Wildlife in Australia творческая работа

МУНИЦИПАЛЬНОЕ БЮДЖЕТНОЕ ОБЩЕОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ «СРЕДНЯЯ ОБЩЕОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНАЯ ШКОЛА №1

Г.ПЕТРОВСКА САРАТОВСКОЙ ОБЛАСТИ»

Исследовательская работа по английскому языку

«Wildlife in Australia»

Выполнила работу

ученица 10 А класса

Горшенина Елизавета

Руководитель: учитель

английского языка  Бекетова И.В.

Петровск

2017

                               Contents

1. Introduction ……………………………………… 3
2. The Wonderful World of Australian fauna………………………………………   4-14

1. Marsupials ……………………………….4
2. Monotremes ……………………………   4
3. Dingo……………….…………………  4-8
4. Birds ……………………………..…   8-12
5. “Unpopular” animals……………………12
6. Animals brought by people……………   13

3. Conclusion……………………………………   17

List of Sources………………………………… 18

1. Introduction

Australia has been called “the land of differences” and “the continent of contrasts”.  The first thing most people think of are the strange native animals. Early in the world’s history Australia was separated from the other continents and the animals developed differently. Australia has nearly half a million species of plants and animals – one of the greatest varieties of any country in the world. Australia supports quite different types of fauna. The term “animal” includes not only mammals, but also insects, reptiles, amphibians, birds, etc.

        The unusual and unique fauna of Australia includes:

• 70% of the world’s marsupials
• all of the world’s monotremes (New Guinea also has them)
• only a small percentage of the world’s placentals
• an enormous diversity of parrots and other birds
• reptiles, amphibians and fish
• many unusual invertebrates

Some of them, such as the kangaroo, the koala, the dingo or wild dog are not found in any other country of the world.

The native birds of Australia are very interesting. The emu, for example, which with kangaroo is represented on the Australian coat-of-arms, is the next-tallest bird in the world after the ostrich.

Among some other interesting animals of Australia we can mention bottlenose dolphins, dingoes, fairy penguins, that come out of the sea at dusk and go marching home to their burrows on Phillip Island and karaks, the endangered red-tailed black cockatoo of southeastern Australia.

      II.  The Wonderful World of Australian fauna

                                    Marsupials

     Marsupials are mammals that give birth to young which are in an immature state. They have a special “bag” on the stomach to carry their babies. Males have no such a bag. Marsupial mammals are not predators. They eat grass, sometimes eat fruit. But without water, they can live for a long time, like camels. (The exception is marsupial devil that lives in New Zealand)

The main groups of the 180 species of marsupials are:

• Kangaroos.
• Possums.
• Carnivorous Marsupials.
• Koalas, Wombats.

                                         Kangaroos

There are several different types of kangaroos in the country. The biggest ones are called the great grey kangaroo, which are 213 centimeters tall and whose speed reaches 56 kilometers per hour. Some run from you then stop and stare. Though we have put kangaroos in the "Good" category, farmers might disagree. Unfortunately these cute animals cause a great harm to the harvest. Differs the beast that he has a very powerful hind legs and long tail. As a kangaroo sitting, it is convenient to rely on their tail, and during the jump pushed them how even one foot. The colors of all kinds of different, gray, red and even red        

                                                 The Koala

      The koala is one of the best known and most loved animals in Australia. Koalas live in lightly wooded areas containing suitable food. They are very fussy eaters, feeding almost entirely on eucalyptus leaves. Koalas seldom drink, as they obtain enough water from the diet of leaves. The koala sleeps in a fork of a tree for most of the day and moved about and feeds at night. It’s most active just after sunset.

        The koala is often incorrectly called a “Koala Bear”. It is not related to the bear family at all, as it is a marsupial, not a placental.

        A koala’s average life span in the wild is about 12 years, but they have been known to live for over 15 years in captivity. The number of koalas is getting smaller. This is partly because of fumes from bush fires. Rescue teams help the koalas by catching them, putting them on respirators, then returning them to their original location when they are better. It is also one of the symbols of Australia.

Wombats

There are three species of wombat - the common wombat found in south-eastern Australia including Tasmania, and two much rarer species, the southern hairy-nosed wombat of outback South Australia and the highly-endangered northern hairy-nosed wombat of outback Queensland (which used to also be found in parts of New South Wales but is now extinct there). They are powerful burrowers, and live mainly on grasses. An oddity is their droppings, which are cubic - this appears to be so that a wombat can leave a deposit to mark his territory on new objects that appear within it - a deposit that will not roll off as readily as a round one would. Australia also has a lot of native marsupial mice that live in the desert.

                                 Monotremes

      Monotremes are the most primitive mammals. There are three species of monotremes, the duck-billed platypus and two spiny anteaters, or echidnas. These mammals lay eggs; after the babies hatch, the mothers nourish their young with milk. Today, monotremes live only in Australia and New Guinea. The name monotreme means "one-holed," referring to the cloaca, a single hole that serves the urinary tract, anus, and reproductive tract in monotremes.

Monotremes lay tiny eggs (less than 2 cm long) that have a leathery shell. The young get milk from a gland on the mother's belly. The platypus lays her eggs on the bank of a stream, then curls around the eggs to protect them and keep them warm. Spiny anteaters lay a single egg in a temporary protective pouch on the mother's belly.

Monotremes have fur like other mammals, and the females produce milk. They have a low metabolic rate and a temperature slightly lower than that of placental mammals.

                                               Dingo

Dingo is a dog, the only representative of placental predators in Australia.

Probably long before the arrival of Europeans, the domestic dog was brought here by the Indian mariners. In the absence of rivals dogs multiplied and spread over almost the entire territory of the mainland and alienated, creating a new species — the current Dingo.

Body slender, strong legs, short tail, furry. The coat is soft and thick. Coloration is yellow-brown with white spots on paws.

Dingoes live mainly on the open plains or in sparse forests, where hunting for game, like wolves. With the development of farms began to attack the sheep, which resulted in the extermination of the Dingo farmers.

Multiple attempts to tame the Dingo have shown that even the puppies can differ quite restless behavior, so keep it at home impossible. Dingo is a symbol of freedom and loneliness. In some features dingoes remain wolves but they are quite different. Wild dogs dingoes attack people very seldom while wolves are ones of the most dangerous animals for humans.

                              Birds

                                                     Parrots

        The largest of the parrots — hyacinth parrot has a body length of up to 1 m Black cockatoo — owner of a very large beak (10 cm), it can easily bite a human finger (cockatoo Malay means "cutter").

        Paws parrots are very flexible: 4 fingers 2 look forward and 2 (first and fourth). The New Zealand parrot, kakapo forgotten how to fly, by night he wanders the forest paths in search of berries and succulent leaves.

        They feed mainly on seeds, nuts and berries. Parrot Kea attacks on sheep in order to eat the fat.

        There are more than 300 species. About half of all species live in Australia.

Parrots live in forests, love to climb trees, and then curved beak serves them like a third leg, where they cling to branches. They nest in tree hollows, termite mounds and burrows, some on the ground.

                                                        Lyrebird

        Body length including the tail 75-130 cm

        Inhabit dense mountain forests. Males of these birds have attractive tail, outer pair of tail feathers is curved in the form of a lyre (hence the name) and reaches a length of 70 cm, intermediate feathers resemble fan-shaped webs. The female’s tail is shorter and has a common structure. Wings rounded.

        Flying gliding flight. The legs are strong, led lyrebird run fast in the forest thickets, most of the active life spends on earth, and they sleep on branches of trees. Long fingers with blunt claws birds rake the leaves and top layer of soil in search of food.

        The voice is beautiful, melodious song, are perfectly able to imitate a variety of sounds: Wuhan owls, barking dogs, the sound of the ax, the car horns.

        Socket with a diameter up to 60 cm female suits from pieces of bark and dry leaves. It closed with a side entrance, laying 1 egg a gray color in dark spots, the female incubates it for 35-45 days. The female nurses it for b weeks and by the end of this period, the chick makes a hole in the roof of the nest, sticking through his head.

Led lyrebird feed on insects, worms, small crustaceans, clams, which seeks out in the litter and soil.

                                                   EMU

The appearance of the EMU is similar to ostrich, but his body was more compressed and chunky, neck and legs are shorter. And the wings are so small that when they are pressed to the body, almost not visible.

The tail has a woolly character and painted in drab brownish-gray.

The mass of birds 45-55 kg, height 180 cm EMUs Eat fruits, seeds and small animals.

Before oviposition, the male pitches from grass, leaves and branches platform-socket. Usually the clutch can be 7-8 eggs but sometimes find nests with a large number of eggs — up to 21. Incubates the eggs, only the male who periodically comes down from the nest in search of food. As a rule, throughout this period the bird is starving. Sometimes females report eggs in the nest during incubation.

                    “Ugly” Animals

                                         Monitors (goannas)

These are our largest lizards. The Komodo dragon of Indonesia is monitor, not a dragon, and Australia used to have a monitor even larger, still here when Aboriginals first arrived.

         Monitors have forked tongues, like snakes, and use the same way, flicking them in and out to smell what is nearby.

         The most commonly seen one is the lace monitor sometimes wandering around picnic tables in search of scraps.

                                  Australian Spiders and Jellyfish.

Australia has some type of spiders which are dangerous. You can find these in Sydney. If they are hungry, they will attack anything that moves. They have sharp teeth and poison. Luckily, there is an antidote if you can get to hospital quickly. There have been 12 deaths since 1927.  Other animals that are a problem for beach lovers are jellyfish. They look like bubbles of blue bubble gum and they have a painful sting therefore people do not swim when there are many in the water.

                                                 Cane Toad

      A cane toad is ugly! Other words include fat, noisy and disgusting. They are also as big as footballs!' The Queensland Government brought cane toads to Australia to eat cane beetles. Unfortunately cane toads can't fly but cane beetles can. Now the toads are more of a problem than the beetles. Hundreds of thousands are born every year. The toads eat everything including rare Australian animals. The toads are also poisonous to eat. Animals that eat them die. Though they are unpopular animals, some people like them and keep them as pets or write songs about them.

Animals introduced by people

                                                       Rabbits

        From their wild ancestors, they have inherited long ears, small, cocked and held tightly to the body and the tail, thick and soft wool are very different coloring. Rabbits are very prolific. So, imported in 1859, to Australia 12 pairs of rabbits for 6 years, have multiplied to 22 million and became a national disaster. The sailors getting to a far sea journey took rabbits with them as a food. Now there are a great majority of this animals in Australia.

                                         III. Conclusion

     Now you see how interesting and unusual the Australian Wildlife is. Australia is the driest continent on the Earth. The unique climate and the isolation of Australia from other continents explain the existence of unusual plants and animals. All the information represented in this work is the smallest part of all the mysteries Australia has. There are a lot of interesting topics for discussion and research. It may be plants of Australia or native people called aborigines. This proves how beautiful and unknown our planet is. And all of this need our attention and help.

                                  List of Sources

 1. Learning English – Совместное издание АО «Буклет» и ИПО «Полигран» - Москва «Просвещение» - 1993

2. interactive-english.ru

3. yandex.ru/images

4. znanija.com

5. alleng.ru

6. Online-Teacher.ru

7. otvet.mail.ru›question/52130659