Here Are 40 Adorable, Scary, And Weird Australian Animals I Gathered

Quokkas have been labelled one of the friendliest animals on the planet because of their cute smiles. They will even happily live in big groups without being territorial and have no problems with sharing food or shelter with other Quokkas. But even though they are pretty friendly, they are still wild animals and will scratch and bite if they feel threatened. It is prohibited to touch them and can result in a fine, as irresistibly cute these creatures are DO NOT TOUCH.

Galah's can travel in flocks of 1000 birds and are known to fly at 70km/hr. Since these birds main diet is seeds, They are vital in helping with seed dispersal by dropping germinated seeds into other areas.

These beautiful birds are often considered the bullies of the birds as they chase and pick on other bird species. Male and female rainbow lorikeets are pretty much identical so the only way you can really tell is by a DNA test. Their diet mainly consists of nectar and pollen. They also love the nectarines from my tree lol.

The fairy penguin is the smallest in the world. They are the only penguins to breed in Australia but have found themselves to be a great target for predators. Which makes them highly dependent on human intervention and protection and not just humans but one specific colony relies on Maremma sheepdogs to protect them from foxes. They even made a movie about the first dog to look after the penguins, called "Oddball".

Lyrebirds are known as natures impersonator. They mimic other sounds they hear, from other birds and animals to things like car alarms, chain saws, crying babies and gun shots etc. It can take them up to a year to perfect the sounds and whilst both the male and female can do it, it is the male that is more vocal.

Wedge-tailed eagles have the largest wingspan of all other eagles, measuring at approx a whopping 3.1m (10.3ft). They are monogamous birds so will stay with their partner for life and will often remain solo after one of the pair dies. Very rarely do they seek another mate after death.

These leafy sea dragons can only be found off the coast of South and East of Australia. They are near threatened due to divers taking them home as pets but are now protected. They have no known predators because of their spiny fins and camouflage. Whilst they are closely related to sea horses they cant grip onto things with their tails and they mainly drift in the current than propel themselves with their fins like sea horses do.

Tawny Frogmouths are often mistaken for owls, when in fact they are more related to kookaburras and kingfishers. They are so well camouflaged that they can stretch out and look like a broken tree branch. They are terrible at building nests, so bad in fact that eggs and even chicks easily fall out the nest. They essentially just dump twigs and leaves in a pile, and that is it. Besides that fact they are actually very involved parents and share the responsibilities.

Wombats have very interesting butts. Not only do they produce cubed poop, they also protect themselves from predators by diving into their burrows and block the entrance with their butts. Their bottom mostly consists of cartilage that is resistant to bites and scratches.

The magpie has such good hearing that it can hear the sounds of bugs, worms and insects underground. Often when the magpie crooks it's head to the side it is honing in on the location of it's food. They are extremely good at facial recognition and will remember if you treat them nicely or not. Magpies are my favourite bird, they have such a pretty song and whilst they are often feared during spring due their swooping, only approx 10% of magpies actually swoop.

Red bellied black snakes are one of the most encountered snakes and are responsible for a number of bites annually. But they are generally a shy snake and will usually slither away or stay still in the hopes of not being seen. Most victims of bites suffer mild symptoms with very few cases needing hospitalisation. There have been no confirmed deaths from a red bellied black snake bite.

The dingo is native to Australia but is believed to have been descendants of East Asian dingoes. Unfortunately finding pure bred dingoes is quite difficult now due to them breeding with feral/domesticated dogs. Studies suggest that over a third of dingoes are in fact hybrids. Australia has the longest fence in the world which is the dingo fence aka the rabbit proof fence. It stretches 5,614kms (approx 3,488 miles) and keeps dingoes out of south-east Australia to protect the livestock.

Koalas solely live on eucalyptus leaves and spend up to 4-5 hours eating, the rest of the time they are sleeping (approx18-20hours a day). Sadly koala chlamydia is quite prevalent so there are sterilisation programs to stop infected koalas from procreating. The biggest colony of koalas that is not affected by chlamydia is on Kangaroo Island, but after the 2019-2020 bushfires there has been a huge decline in koala numbers and are now considered endangered in many parts of the country.

Just like the Platypus, the Echidna is also a monotreme (egg laying mammal),. The female deposits a single egg into her pouch and 10 days later a baby echidna hatches, which is called a puggle. Echidnas are solitary animals but will meet to mate and spend about a year looking after their babies.

The Giant Gippsland earthworm is the biggest in the world. They can reach up to 2m (6.6ft) long and a diameter of 4cm. These are very vulnerable and are only found in very few places so they are a protected species.

Don't let the look fool you, it looks scary but it is harmless. You will mainly hear the mole crickets chirp when it is wet or is about to rain. It produces around 200 pulses of sound per second. The males call in a burrow that acts as a resonator which makes the call even louder to attract a female.

This colourful octopus is the only octopus that is toxic to humans. So much so that they can kill 26 adults within minutes. When they flash their blue rings it is because they are NOT happy so you should stay away, although best to keep away from them in the first place. In saying that there have only been very few deaths from this tiny octopus. The blue ringed octopus is very small, reaching the size of a golf ball and love to hide under rocks and inside shells.

The cassowary is considered one of the deadliest birds but in fact there have only been two recorded human fatalities from a cassowary, one in 1926 and the other in 2019. These birds have talons that look similar to a velociraptor and is one of the reasons the cassowary is often called a "living dinosaur". They are fast runners, high jumpers and good swimmers so it's best to steer clear.

Emus are the second largest bird in the world but can't fly because their wings are so small. The female lays a clutch of eggs but the male emu incubates them, not leaving the nest for over 8 weeks. Not even to eat, drink or poop so they end up losing about a third of their body weight. The male emu sits on the eggs all day, every day and only gets up (approx 10 times) to rotate the eggs. Now that's commitment.

We have two types of crocodiles in Australia, the saltwater croc and the freshwater croc. The saltwater crocodile is the biggest reptile in the world growing from 3m-7m (9-23ft) in length with the males being the biggest. They can apply up to 5,ooo pound of pressure per square inch with their jaw but don't have the same strength to open their mouths. Whilst there are a few croc attack annually, there are on average only one human death a year and those are mainly in places that have warnings about crocs in the area.