Australian Wildlife

Australian wildlife

The Araucaria Wildlife page lists the animals you might see on our tours.

Links on this page take you to some introductory information on mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates of Australia

For some further details also visit our other Australian wildlife facts site

Why Australian Wildlife is Different

Australia was once part of the great southern super-continent Gondwana.

About 50 million years ago Australia and New Guinea jointly drifted away from Antarctica, this event being the final breakup of the huge southern contnient Gondwana (which had also included South America, Africa, Madagascar and India).

Australia broke away before any hoofed animals, cats, bear, monkeys, rodents or other placental mammals had a chance to get even close to it, but did have monotremes (egg-laying mammals) and maruspials (mammals whose young are born at a very immature stage and attach firmly to a terat inside a pouch or btween protective flaps of skin for the next few weeks). As it drifted northwards, Australia was isolated from other continents for many millions of years.

Thus its fauna and flora include many species whose ancestors were in Gondwana, some of which, like the freshwater turtles, tree frogs and land snails, still somewhat resemble their cousins across the sea, while others, like the kangaroos, platypus and lyrebirds, are remarkably different from animals on any other continent.