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Echidna
The Echidna and platypus are the only two egg laying animals (mammal) in the world. Echidnas hatch from eggs the same way birds and reptiles do. The female develops a pouch in which the eggs take about 10 days to hatch, producing young around 1.45cm long and weighing as little as 380 mgs. The mother carries the young in her pouch for about 3 months. Victorian echidnas are darker brown and have thicker fur than those in northern Australia. Tasmanian Echidnas are darker again.
Emu
“Emu “comes from the Portuguese word “ema” meaning large bird. Standing up to 2m tall adult males are Australia's largest bird, second in size to Ostriches world wide. The Emus' primitive feathers resemble coarse hair and enable emus to cope with extreme changes in weather. During courtship the female's plumage becomes slightly darker and she and her partner build a nest of trampled grass.. In May or June she lays between 5-20 dark green eggs. The male incubates the eggs for around 8 to 10 wks rarely leaving the nest. The young stay with their father for around 2 years and become sexually active at about 18 months old.
Koala Koalas are not from the bear family, they are marsupials. They are raised in their mother's pouch. The closest relative to the koala is the wombat, both have pouches opening towards the rear, however the koala's pouch is much stronger to keep the young from falling when their mother climbs trees. A koala eats about half a kilogram of leaves a day, the most popular food tree for koalas at Tower Hill is the manna gum. Gum leaves are tough and difficult to digest and contain oils that can be poisonous. As their food contains little energy, koalas conserve energy by sleeping most of the day and searching for food at night. Kangaroo
Kangaroos are marsupials belonging to the Macropods group found only in Australia and Papua New Guinea. The word Macropod means “big foot”. Kangaroos have hind legs larger than their forelimbs, large hind feet and long muscular tails which they use for balance, they cannot walk or move backward easily. Kangaroos live in environments that have high levels of grass and are most active at night, dusk or dawn when they feed. They breed throughout the year and most are born in summer. The average gestation period is 36 days and when born weigh approx 0.8g, leaving the pouch at approximately 11 months old.
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