Facts About Australian Animals

• There are three times as many sheep than people living in Australia

• The Australian Emu – a large, flightless bird – can run as fast as 45km/h (28mph)

• Platypus are highly poisonous, and have enough poison to kill a dog or make a human seriously ill

• Wombat poo is shaped like a cube!

• The Box Jellyfish – which is found in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef – is responsible for more deaths than snakes, sharks and saltwater crocodiles combined

• If you ever get attacked by a crocodile, try pushing your finger into its eye to deter it

• The record jump recorded by a kangaroo is a whopping 9 metres (30 feet) in a single leap!

• Two native Australian animals, Platypus and Echidnas, are the only two mammals in the world that lay eggs to give birth

• Koalas sleep for about 20 hours per day

• Tasmanian Devils have the strongest bite per body size of any mammal

• There are 4 different species of kangaroo in Australia, with the Red Kangaroo being the largest. The largest Big Red ever seen was 2.1m tall (6ft 9in) and weighed 91kgs (200lbs)!

• The Australian Thorny Devil is one of the longest-lived lizards of its size in the world, with a lifespan of up to 20 years

• The Kangaroo and Emu were chosen to be the two animals on the Australian Coat of Arms because they can't walk backwards, reflecting a forward-thinking culture

• 17 of the world's most poisonous snakes can be found in Australia

• Insects and arachnids – Australia is home to around 1,500 types of spiders, 4,000 types of ants and 350 types of termites

• While Kangaroos are considered a national icon, with over 40 million estimated throughout the country, they can also be considered a pest in some locations and are sometimes culled

• Australia has a larger population of camels than Egypt