What makes Australia unique?

Answer 1

no doubt many things. It is an island continent to start with. It can be traversed from S to N without exceeding 300m in height. The vegetation and fauna are quite unique in many respects. Including curiosities such as an egg - laying mammal. The average population per sq km is very low - perhaps the lowest. it contains only just one country

Answer 2

Australia has a unique flora, consisting of around 22 000 species of plants. More than 90 per cent are indigenous, and many species are not found anywhere else than Australia. The evolution of Australia's flora was a result of Australia's long isolation from other continents. The evolution of flora first began in the Cretaceous period which was around 136 million years ago in the Southern continents. In Australia, there was a huge flood during the Cretaceous period which broke the continent into four islands. During these floods, the flora on each island diversified and evolved, and each island ended up with its own unique flora. This was due to the long period of stability that arose.

Answer 3

Probably due to its isolated position. Coupled with the fact that 'outsiders' didn't start arriving until fairly recently in evolutionary terms. Therefore the existing species had a long period of time to develop on their own before eventually being interbred with external species.

Answer 4

Things which are unique to Australia are:

• The fact that it is the only country which takes up an entire continent.
• Wildlife such as the kangaroo, koala, wombat, platypus, numbat, quokka, pademelon, dunnart, ningaui, phascogale, planigale, etc.
• The continent can be traversed from South to North without exceeding 300m in height.
• It contains the world's two largest monoliths (Uluru and Mt Augustus).
• The country was originally established as a convict colony.

Answer 5

Some unique native Australian plants are:

• Eucalyptus - the well-known 'gum trees' with over 600 species in Australia, including Tasmania's emblem, the Tasmanian Blue Gum
• Acacia, known more commonly as the wattle tree - many species exist throughout Australia, in all conditions, as it is a highly adaptable plant; Australia's national floral emblem is the Golden Wattle
• Banksia - named by botanist Sir Joseph Banks who was with Captain Cook when he charted Australia's eastern coast
• Blackboy, or grass trees
• Bunya Pine, Wollemi Pine, Hoop Pine
• Callistemon, also known as the bottlebrush
• Casuarina
• Common heath, floral emblem of Victoria
• Epacris, also known as Common Heath
• Eremophila, also known as the Emu-Bush
• Dryandra, closely related to the banksia
• Eremophila, also known as the Emu bush
• Hakea
• Grevillea (spider flower) - related to Hakeas. One example is the Silky Oak (Grevillea robusta).
• Leptospermum, more commonly known as the tea-tree
• Leschenaultia, a beautiful Western Australian wildflower
• Kangaroo paw, an unusual flower from the western half of the continent, and the floral emblem of WA
• Kurrajong
• Mallee
• Melaleuca
• Mulga
• Native Hibiscus, different to the exotic hibiscus favoured by many gardeners
• Isopogon and petrophile - low growing shrubs
• Melaleuca, another very adaptable and versatile species
• Moreton Bay Fig
• Palm trees, such as the Pandanus Palm, Alexandra (King) Palm, Cabbage Tree Palm and Foxtail
• Sturt's Desert Rose and Sturt's Desert Pea, both desert flowering shrubs, and the emblems of NT and SA respectively
• Vines such as the Strangler Fig
• Waratah (NSW floral emblem)
• Triodia, also known as spinifex grass, which grows in the desert
• Zygochloa, another desert grass

Answer 6

Australia is special because it accepts people for who they are austrlia is also special because of all there wild life

Answer 7

The reason Australia has so many unusual species of animals is because they have been able to evolve into independent species.