LOGIN | NEU REGISTRIEREN

Schule > Englisch > Landeskunde > Fauna of Australia

English Presentation:

Fauna of Australia
Introduction: Today we want to talk about the animals of Australia, especially about mammals. Many people associate only marsupials with Australia; for example the many different kangaroo species, which once settled the whole surface of this land. However, also other mammals have been living on this continent for millions of years: mainly bats and rodents. Most of these animals are endemic.That means that they can't be naturally found somewhere else in the world; so they are very unique; But nowadays there live also animals, which were brought to Australia by humans like the dingo or the brown hare (=Feldhase) General Information: First of all some general information about marsupials: n ·n There are 130 different species in Australia n ·n They are not only domiciled in Australia but also in East Indonesia and also South America n ·n Marsupials populated various habitats: mainly woodland, but also deserts n ·n They differ from placenta mammals (=höhere Säugetiere) because they have a pouch(=Beutel) to carry their young and they are born premature (= "unfertig") and without hair Bridge: We picked up four animals as examples of marsupials. Now we want to tell you something about every single of these animals The Tasmanian Devil: The Tasmanian Devil can today only be found in the Australian island state of Tasmania. They were hunted until 1941 and in the 90's there arose the DFTD, the Devil Facial Tumour Disease, which endangered
the species. The tumours hinderd the animals from eating, so that many of them starved to death. The devils live in dry woods, near the coast, but sometimes also in fringes (=Randbezirke) of towns. They feed on small mammals and reptiles, insects and frogs, basically carrion (=Ass) or weak animals. With their strong jaws and teeth they are even able to eat the bones of their prey (=Beute). The Devils got their name because of their screams, their black coat (=Fell), and their ears, which turn red, when they are excited. The Devil is a symbol of the Tasmanian National Parks and the Wildlife Service and also the Tasmanian Australian football team is called after this animal: "The Devils". But the most famous representative of this species is probably the Tasmanian Devil or "Taz", as he is often called. He's a character of the Looney Tunes cartoon. Maybe you know him. The Koala: The Koala is a tree dweeler (=Baumbewohner), which lives in eucalyptus woods in South and East(ern) Australia. It is a nocturnal animal, which sleeps 20 hours daily, that's even longer than a sloth does (=Faultier) sleep. The name "koala" comes from an Aboriginal language and means "no drinking", because koalas seldomly drink water.Their main source of food are eucalyptus leaves which contain sufficient water for the koalas` . Each koala needs approximately 200-500 grams (of these leaves) per day. Because of their weak immune system they are quite prone to (=anfällig sein) diseases and stress. When they are in stress they waggle (=wackeln) with their ears and they can even get hiccup (=Schluckauf). Famous koalas are for example "Blinky Bill", which is a children's fiction character in several books and tv shows... or the "Caramello Koalas", which are well-liked sweets in Australia. The Kangaroo: There are 10 different genera (=Gattungen;sing.:genus) of kangaroos, which can differ strongly in height and weight. The smallest kangaroo, for example, is the musky rat kangaroo. It only weighs half a kilo-
gramm and is not bigger than a guinea pig (Meerschweinchen). The biggest kangaroo, the Red Kangaroo, however can weigh up to 85 kilogramms and can reach a height of 1.6 metres. So, you can see the big difference between them. Anyway all these kangaroos have in common their powerful hind legs and they all feed on grass, roots and other plants. Most of them live in bush- or woodland, but there are also kangaroos, which live on trees. The best known are probably the Red and the Grey Kangaroo. The red ones are able to jump as wide as 10 metres and can move on with a speed of 50 kilometres per hour. The grey ones are actually able to jump as wide as 13 metres and they can even reach a speed of 85 kilometres per hour. When kangaroos fight it seems as if they are boxing. They beat and clasp (= umklammern) their opponents with their forelegs and kick them with their hind legs. Out of this notice there developed the idea of the "boxing kangaroo" as a national personification (= Nationalfigur). This mascot (=Maskottchen) was used, for example, by the Australian Olympic team in 2004 or at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. The Sugar Glider: Last but not least (=zu guter Letzt) we chose the sugar glider, because it`s probably the cutest marsupial( as you can see on this photo). It is native to northern and eastern mainland Australia and New Guinea. Unlike many native animals, the Sugar Glider is not endangered but one of the most frequent mammals in Australia. It is active by night when it hunts for insects but it also feeds on nectar and the sweet sap of eucalyptus trees. That is why they are called sugar (because of their gusto (=Vorliebe) for sweet sap) and glider (because of their abillity to fly through the air). By the way: Sugar Gliders can glide up to 60 metres( far). Today sugar gliders are becoming very popular as exotic pets, because of their endearing (= liebenswert, reizend) and playful character and their neat(= niedlich, süß) appearance. Closing: This is the end of our presentation and we hope you liked it...are there any questions?


Download: PDF, PDF