luck and patience, you'll see them in their natural habitat when you travel around Australia. Okay, it's not always their natural habitat anymore, but you can really meet them outside of wildlife parks.

Kangaroo resting beside a track at Arcaroola Station, SA. Marsupials don't have a placenta. The young are born in a very immature state, make their way through their mothers' fur to the pouch where say stay until fully developed.

Wallabies, wombats and possums are other well-known marsupials in Australia. The third group of mammals are the monotremes , warm-blooded animals that lay eggs. The echidna and platypus are the only survivor of monotremes and are indigenous to Australia and New Guinea.

When the first Europeans sent a pelt and a sketch of a platypus back home to Great Britain, British scientists thought it was a hoax. Platypus and Echidna are certainly the most unique Australian animals. Among Australia's species of birds about are endemic. The songbirds include species like wrens, robins, magpies and many more. And then there are all the colourful parrots and cockatoos. The budgerigar is certainly the best known Australian parrot in the world.

Pelicans waiting for fish These pelicans expect to get their daily dinner at the fish-cleaning station, Streaky Bay Caravan Park. Waterbirds are represented by about species like the Australian pelican, jabiru, ducks and herons. Take your time, sit down and watch Australia's amazing birdlife. Listen to the foreign sounds, enjoy the colourful species. The larger brush-tailed possum, roughly the size of a house cat, typically gives birth within 17 days of pregnancy.

The Virginia opossum — which is the lone marsupial species found in North America — can give birth to as many as 20 babies just 13 days after pregnancy. Such is the case for the koala bear, which is not, in fact, a member of the bear family. The koala diet is limited to one menu item: eucalyptus leaves, which are poisonous to almost all other animals. When historic wildfires devastated millions of acres in Australia in late and early , they ravaged not only the koala population, but eucalyptus forests as well.

The situation has sparked questions about whether eucalyptus can grow back quick enough. Otherwise, koalas need to rapidly diversify their diet. Can they adapt? Beyond the scope of that immediate crisis, the greater threat to the unusual ecosystem and wildlife of Australia remains human conflict, similar to conservation work around the globe, according to Stalf: "It's about coexistence between wildlife and humans.

That, unfortunately, is our number one problem with conservation. Register or Log In.