Describe How Animals Adapt To Their Environment

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Native and introduced species alike must adapt in order to survive the unique conditions of their environment. There are certain characteristics that animals in Australia use to survive. Some of these creatures who have undergone adaptations include the platypus, kangaroo, and cane toad. Platypuses are native creatures to Australia. As Source 1 states, they are located along the eastern coast in far north Queensland to Tasmania. These creatures have dark brown fur and are small in size. This species has adapted webbed paws that they use to swim in the rivers, where they catch their prey. They use their rubbery, flexible duck-like beaks, which have electorecor cells within them, to discover the electrical currents caused by their prey swimming. They can catch their prey by staying underwater for nearly two minutes before needing to return the surface for air. Platypuses dig out burrows in the river banks. Special …show more content…
Living in groups of around eight hundred, known as mobs, they inhabit anywhere a dependable water source can be reached (Source 1). There are about twenty million of them in Australia. They can thank their long hind legs for being part of the reason for this success, allowing them to travel at up to fifty-six kilometers per hour and jump amazing heights and distances. They can jump as high as two metres and as long as eight metres. According to Source 1, grasses, leaves, and other plants are their main source of food. Baby kangaroos, called joeys, live in their mother’s pouch until they reach the age of ten months. Soon after giving birth, the mothers will breed again. But after just one week of development, while still invisible to human eyes, the joey enters a phase where it becomes dormant. Once the other joey has left the mother’s pouch, the embryo will resume development that lasts thirty days. These are some very unique adaptations that are a necessity to the survival of the kangaroo