Australia broke away from Gondwana around 50 million years ago and its animals evolved in isolation. The result: roughly 87 percent of mammals, 93 percent of reptiles, 94 percent of frogs and 45 percent of birds are found nowhere else on earth.
Marsupials
There are about 30 to 50 million kangaroos in Australia — more kangaroos than people. The red kangaroo is the largest marsupial alive, standing up to two metres, covering nine metres in a single bound and reaching 70 km/h.
The koala is not a bear. It sleeps 18 to 22 hours a day because eucalyptus leaves are low in energy and toxic to almost everything else. In February 2022 it was listed as endangered in New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT after habitat loss and the 2019–20 fires.
The wombat is the only animal known to produce cube-shaped droppings — it stacks them to mark territory, and the researchers who explained the mechanism won an Ig Nobel Prize in 2019.
Monotremes
Only five species of egg-laying mammal exist, and Australia has all of them. The platypus has a duck-like bill that detects the electrical fields of prey, webbed feet, and a venomous spur on the male's hind leg — enough to hospitalise a person. The four species of echidna are the other monotremes.
Birds
The kookaburra's call sounds like human laughter and functions as a territorial claim, usually at dawn. The cassowary of far north Queensland stands up to 1.8 metres with a dagger-like inner claw and is treated with genuine caution. The lyrebird mimics anything it hears — including chainsaws and camera shutters.
How dangerous is it, really
Australia has 21 of the world's 25 most venomous snakes, including the inland taipan. It also has excellent antivenom. Snakes kill roughly two people a year; bees kill more. No one has died from a Sydney funnel-web spider since antivenom arrived in 1981.
Sharks kill one or two people annually. Saltwater crocodiles — up to six metres, the largest reptile on earth — are a serious northern hazard: obey every warning sign, never swim in unmarked northern rivers, and stand back from the water's edge.
The genuine dangers are duller: sun, dehydration and rip currents, which drown around a hundred people a year. Swim between the red and yellow flags.
Where to see animals in the wild
- Kangaroo Island, South Australia — kangaroos, sea lions, koalas in one compact place.
- Phillip Island, Victoria — the nightly Penguin Parade of little penguins crossing the beach at dusk.
- Raymond Island, Victoria — a free ferry to a koala colony you walk among.
- Cradle Mountain, Tasmania — wombats grazing at dusk near Ronny Creek.
- Magnetic Island, Queensland — wild koalas on the Forts Walk.
- For guaranteed close-ups, Healesville Sanctuary near Melbourne and Lone Pine in Brisbane both run serious conservation programmes.