Latest Marsupial Stories
Long a staple of nature documentaries, the somewhat bizarre development of a grub-like pink marsupial embryo outside the mother's womb is curious in another way.Duke University researchers have found that the developmental program executed by the marsupial embryo runs in a different order than the program executed by virtually every other vertebrate animal."The limbs are at a different place in the entire timeline," said Anna Keyte, a postdoctoral biology researcher at Duke who did...
Surprising first ancestor of bizarre marsupial molesThe mysterious origins of Australia's bizarre and secretive marsupial moles have been cast in a whole new and unexpected light with the first discovery in the fossil record of one of their ancestors.The find reveals a remarkable journey through time, place and lifestyle: living marsupial moles are blind, earless and live underground in the deserts of the Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia, yet their ancestors lived in...
All current Australian marsupials can trace their ancestry back to South America, according to a new study by German researchers from the University of Munster's Institute of Experimental Pathology."While marsupials like the Australian tammar wallaby and the South American opossum seem to be quite different, research by Maria Nilsson and colleagues at the University of Munster"¦ shows otherwise," a press release dated July 27 says."Using sequences of a kind of 'jumping gene,'...
The squirrels littering your lawn with acorns as they bound overhead will live to plague your yard longer than the ones that aerate it with their burrows, according to a University of Illinois study.Scientists know from previous studies that flying birds and bats live longer than earthbound animals of the same size. Milena Shattuck and Scott Williams, doctoral candidates in anthropology, decided to take a closer look at the relationship between habitat and lifespan in mammals, comparing...
A plague of kangaroos has caused thousands of dollars worth of damage after heavy rains swept through areas of Queensland forcing the marsupials to invade farmland that has been previously untouched by the majority of the kangaroo population.Queensland sheep farmer Stephen Tully told BBC that thousands of kangaroos are running rampant among his fields. The rains have brought the brown fields back to life and the lush grasses have lured the marsupials into the new fertile region.The grasses...
Skull fragments of prehistoric koalas from the Riversleigh rainforests of millions of year ago suggest they shared the modern koala's "lazy" lifestyle and ability to produce loud "bellowing" calls to attract mates and provide warnings about predators.However, the new findings published as the featured cover article in the current issue of The Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology suggest that the two species of koalas from the Miocene (24 to five million years ago) did not...
A University of Florida researcher has co-authored a study tracing the evolution of the modern opossum back to the extinction of the dinosaurs and finding evidence to support North America as the center of origin for all living marsupials.The study, to be published in PLoS ONE on Dec. 16, shows that peradectids, a family of marsupials known from fossils mostly found in North America and Eurasia, are a sister group of all living opossums. The findings are based in part on high-resolution CT...
The fossil of a previously unknown chipmunk-sized mammal was discovered by researchers in north eastern China, who believe it could lead to a better understanding of how human hearing evolved.The team of paleontologists found the 123-million-year-old creature, which is just five inches long, in fossil-rich Liaoning Province, close to where China borders North Korea."What is most surprising, and thus scientifically interesting, is the animal's inner ear," said Zhe-Xi Luo, a curator...
Australia's famed Tasmanian devil has been labeled endangered due to an infectious and lethal cancer, the government announced.Devil facial tumor disease exterminates the animals in three short months by spreading all over their faces and mouths, stopping them from eating."This disease has led to the decline of about 70 percent of the Tasmanian devil population since the disease was first reported in 1996," Environment Minister Peter Garrett announced in a statement."Strong action is being...
Australian scientists said they've suffered a setback in their effort to save Tasmanian devils from extinction in the wild. A Tasmanian devil called Cedric had shown a strong antibody response to a deadly facial cancer that is killing the marsupials, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday. It had been hoped that his offspring would also be safe from infection. Cedric, however, has now fallen ill with the disease. It was very deflating, very, very disappointing. But we move on, and we...
Latest Marsupial Reference Libraries
The common ringtail possum (Pseudocheirus peregrinus) is a marsupial that is native to Australia. Its range includes eastern and southwestern areas of Australia and Tasmania. It prefers a habitat within tropical or temperate regions in dense forests, showing a particular inclination for eucalyptus forests. This species is the sole member of its genus, Pseudocheirus, but it is thought to hold four subspecies. The common ringtail possum can reach an average body length between 11.8 and 13.7...
The honey possum (Tarsipes rostratus), also known as the tait or the noolbenger natively, is a marsupial that occurs in Australia. Its range is small and isolated to an area in the southwest portion of Western Australia. In this area, it prefers a habitat within woodlands and shrub lands. This possum is the sole member of its genus Tarsipes, and of its family, leading some experts to assert that it may deserve a distinct classification from its superfamily or higher. It is also thought to be...
The Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) is the only marsupial that occurs north of Mexico in North America. It is commonly known as the North American opossum and as “tlacuache” in Mexico. It is often seen in or near human settlements, foraging through waste for food. Its range includes Central and North America, east of the Rockies, and from Costa Rica to southern areas of Ontario, Canada. It has been found farther north than Toronto and in northwestern Minnesota, and so it is...
The Striped-faced Dunnart (Sminthopsis macroura), is an Australian marsupial. This animal is found throughout central Australia from the Pilbarra to central Northern Territory, western and central Queensland, south to north-east South Australia to north and west New South Wales. It inhabits sandy soils with dune hummock grasslands, tussock grasslands and scrublands. This dunnart has an average body length of 7 inches. Its weight varies between five and eight-tenths of an ounces. It has a...
The Lesser Hairy-footed Dunnart (Sminthopsis youngsoni), is a small carnivorous Australian marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. It is a widespread and fairly common species, being found in many desert areas of Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland. The Lesser Hairy-footed Dunnart is distinguished from the very similar Hairy-footed Dunnart by its smaller size and less hairy soles. Photo Copyright and Credit
