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What are evolution in marsupials?
Marsupials (Metatherians) are thought to have evolved, along with placental (Eutherian) mammals, from Therian mammals. Marsupials diverged from Eutherian mammals approximately 90 million years ago. Marsupials probably evolved in North America, expanded into South America and the Pacific rim of Asia.
What is unique about marsupials?
The name marsupial comes from the marsupium, or pouch, in which these animals carry and nurse their young. Marsupials have very short gestation periods (the time the young spend in the mother’s tummy). There are even marsupial moles! …
Are marsupials convergent evolution?
Marsupial and placental mammals diverged from a common ancestor more than 100 million years ago, and have evolved independently ever since. This widespread evolutionary phenomenon is known as convergence. …
How Australian marsupials show convergent evolution?
Convergent evolution can be seen in Australia’s marsupials and North America’s placental mammals. They split from a common ancestor more than 100 million years ago, and due to convergent evolution, each lineage continued to evolve independently.
What do all marsupials have?
Most marsupials—such as opossums—have four small legs and feet. Kangaroos and wallabies have two large feet and two arms. All marsupials have good hearing and a good sense of smell. Most walk on the ground or are good climbers, and one, the water opossum or yapok of South America, can swim!
What’s special about most marsupials that’s different from other mammals?
In comparison to most mammals, marsupials are odd. Unlike placental mammals, such as humans, dogs and whales, marsupials give birth to relatively underdeveloped young that continue to grow a ton in the mother’s pouch.
Are marsupials divergent evolution?
These animals are an example of convergent evolution. Ancestors of modern marsupials probably split from those of modern placental mammals in the mid-Jurassic period, back when Stegosaurus and Allosaurus still roamed the Earth.
How are marsupials an example of divergent evolution?
The evolution of various Australian Marsupials from a single ancestral stock in the Australian subcontinent is an example of adaptive radiation. This describes the divergent evolution of the ancestral stock, which gives rise to a variety of species.
Is Australian marsupials divergent evolution?
What do most marsupials have?
What are marsupials in geography?
Marsupials are — mammals that carry their young ones in a pouch formed by a fold of skin near the stomach. The pouches contain the mammary glands. Australia has about 150 species of marsupials that vary in size, from the giant kangaroo over two meters in height to the tiny insect-eating bandicoot.