What makes australia unique among the continents

Party Animals. Try This! Explore More. Koalas are marsupials, related to kangaroos. Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Map created by National Geographic Maps. Watch "Destination World". Now Playing. Up Next. North America. South America. More to explore. Habitats Learn about the different natural environments of plants and animals.

Destination World Our Earth is amazing! Australia is surrounded by vast expanses of water on all sides. Thus, one could argue that it meets the prevailing definition of a continent better than most other continents.

In addition to being a continent, Australia is also a country, which is officially known as the Commonwealth of Australia. The country was officially created in , when the British Parliament allowed the six separate British colonies on the continent to unite into one dominion.

From then on, Australia governed its own domestic affairs, though its foreign policy was still determined by the British government, as Australia was a dominion of the British Empire. In , however, the British government approved what was known as the Statute of Westminster , which gave Australia and the other dominions of the British Empire control over foreign policy, though this law was not formally adopted by Australia until Thus, Australia became a fully sovereign country.

Australia is structured as a federation, similar to how the United States is structured. The Australian federation consists of six entities known as states, and ten other entities known as territories. In contrast, the territories either have varying degrees of autonomy, or are under the direct control of the federal government.

The two mainland territories, the Australian Capital Territory ACT , where Canberra is located, and the Northern Territory have been given limited self-governing powers by the federal government. The website of the Australian federal government notes that these two territories are treated very much as if they were states because of their sizeable populations.

Another territory, Norfolk Island, used to have self-governing powers, but these were largely taken away by the federal government in The federal government of Australia has an executive branch led by a Prime Minister, who heads a cabinet. As an island nation, coastlines play an important role in defining national, state and territory boundaries.

Nearly 20 per cent of Australia's land mass is classified as desert. As well as having a low average annual rainfall, rainfall across Australia is also variable. The rainfall pattern is concentric around the extensive arid core of the continent, with rainfall intensity high in the tropics and some coastal areas. Climatic zones range from tropical rainforests, deserts and cool temperature forests to snow covered mountains. Within this climate, our plants and animals have evolved on a geographically isolated continent, through a time of a slowly drying climate, combined with continuing high variability.

What do you think? Animals of Australia. There are many animals on mainland Australia. Many animals are unique to this part of the world. The most famous animals in Australia are marsupials. A marsupial is a mammal that has a pouch to carry its young. The Kangaroo is a common marsupial from the islands of Australia. The Koala is a small marsupial that lives in eucalyptus gum trees in Australia.

Koalas are not bears. The Kookaburra i s a large bird from Australia.