Scientific name: family: macropodidae
Video: view
Kangaroos (Macropus rufus) are a marsupial that lives in Australia. Marsupials are animals that keep their babies their pouches. Kangaroos eat mostly grasses and small shrubs.
Kangaroos travel by hopping along on their hind legs, using their tail to balance themselves. They can travel very fast, and can grow to be taller and heavier than an adult man. A baby kangaroo is called a joey.
Scientific name: apteryx mantelli
Kiwi are flightless birds from New Zealand. They are around the size of a chicken, and for their body size they lay the largest egg.
The kiwi is a national symbol of New Zealand.
Not to be confused with the kiwi fruit.
Scientific name: phascolarctos cinereus
Koalas are a marsupial that lives in Australia. Marsupials are animals that keep their babies in pouches. Koalas live in eucalypt trees, and eat only eucalypt leaves. Koalas move very slowly and spend most of their time asleep. Koalas have two thumbs on each hand and foot. A baby koala is called a joey, the same as a baby kangaroo. When the joey has left its mother's pouch, it will ride on her back for another six months. The closest relative of the koala is the wombat.
Kis forKookaburra
Scientific name: dacelo novaeguineae
Kookaburras are a kind of large kingfisher native to Australia and New Guinea.
Kookaburras are best known for the noise they make, which sounds like loud, human laughter. Kookaburras are found in forests, deserts, and in the suburbs of cities.
The platypus is a very unusual animal found only in Australia. It lays eggs, but it is not a bird. Platypus and echidnas are the only two animals that lay eggs. The male platypus can inject you with venom from a spur on its hind leg, but it is not related to the snake.
Platypus are found in waterways, and are very good swimmers. They grow to about half a metre long, and are dark brown with a rubbery snout, very much like a duck's beak.
Possums are fairly small creatures that live in trees in Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi. Possums usually sleep during the day and come out at night. Possums eat leaves, flowers and sometimes insects, eggs and meat.
The possums in the photo are trichosurus vulpecula, the common brush-tailed possum.
Scientific name: genus: dasyurus
Quolls are carniverous marsupials found in Australia and Papua New Guinea. Like all marsupials, they have a pouch where their young stay. A quoll's pouch faces backwards.
Ris forRainbow lorikeet
Scientific name: trichoglossus haematodus
Sis forSugar glider
Scientific name: petaurus breviceps
The sugar glider is a small marsupial found in Australia and New Guinea that looks like a tiny possum. Sugar gliders have a flap of skin between their front and back legs on both sides that they can stretch out and use to glide. Sugar gliders can jump out of trees and glide through the air to another tree, like a flying squirrel.
Sugar gliders eat the sweet sap of some trees, and some types of nectar.
Tis forTasmanian Devil
Scientific name: Sarcophilus harrisii