Viewing Australia
Features
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* National Parks and World Heritage Sites
* Fauna and Flora
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The ancient landmass of Australia, once part of the mega continent of Gondwana, split away from its neighbours some 50 million years ago. This long isolation has produced some extraordinary flora and fauna - much of it found nowhere else on earth - and these can be seen throughout the continent's reserves and national parks.
Australia's best-known animals are its marsupials - mammals that give birth to tiny young which go on to develop in the mother's pouch. Kangaroos, wallabies, Tasmanian devils, wombats and their closest relatives, koalas, are all marsupials. The primitive monotremes are even more extraordinary: although mammals, the spiny echidna and the water-dwelling, billed platypus lay eggs. Reptiles include two types of crocodiles and many snakes, and Australia has a profusion of colourful and noisy birds, such as the splendidly hued lorikeet and the famous `laughing' kookaburra.
The continent has over 15,000 flowering plant species, including 550 varieties of the classic Australian tree, the eucalyptus. This amazing plant takes many forms and can survive in climates and soils as varied as those of the southern snowfields and the central deserts. There is an incredible range of wild flowers, many of which are found nowhere else, while the far north harbours tropical rainforest so ancient and special that it is World Heritage listed.
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