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Humans
Well-dated evidence now suggests that humans have been in Australia for at least 40,000 years. Some circumstantial evidence even hints at periods longer than this, such as over 100,00 years, but this is yet to be confirmed by multiple techniques. Over this long time, there may have been several waves of successive groups coming into Australia.

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Plants

Ferns
Ferns are an ancient group of plants that need a very moist environment in which to reproduce. They disperse by tiny dust-like spore that are released from sporophylls, small structures that are usually found on the underside of the frond (leaf). As would be expected from the wettest part of Australia, the highest diversity of ferns on the continent is in the north-eastern Queensland 'wet tropics'. Thus, ferns are a very obvious and dominant part of the tropical rainforest.
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Birds

Penguins
Penguin
Penguin
Penguins are found mainly in the colder waters of the southern hemisphere, and do not occur in the northern Arctic regions. The only penguin that regularly breeds and lives on the Australian mainland and that is most likely to be seen in Australian waters is the Fairy Penguin. This species is also called the Blue penguin or the Little Penguin. As suggested by the latter common name, this is a small penguin standing about 35cm high, and in fact is the world’s smallest penguin.
 

Mammals

Rodents
If there is one group of mammals that is even more successful than the bats, it is the rodents, with about 2000 species worldwide and at least 60 species in Australia, which is again almost a quarter of the mammals of the continent.
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