About ten thousand years ago, before the end of the Ice Age, Tasmania Island was connected to the Australian Continent. As the Ice Age concluded, melting snow flooded the land bridging the two, forming the Bass Strait.
Because Tasmania remained unconnected to the Australian Mainland, its development was slower, and thus it has retained much of its original character. The natural scenery is quite exceptional.
It has also preserved some ancient species, such as the remarkable duck-billed platypus.
This creature is an egg-laying mammal, considered one of the most ancient mammals, an incompletely evolved mammal.
With a bill and feet like a duck's, and a body and tail like a beaver's, it's aptly named the duck-billed platypus.
But the duck-billed platypus is not the only egg-laying mammal; there's also the echidna, which is similarly an egg-laying mammal, a staunch opponent in the evolution debate.
