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    Learn English > English lessons and exercises > English test #23016: Australia
    > Other English exercises on the same topic: Countries and nationalities [Change theme]
    > Similar tests: - Geography-Vocabulary - Nationalities - Foreign-foreigner-strange-stranger - Population growth - Countries - Atacama Desert, Chile - Global warming in the Arctic - Himalayas, India: valley of flowers
    > Double-click on words you don't understand


    Australia


                         

                         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. There are over 200 million of them 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

     

     

     





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    English exercise "Australia" created by lili73 with The test builder. [More lessons & exercises from lili73]
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    1. The platypus is a

    2. Which of these flags is the Australian flag ? 1 2 3

    3. Why are there flightless birds ?

    4. The emu can run up to

    5. The red of the aboriginal flag stands for

    6. What is the name of the first inhabitants of Australia ?

    7. How many toads are there now ?

    8. How do you spell the name of the animal which is jumping above the title 'Australia'










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