A hop around Australia

Have you ever seen these animals?

They are called wombats and they are mammals and also marsupials. They are native only to Australia and they look somewhat like a little bear.

There are two basic kinds of wombats, the common wombat, and the hairy nosed wombat. They are nocturnal grazers, they eat mainly grasses and roots and live in large burrows up to 30 meters long. They are extremely strong and very proficient diggers.

They can be anything from a sandy color to brown or black to grey. The average wombat is about 1 meter long and weighs about 25 kg .

They can live from about 5 years to over 30 years.

Now would you like to see a wombat and his house?

Well yes... this is a very big fish with VERY big teeth!! It's called a great white shark. Its the most dangerous of all sharks and is the only one that can lift its head out of the water. But this is not the only shark that lives in Australian waters, luckily most of them are not as dangerous as the great white.

There is the whale shark which is the biggest fish in the world but does not eat people only plankton!

There is the tiger shark which is also very dangerous. It will eat anything... they have even found in its stomach cushions from boats and alarm clocks!!

And there is the Mako, which is the fastest shark, swimming at more than 7o km. per hour. It can jump out of the water, even into boats!!

And finally there is Bruce....

Yes... This is Darwin's favourite animal!!

In Australia there are two kinds of crocodile: the Estuarine, a saltwater crocodile and Johnsons, a freshwater crocodile. Both are found in the hot, tropical northern part of the continent.

The Estuarine crocodile, can live in salt water and is also able to go quite far up river into fresh water. It is one of the most dangerous of all the crocodile family, being the biggest and heaviest. It grows to between 4 and 7 metres long.

The Johnsons crocodile lives mostly in freshwater, but can also live in salt water. It grows up to 3 metres long. It is considered to be dangerous even though it is not known for attacking humans. Their long, flattened tail moves from side to side as they swim through the water, with their legs by their sides. Their movement in the water is powered by their tail. The legs are short with webbed toes, five on the front legs and four on the back legs. On land, crocodiles can run very quickly, lifting their bodies up off the ground.

All crocodiles have eyes and nostrils are on the top part of the head so that they can lie in the water almost completely hidden from view. Crocodiles have very strong jaws. They do not chew their food. They swallow it in large chunks. Crocodiles grab their prey and move to deep water, where they roll over to drown the animal. They can leap high out of the water to reach their prey if necessary.

Would you like to see crocodiles with a very famous Australian man called Steve Irwin...

The emu is the largest bird in Australia, and the second largest in the world after the ostrich. Emus have long necks, sharp beaks and small ears. They have two sets of eyelids, one for blinking and one to keep out the dust. Their feet are long, with three toes. One toe on each foot has a long talon, for fighting.

Emu feathers are soft and light-brown with dark tips. They can grow to between 1.5 – 2 metres in height and weigh up to 60 kg. Males are slightly smaller than females. Males make a grunting sound like a pig and females make a loud booming sound.

Emus are found only in Australia. They live in most of the less-populated areas of the continent and although they can survive in most regions, they avoid dense forest and severe desert. They have been living in Australia for a very long time. Originally there were three species of emu, but now there is only one.

If you'd like to discover more about emus click on this link....