Located in Australia’s southeast Queensland and Northeast New South Wales, the Gondwana Rainforests are like a time capsule of Earth’s evolutionary history, packed with biological diversity. Within the forests are plant and animal species still closely related to their ancient ancestors. The world’s oldest-known species of conifer tree, which thrived during the Jurassic period, still stand here. The forest floors are decorated with nestlike structures adorned with flowers created by satin bowerbirds to court mates, and the sounds of cackling, the trademark call of the laughing kookaburra, echo through the dense foliage. Species continue to be discovered there including the rediscovery of two mammal species previously thought to have been extinct: the hastings river mouse and parma wallaby. The wildlife are protected by the state, and additional stretches of land continue to be added to the rainforests.
—Prepared by the World Tribune staff
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