Australia

Kangaroos and the Great Barrier Reef

Australia is the smallest continent and also one big country. Animals that live nowhere else live here: kangaroos, koalas, the platypus. And off its coast is the biggest coral reef in the world — you can see it from space!

Australia (with Oceania) is the smallest and driest inhabited continent; most of its interior is desert (the 'Outback'). Millions of years of isolation made its wildlife unique: 80% of mammals are endemic (found only here), many of them marsupials. The Great Barrier Reef stretches 2,300 km — the largest living structure on Earth. Uluru is a giant red rock in the middle of the desert, sacred to Aboriginal people. Aboriginal culture is 65,000 years old — the oldest continuous culture in the world.

Fun facts

• There are more kangaroos than people in Australia!
• The Great Barrier Reef is the only living structure visible from space.
• All 10 of the world's most venomous snakes live in Australia — but they avoid people.
• Seasons in Australia are flipped: December is summer and July is winter!