10 Questions: Australian Animals For Kids Photo Quiz | For Children

Answer: Kangaroo

The kangaroo is a marsupial, meaning the females have a pouch in which they carry their young until they are big enough to look after themselves.

Fun fact: some scientists have suggested that the Red Kangaroo actually has five legs - because it uses its tail to push itself forward while hopping along the ground. That makes it technically a "leg"!

Answer: Frill-necked Lizard

This picture shows clearly how the frill-necked lizard got its name. It has a large flap of skin around its neck, which is usually folded up against its body. However, if it is frightened, it spreads out its frill and opens its mouth wide, in a display that is intended to frighten off predators.

Fun fact: a cartoon frill-necked lizard named Lizzie was the official mascot of the 2000 Summer Paralympic Games, which were held in Sydney, Australia.

Answer: Platypus

The odd-looking platypus is sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, because of its long, flat snout. It lives partially in water and is one of the few mammals that lays eggs instead of giving birth to live young.

Fun fact: when scientists in Europe first saw a dead platypus, in 1799, they refused to believe it was real animal, and thought it had been stitched together from other animals as a joke.

Answer: Tasmanian Devil

The Tasmanian Devil is native to the Australian state of Tasmania, an island located about 150 miles south of the mainland. It is the largest carnivorous marsupial and has extremely powerful jaws that deliver a serious bite - so please don't try and stroke one.

Fun fact: the Warner Brothers cartoon Tasmanian Devil, known as "Taz", first appeared in a Bugs Bunny cartoon in 1954.

Answer: Dingo

The dingo is a breed of wild dog that is found across much of the Australian mainland, although pure-bred dingoes are most common in the north. Its diet consists mainly of mammals and birds. It is genetically related to an Indonesian breed known as the New Guinea Singing Dog, to which it still looks very similar.

Fun fact: in the 1880s, Australian farmers built a 3,500-mile-long Dingo Fence designed to keep the animals out of the south-eastern part of the country, especially the areas of Queensland with large number of sheep farms.

Answer: Kookaburra

The kookaburra is a native Australian breed of kingfisher. Its name is derived from the sound of its distinctive call. Interestingly, unlike most kingfishers, its diet consists largely of small rodents, reptiles and insects, rather than fish.

Fun fact: the well-known children's song which starts "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree" was written in 1932 by an Australian music teacher named Marion Sinclair. Two years later, it won a competition run by the Girl Guides Association of Victoria and has since become popular with Girl Guide troops around the world.

Answer: Wombat

Wombats are chunky, plant-eating mammals, which can grow up to three feet in length. Like all marsupials, wombats have pouches in which they carry their young. Wombat pouches are unusual because they face backwards, so they don't get full of soil when the wombat is digging its burrows.

Fun fact: wombat poo is cube-shaped.

Answer: Echidna

The echidna may look like a hedgehog or a porcupine, but it in fact more closely related to the platypus. Like the platypus, it is an egg-laying mammal. It is also known as a "spiny anteater", because its diet consists mainly of termites and ants.

Fun fact: baby echidnas are called puggles.

Answer: Emu

A full-grown emu can be around six feet in height, making it the second-tallest bird in the world, after the ostrich. Its long legs mean that it can run at up to 30 miles per hour They are a relatively common bird and are found throughout Australia.

Rod Hull (1935-99) was an English comedian who first came up with his emu puppet while working on Australian television in the 1950s and 60s. It was essentially a large glove puppet, with Hull's arm inserted into the neck and head, while a false arm cradled the body. It was famous for creating havoc wherever it went.

Fun fact: the emu is featured prominently on the Australian coat of arms, along with the kangaroo.

Answer: Koala

The koala is one of the most famous and easily recognised Australian animals. It spends most of its life in trees and eats almost nothing except the leaves of eucalyptus trees. Like many Australian mammals, the koala is a marsupial. Young koalas are known as joeys, just like kangaroos.

Fun fact: Because eucalyptus leaves are not very nourishing, koalas are not very active and sleep for around 20 hours a day.