A World Tour
Wildlife Down Under
Meet a dad who sits on eggs for eight weeks, an island named after 'rats' that weren't rats, and a spiky lizard that drinks through its skin!
Did you know?
Emu dads do the egg-sitting! The male sits on the big green eggs for about eight weeks. During this time he hardly eats or drinks, and he can lose about a third of his body weight.
In 1696, Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh saw quokkas on an island off Western Australia and thought they were giant rats. So he named it 'rat nest island'. Today it is called Rottnest Island.
The thorny devil lizard 'drinks' through its skin! Tiny channels between its spiky scales carry dew and rainwater to its mouth. It also has a spiky 'false head' on its neck to fool predators.
Try this: Kangaroo Long-Jump
Warm up first. Then, with your feet together, jump forward as far as you can on grass or a soft mat. Mark where your heels land and measure the distance with a tape. A big red kangaroo can cover 8 to 9 metres in one leap! How many of your jumps add up to one kangaroo leap?
Go further: The Biggest Hopper
The red kangaroo is the largest marsupial alive today. Marsupials are mammals whose tiny newborns usually grow inside their mother's pouch. The red kangaroo is also the largest land mammal that is native to Australia. Big males can reach speeds of around 60 km/h, as fast as a car on a city road, and can jump 1.8 to 3 metres high. Next time you hop, imagine moving like that!