AUSTRALIA

Why does Australia have this unique collection of life ?

            Australia once had the same animal population as the supercontinent it was attached to. Geographic forces separated Australia from the other areas  55 million years ago.              

Placenta mammals couldn't evolve because of the aridity of the continent. Marsupials and monotremes came to dominate.

Monotremes     they are mammals which lay eggs

platypus                                             echidna

                                                                                                          an anteater

Marsupials        they are mammals whose young are born very immature. Most females have a  pouch in which they rear their young.

koala                                                   numbat

                                                                                            pouchless, anteater

Flightless birds   they evolved from birds that could fly because they had few predators from which they needed to escape.

cassowary                                  emu

a frugivore bird                                                   it can run up to 50km per hour

Rabbits and Toads

Rabbits

In 1859 Thomas Austin brought out 24 rabbits and released them on his property for hunting purposes. Within 10 years two millions could be shot without having any noticeable effect on their population. They compete with native wildlife and are responsible for the extinction of many plant and animal species.

distribution of wild rabbits (the brown part)

Cane toads

They were introduced in 1935 to control insects that were destroying sugarcane crops. They are 200 millions now.Some of them are growing. They can reach over 4kg the size of a little dog. They were supposed to be a solution to a problem, now they are the problem.

The aborigines

They migrated from somewhere in Asia. The aborigines' culture goes back at least 50,000 years. They have strong spiritual beliefs that tie them to the land. They were hunter-gatherers and respected the environment.

Very old rock carvings can be found.

They have had a difficult colonial history.

The aboriginal flag

It was designed in 1971 by an aboriginal artist Harold Thomas.

The black represents the people

The red stands for the earth

The yellow symbolizes the sun, the giver of life

Intermediate
English exercise "Australia" created by lili73 (20-06-2007) with The test builder
Click here to see the current stats of this English test


1. The platypus is a marsupialkind of duckmonotreme
2. Which of these flags is the Australian flag ? 1 2 3 123
3. Why are there flightless birds ? because they were too heavy to flywe don't knowbecause they had few predators
4. The emu can run up to 50km per hour20km per hour70km per hour
5. The red of the aboriginal flag stands for the peoplethe landthe sun
6. What is the name of the first inhabitants of Australia ? the melanesiansthe maoristhe aborigines
7. How many toads are there now ? 20,000,0002,000,000200,000,000
8. How do you spell the name of the animal which is jumping above the title 'Australia' kangarookangoorookangoroo