Australian Animals: 25 Native Species and What Makes Them Unique

Why are Australian animals so unique?

Australia was once part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana. It separated from Antarctica around 50 million years ago and drifted north on its own, carrying ancient groups such as marsupials and monotremes with it. On other continents, placental mammals came to dominate, but in Australia marsupials evolved into grazers, climbers, burrowers and hunters.

The result is a fauna found nowhere else. More than 90% of Australia’s reptiles and frogs are endemic, meaning they live only there, and close to 70% of the world’s 334 or so marsupial species live in Australia and New Guinea. The only native placental land mammals are bats, rodents and the dingo.

Kangaroos and other marsupials

1. Red kangaroo

The red kangaroo is the largest living marsupial. Big males weigh 55–90 kg (121–198 lb) and can stand more than 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall, while females are much smaller. It lives on the dry plains of inland Australia, can reach about 60 km/h (37 mph) and covers 8–9 m (26–30 ft) in a single bound.

2. Koala

The koala is a tree-dwelling marsupial of eastern and southeastern Australia that eats almost nothing but eucalyptus leaves and sleeps for much of the day to save energy. It is not a bear. The IUCN lists it as Vulnerable, and in 2022 Australia listed koalas in Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory as Endangered.

3. Common wombat

The common wombat is a stocky burrowing marsupial of southeastern Australia and Tasmania, up to about 1.2 m (3.9 ft) long and 35 kg (77 lb). Its pouch opens toward the back, so it does not fill with soil while the mother digs. Wombats are famous for producing cube-shaped droppings, which they leave on rocks and logs to mark territory.

4. Tasmanian devil

The Tasmanian devil is the largest surviving carnivorous marsupial, about the size of a small dog, with one of the strongest bites for its size of any mammal. Today it lives only in Tasmania and is mostly a scavenger. Since the late 1990s, a contagious facial cancer called devil facial tumor disease has killed large numbers, and the species has been listed as Endangered since 2008.

5. Quokka

The quokka is a cat-sized wallaby of 2.5–5 kg (5.5–11 lb), best known from Rottnest Island and Bald Island off Western Australia. The upturned corners of its mouth make it look as if it is smiling, which has made it a favorite of tourist selfies. It is listed as Vulnerable.

6. Numbat

The numbat is a small, striped marsupial of Western Australia, weighing 280–700 g (10–25 oz), that feeds almost only on termites, licking up to 20,000 a day with its long, sticky tongue. Unusually for a small marsupial, it is active by day, when termites are near the surface. It is the animal emblem of Western Australia.

7. Greater bilby

The greater bilby is a burrowing desert marsupial with long rabbit-like ears and a long snout. It comes out at night to feed on insects, seeds, fruit and fungi. Many Australians celebrate the “Easter Bilby” instead of the Easter bunny, partly to raise awareness of the damage done by introduced rabbits. It is listed as Vulnerable.

Monotremes: mammals that lay eggs

8. Platypus

The platypus of eastern Australian rivers has a duck-like bill, a beaver-like tail and webbed feet, and it lays eggs. It hunts underwater with its eyes, ears and nostrils closed, finding insect larvae and shrimps by sensing the tiny electrical signals of their muscles. Males have a venomous spur on each hind leg that can cause extreme pain. It is listed as Near Threatened.

9. Short-beaked echidna

The short-beaked echidna is a spiny, ant- and termite-eating mammal found across almost all of Australia and in New Guinea. Together with the platypus and three species of long-beaked echidna in New Guinea, it is one of only five living egg-laying mammals. The female lays a single egg into a pouch, and the hatchling, called a puggle, stays there for about seven weeks until its spines grow.

Dingoes, bats and other placental mammals

10. Dingo

The dingo is a wild dog that arrived in Australia with people from Southeast Asia; the oldest dingo remains found so far are around 3,500 years old. It became the top land predator of the mainland. Whether it should be treated as its own species or as a form of dog is still debated.

11. Gray-headed flying fox

The gray-headed flying fox is the largest bat in Australia, with a wingspan of up to 1 m (3.3 ft) and a weight of up to 1 kg (2.2 lb). It lives along the east coast, often in noisy camps in city parks, and pollinates and spreads the seeds of more than 100 native plants. It is listed as Vulnerable.

Birds

12. Emu

The emu is Australia’s tallest bird, up to 1.9 m (6.2 ft) tall, and is beaten in height only by the ostriches. It cannot fly but can sprint at about 48 km/h (30 mph). The male incubates the large dark green eggs for about eight weeks and raises the striped chicks alone.

13. Southern cassowary

The southern cassowary lives in the rainforests of northeastern Queensland and New Guinea. Females can weigh up to about 76 kg (168 lb), and each foot bears a dagger-like inner claw up to 12 cm (4.7 in) long. Cassowaries are shy and important seed dispersers, but they can defend themselves fiercely, so they should always be watched from a distance.

14. Laughing kookaburra

The laughing kookaburra is a big kingfisher of eastern Australia whose loud, echoing “laugh” is used by family groups to mark their territory, often at dawn and dusk. Unlike most kingfishers, it eats few fish, preferring insects, lizards, small snakes and rodents.

15. Superb lyrebird

The superb lyrebird of southeastern forests is one of the world’s largest songbirds. Males have a spectacular tail of 16 feathers up to 70 cm (28 in) long, which they fan over their heads in courtship. Lyrebirds are master mimics that copy the calls of many other birds and sometimes human-made sounds.

16. Budgerigar

Wild budgerigars are small green-and-yellow parrots that roam the dry interior in nomadic flocks, sometimes thousands strong, following rain and seeding grasses. The blue, white and other colors seen in pet budgies come from captive breeding.

17. Wedge-tailed eagle

The wedge-tailed eagle is Australia’s largest bird of prey, with a wingspan that can exceed 2.3 m (7.5 ft) and a long, diamond-shaped tail. It hunts rabbits, wallabies and other animals and often feeds on roadkill.

Reptiles

18. Saltwater crocodile

The saltwater crocodile is the largest living reptile. Males can reach about 6 m (20 ft) and 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) or more, while females rarely exceed 3 m (9.8 ft). It lives in rivers, estuaries and coastal waters from northern Australia to Southeast Asia and eastern India and can attack people, so warning signs at northern waterways should always be obeyed.

19. Frilled lizard

The frilled lizard of northern Australia’s woodlands grows to about 90 cm (35 in), including its long tail. When alarmed, it opens its mouth and spreads a wide, colorful frill around its neck. If that fails to scare a predator, it runs away on its hind legs.

20. Thorny devil

The thorny devil is a small, spiky lizard of the desert, up to 21 cm (8.3 in) long, that feeds almost entirely on small ants, picking them up one at a time by the hundreds. Tiny grooves between its scales draw water from damp sand or dew to the corners of its mouth. It also has a spiny “false head” on its neck to fool predators.

21. Perentie

The perentie is Australia’s largest lizard, a monitor of the arid interior that can grow to 2.5 m (8.2 ft) long. It hunts other reptiles, birds and small mammals, and it is the fourth-largest lizard in the world.

22. Inland taipan

The inland taipan of the remote floodplains of central Australia has the most toxic venom of any land snake, based on laboratory tests. It is shy and rarely meets people, and no deaths have been conclusively linked to its bite since a specific antivenom became available.

23. Eastern brown snake

The eastern brown snake is common across eastern Australia, including farmland and the edges of towns, where it hunts introduced house mice. Its venom ranks second only to the inland taipan’s among land snakes, and brown snakes cause most of Australia’s snakebite deaths.

Spiders and sea creatures

24. Sydney funnel-web spider

The Sydney funnel-web spider lives in burrows in and around Sydney. Its bite can be life-threatening, and males wandering in search of mates are the most dangerous. Since antivenom became available in 1981, there have been no recorded deaths.

25. Australian box jellyfish

The Australian box jellyfish lives in the coastal waters of northern Australia, mainly during the warmer months, and has been called the most lethal jellyfish in the world. At least 64 deaths have been recorded in Australia since the 1880s, although most stings are mild. Swimmers in the north use stinger nets and follow local warnings.

Are Australian animals really that dangerous?

Australia has more venomous snake species than non-venomous ones, but serious harm is uncommon. Between 2005 and 2015, brown snakes caused 15 of the 19 snakebite deaths recorded in the whole country, which works out at fewer than two deaths a year. Many bites happen when people try to catch or kill a snake.

The best protection is simple: give snakes, crocodiles and cassowaries plenty of space, watch where you put your hands and feet, and obey signs about crocodiles and jellyfish. If anyone is bitten or stung, seek emergency medical help immediately by calling 000, Australia’s emergency number.

Threats to Australian wildlife

Since European settlement in 1788, Australia has lost around 30 native mammal species, one of the worst records in the world, including the thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, whose last known individual died at Hobart Zoo on 7 September 1936. Introduced cats, foxes, rabbits and poisonous cane toads, land clearing, bushfires and climate change threaten many more species. Several mammals now survive only on islands or inside predator-proof fences. For more strange mammals that lay eggs, see animals that lay eggs.