Animals That Live In Australia

Last Updated on February 9, 2022 by

Australia is famous for all sorts of things – its incredible beaches, surfing, the Great Barrier Reef, and the Sydney Opera House.

However, another thing it’s famous for is its wildlife. Because it’s relatively isolated from the rest of the world, there are lots of animals in Australia that don’t exist anywhere else on Earth.

Australia also has a reputation for having lots of dangerous animals, and it’s true that there are more than a few creatures here that you need to be careful with.

In this article, we’ll go through some of the most interesting animals in Australia and get you informed about what they are and how they live.

Kangaroos

On any list of Australian animals, you have to start with the country’s most famous one of all – the kangaroo.

Kangaroos are mammals, but you might also know that they are part of a specific type of mammal called marsupials.

In fact, kangaroos are the largest kind of marsupial on Earth. The largest kind, the red kangaroo, can reach 1.6 meters tall, with a 1-meter tail and a weight of 180lbs.

But what exactly is a marsupial? Well, the most well-known thing about them is that most marsupials carry their children around with them in pouches on their bodies.

That’s something that kangaroos are famous for – their babies (called joeys) can sometimes be seen peeking out from the pouches on their mothers’ bellies.

Another well-known thing about kangaroos is that they move around by jumping and bouncing. It’s pretty amazing how good at this they are – red kangaroos can hop at 35 mph, bounce 1.8 meters off the ground, and cover 8 whole meters in a single jump!

For comparison, Usain Bolt, the fastest recorded human being of all time, was briefly able to reach a maximum speed of 27.78mph when he set the 100 m world record at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

When they’re not breaking human speed records, they can use their large, muscular tails to support themselves like a fifth leg.

For some reason, most kangaroos seem to be left-handed. The trait of preferring to use one hand over another was previously only thought to exist in primates like humans, gorillas, and chimpanzees.

Scientists aren’t sure why kangaroos also have this trait, but some have suggested that it might have developed as a reaction to bipedalism (the ability to walk on two legs).

Black Widow Spider

The black widow is known to be one of the most dangerous spiders in Australia and the world. The type of black widow that lives in Australia is often called the Australian black widow or the redback spider.

These spiders usually eat insects, but sometimes eat larger creatures that get trapped in their webs. These can include other spiders, lizards, and sometimes even snakes and mice.

They also eat other black widow spiders under certain conditions. Most famously, female black widow spiders eat the male after mating.

They also sometimes eat other black widows that they’ve beaten in fights, and black widow hatchlings will sometimes eat their less active brothers and sisters.

Another thing that black widows are known for is their deadly bite. This bite is mostly used to kill the insects that the widow eats, and works by turning their insides to liquid. Yes, you read that right.

Bites on humans are not particularly rare – there are several thousand, possibly even as many as 10,000 – in Australia per year. The bites are quite painful, though most of the time no medical treatment is needed.

However, they can sometimes cause serious illness or even death, so these spiders are best avoided.

Emus

Emus are the second-largest kind of bird in the world (behind the ostrich) – they can reach up to 1.9 meters tall. They’re also really good at running, being able to reach 31 mph if they need to.

This is useful for them because, despite being birds, they can’t fly. Instead of flying it uses its wings to cool itself down – this is also a useful ability, because, as you might know, Australia can get very hot indeed.

They might look cute, but emus can be surprisingly dangerous in some situations. Their legs are extremely powerful and can tear down metal fences.

It uses kicks from these legs to defend itself against the dingoes that sometimes try to hunt them.

While it is very rare for humans to be attacked by dingoes nowadays, there was an event in 1932 called the Emu War, where people in Australia attacked emus in large numbers.

This was due to there being too many emus, which were destroying crops. Many emus were killed, but this only had limited success in dealing with the problems. Today, emus are still found in large numbers across Australia.

Dingoes

The dingo is a kind of dog that lives only in Australia and looks similar to the kind of dogs that are kept as pets. They’re usually a little over a meter long from nose to tail and weigh somewhere between 20 and 30 lbs.

However, one key difference between dingoes and dogs is that dingoes don’t bark – they howl like wolves instead.

Most dingoes prefer to live in packs of around 10, but occasionally asocial dingoes can be found who like to live alone instead.

They are the largest land predators in Australia, putting them at the top of the food chain. They’re still not that large, though, so they mostly eat small and medium-sized animals, such as lizards, rabbits, or rats.

However, they have been known to attack sheep and cows on farms if they’re not well-protected enough.

For this reason, there is a dingo fence in Australia that runs 3,488 miles to keep them out of the fertile southeastern part of the country.

Final Thoughts

There, you have it, some of the most interesting and incredible animals in Australia. Of course, these are only a few examples of Australia’s wonderful wildlife, and there are many more to discover.

From great white sharks to koalas, Australia has so much to offer when it comes to wildlife that it would take almost a lifetime to get to grips with all of it!