Natural Wonder - Marsupials

Marsupial - of a group of mammals that carry their incompletely developed young in an external pouch on the mother. Hope you all enjoy the vid. :-)

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• natural
• wonder
• marsupial
• group
• mammals
• carry
• incompletely
• developed
• young
• external
• pouch
• mother
• hope
• enjoy
• vid
• mdragon180
• OneTrueMedia

[jacothefirst]

So sad about the Tas Tigers. Let's hope the Devils will not go the same way.

[mdragon180]

@jacothefirst I so share your concerns. Thanks for commenting & stopping by. Happy New Year :-)

[goldthylacine]

I don't think the Tasmanian tiger is extinct, just very elusive. I'm a beleiver!!

[mdragon180]

@goldthylacine Oh - I'm with ya. I want to believe that too.

Thanks for your comment - really appreciate it :-)

[EddieCubillo]

Most people just dont understand how different marsupials are from placentals. The difference is comparable to a hummingbird to a crocodile.

[mdragon180]

@EddieCubillo Very true.

Thanks so much for your comment :-)

[EddieCubillo]

@fuducker2 Could be a primitive trait that all modern marsupials have from a common ancestor, dna evidence proves that all australian marsupials are descended from a south american ancestor and dasyurids, like the Numbat and the Kowari are the most primitive group so it only makes sense that that feature would be most pronounced in them.

[fuducker2]

@EddieCubillo

Apart from having a pouch (and several other differences), did you notice that so many marsupials have an unusual proboscis? Koalas, monito del monte, kowari, tasmanian devil, numbat, opossum, possum, quoll, the nose is always pink/black and sticking out. In the numbat and kowari, this protrusion is quite visible. Do you know what that's all about?

[fuducker2]

@EddieCubillo

Oh that's right I forgot that birds are the only dinosaurs to survive the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event in which they became so distinct form reptiles that they were placed in a separate class. Then again by modern day standards, Aves and Reptitlia are considered more distinct than metatheria and eutheria. And they are quite different from placentals indeed.

[EddieCubillo]

@fuducker2 Yeah monotremes and marsupials are very fascinating to me, i'm planning on getting my degree in zoology and working in australia someday, good discussion nice to see someone very knowledgeable in this subject. Maybe we can work together someday over there.

[EddieCubillo]

@fuducker2 Not quite, Birds and crocodiles are actually closer relatives to each other than anything else, they are united under the Archosaur clade. so the difference is comparable to Eutherians and Metatherians, Reptilia is a historical Paraphyletic grouping that has fallen out of favor in recent years. In other words the classification of animals is alot more complicated than the traditional Mammal, Reptile, Bird system.

[fuducker2]

@goldthylacine

I'd love to know that they are not extinct as well.  But if they are, we are working on a project that, if successful, will CLONE thylacines BACK INTO EXISTENCE! Hope it works (if we don't find out that they're actually still living!).

LOVE your username btw.

[fuducker2]

@EddieCubillo

What's interesting is that there are only five mammalian species that are more distantly related to humans than the marsupial infraclass. Those species are the platypus, Sir David's long beaked echidna, the Western long beaked echidna, the Easterm long beaked echidna and the short beaked echidna. They are the monotremes! They lay eggs! It's so cool because they're the only five species not belonging the clade composed of marsupials AND placentals. I still love my marsups.

[fuducker2]

@EddieCubillo

I disagree lol. Hummingbirds belong to the class Aves and crocodiles belong to the class Reptilia while placentals and marsupials are both in the class Mammalia, but are in fact different INFRAclasses, which is just below class. Don't mean to sound like a know i t all, and I know you were just using them as a metaphor so I just wanted to...alter your metaphor (not that it was at all necessary).