Cute and Creepy Beasties
Kangaroos
"What's that Skippy... he's down the old mineshaft?" We all know kangaroos don't rescue people but there is more to kangaroos than Skippy. Where the rest of the world has deer and antelope, Australia has kangaroos and wallabies bouncing their way across deserts, grasslands and tropical rainforests. There are 45 types of kangaroos and their smaller wallaby cousins. They range in size from the diminutive musky rat kangaroo that would fit in a shoe box to the colossal red kangaroo that can rear up to the height of a man and can leap 7 metres or 25 ft into the air. Kangaroos, like most Australian mammals, are marsupials. This means the female kangaroo gives birth to a joey (baby) that looks a maggot. The baby then crawls the equivalent of the height of Mt Everest to reach a pouch where it grows for nearly a year before hopping out and joining its mother on the outside world.

Koalas
If there is life after death put me down to be a koala. They're the most inactive animal I have ever seen! While they appear to laze about up in the old gum trees, life is not that simple for these tree-dwelling relations of the burrowing wombats. Firstly, although there are 600 types of eucalyptus (gum) trees in Australia, a koala will only eat about half a dozen types of eucalyptus leaves. This, together with habitat destruction, is causing major problems for koalas in many areas. While at home among the branches, koalas are not very agile on the ground and are often attacked by dogs or caught in bush fires. To make matters worse, several populations of koalas are suffering from a mysterious sexually transmitted disease. Koala means 'doesn't drink', but I think that they need a schooner or two to help cheer themselves up! So next time your on the east-coast enjoy a schooner for koalas!

Platypus
Take the body of an otter, stitch on some duck's feet, add a bill and a couple of poison spikes and you have a platypus. Back in the time of the dinosaurs these early mammals all used to lay eggs, just like their reptile ancestors. Here in the creeks of eastern Australia, the platypus carried on laying eggs while other mammals advanced. In these babbling rivers platypuses seek out insects and worms among the water polished pebbles and boulders. When not in the water the platypus makes it's home in a burrow in the bank. It's in this leaf-lined burrow that the female lays several soft-shelled eggs. When these eggs hatch the tiny babies suckle milk that trickles along their mother's fur. The platypus is the world's only poisonous mammal with the males possessing spurs on their hind legs. These are used in fights between rival males and for attracting females.

Snakes
As any fan of Steve Irwin will tell you, Australia is home to some of the most deadly snakes in the world. Luckily, the majority of the 130 types of snakes in Australia are harmless. These snakes come in a variety of forms from the 'emerald green', a tree python that attacks birds in flight in the tropical rainforests, to the ''yellow-bellied sea snake', a blue and yellow striped beastie that, funny enough, lives in the sea. All snakes are solitary, shy animals relying on ambush tactics to catch their prey; usually a lizard, frog or mouse. They will attempt to move away from danger if they feel vibrations through the ground, their teeth are their only form of defence but they don't want to damage or use their valuable hunting implements. This is why it rare to see a snake, and even rarer to be bitten. This only happens when the snake feels threatened. They are a lot more scared of us than we are of them!

Red Back Spiders
Ever wonder why men leave the toilet seat up? Well to make sure there are no red backs underneath! Often the resident of an outside 'dunnie' (toilet), the red back spider is as Australian as Kylie, Neighbours and Tim Tams. The female is quite a large spider with a red hourglass marking on her back. A close relative of the American black widow spider, the red back males are tiny, creeping up to the females to mate while risking becoming her snack rather than her mate. A hundred or so people are bitten every year by the female red back (the males jaws are pathetic), but there have been no deaths since the use of an anti-venom was introduced. If you are unlucky enough to be bitten by a red back spider, don't panic and seek medical advice.

Gareth Taylor
July 2003