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New Vocabulary
Words From Passage Above |
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Marsupials: |
Marsupials are pouched mammals
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Whose babies
are born in a very undeveloped state; the young then attach themselves
to their mother's nipple. Many marsupials have a pouch that encloses
the young.
The biggest marsupial is the human-sized
red kangaroo. The male is up to 4.6 ft (1.4 m) long, weighing up to 150
pounds (68 kg). Females are smaller, up to 3.6ft (1.1 m) long,
weighing up to 80 pounds (36 kg).
The
smallest marsupial, the "pilbara." It's so small it would fit in a
person's hand. Some commonly-known marsupials include the kangaroo, opossum,
Tasmanian devil, and koala. The only marsupial in North America is the
Virginia opossum. |
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Australia |
Australia is nicknamed the
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"Land Down Under."
It is the smallest continent. This
continent-country-island has an area of 2,966,368 square miles
(7,682,300 square kilometers). Australia has a population of about 19
million people.
Australia's Flag
Capital
of Australia: Canberra
Largest Cities: Sydney is the largest
city in Australia; it has over 3,935,000 people. Other large cities
include Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, and Newcastle.
The Great Barrier
Reef: Off the
eastern coast of Queensland is the Great Barrier Reef, the largest
coral reef on Earth. This warm, clear, shallow ocean habitat is
over 1,000 miles long, and is home to many animals and plants,
including corals, sea anemones, sea stars, fish (including sharks),
sea slugs, giant clams, seaweed, and many other organisms.
The Tallest Mountain:
Australia's tallest peak is Mount Kosciuszko, which is 7,310 feet
(2,228 m) tall. Mount Kosciuszko is located in southeastern Australia,
near Canberra, in the Great Dividing Range.
The Lowest Point:
Lake Eyre is Australia's lowest point. It is 53 feet (16 m) below sea
level. Lake Eyre is located in South Australia.
The Largest Body of
Water: Lake Eyre is Australia's largest body of water - it
is a salt water lake that covers over 3,430 square miles (8,884-9,500
square kilometes), although it is generally dry. Lake Eyre is located
in South Australia.
The Longest River:
Australia's longest river is the Murray-Darling River, in New South
Wales, which flows for 2,911 miles (4,685 km) into the Indian Ocean.
The Largest Island
(other than Australia itself): Tasmania, located off the
southeastern coast of mainland Australia, covers 26,383 square miles
(68,332 square kilometers). Tasmania's tallest peak is Mt. Ossa, which
is 5,305 feet (1,617 m) above sea level.
Rainforest:
The eastern coast of Australia is covered by lush tropical
rainforests. The Great Dividing Range, a mountain range
that runs north-south along Australia's eastern coast, causes a lot of
rain to fall of the east coast (and blocks rain from the interior of
the continent).
Desert:
The interior of Australia is covered largely by scrub and desert, called the outback. The Great Dividing Range, a mountain
range that runs north-south along Australia's eastern coast, blocks
rain from the interior of the continent.
Largest Monolith:
The world's largest monolith, Uluru (formerly called Ayers Rock) is
located in central Australia, in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Uluru
is a sacred aboriginal sight and a world-famous landmark. It is 348 m
tall and is made of sandstone.
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Nocturnal |
Nocturnal animals are more |
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active at night than during the day. These animals
sleep during the day, often in a burrow or den. Many animals, like
desert animals, are nocturnal in order to escape extreme daytime heat.
Special Adaptations:
Nocturnal animal have special adaptations that help them survive in
the dark. Many nocturnal animals, like owls, lemurs and cats, have
special eyes that see well in the dark. Some nocturnal animals, like
bats, use echolocation, in which the animal emits a high-pitched sound
which bounces off objects; the sound is then received by the animal,
giving it information about the object's shape, direction, distance,
and texture. Other nocturnal animals (like rabbits) have good hearing.
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Extinction |
Endangered animals are those
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species
that are in danger of going
"extinct." Their reproductive rates are lower than their mortality
rates over long periods of time, so their numbers are diminishing. The
reasons for this are varied, but lately, very often involves a loss of
habitat as people encroach on their living areas.
When
a species is listed as endangered or threatened, it is not a death
sentence. Many animals, like the bald eagle and the American
alligator, were on the brink of extinction and are now recovering.
Many species, however, will not recover, and could be lost forever.
Throughout time, animal species have been
going extinct (long before people evolved); paleontologists estimate
that well over 90 percent of all plant and animal species that ever
existed have gone extinct.
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Wallabies |
Wallabies are marsupials from |
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the islands of
Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand (introduced), and New Guinea. They are small- to
medium-sized kangaroos. There are 30 different types of wallabies that live in
many types of habitats, including rocky areas, grasslands, forests and
swamps. Some wallabies include the Quokka, Nabarlek, and the Pandemelon.
Anatomy: Wallabies range in size from the size of a rabbit to
almost 6 ft (1.8 m) long. The soft, woolly fur can be gray, brown, red
or almost black. The belly is lighter. Females (called fliers)
have a pouch in which the young live and drink milk. Males (called
boomers) are larger than females. Babies are called joeys.
They have short arms with clawed fingers. strong, legs, and long,
four-toed feet with claws. They can hop and jump with their powerful
legs.
Diet: These herbivores (plant-eaters) eat grass, leaves,
and roots. They swallow their food without chewing it and later
regurgitate a cud and chew it. They need very little water; they can
go for months without drinking, and they dig their own water wells.
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Kangaroo facts, clipart, and page
content courtesy of
EnchantedLearning.com
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