Australia is a unique continent comprising 6climatic zones, each of which has its own natural conditions, fauna and flora: deserts, seashore, tropical forests, mountain peaks. Most of the representatives of the animals of Australia are endemic, living exclusively on its territory. This was due to the fact that for many millennia the mainland existed separately from other parts of the land.
Australian fauna includes about 400 species.variety of animals, among which 83-93% are unique. The main feature of the continent - the absence of predators, mammals, the only representative of which - the dog dingo - is the enemy of numerous sheep herds. Also in Australia there have never been ruminants.
Some species could not survive after settling.mainland natives (marsupial giants) and European settlers (Tasmanian tiger). To protect the environment and wildlife in the country created a large number of protected and protected areas.
The main categories of representatives of the animal world of Australia:
Also introduced and introduced species live here: ungulates, hares and siren Dugong.
For the 5th continent, the following mammals are endemic:
Australia's marsupial animals are unique speciesarisen in the process of evolution of live-bearing mammals, which occurred 120 million years ago. Due to geographic isolation and favorable climate, this class of fauna is well preserved. A common feature is the presence of a bag that opens at the back or front, in which the young live after birth. The female with the help of special muscles injects milk into their mouth, because the babies themselves are not yet able to suck.
Other distinctive features are the special structure of the bones of the pelvis and lower jaw, which allows scientists to accurately identify the found fossil bones and residues.
Let us consider in more detail the most interesting and original animals of Australia, photos with names, descriptions and interesting details.
When a child or adult is asked a question aboutwhat animals live in Australia, the most popular answer is kangaroo. They are bright representatives of the fauna of the 5th continent and are depicted on the emblem of the country.
Favorite habitats of gray eastern kangaroos (lat Macropus) - rain forests and flat areas with largeamount of vegetation. The size of males in height is 2-3 m, females - a little less. Body color: gray-brown. The front paws are small in size - they are used for digging up the roots and tubers of the plants, the hind ones are more developed - they are designed for jumping, in which the animal is a champion: they can jump up to 9 meters in length and 3 meters in height. The tail for them plays the role of support and helps maintain balance during movement.
Kangaroos live in families (mobs), includinga male leader (boomer) and several females; this also includes young growing males. Observing a clear hierarchy, such groups can live and eat in the neighborhood, but within the family, the male sets the order. Life expectancy on average up to 18 years.
The kangaroo breeding process is prettyoriginal: the cub is born similar to a worm up to 2.5 cm in size and weighing 1 g. Its main task is to crawl to the mother's bag, where he gets along the path in the fur, which the female wets with the tongue. Having settled in the nest bag, the baby grows, feeding on mother's milk up to 1.5 years. Only then he becomes independent and adult.
The main diet: succulent herbs and green parts of plants. Natural enemy: the dog dingo.
Nambat, or marsupial anteater, inhabitsAustralia’s southwestern region in eucalyptus and acacia forests. Body size: up to 27 cm, tail - up to 17 cm. Males are usually larger than females, both have a beautiful fluffy tail.
This unique animal of Australia hasoriginal tongue: its length is up to 10 cm, covered with a sticky secret, to which insects stick. The main food of the anteater is termites and ants (about 20 thousand daily). He gets them with the help of the language of the most inaccessible places.
Anteaters live alone and only in the periodbreeding communicate with each other. They nimbly climb trees, hiding from danger in hollows. After fertilization, after 2 weeks, 2-4 babies are born to a female, about 1 cm in size, which up to 4 months hang on the mother's nipples and feed on milk. Bags for kids they do not have, despite the name. They live with their mother for 9 months, the last of which are already in the hole.
Natural enemies: dingoes, foxes, birds of prey.
The marsupial hell or devil is the largest predator,inhabiting the island of Tasmania. This is a marsupial animal that looks like a bear. He got his “diabolical” nickname for being illegible in the diet: he feeds on the rotting remains of victims, which he eats with bones and skin. The sounds that he makes are heard for hundreds of meters, they convey his aggression and are able to intimidate any person.
The beast is not very large (weight up to 12 kg), but the strength of its teeth allows it to gnaw through any bones, even large animals.
These mammals are uniquerepresentatives of the fauna of the fifth continent, which combines a special method of reproduction and rearing of the young. To do this, they have a "bag" in which the babies live the first months of their lives, feeding on their mother's milk.
Bright representatives of the marsupial wildlife of Australia:
Wild Dog, or Dingo (lat Canis lupus dingo) - the only predator in Australia living onplains and sparse forest zones. Outwardly, it resembles a small dog of a pale-red color. The dingo is also the only non-sticky animal in which full-fledged babies are born.
Lifestyle - mostly nightlife, which takes place in the hunt for other animals or the study of the territory. Dingos live in groups, life expectancy of 5-10 years.
There are usually 4-6 puppies in a litter that are born after a pregnancy lasting up to 69 days. Food ration: rabbits, wallabies, reptiles or carrion.
These cute animals occupy the 2nd place in Australia's world popularity among animals of Australia (photo below) for their appearance and tranquility. Koalas (lat Phascolarctos cinereus) are the only representativesof the same family, live on eucalyptus trees and feed on their leaves. Almost all day they sleep (18-20 hours a day), clinging to the trunk or branches with their paws, at night they will slowly climb over the branches, chewing food and putting it into cheek pouches.
Название переводится как «нет воды», что implies its absence in the diet: they get moisture from the leaves themselves (the daily rate is 1 kg of greens). The size of koalas can reach 90 cm, weight - up to 15 kg, thick hair has a gray or brown-red shade. By nature, they are friendly and trusting, and the young are calm to sit on the hands of a man.
Carrying babies lasts 30-35 days,Then 1-2 cubs weighing 5 g and 15-18 mm long are born, which are taken into the mother's bag, where they live for another six months. Last month the female feeds them with feces consisting of semi-digested eucalyptus leaves. This gives kids the opportunity to get special bacteria that in the future will help him properly digest food.
Then the cub roams for several months with its mother, sitting on its back, and only at the age of one year it becomes independent.
This Australian animal is covered with spines, which are modified keratin hairs. They help the animal to defend itself against enemies (dingos, foxes and wild cats). Echidna (lat Tachyglossus aculeatus) can reach a length of 40 cm with a weight of up to 6 kg, has an elongated muzzle. When meeting with a predator, it folds into a ball and puts out spikes.
Main diet:ants and termites, which are harvested with a sticky tongue. When breeding, it lays a single egg, hatched from which the cub lives in a bag and receives milk from the mother’s special glands.
Another original water animalAustralia has an unusual appearance: a flat beak, an otter-like body, a tail like that of a beaver, and its paws have membranes like ducks. The length of the body of this mammal is 30-40 cm, weight 2.4 kg, the fur has water-repellent properties, which allows the animal to live in the water, remaining dry.
The platypus feeds on (lat Ornithorhynchus anatinus) crustaceans, frogs, insects, snails,small fish and algae, which they detect using a variety of receptors on the skin of the beak on the principle of echolocation. The animals have toxic saliva, and in the male duck-bills, the hind legs are equipped with poisonous spurs, the injection of which can cause severe pain in humans.
Females lay 2 eggs in a specially dugmink with a nest of leaves and grass. Cubs are selected from the shell with an egg tooth, which then falls off. They are blind and naked (size 2.5 cm), they feed on mother's milk, which protrudes through the pores on her stomach, but there are no nipples. Eyes in babies open at almost 3 months of age.
The platypuses were almost completely exterminated at the beginning.The twentieth century because of the valuable fur, from which fur coats were sewn. However, after the prohibition of hunting their population was able to recover. The animal is a symbol of Australia and is depicted on one of the coins.
This biggest flightless bird is brightAn example of what animals live in Australia. Casuaries live in tropical forests, but it is difficult to see them in nature: because of fearfulness, they hide in thick thickets.
The main feature of the appearance of the bird isbone growth at the top of the head, the purpose of which scientists still have not been able to unravel. The bird's body is covered with soft long feathers everywhere, except for brightly colored in blue and turquoise tones of the neck and head, from which also red “earrings” hang down.
The wings of the cassowary in the process of evolutionatrophied, but there are strong legs with 3 toes equipped with claws up to 12 cm long. Thanks to such strong limbs, the bird is able to reach a running speed of up to 50 km / h.
The diet consists of small animals and fruits.Cassowals are solitary, finding mates only for the mating period. After laying the eggs for the female, the male is engaged in incubation, which never leaves the nest before hatching. Young appear quite viable and immediately begin to lead an active life, moving with his father in search of food. The family exists up to one year old chicks.
Another representative of the family of casuaruis an emu - a bird similar to an ostrich. Its height reaches 1.8 m, weight - up to 55 kg. It differs from African brothers in the hair-like structure of feathers, which, because of their length, resemble a hay collection. Typical ostrich features: flattened beak and auricles. The plumage is mostly black-brown, the neck and head are black, and the eyes have an orange iris.
Emu Habitat:the continent of Australia and the shores of the island of Tasmania, loves thickets of shrubs and grass savannas. They live singly, sometimes in groups of up to 5 birds. Running speed can reach 50 km / h, excellent vision allows you to notice enemies from a distance and keep them close. A kick may result in a bone fracture for a person.
Like cassowary, incubating 7-8 blue socketseggs laid by the female, is engaged in the future "father" for 2 months. Further development of the chicks also takes place under its vigilant supervision and care until 2 years of age.
Natural enemies: dingos, monitor lizards, foxes and humans.However, emu reproduce well in captivity, so their number on farms in the USA, China, Peru and Australia reaches 1 million individuals. They are grown for the sake of tasty meat, beautiful feathers, fats for the cosmetic industry and leather for fancy goods.
In Australia, there are many poisonous snakes, representatives of the family aspidovyh. Mostly they are small and feed on rodents, only some of them pose a threat to humans.
Crested lizard (lat.Chlamydosaurus kingii) belongs to the Agam family, its main difference is a large bright fold of skin in the form of a collar, which the animal inflates around the head in the form of a raincoat in case of danger. Such a "cloak" is used for thermoregulation of the body and attracting attention in the mating season. The color of the lizard is yellow-brown or darker gray-black, the size of the body is 0.8-1 m, of which 2/3 is a long tail, which is not able to be regenerated.
They live in trees, going down onlyafter the rain, they hunt arthropods, arachnids, rarely catch small mammals. Greater fame for such lizards brought an interesting way of running on its hind legs. In captivity, these animals can live up to 20 years.
A variety of amphibian species reaches 112, which are represented by real frogs, pond and grass, tree frogs and whistles, short-tailed and tailed frogs, etc.
One of their bright unique representativesAustralia's amphibious animals are tree frogs of the genus Litoria, which are distinguished by a variety of species (more than 150), sizes (from 1.6 to 13.5 cm) and bright colors. Nature rewarded them with binocular vision and the ability to "stick" to the surface of tree branches with adhesive stickies on the legs.
The above descriptions of animals in Australia demonstrate the diversity and uniqueness of the fauna of the continent, because most of them do not live anywhere in the world in the wild.
