Are there mammals native to Australia that aren't marsupials?

Yes. There are monotremes (mammals which lay eggs) – platypii/platypuses(?) and echidnas.

“Australia is home to a variety of native mammals both on land and in the surrounding oceans. They consist of marsupials, monotremes and placental mammals. The largest number of the mammals, almost half, are the marsupials, which include the Kangaroo, Koala and Wombat.

“The other native land mammals are the bats, rats, mice and the Dingo.” (via)

PLATYPUS!!!

EDIT DAMN YOU ALENAD!!!

LOL.

Wildlife girl strikes again.

What about humpback whales and dolphins that are native to Australia’s waters, do they count?

…and don’t forget the Dugong

Nice. I’ve never even heard of them. Australia has such odd animals.

I’m partial to elephants and manatees, so they were the first mammals I noticed in Austrailia. I guess I’m just a softy for an grey critter. The koalas made me sneeze though. I’m allergic to eucalyptus and they smell of it since that’s what they eat.

uh. Elephants in Australia?

Bill Hunter, Rachael Ward, Russell Crowe, Bindi Irwin, plus many more. No pouches on any of them.

no, les, it was a comparison to dugongs. They are grey and related to manatees. It was poorly worded, but meant to be a continuation of the comment by AlenaD. Sorry for the confusion. Yes, I did see elephants in Australia, but they were at the zoo.

@seesul: Ah. I see. Sweet. I guess elephants would be one of the first mammals someone would notice. They aren’t especially tiny. ;-)

Do the Aborigines count as mammals?

Ah, but the Aboriginal peoples of Australia originally came (as did all homo sapiens) from Africa, the mother land.

Crikey!

@seesul Elephants? When you get a chance, would you please tell us the story of when you noticed your first elephant in Australia?

@AlenaD Totally forgot about the monotremes. Know of any others besides the echidna and the platypus? As for the mice, rats, bats, and dingos, I’m skeptical. I have had an encounter with a giant white tailed rat (my uncle called it an “attack rat” as he handed me a weapon with which to defend myself), and those guys are not marsupials, so I’m cool with rats on that list, but dingos? I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure dingos are wild dogs, of fertile crescent origins originally (not in full fledged dingo form of course), and all over SE Asia. I think.

@seesul I missed the zoo comment above. So no need to tell the story. Unless you want to. I like the image of someone arriving in Australia and immediately noticing an elephant.

@jdegrazia there are no other monotremes aside from platypi and echidnas

Dingos dont count as they were introduced to Australia by humans.

It can’t be wrong! I found it on the internets! So it must be true!

Yes there are the monotremes (echidna and platypus), and some placentals that are considered native (bats, flying foxes, seals and sea lions, whales and dolphins, i am pretty sure some native rodents, also dingos are most often considered native as they were introduced by indigenous people so long ago).