The platypus has a wide flat tail. lt swims well, but it can only stay under water for a few minutes, and it shuts its eyes and ears first.
There are more than 800 kinds of bird in Australia. The emu, which is 2 metres tall, is the second largest bird in the world; only the ostrich is bigger. It cannot fly at all, but it can run at 50 kilometres an hour. Then there is the kookaburra, whose cry sounds like someone laughing, and the budgerigar, a little blue or yellow bird that people keep in their homes all over the world. Finally, there is the wonderful lyrebird. These birds live on the ground and have beautiful long tails. They have their own songs, but they can also sing the songs of other birds, and they can make the sounds of things like a car engine, the click of a camera, and a crying baby!