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
Patagonia (mammal) as opposed to earlier forest environments in the region. This coincides with "Patagonia"'s burrowing, grazing habits. A large variety of mammal species are known, including caviomorph rodents such as "Dudumus", as well as the rodent-like argyrolagoidean paucituberculates. "Patagonia" likely avoided competition in its fairly specialised niche. Patagonia (mammal) Patagonia is an extinct genus of non-placental mammal from the Miocene of Argentina. Traditionally considered a metatherian "incertae sedis", more recent analysis have shown it to be a gondwanathere. It is the youngest allothere species known. Currently, a single species is known, "P. peregrina", hailing from the Colhuehuapian-dating deposits of the Sarmiento