Fauna of Australia species are nocturnal and many arboreal. Two of the five living species of monotreme occur in Australia: the platypus and the short-beaked echidna. The monotremes differ from other mammals in their methods of reproduction; in particular, they lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. The platypus—a venomous, egg-laying, duck-billed amphibious mammal—is considered to be one of the strangest creatures in the animal kingdom. When it was first presented by Joseph Banks to English naturalists it was thought to be so strange that it was a cleverly created hoax. The short-beaked echidna is similarly strange, covered in hairy spikes
Saint Bathans mammal adzebills are represented by unnamed species, as are various representatives of groups such as waterfowl, flamingos, rails, herons, strigopoidean parrots and even an early kiwi, "Proapteryx". However, unlike modern New Zealand it also had a varied herpetofauna: besides an early tuatara, the Saint Bathans fauna also includes meiolaniid and pleurodire turtles and possiblymekosuchine crocodiles and snakes. Besides the Saint Bathans mammal, this fauna also includes mystacine bats, a group still present in modern New Zealand. Like the modern species, these were probably terrestrial foragers, the same general ecological niche proposed for the Saint Bathans mammal. Other bats, including a vesper