For most people, Australia is a continent home to marsupials that are not like those that everyone is used to seeing.
The marsupials of Australia differ in appearance, have a different physiology and a different body structure. Females have a pouch on their bellies where they carry their young, which are born undeveloped.
Currently, there are about 250 species of marsupials.
The main difference between marsupials is that their cubs are born underdeveloped and for several months they grow, being in this very pouch on the mother’s stomach. Even when they grow up and can move and feed independently, they do not part with the bag and hide in it at the slightest danger. This continues until his little brother takes his place.
The fauna of Australia is very diverse. There are several dozen animals in Australia, mostly marsupials. The most famous of this order is the kangaroo. Probably everyone is familiar with this animal, although from hearsay, because the kangaroo is a kind of business card Australia. Kangaroos are found only in Australia, with the exception of several species found on the islands of Oceania.
In general, there are several types of kangaroos. The most famous is the large red kangaroo. Large red kangaroos reach a height of 2 meters and a weight of up to 80 kg or more. As you know, kangaroos move by jumping, so the red kangaroo’s long jumps can be up to 10 m. And these jumpers can overcome up to 3 meters in height. “Redheads” live mainly in flat areas such as “savannas”. They eat plant foods.
The second species is the gray “giant” or forest kangaroo. These kangaroos are a bit smaller in size, but not with agility. A gray kangaroo can easily reach speeds of up to 65 km/h. So hunters, even in a car, cannot always catch up with him. Although, in principle, the “Big Gray”, although of impressive size, is a completely peaceful and trusting animal.
The third species is the wallaroo mountain kangaroo. They have a more massive build and relatively short hind legs - they are perhaps the most agile of the kangaroos. They live in mountainous areas and easily jump from rock to rock and along mountain steeps, perhaps better than any mountain goat.
There is a type of kangaroo that lives in trees. They are somewhat different from those living on earth. This is understandable, because climbing trees requires its own characteristics. But, nevertheless, they are the same interesting creatures and they also carry their children in a bag.
Very small kangaroos also live in Australia. Rather, it is something between a kangaroo and a rat. They are called quokkas. They are somewhat similar to our jerboas, but they are also marsupials. These herbivores are very shy and are mainly nocturnal.
No less interesting is another representative of Australian marsupials, this marsupial bear koala. Very cute, looks like a teddy bear. The koala lives in eucalyptus groves. Spends all his time in the trees. He doesn’t drink water because he eats eucalyptus leaves, and their juice is enough for him. Koalas do not recognize any other food.
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There is also the largest burrowing animal in the marsupial family, the wombat. Outwardly, it looks like a small bear, but it is a herbivore. An adult wombat reaches a meter or more in length and can weigh more than 40 kg
There is another amazing mammal in Australia - the marsupial anteater nambat. This is quite a beautiful animal, measuring from 20 to 30 cm with striped coloring. In principle, it is a predator, because it feeds on living creatures. Its food is termites. Nambat belongs to the class of marsupials, although it does not have a bag as such. On his belly there is a milky field framed by curly hair. Newborn naked and blind cubs, clinging to the fur, hang on the nipples and live like this for almost 4 months. When they become larger, the female leaves them in a hole or hollow and feeds them at night, because she is very shy.
One of the rare marsupials is the spotted marsupial marten. This beautiful animal is a real predator that eats everything that is smaller in size: rabbits, birds, it can eat a snake, a fish, well, anything that comes along. The marten is more than half a meter in length and can weigh up to 10 kg. In the spotted marsupial marten, the brood pouch is not permanent. It develops during the breeding season, is located at the back and opens towards the tail. Normally it's just a fold of skin. Unfortunately, this animal is on the verge of extinction and can only be found in national parks.
Another of the now rare marsupials is the rabbit bandicoot. Outwardly, bandicoots are similar to rats, only they have a more elongated muzzle and large ears, like a hare. These animals can be up to 45 centimeters long, plus a tail up to 20 cm. Bandicoots, or bilbies as they are otherwise called, feed on everything that comes their way. They can eat both insects and their larvae, and easily cope with small lizards and other living creatures. But they can also get by with various roots, mushrooms and other plant foods.
Previously, Australia was home to many marsupial predators called the marsupial devil. This is a rather unpleasant, vicious and foul-smelling animal. Appearance matches its name. But over time, this animal was supplanted by the Dingo dog, and now the marsupial devil can only be seen in the zoo. IN wildlife it can only be seen in Tasmania, where it is called the Tasmanian devil.
Of course in this brief overview It is impossible to tell about all the marsupials living in Australia, but we hope that the information obtained in this article gives a general idea of these amazing animals living only on this sunny continent.
I was looking for pictures of marsupials with babies in a pouch and came across an article about this order. I read it and learned so many new things for myself. I didn’t even think that their babies are born so small, and then crawl into the pouch on their own.Here is the article source www.floranimal.ru
Order Marsupials
(Marsupiala)
Mammals / Marsupials /
Mammalia/Marsupiala/
The order Marsupials (Marsupiala), with the exception of American opossums and caenolestes, are distributed on the mainland of Australia, on New Guinea and nearby islands. This order includes about 250 species. Among marsupials there are insectivorous, carnivorous and herbivorous forms. They also vary greatly in size. Their body length, including tail length, can range from 10 cm (Kimberley marsupial mouse) to 3 m (great gray kangaroo). Marsupials are more complexly organized animals than monotremes. Their body temperature is higher (on average - 36°). All marsupials give birth to live young and feed them with milk. However, compared to higher mammals they have many ancient, primitive structural features that sharply distinguish them from other animals. 
First characteristic marsupials - the presence of so-called marsupial bones (special pelvic bones that are developed in both females and males). Most marsupials have a pouch for bearing young, but not all have it developed. to the same degree; There are species that do not have a pouch. Most primitive insectivorous marsupials do not have a “finished” pouch - a pocket, but only a small fold delimiting the milky field. This is, for example, the case with numerous marsupial mice, or mousebirds. The yellow-footed marsupial mouse - one of the most archaic marsupials - has only a slight raised skin, like a border around the milky field; the closely related fat-tailed marsupial mouse has two lateral folds of skin, which grow somewhat after the birth of the young; finally, the baby mouse already has something similar to a bag that opens back towards the tail. In kangaroos, whose pouch is more perfect, it opens forward towards the head, like an apron pocket. 
Second characteristic feature marsupials have a special structure of the lower jaw, the lower (posterior) ends of which are curved inward. The coracoid bone in marsupials is fused with the scapula, like in higher mammals, this distinguishes them from monotremes. The structure of the dental system is an important classification feature of the marsupial order. Based on this feature, the entire order is divided into 2 suborders: multi-incisor and two-incisor. The number of incisors is especially large in primitive insectivorous and carnivorous forms, which have 5 incisors at the top and 4 at the bottom in each half of the jaw. In herbivorous forms, on the contrary, there is no more than one incisor on each side of the lower jaw; their fangs are absent or underdeveloped, and their molars have blunted tubercles. The structure of the mammary glands of marsupials is characteristic; they have nipples to which newly born babies are attached. The ducts of the mammary glands open at the edge of the nipples, as in monkeys and humans, and not into the internal reservoir, as in most mammals. 
However, the main difference between marsupials and all other mammals is the characteristics of their reproduction. The reproduction process of marsupials, which is very difficult to observe, has only recently been fully elucidated. The cubs in the mother's pouch are at first so small and underdeveloped that the first observers had a question: would they be born directly in the pouch? F. Pelsaert, a Dutch navigator, first described a marsupial in 1629. He, like many later naturalists, thought that marsupial babies are born directly in the pouch, “from the nipples”; according to these ideas, the baby grows on the nipple, like an apple on a tree branch. It seemed incredible that a half-formed embryo, hanging inertly on the nipple, could climb into the pouch on its own if it was born outside of it. However, already in 1806, zoologist Barton, who studied the North American opossum, established that the newborn can move around the mother’s body, climb into the pouch and attach to the nipple. For Australian marsupials this was confirmed in 1830 by the surgeon Collie. Despite these observations, the famous English anatomist R. Owen in 1833 returned to the already expressed idea that the mother carries the newborn into the bag. According to Owen, she takes the baby with her lips and, holding the opening of the bag with her paws, puts it inside. Owen's authority consolidated this incorrect point of view in science for more than half a century. The embryo in marsupials begins to develop in the uterus. However, it is almost not connected to the walls of the uterus and is largely just a “yolk sac”, the contents of which are quickly depleted. Long before the embryo is fully formed, it no longer has anything to feed on, and its “premature” birth becomes a necessity. The duration of pregnancy in marsupials is very short, especially in primitive forms (for example, in an opossum or marsupial cats from 8 to 14 days, in a koala it reaches 35, and in a kangaroo - 38 - 40 days). The newborn is very small. Its dimensions do not exceed 25 mm in the large gray kangaroo - the largest representative of the order; in primitive insectivores and predators it is even smaller - about 7 mm. The weight of the newborn is from 0.6 to 5.5 g. The degree of development of the embryo at the time of birth is somewhat different, but usually the baby is almost devoid of hair. The hind limbs are poorly developed, bent and covered by the tail. On the contrary, the mouth is wide open, and the front legs are well developed, with claws clearly visible on them. The forelimbs and mouth are the organs that the newborn marsupial will need first. No matter how underdeveloped a marsupial baby may be, it cannot be said that it is weak and lacking energy. If separated from its mother, it can live for about two days. Kangaroo rats and some possums have only one young; Koalas and bandicoots sometimes give birth to twins. Most insectivorous and carnivorous marsupials have much larger cubs: 6-8 and even up to 24. Usually the number of cubs corresponds to the number of mother's nipples to which they must attach. But often there are more cubs, for example in marsupial cats, which have only three pairs of nipples for every 24 cubs. In this case, only the first 6 attached cubs can survive. There are also opposite cases: in some bandicoots, which have 4 pairs of nipples, the number of cubs does not exceed one or two. To attach to the nipple, newborn marsupial must go into the mother's pouch, where protection, warmth and food await him. How does this movement occur? Let's trace it using the example of a kangaroo. A newborn kangaroo, blind and underdeveloped, very soon chooses the right direction and begins to crawl straight towards the pouch. It moves with the help of its front legs with claws, wriggling like a worm and turning its head from side to side. The space through which he crawls is covered with fur; this, on the one hand, hinders him, but, on the other, helps: he clings tightly to the fur, and it is very difficult to shake him off. Sometimes the cub makes a mistake in the direction: it crawls to the mother’s thigh or chest and turns back, searches until it finds the bag, searches continuously and tirelessly. Having found the bag, he immediately climbs inside, finds the nipple and attaches to it. Between the moment of birth and the time when the baby is attached to the nipple, in marsupials it usually takes from 5 to 30 minutes. Once attached to the nipple, the baby loses all its energy; he again becomes an inert, helpless embryo for a long time. What does a mother do while her baby is looking for a bag? Does she help him in this difficult moment? Observations of this are still incomplete, and opinions are quite mixed. During the time it takes for the newborn to reach the pouch, the mother takes a special position and does not move. Kangaroos usually sit on their tail, which extends between their hind legs and point forward, or lie on their side. The mother holds her head as if she was watching the baby all the time. She often licks it - immediately after birth or while moving towards the pouch. Sometimes she licks her fur towards the pouch, as if helping the cub move in the right direction. If the cub gets lost and cannot find the bag for a long time, the mother begins to worry, itch and fidget, and she can injure and even kill the cub. In general, the mother is more of a witness to the energetic activity of the newborn than his assistant. Initially, the nipple of marsupials has an elongated shape. When the baby is attached to it, a thickening develops at its end, apparently associated with the secretion of milk; this helps the cub to stay on the nipple, which he squeezes forcefully with his mouth all the time. It is very difficult to separate it from the nipple without tearing its mouth or damaging the glands. The marsupial baby passively receives milk, the amount of which is regulated by the mother through contractions of the muscles of the milk field. For example, in a koala, the mother provides the baby with milk for 5 minutes every 2 hours. To prevent him from choking on this stream of milk, there is a special device respiratory tract: Air passes directly from the nostrils to the lungs, since the palatine bones at this time are not yet fully formed, and the epiglottic cartilage continues forward to the nasal cavity. Protected and supplied with food, the cub grows quickly. The hind legs develop, usually becoming longer than the front legs; the eyes open, and after a few weeks the stillness is replaced by conscious activity. The cub begins to lift away from the nipple and poke its head out of the pouch. At first, when he wants to get out, his mother does not allow him, who can regulate the size of the outlet of the bag. Different types Marsupials spend varying periods of time in the pouch - from several weeks to several months. The baby's stay in the pouch ends as soon as it becomes able to feed on food other than milk. The mother usually looks for a nest or den in advance, where at first the children live under her supervision. 
There is an opinion that the order of marsupials (Marsupialia) is divided into 2 suborders: multi-incisor marsupials (Polyprotodontia) and two-incisor marsupials (Diprotodontia). The former include more primitive insectivores and predators, the latter - herbivorous marsupials. An intermediate position between the multi-incisor and two-incisor is occupied by a little-studied group of caenolests, which some zoologists consider to be a separate suborder. The group of caenolestaceae includes one family and three genera. These are small animals that resemble American opossums and are found in South America.
For most people, Australia is a continent home to marsupials that are not like those that everyone is used to seeing.
The marsupials of Australia differ in appearance, have a different physiology and a different body structure. Females have a pouch on their bellies where they carry their young, which are born undeveloped.
Currently, there are about 250 species of marsupials.
The main difference between marsupials is that their cubs are born underdeveloped and for several months they grow, being in this very pouch on the mother’s stomach. Even when they grow up and can move and feed independently, they do not part with the bag and hide in it at the slightest danger. This continues until his little brother takes his place.
The fauna of Australia is very diverse. There are several dozen animals in Australia, mostly marsupials. The most famous of this order is the kangaroo. Probably everyone is familiar with this animal, although from hearsay, because the kangaroo is a kind of calling card of Australia. Kangaroos are found only in Australia, with the exception of several species found on the islands of Oceania.
In general, there are several types of kangaroos. The most famous is the large red kangaroo. Large red kangaroos reach a height of 2 meters and a weight of up to 80 kg or more. As you know, kangaroos move by jumping, so the red kangaroo’s long jumps can be up to 10 m. And these jumpers can overcome up to 3 meters in height. “Redheads” live mainly in flat areas such as “savannas”. They eat plant foods.
The second species is the gray “giant” or forest kangaroo. These kangaroos are slightly smaller in size, but not fast. A gray kangaroo can easily reach speeds of up to 65 km/h. So hunters, even in a car, cannot always catch up with him. Although, in principle, the “Big Gray”, although of impressive size, is a completely peaceful and trusting animal.
The third species is the wallaroo mountain kangaroo. They have a more massive build and relatively short hind legs - they are perhaps the most agile of the kangaroos. They live in mountainous areas and easily jump from rock to rock and along mountain steeps, perhaps better than any mountain goat.
There is a type of kangaroo that lives in trees. They are somewhat different from those living on earth. This is understandable, because climbing trees requires its own characteristics. But, nevertheless, these are just as interesting creatures and they also carry their children in their bags.
Very small kangaroos also live in Australia. Rather, it is something between a kangaroo and a rat. They are called quokkas. They are somewhat similar to our jerboas, but they are also marsupials. These herbivores are very shy and are mainly nocturnal.
No less interesting is another representative of Australian marsupials, the koala bear. Very cute, looks like a teddy bear. The koala lives in eucalyptus groves. Spends all his time in the trees. He doesn’t drink water because he eats eucalyptus leaves, and their juice is enough for him. Koalas do not recognize any other food.
.jpg)
There is also the largest burrowing animal in the marsupial family, the wombat. Outwardly, it looks like a small bear, but it is a herbivore. An adult wombat reaches a meter or more in length and can weigh more than 40 kg
There is another amazing mammal in Australia - the marsupial anteater nambat. This is quite a beautiful animal, measuring from 20 to 30 cm with striped coloring. In principle, it is a predator, because it feeds on living creatures. Its food is termites. Nambat belongs to the class of marsupials, although it does not have a bag as such. On his belly there is a milky field framed by curly hair. Newborn naked and blind cubs, clinging to the fur, hang on the nipples and live like this for almost 4 months. When they become larger, the female leaves them in a hole or hollow and feeds them at night, because she is very shy.
One of the rare marsupials is the spotted marsupial marten. This beautiful animal is a real predator that eats everything that is smaller in size: rabbits, birds, it can eat a snake, a fish, well, anything that comes along. The marten is more than half a meter in length and can weigh up to 10 kg. In the spotted marsupial marten, the brood pouch is not permanent. It develops during the breeding season, is located at the back and opens towards the tail. Normally it's just a fold of skin. Unfortunately, this animal is on the verge of extinction and can only be found in national parks.
Another of the now rare marsupials is the rabbit bandicoot. Outwardly, bandicoots are similar to rats, only they have a more elongated muzzle and large ears, like a hare. These animals can be up to 45 centimeters long, plus a tail up to 20 cm. Bandicoots, or bilbies as they are otherwise called, feed on everything that comes their way. They can eat both insects and their larvae, and easily cope with small lizards and other living creatures. But they can also get by with various roots, mushrooms and other plant foods.
Previously, Australia was home to many marsupial predators called the marsupial devil. This is a rather unpleasant, vicious and foul-smelling animal. The appearance matches its name. But over time, this animal was supplanted by the Dingo dog, and now the marsupial devil can only be seen in the zoo. It can only be seen in the wild in Tasmania, where it is called the Tasmanian devil.
Of course, in such a brief review it is impossible to talk about all the marsupials living in Australia, but we hope that the information obtained in this article gives a general idea of these amazing animals living only on this sunny continent.
The diversity of Australia's fauna amazes scientists. It is home to over 370 species of mammals, over 820 species of birds, 300 species of lizards, 140 species of snakes and two species of crocodiles. And among insects, flies and mosquitoes alone, more than 7,000 species have been discovered. But the real stars of the Green Continent are the marsupials, of which there are over a hundred species.
"Teddy bear" in the branches of eucalyptus
To describe an animal and vegetable world Australia will require several volumes, so we will focus only on the most curious animals of this continent, which usually arouse the greatest interest. Let's start with the koala, which usually causes a “wave” of real affection in children and adults. It's hard to imagine, but this animal was almost on the verge of destruction! A real war with them was launched because of their valuable fur. Fortunately, people stopped in time, and koalas managed to survive to this day.
The world learned about this cute animal, which has long become a unique symbol of Australia, only in 1798. At first it was mistaken for a South American sloth, and four years later the koala was considered a rare species of monkey... Then this animal was classified as a bear for some time, and only later did it become clear that the koala is a distant relative of the wombat and is much closer to kangaroos than to bears. Both the koala itself and all its closest relatives are marsupials.
About the origin of koalas Australian Aboriginals There is an interesting legend. If you believe him, then once upon a time, a long time ago, all animals were people. In that distant time there lived an orphaned boy, Kub-Bor. Although he was sheltered by relatives, his life with them was not easy. Kub-Bor learned to find food for himself in the forest, but there was a constant problem with water: the boy was always thirsty.
One day, when the boy was left alone, he could not stand it and drank all the water his relatives had stored. Frightened, Kub-Bor climbed a tree, and on its top he hung the empty vessels. The tree was not tall, but when the boy sang a song, it began to grow and lifted him right up to the clouds.
The returning relatives discovered there was no water and became very angry. They saw Kub-Bora at the top of a tall eucalyptus tree and began to demand that he come down. The frightened boy refused, then two shamans climbed a tree and threw Kub-Bora down. As soon as the boy's body hit the ground, he immediately turned into a small eared animal, which again climbed to the very top of the eucalyptus tree.
As you may have guessed, Kub-Bor turned into a koala. From the legend it also becomes clear why the koala never drinks water: the spirit of the boy, living in every animal, is still afraid that he will be punished for taking a sip of water.
The koala does not actually go down to the watering hole, he only needs the moisture that he absorbs from the foliage, especially when it is abundantly moistened with dew or raindrops. By the way, in the Aboriginal language the word “koala” means “does not drink.”
An adult koala weighs up to 15 kg, the maximum height of the animal does not exceed 90 cm. It’s hard to believe, but at birth the weight of this funny little eared animal is only 5-6 grams. A koala baby spends about six months in its mother's pouch, where it grows and acquires fur. For about the same amount of time, the grown animal is still in the care of its mother, moving from branch to branch on her back. It is curious that the koala is a big sleepyhead; the animal spends about 20 hours sleeping, i.e. almost the entire day.
Alas, to see koalas, you have to fly to distant Australia. The fact is that this animal is not in zoos; keeping koalas is very expensive, because they feed only on eucalyptus leaves, and even then not all of them, but only individual species. Every day the koala eats about one kilogram of leaves. A zoo that dares to purchase a koala will have to fly branches with the foliage of this tree from Australia or grow eucalyptus trees, if the climate permits.
Animal from the coat of arms of Australia
Another prominent representative of the animal world of Australia is the kangaroo - this animal is even depicted on the country's coat of arms. There are now about 60 million of these animals on the continent, represented by approximately 55 species. Of these, the smallest is the tree kangaroo, about 50 cm tall, which lives on tree branches. We mostly know the red kangaroo - this is the largest species. The height of individuals reaches 1.8 meters.
Like koalas, kangaroos are marsupials. Females have a skin fold-pocket on their abdomen: it is in this pouch that kangaroo cubs are born and live for the first months. They are born very tiny; before the birth of a kangaroo, the female carefully cleans and licks her pouch. A born blind and bald baby follows the mother's tail and body to the bag, climbs into it and immediately finds a nipple in it. He clings to it, and with his strong paws holds on to the female’s fur so as not to fall out when she jumps.
After three to four months, the cub begins to crawl out of the pouch and jump next to its mother. If he feels danger, he jumps straight into the bag head first, he turns over in it and his “journey” with his mother continues. The cub stays in the pouch on the mother’s stomach for 8-9 months, until it simply no longer fits in it. Relatively recently, an interesting fact came to light. It turned out that mother kangaroos can exchange their babies! This was discovered by chance when scientists, studying the lives of animals, marked their young. After some time, all the marked babies changed mothers and ended up in someone else's bags. Scientists believe that this is explained by the fact that in case of danger, the baby kangaroo jumps into the pouch of the female closest to it, not necessarily its mother, and she simply “forgets” about the “exchange” that took place.
Kangaroos are widespread in Australia, they live in forests and savannas, and some species even in mountainous areas. These animals move by jumping thanks to their powerful hind legs; their speed can reach 45 km/h. In one jump they can easily cover a distance of 4.5 meters or even more. Representatives of large kangaroo species can weigh up to 70-80 kilograms. These animals live in groups; their herd can number up to 50 kangaroos or more.
This animal, the size of a small dog, has a rather creepy name - the Tasmanian marsupial devil. This is one of the rare predators in Australia, which hunts small animals and birds, frogs, and on occasion even catches crayfish. The Tasmanian devil can serve as an example of cleanliness; he does not miss the opportunity to take a bath, and after that he enjoys basking in the sun. There was a time when this curious animal was distributed throughout the continent, but now it is preserved only on the island of Tasmania.
Why does this animal have such a scary name? The animal received this award for its rather ferocious disposition, black coat color, ear-piercing night cries and threatening growl. The small Tasmanian devil manages to take such threatening poses and make such frightening sounds that even large predators prefer to avoid it. He is not afraid to fight, without hesitation he enters into battle with a stronger opponent, defeating even large dogs.
The female Tasmanian devil carries her young in folds of skin on her abdomen. This secretive creature spends almost the entire day in the bushes and only comes out to hunt at night. If you catch an animal while still a cub, it quite easily becomes tame and becomes very attached to humans. Unfortunately, Tasmanian devils are on the brink of extinction due to a mysterious disease, the first cases of which were noted in 1996. According to experts, if an effective vaccine or other treatment cannot be found, Tasmanian devils could disappear within the next two decades.
Ridiculous platypuses
When a stuffed platypus was first sent to England, British scientists thought that their Australian colleagues were simply pranking them by attaching a duck beak to a stuffed rat. The platypus is a truly unique animal of Australia. It is semi-aquatic and has completely waterproof fur, webbed feet, and a nose that resembles a duck's beak. Female platypuses lay eggs; these animals make their homes in special ditches, digging them on the banks of rivers and streams.
The platypus is considered one of the symbols of Australia; it is depicted on the reverse of the Australian twenty-cent coin. Under no circumstances should you pick up this animal. The fact is that male platypuses have spurs on their hind legs that secrete a “cocktail” of various poisons. Fortunately, they are not fatal to humans, but their impact causes a person considerable pain and causes swelling of the affected limb, the treatment of which can take several months.
This aquatic mammal's head ends in a long, flat, spatulate beak, its body is covered with thick fur, and its feet have webbed feet. The female platypus incubates her young from eggs for about ten days and feeds them with milk. There are usually two eggs, they are enclosed in a soft filmy shell. Platypus cubs are born blind and have no hair at all; they lick the milk released from the milk pores on the mother's skin. When the babies are old enough, the mother takes them to the water, trying to teach them to hunt small animals.
The platypus spends most of its time in a hole; it digs it not far from running water. Only in the early morning and late evening does it leave the hole and spend about an hour hunting for small aquatic inhabitants - small fish, crustaceans, worms and larvae. Thanks to their streamlined body shape and webbed feet, platypuses move very quickly in the water. Until recently, due to the pollution of water bodies, platypuses were considered to be in danger of extinction, but specially created reserves, fortunately, made it possible to solve this problem.
In conclusion, it is worth remembering the echidna, which in Australia is called the “spiny anteater”. The echidna is also a marsupial! She lays her eggs in a pouch, from which the cubs “hatch” occur. The female echidna fattens them until the baby’s first spines appear. Thanks to these spines, because of which the echidna has practically no enemies in nature, it manages to survive surrounded by potential opponents.
Most dangerous enemies the animal is consumed by the aborigines, who prepare various local dishes from its meat and fat. These animals do not have permanent housing; they spend the night where it is most convenient for them.
When in danger, echidnas burrow a little into the ground if possible, curl up into a ball, and expose their spines. Such a prickly “delicacy” is not to the liking of many predators, and they retreat unsalted. Of course, the natural world of Australia is not limited to all the animals described above; there are many other animals, birds, fish, reptiles and insects that make up it. If by the will of fate you find yourself on the Green Continent, you can see many representatives of the exotic animal world of Australia at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, at the Melbourne Zoo, in the Rain Forest in Port Douglas, as well as in various parks of the continent.
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The content of the article
MARSPALIES(Marsupialia), a large group of mammals, differing from placental, or higher animals, in features of anatomy and reproduction. Classification schemes vary, but many zoologists consider marsupials to be a superorder with a special subclass, Metatheria ( lower beasts). The name of the group comes from the Greek. marsupios – bag, or small bag. Marsupials are common in Australia and New Guinea, as well as in North and South America, from southeastern Canada to Argentina. Wallabies are introduced to New Zealand, Great Britain, Germany, the Hawaiian Islands, and possums to the west North America, where they settled from southwestern British Columbia to northern California.
The taxonomy of the group varies, but its modern members are generally divided into 16 families, 71 genera and 258 species, the majority of which (165) are found in Australia and New Guinea. The smallest marsupials are the honey badger ( Tarsipes rostratus) and marsupial mouse ( Planigale subtilissima). The body length of the first reaches 85 mm plus a 100 mm tail with a mass of 7 g in males and 10 g in females. The total body length of a marsupial mouse is up to 100 mm, with approximately half of it being the tail, and its weight is 10 g. The largest marsupial is the large gray kangaroo ( Macropus giganteus) height 1.5 m and weight 80 kg.
Bag.
Marsupials give birth to very small cubs - their weight does not reach 800 mg. The duration of feeding newborns always exceeds the pregnancy period, which ranges from 12 to 37 days. During the first half of the nursing period, each young is permanently attached to one of the teats. Its end, once in the baby’s round mouth, thickens inside, providing a strong connection.
In most species, the nipples are located inside a pouch formed by folds of skin on the mother's abdomen. The pouch opens forward or backward depending on the species and can close tightly due to the contraction of muscle fibers. Some small species do not have a pouch, but newborns are also permanently attached to the nipples, the muscles of which, contracting, pull the cubs close to the mother's stomach.
The structure of the reproductive organs.
Modern mammals are divided into three groups, usually considered separate subclasses: monotremes (platypus and other oviparous animals), marsupials and placentals (dogs, monkeys, horses, etc.). This terminology is not entirely appropriate, since the placenta is temporary internal organ, which connects the mother with the developing embryo before its birth, is also formed in marsupials, although in most cases it has a less complex structure.
One of anatomical features, distinguishing these three groups of mammals concerns the location of their ureters and genital tracts. In monotremes, like reptiles and birds, the ureters and genital ducts empty into the upper part of the rectum, which forms a common excretory chamber called the cloaca. Through a “single passage”, urine, sexual products, and feces are excreted from the body.
Marsupials and placentals have two excretory chambers - the upper (rectum) for feces and the lower (urogenital sinus) for urine and reproductive products, and the ureters empty into a special bladder.
Moving during evolution to a lower position, the ureters either pass between the two reproductive ducts or bend around them from the outside. In marsupials the first variant is observed, in placentals the second. This seemingly small feature clearly separates the two groups and leads to profound differences in the anatomy of the reproductive organs and its methods.
In female marsupials, the urogenital opening leads to a paired reproductive organ, consisting of two so-called. lateral vaginas and two uteruses. These vaginas are separated by ureters and cannot merge, like in placental ones, but are connected in front of the uterus, forming a special chamber - the so-called. middle vagina.
The lateral vaginas serve only to carry semen to the uterus and do not participate in the birth of young. During childbirth, the fetus passes from the uterus directly into the median vagina and then, through the birth canal specially formed in the thickness of the connective tissue, into the urogenital sinus and out. In most species this canal closes after birth, but in some kangaroos and honey gliders it remains open.
In males of most marsupial species, the penis is forked, probably to direct semen into both lateral vaginas.
Evolutionary history.
In addition to the characteristics of reproduction, there are other differences between marsupials and placentals. The former do not have a corpus callosum, i.e. a layer of nerve fibers connecting the right and left hemispheres of the brain, and producing heat (thermogenic) brown fat in the young, but there is a special shell around the egg. The number of chromosomes in marsupials ranges from 10 to 32, while in placentals it usually exceeds 40. The two groups also differ in their skeletal and dental structure, which helps to identify their fossil remains.
The presence of these features, supported by persistent biochemical differences (amino acid sequences in myoglobin and hemoglobin), suggests that marsupials and placentals are representatives of two long-separated evolutionary branches, the common ancestors of which lived in the Cretaceous period ca. 120 million years ago. The oldest known marsupials date back to the Upper Cretaceous of North America. Their remains belonging to the same era were also found in South America, which was connected with the Northern Isthmus throughout most of the Cretaceous period.
At the beginning of the Tertiary period (about 60 million years ago), marsupials settled from North America to Europe, North Africa And Central Asia, but became extinct on these continents about 20 million years ago. During this time, they achieved great diversity in South America, and when it reconnected with North America in the Pliocene (ca. 12 million years ago), many species of possums penetrated north from there. From one of them came the Virginia opossum ( Didelphis virginiana), which spread across eastern North America relatively recently - ca. 4000 years ago.
Marsupials probably came to Australia from South America through Antarctica, when these three continents were still connected, i.e. more than 50 million years ago. Their first finds in Australia date back to the Oligocene (about 25 million years ago), but they are already so diverse that we can talk about a powerful adaptive radiation that occurred after the separation of Australia from Antarctica. Nothing is known about the early history of Australian marsupials, but by the Miocene (15 million years ago), representatives of all modern, as well as extinct, families appeared. The latter include several large herbivores the size of rhinoceros ( Diprotodon And Zygomataurus), giant kangaroos ( Procoptodon And Sthenurus) and large predators, such as a lion-like Thylacoleo and wolf-like Thylacinus.
Currently marsupials of Australia and New Guinea occupy the same ecological niches as placentals on other continents. Marsupial devil ( Sarcophilius) similar to wolverine; marsupial mice, rats and martens are similar to mongooses, weasels and shrews; wombat - woodchuck; small wallabies - for rabbits; and large kangaroos correspond to antelopes.
