ARKive Celebrates Australia Day

Typography
Australia Day is an annual celebration to mark the first arrival of ships in Sydney Cove from Great Britain in 1788. Held on the 26th January every year, Australia Day began as an anniversary dinner for the original colonists, to celebrate the love of the land they lived in. The name 'Australia Day' was not used until 1935, but today the anniversary still celebrates everything that's great about Australia. Here at ARKive, we thought we'd get into the spirit by celebrating some of Australia's more unusually named critters...

Australia Day is an annual celebration to mark the first arrival of ships in Sydney Cove from Great Britain in 1788. Held on the 26th January every year, Australia Day began as an anniversary dinner for the original colonists, to celebrate the love of the land they lived in. The name 'Australia Day' was not used until 1935, but today the anniversary still celebrates everything that's great about Australia. Here at ARKive, we thought we'd get into the spirit by celebrating some of Australia's more unusually named critters...

!ADVERTISEMENT!

Quokka (image)

Similar to a kangaroo or wallaby in appearance, the quokka was given its peculiar name by the Aboriginal people living in Western Australia. The quokka is a species of marsupial, and therefore has a pouch in which the young are raised.

Chuditch

A small cat-sized marsupial, the chuditch is nocturnal and spends its days sleeping in hollow logs or burrows. This species is Western Australia's largest endemic carnivore, and will feed on a wide range of things from small mammals, to lizards, frogs and birds!

Crest-tailed mulgara

This desert marsupial mouse is well-adapted to its arid habitat. Having evolved kidneys capable of producing highly concentrated urine, the crest-tailed mulgara does not even need to drink, with its food providing it with adequate water.

Tasselled wobbegong

The highly unusual looking tasselled wobbegong is superbly camouflaged among sun-dappled coral by its beautiful mosaic markings. The scientific name of this shark roughly translates to 'well fringed nose with shaggy beard', and you can see why!

Article continues: http://blog.arkive.org/2012/01/arkive-celebrates-australia-day/