Thanks for taking the poll of who did NOT originate in Australia. If you said the dingo, you are correct. According to research dingos showed up in Australia from China about 18,000 years ago (http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/the-dingo-came-to-australia-from-southern-china.htm.). Who knew that crazy dog was so old?

The platypus was a good guess. Although it has many relatives found in fossil records in places like Wales and Argentina, platypus fossils have only been found in Australia (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platypus). The platypus is a monotreme, meaning it is a mammal but it lays eggs instead of having live births.

The question most often asked was what an echidnas was. It’s sort of like a cross between a hedgehog and a porcupine (http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/animals/Echidnas.htm.). It is also a monotreme.

OK, wombats and wallbys were easy — but they are fun to say, especially together.

Thanks for taking this poll!