Great Barrier Reef
Water
The biggest thing ever built by living creatures.
The Great Barrier Reef runs for about 2,300 kilometres along the north-east coast of Australia. It was built by billions of tiny animals called coral polyps, over thousands of years.
It is really some 2,900 separate reefs and 900 islands. More than 1,500 kinds of fish live there, along with turtles, sharks and dolphins. Warmer seas are a danger to it: the coral turns white and can die.
- long
- 2,300 km
- separate reefs
- 2,900
- kinds of fish
- 1,500+
- 1
It is so big that astronauts can see it from space.
- 2
Coral is an animal, not a plant or a rock.
- 3
Six of the world's seven kinds of sea turtle swim here.
Question 1 of 2
What built the reef?
- Sydney Opera HouseA theatre with a roof like white sails in Sydney Harbour.
- UluruA giant red rock in the heart of Australia.
- Milford SoundA fjord in New Zealand where waterfalls drop straight into the sea.
- Chocolate HillsMore than a thousand round hills in the Philippines that turn brown in the dry season.
It is in Australia.
Read about Australia