Australia, New Zealand Encyclopedia 13. (töredék) [antikvár]

The echidna is one of the primitive group of creatures called monotremes found only in Australia and New Guinea.MONOTREMESMonotremes are egg-laying mammals and are found only in Australia and in the island of New Guinea. There are only two kinds of monotremes, the platypus, which is restricted to AustraHa, and the echidna. The short-beaked echidna is found throughout most of the Australian continent and in Papua New Guinea. The long-beaked echidna is found only in the highlands of PNG and on some of the nearby islands.The monotremes are grouped with mammals because they suckle their young and have hair on their bodies. Neither the platypus nor the echidna has true teats, but they exude milk from skin areas. However, monotremes also share some characteristics with birds and reptiles. For example, they have a single body opening, the cloaca, for both sexual and excretory functions, and they lay eggs.MONSOONSMonsoons are seasonal winds that blow in tropical regions, bringing either very dry or very wet weather, depending on the time of year. A north-west monsoon brings rain to northern Australia and to much of Papua New Guinea between December and March. Between April and October, the dry, south-east trade wind blows.Monsoonal winds are caused by areas of lowOpposite; Sunrise at Cathedral Rocks, Kiama, one of the many popular resorts on the New South Wales coast.atmospheric pressure over land masses attracting air currents from high pressure areas off the coast. The effects of the monsoon in N Australia are usually drought during the summer 'dry', and heavy rain and flooding in the 'wet'. Rain can, however, be caused by other climatic influences, such as cyclones, during the wet season.MONTE BELLO ISLANDSThe Monte Bello Islands are a group of coral islands about 70km from the NW coast of Western Australia. In 1952, Britain's first nuclear weapon was exploded at the islands. Two further atomic explosions occurred in 1956. Testing was then transferred to mara-linga in South Australia.Before the tests, wallabies, birds and turtles were found on the islands. The first European sighting of the Monte Bello Islands was in 1622, when the English ship, the tryal (Trial) was wrecked on nearby Tryal Rock. The islands were named in 1801 by the French explorer Thomas Nicolas Baudin, in honour of the Duke of Montebello.The Monte Bello Islands were used by Britain in the 1950s to test nuclear weapons.1009