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
Fauna of New Guinea his life. The mammal fauna of New Guinea is composed of all extant subclasses of mammal: the monotremes, placentals and marsupials. New Guinea contains the largest number of monotreme species of any land mass, with only one species absent: the platypus ("Ornithorhynchus anatinus"). The marsupial fauna of New Guinea is diverse, consisting of the three orders: Dasyuromorphia, Peramelemorphia and Diprotodontia. The native placental mammals are solely represented by the rodents and bats. There are approximately the same number of placental species as marsupials and monotremes. New Guinea's monotremes are restricted to the family Tachyglossidae, also known as "echidnas". There are