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<br /> and usually able to fly. Australia is home to about 750-plus native species of birds, including two of the
<br /> world's largest, the emu and the cassowary, both of which are flightless. The wedge-tailed eagle is
<br /> Australia's largest bird of prey.
<br /> *invertebrate - n. animal without a backbone, including (but not limited to) insects, spiders,
<br /> scorpions, centipedes, millipedes, crayfish, crabs, crustaceans, mollusks, sponges and echinoderms. More
<br /> than 90 percent of the world's creatures are invertebrates. Just among insects, there are about one
<br /> million known species! There are roughly 25,000 species of spiders, 2,000 of which live in Australia and
<br /> several of whose bite can be fatal to humans.
<br /> *mammal - n, any of a large class of warm-blooded vertebrate that secretes milk for nourishment
<br /> of its young. Class Mammalia is divided into three subclasses: monotremes, marsupials and placental
<br /> mammals.
<br /> *marsupial - n. any of an order of mammals born incompletely developed, hairless and blind. A
<br /> baby marsupial climbs to its mother's belly and attaches itself to a nipple, then suckles milk until it's
<br /> ready for independence. Many female marsupials have belly pouches that shelter their young. Australian
<br /> marsupials include kangaroos, koalas, wombats, wallabies, possums, numbats, bandicoots and the
<br /> Tasmanian Devil. (North America's only marsupial is the possum, which is a different species than its
<br /> Aussie cousins.)
<br /> *monotreme - n. any of the lowest order of mammals that lay eggs and have a single opening for
<br /> the digestive and urinary tracts and genital organs. The world's only monotremes are the platypus and
<br /> the long-beaked and short-beaked echidnas (spiny anteaters). The platypus is endemic to Australia; the
<br /> short-beaked echidna is found Down Under and in New Guinea; and three long-beaked echidna species
<br /> are found only in New Guinea.
<br /> *placental mammal - n. mammal that that grows inside the mother's body until it is well developed
<br /> and then can suckle milk from its mother's nipples when it is hungry. Humans, dogs, cats, apes, dolphins
<br /> and thousands of other mammal species are placental.
<br /> *reptile - n. any of a class of cold-blooded, scaly animals that includes snakes, lizards, crocodiles,
<br /> tortoises and turtles. Australia is home to about 700 species of reptiles. While many Australian snakes
<br /> are venomous - 20 species, including the northern death adder, brown, taipan and tiger snakes, produce
<br /> venom that can kill a human - all of its lizards are non-venomous.
<br /> *marine - adj. of, found in or produced by the sea. Oz has more coastline than any other country,
<br /> and its waters contain an amazing array of life, including 3,600-plus fish species and mammals such as
<br /> dolphins, dugongs (similar to manatees), seals, turtles and whales. The Great Barrier Reef, made up of
<br /> about 2,800 separate reefs covering 135,000 square miles along the northeast coast, is home to 2,000
<br /> fish species and 350 types of coral. But Australia's waters can be as dangerous as they are
<br /> kaleidoscopically beautiful. Among the potentially deadly creatures are sharks, sea snakes, stone fish
<br /> (world's most venomous fish), cone shells, saltwater crocs, blue-ringed octopi and, perhaps most
<br /> dangerous of all, box jellyfish - arguably the most venomous animals on the planet. Box jellies are found
<br /> in the coastal waters of northern Australia and have been documented with killing about 70 people.
<br /> Fortunately, many beaches use nets to keep box jellies out of swimming areas. Nets are also used along
<br /> some New South Wales beaches, including many in and around Sydney, to protect swimmers from sharks.
<br /> *symbiosis - n. close existence and interaction of two different species, usually to the advantage
<br /> of both. For instance, termites eat wood and other plant matter. In the termites' guts are tiny
<br /> organisms that break down tough plant fibers. Sometimes, however, the symbiotic relationship favors
<br /> one of the species, to the detriment of the other. This is sometimes the case with termites and
<br /> Australian eucalyptus trees. Termites sometimes live in these trees and help fertilize the nearby ground
<br /> with their droppings, but they also damage the trees by eating part of it. Most traditional Aboriginal
<br /> didgeridoos are made from termite-hollowed eucalyptus trunks.
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