Coloured pencil on drafting film Emus have been in Australia for over 80 million years and are Australia"s largest native bird. On the Australian coat of arms the Emu and the Kangaroo were selected as symbols of Australia to represent the country progress because they cannot move backwards, only forward.
Did you know: Emus cannot walk backwards. Emus have powerful legs and some emus can run up to 50 km per hour. At full speed, an emu’s step can be as long as 3 metres and if attacked emus they run in a zigzag!
Coloured pencil on drafting film The mouse opossum is a mouse-like marsupial with a pointed nose. It is a solitary nocturnal animal which spends the night scurrying about looking for food. During the day, it sleeps high in the trees in its own nest built of leaves and twigs. It"s diet consists mainly of fruit, insects, small lizards, and eggs.
Did you know: Its medium-sized ears are thin and hairless and can be "rolled down" (kind of like unfurling the sail on a boat)!
Coloured pencil on paper Carmine bee-eaters are found in Africa from Senegal in the west to Abyssinia and Somalia in the east. They hunt mainly by keeping watch for flying insects from a perch. The insect is snapped up in the bill, then the bird returns to the perch, where it beats the prey against the perch until it is inactive.
Did you know: Carmine bee-eaters begin their nest holes by flying head-first into the dirt to make a dent!
Coloured pencil on drafting film The Tiger Striped Monkey Tree Frog is a nocturnal tree frog, and are widespread and abundant east of the Andes in South America. The males are smaller and thinner than females (lucky things!)
Did you know: They are called monkey frogs because they don‘t hop much, but instead climb about using their hands and fingers in a way similar to monkeys.
Did you know: In New Zealand, the silvereye was first recorded in 1832 but it arrived in great numbers in 1856 and it is assumed that a migrating flock was swept eastwards by a storm. As an apparently self-introduced bird it is protected as a native New Zealand species. Its Māori name, tauhou, means "stranger" or more literally, "new arrival".
Coloured pencil on drafting film The Song Sparrow lives up to its name, being one of the most persistent singers throughout the spring and summer. A group of Song Sparrows are collectively known as a "flock", "choir", and "chorus" of sparrows.
Did you know: Song sparrows sing as many as 20 different tunes with as many as 1,000 improvised variations on the basic theme. This is why birds such as mockingbirds are not able to effectively imitate their song!
Pastel on board Male lions can reach a length of 10 feet and weigh between 300 to 500 pounds or more and are the only cats with manes. Female lions are slightly smaller.African lions spend 90% of their time sleeping!
Did you know: Lions are believed to have existed on earth for 2 million years or longer.
Coloured pencil on drafting film The Galah is one of the most abundant and familiar of the Australian parrots, occurring over most of Australia, including some offshore islands.
Did you know: A galah, in Australian slang, means a foolish person and the word galah, is a cross between the Aboriginal names of gulah, gillar and galar.
Did you know: There are 113 individual species of Lemur but they are only found in the small island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Almost all of the lemurs alive today are threatened with extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).