Because Australia is rather isolated from all other continents, its plants and animals have developed in a unique manner. Many species of plants and animals that cannot be found anywhere else in the world can be found in Australia. 

Although marsupials have become extinct almost everywhere else on Earth, many marsupial species can still be seen in Australia. Marsupials are mammals that carry their young in specialized pouches. Because young marsupials are small, hairless and helpless creatures, they live and develop inside their mother's pouch, which also covers the teats that the young marsupials feed on.

The best-known Australian marsupial species are kangaroos, koalas and wombats.

The strangest and most unique Australian animal is the platypus, which is one of the only mammal species in the world that is known to lay eggs.