AR animals came to the Google app at just the right moment earlier this year, when many of us were stuck inside due to the pandemic and in need of cheering up. Since the feature first launched in April, Google has steadily added to the available creatures with various mammals, insects, fish, birds, and even several species of dinosaur. The latest critters all have one thing in common: they hail from down under.

With the vast majority of Australia's animal species being unique to the country, you won't see these guys anywhere else in the world (except in zoos), so this is a welcome chance to see what a cute little wombat would look hanging out in your garden. To get started with Google's Aussie AR animals, simply search for any of the following in the Google app on your phone: koala, kangaroo, quokka, wombat, platypus, emu, kookaburra, or echidna.

As with Google's other AR animals, you can move them around your environment, see what their life-size is, and even hear what they sound like (on Android phones — coming soon to iOS). You'll be able to take photos and videos with them and share them with your mates, although they probably won't look quite good enough to pretend you've been on holiday.

Take a look at our exhaustive list of Google AR animals to see what other 3D creatures you can play around with.

Source: Google