Uniqueness of the organic world of Australia
Australia separated from the “mother” of the ancient mainland of Gondwana earlier than other continents. For a long time she had almost no connection with the world. This explains the uniqueness of its vegetation and fauna. Here, a large number of representatives of the organic world that existed on Earth 50 million years ago remained. The first Europeans allegedly fell into a huge reserve with extraordinary species of plants and animals. And in fact. 75% of the mainland plants are found only in Australia.
The dominant plant is eucalyptus. Out of every four Australian trees, there are three eucalyptus trees, there are about 600 species in Australia, some are very large, others are as small as shrubs. In some species of eucalyptus, the crust hangs with rags; in others, on the contrary, it is smooth, and there are trees with an “iron” hard bark. The bluish-gray foliage of the eucalyptus gives the forest a slightly sad look. Even in very dry periods, these
The fauna of Australia is not at all like the fauna of other continents. It is a country of marsupial animals, of which there are 600 species. The marsupials are born very small, and the females wear them in a bag – a leather crease on the abdomen. A characteristic marsupial animal is a kangaroo. Here you can see both large kangaroos and dwarf animals, up to 30 cm in size. Primitive mammals are also interesting, which take the young from eggs like birds, and feed them with milk, like mammals. Such animals are echidna and platypus.
According to the species composition, the organic world of Australia is much inferior to other continents, excluding Antarctica. New species of plants and animals were brought in by settlers from Europe and spread throughout Australia, pushing back the indigenous inhabitants, which in some cases led to environmental problems. So, foxes and ermine destroy the rarest representatives of the local fauna. A real disaster was the rabbit, which was brought in 1859. Until the end of the century, they flooded the mainland, devastating crops, orchards, and most importantly – sheep pasture. Crayley began to destroy. The fight against them continues until now.
So, in Australia are located such natural areas: tropical deserts and semi-deserts, savannas and woodlands, moist tropical evergreen forests monsoon and subequatorial forests.