Beginning in 1788, many types of placental mammals such as cattle, foxes and rabbits were brought to Australia. The dingo was the first of these, coming here about 5,000 years ago. These placental mammals make up a tiny percentage of the total mammalian population. Most of Australias wildlife is found nowhere else in the world, making its conservation even more important 87 per cent of our mammal species, 93 per cent of. These animals reached Australia by flying or hitching a ride on floating debris and crossing the oceans that separated Australia from Asia as Australia stated drifting slowly closer to Asia. Bats were the first to arrive, getting here about 23 million years ago. Placental mammals are relatively recent arrivals to Australia. They occupy every niche of the Australian habitat and range from the large red kangaroo to marsupials smaller than a mouse. Marsupials appeared about 64-65 million years ago and are the second oldest type of mammal found in Australia. The echidna and platypus are two such animals found in Australia. Two out of the five known species of monotremes in the world live in Australia. Monotremes first appeared between 145–99 million years ago and are the oldest type of Australian mammals.
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