ANIMAL KINGDOM :: MARSUPIAL MAMMALS :: EXAMPLES OF MARSUPIALS image - Visual Dictionary Online Visual Dictionary Online next Tasmanian devil Carnivorous scavenging nocturnal marsupial with powerful jaws that allow it to devour its prey whole (flesh, bones, fur, feathers). opossum Omnivorous nocturnal marsupial of the Americas and Australia without a pouch; its fur is highly prized. wallaby Marsupial closely related to the kangaroo and living in Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea; certain species are prized for their fur. morphology of a kangaroo koala Tailless nocturnal marsupial of Australia; this solitary tree-dweller lives in eucalyptus forests and feeds on the tree&#8217s leaves. kangaroo Herbivorous marsupial with a highly developed tail; it lives in groups in Australia and Tasmania and moves rapidly by leaping. Mammals of Australia Australian Aboriginals had been accustomed to them for millennia, but early white explorers were amazed by what they found in Australia, and even today we are uncovering more and more remarkable facts about our mammals What is so odd about Australian mammals?

Australia is the only continent (and one of the only two countries - the other being New Guinea) in the world to still have all three of the major groups of mammals : monotremes, marsupials and placentals Half of Australia's mammal species are marsupials (South America has a few dozen species - all in the opossum family - and a couple of species have found their way into North America, but Australia is the only continent to have such a diverse range or to have marsupials as their most common and conspicuous land mammals) It is the only country in the world to have platypus, kangaroos (although New Guinea and some neighbouring islands do have wallabies), koalas, wombats, marsupial "moles" and numbats It is the only continent other than Antarctica to not have native hoofed animals, or terrestrial native Carnivora (dogs, bears, cats, weasels etc., but we do have seals and sea lions) - the dingo appears to have arrived from Southeast Asia only about 4,000 years ago, probably with Indonesian traders.

It is also the only continent to have rainforests but no monkeys Not only do we have mobs of great, two-legged hopping herbivores taking the place of deer and cattle, but we have a strange little furry creature that swims, lays eggs, give milk to its young, has a venomous spur, and uses electricity to find its prey, also small predators that revel in mating encounters only to have all males die of stress-related conditions within three weeks, a spiny but furry animal that develops a pouch shortly before laying an egg ....

and much more The world's three great groups of mammals: monotremes, marsupials and placentals are all found in Australia Monotremes - egg-laying mammals (nowadays found only in Australia and New Guinea) Marsupials - babies born in embryonic condition and kept firmly attached to a teat in a pouch or nestled behind a protective skin-flap while developing further Placentals - unborn young are nourished by a placenta (just to confuse things, some marsupials also have a placenta) and born at a more advanced stage, some still naked, blind and unable to walk for a week or two, others able to run on their day of birth The short answer is a vertebrate that gives milk to its young. A more detailed response is that a mammal: is a vertebrate animal (i.e.

has a 'backbone' of vertebrae protecting the central nervous system stemming from the brain, similar to birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish) gives milk to its young, produced from mammary glands (quite different from the 'milk' regurgitated from pigeons to their young) - this is unique in the animal kingdom is usually hairy (with a kind of hair not found in other animals, quite a difference substance from that of caterpillars or spiders for instance) - although a few such as whales and hippos do not have much hair has a lower jaw consisting of a single pair of bones (one of the ways we can tell if a fossil was a mammal) controls its body temperature ('warm-blooded') by a number of physiological means (similar to birds) and uses a diaphragm to contract and expand its lungs for breathing (similar to birds, reptiles and adult amphibians). Monotremes Monotremes lay eggs but give milk to their young, are covered in fur, and share other characteristics of marsupial and placental mammals. Their body temperature is lower, and they can when need arises allow it to drop considerably to slow down metabolism.

Their locomotion has reptilian qualities, and the adults have no teeth. The name means one opening, which refers to the cloaca (similar to that of birds and reptiles) through which the eggs are laid as well as waste products being eliminated. Platypus are found only in Australia, but we share echidna with New Guinea ( three species over there, including our species). The first platypus skin to be taken to England was simply not believed - skeptics were convinced it was the work of a skilled taxidermist stitching various other animal parts together. And that was only because of its bizarre appearance. No one yet knew that this furry, milk-giving animal also laid eggs ( that discovery was to cause further furore , although Aboriginals had long known this fact), that the male had a venomous spur (making it the only known venomous mammal in the world), that they have the highest rate of REM sleep of any mammal, or that they seek their prey not by sight but by using their rubbery bill which is sensitive to electrical and other vibrations from the muscles of aquatic crustaceans, insects and other small creatures.

The white you see around the eyes when they forage are small patches of white fur - the eyes are closed while diving and pursuing prey. The echidna, though often mistakenly called a porcupine or thought of as an aberrant hedgehog, is no less strange. It also lays eggs although furry and milk-giving, and the female develops a pouch while pregnant - the young live there until they become too prickly! The long rubbery bill is a similar substance to that of the platypus bill, and is used in procuring ants and termites from their nests. There is just one species in Australia, found also in New Guinea along with a further one to three species, depending which taxonomy is accepted (most commonly accepted nowadays seems to be dividing the long-beaked echdina into thee species - western, eastern and Attenborough's (or Sir David's)). Males (which incidentally have a strange, four-pronged penis) may sometimes be seen in the breeding season (winter) forming a 'love-train' in pursuit of a female, and soon both sexes start digging small trenches to facilitate mating.

That Steropodon galmani was a monotreme that lived amongst the dinosaurs in the early Creatceous, suggesting the group evolved within the Australian section of Gondwana in the Jurassic - they have certainly been in Australia a long time! There have also been fossilised platypus (different species to today's) found in Argentina - not surprising as Australia, Antarctica and Australia were still joined during the Cretaceous. They may have also had relatives in Madagascar, but fossil records are scarce and this hypothesis does not seem to currently hold much favour. It is thought that the echidna lineage evolved in Australia from platypus-like ancestry. Marsupials Marsupial young are born t a very elementary stage of development. This seems a but hard on Junior, but it's good for Mum - no long and heavy pregnancy. The tiny newborn - with mouth and arms well-developed but not much else - must climb all the way to the nipple and attach for the next few weeks.

There are also skeletal differences that are used to distinguish marsupial fossils from placentals Four orders of marsupial are now generally recognised in Australia and another two in South and Central America (opossums - one of which has reached North America - and shrew-opossums) The four orders of Australian marsupials are: Carnivorous marsupials: Tasmanian devils and their kin, plus the numbat and the now-extinct Thylacine Bandicoots and Bilbies Herbivorous marsupials: koala, wombat, possums, kangaroos and kin Marsupial "mole" (just one species - but strange enough to earn an order of its own) Carnivorous marsupials: (Dasyuromorphia) Tasmanian devils, quolls, dunnarts (the mouse-sized predator pictured to the right) and other members of family Dasyuridae have many sharp teeth on both upper and lower jaws, and relatively simple feet (compared with herbivorous marsupials).

Most species are rat-sized or smaller and all are nocturnal, so most Australian residents do not even notice their existence, except that ion some country areas the mouse-sized antechinuses enter houses in search of insects or winter warmth, and the larger phascogales (squirrel-size) or quolls (large cat-size) occasionally help themselves to chickens. The introduced cane toad is a serious threat to these larger species. The smaller members of the family go into a kind of frenzy of fighting (males) and mating in early spring, the couple staying physically coupled and active for several hours, then within the month all males die of stress-related disorders while the female lives on to raise her brood. The numbat has similar feet and basically similar dental structure but with highly reduced teeth due to specialisation for its diet of ants and termites.This attractive, alert and delightful little animal is sufficiently different to have a family of its own, and is now regrettably endangered, and confined to the south-west corner of Australia The wolf-like thylacine was also sufficiently different to have a family of its own. According to the fossil record there were several species, just one remaining by the time Aboriginals arrived in Australia.

After the dingo arrived (probably brought in by Indonesian traders around 3000 years ago) the thylacine became extinct on the mainland, but was still going strong in Tasmania, until white settlers arrived and found it was eating their chickens and sheep. By the time legislation was passed to protect it, it was too late, and the last known individual, Benjamin, died in captivity in 1936, on September 7th, a day that is now remembered each year as Threatened Species Day. Bandicoots and Bilbies (Peramelemorphia) This order appears to be half-way between the carnivorous and herbivorous groups in two ways: their diet is omnivorous - insects, fungi, roots etc. their teeth resemble those of the carnivorous marsupials but their hind feet have the syndactyly of the herbivorous marsupials (see below) Some bandicoot species are common, even appearing in suburban backyards, but others are threatened, by habitat loss, competition with rabbits, and predation by foxes and cats There were two species of the strange, rabbit-eared bilbies.

The lesser bilby has not been seen since the 1960's and is probably extinct, but the greater bilby , while till endangered, is now the subject of some very active campaigns to protect it. Herbivorous marsupials (Diprotodontia) This group is united by the following features: only one pair of incisors in the lower jaw syndactyly - the second and third toe of the hind foot being joined into a two-clawed grooming comb (they share this with the bandicoots and bilbies) This herbivorous order includes: Koala Kangaroos, wallabies and pademelons There is no sharp zoological division between kangaroos and wallabies. The three largest species were called kangaroos and most of the others are called wallabies regardless of how closely related they are to the species known as kangaroos.

The red kangaroo is very wide ranging in inland areas, from woodlands through to deserts The eastern grey kangaroo (pictured) is the only kangaroo seen on the east coast (and the only one in Tasmania), but is also found as far west as south-eastern South Australia in the outback The western grey kangaroo is found from Australia's south-west coast through to western Queensland, western Victoria and western New South Wales, their range thus overlapping with the eastern grey. They are darker and browner in colour than the eastern grey. Next in size to the kangaroos but still in the same genus (Macropus, meaning 'big foot') are two species of wallaroo (as though someone couldn't decide whether to call them kangaroos or wallabies) and the euro. Several wallabies are also in the same genus, and would have been called kangaroos if they had been big enough (thus there is no sharp scientific division between the terms 'kangaroo' and 'wallaby.' Pictured to the right is a red-necked wallaby, in the genus Macropus.

There are several other wallabies belonging to separate genera, such as the swamp wallaby, the nail-tailed wallabies, the hare-wallabies and the rock-wallabies (pictured to the left is the brush-tailed rock-wallaby). Tree kangaroos are true members of the kangaroo family (but not in the kangaroo genus) that have adapted to life in the trees in the rainforests of far north Queensland and New Guinea. There used to be more species in Australia in the geological past when rainforests were more extensive, and nowadays we have have only two, while several species still occur in New Guinea. They hop like 'normal' kangaroos along the branches and on the ground. Pademelons are small wallabies of the east coast living in dense forests that would impede the leaping ability of some of the larger species. Quokkas are wallabies from the south-west of Australia, nowadays mostly on Rottnest Island near Perth Conservation note: A number of species of small wallaby are now threatened because of habitat destruction and feral predators (the kangaroos and larger wallabies are locally threatened in some areas but the species are nowhere near as endangered as some of these smaller wallabies).

Potoroos, bettongs and rat-kangaroos These are small relatives of kangaroos and wallabies, possibly a similar size to the early kangaroo ancestors about 15 million years ago. The musky rat kangaroo is one of the few marsupials active during daylight hours, and is found in the tropical rainforests of far north Queensland, where it is an important disperser of seeds. They have prehensile tails, with which they carry foods and nesting material. The desert rat-kangaroo (not closely related to the musky) was by contrast an animal of extreme arid lands of the outback but is now probably extinct. Potoroos (see photo to left) are found in rainforests and eucalypt forests, and are important dispersers of miccorhyzal fungi (fungi which live in a symbiotic relationship with roots of forest trees: they process certain minerals in such a way as to make them much easier for the roots to absorb, and in turn get structural support from the roots). There were three species but now only two.

There are several species of bettongs (some endangered), collectively found throughout Australia but each restricted to particular habitats Possums and gliders There are four "super-families" of diprotodont marsupials collectively containing the families of animals we collectively call possums (none of which resemble the opossums of the Americas - a totally different group of marsupials) : * Pygmy possums (Burramyoidea) * Ring-tail possums, striped possum, Leadbeaters possum and several gliding possums (Petauroidea) * Brush-tail possums, cuscuses and scaly-tailed possum (Phalangeroidea) * Honey possum and feather-tailed glider (Tarsipedoidea: some dispute the close relationship of these species) Wombats There are three species of wombat - the common wombat found in south-eastern Australia including Tasmania, and two much rarer species, the southern hairy-nosed wombat of outback South Australia and the highly-endangered northern hairy-nosed wombat of outback Queensland (which used to also be found in parts of New South Wales but is now extinct there).

They are powerful burrowers, and live mainly on grasses. An oddity is their droppings, which are cubic - this appears to be so that a wombat can leave a deposit to mark his territory on new objects that appear within it - a deposit that will not roll off as readily as a round one would. Koala The closest living relatives of the koala are the wombats (turn a wombat 90 degrees, put it in a tree and give it fluffy ears and it would almost look like one). It is unusual for a tree-climbing animal to lack a tail, so it seems probable that the ancestors of both were ground-dwelling animals, and the koala secondarily moved back into the trees. In the geological past there were several species of koala, but there is now only one, although there are a few different races. They have a very restrictive diet, eating only the leaves of Eucalyptus and Corymbia species (Corymbia are so similar to Eucalyptus that until recent years they were include in the same genus), and not just any species even of these.

Eucalypt leaves are difficult to get all one's nourishment from - they have low levels of nitrogen, they have many indigestible chemicals, and only the young leaves are tender. There are only a couple of dozen species koalas regularly eat, and in any particular area within Australia there are usually less than half a dozen species the koalas will eat. Marsupial "mole" (Notoryctemorphia) This odd little animal is sufficiently different from other marsupials to have a whole taxonomic order to itself. It looks remarkably like the golden mole of Africa, and behaves in a somewhat similar way, but they are not at all closely related: they just have very similar lifestyles and have adapted in similar ways (but of course the golden mole is a placental, its young are thus born at a more advanced stage and they are not kept in a pouch). The marsupial 'mole' (since we don't yet seem to have a better common name for it) has a beautiful golden coat but is seldom seen, as it spends most of its time underground in remote areas of the outback. Placentals Australia has NO native placental carnivores (i.e.

cats, dogs, bears, raccoons etc - the dingo, now known as "Australia's wild dog", was introduced about 3000 years ago), NO native hoofed animals (deer, goats etc.) NO primates (monkeys and apes) and indeed NO native placentals except those listed below The native placentals we DO have are: whales and dolphins Bats Because they could fly, bats reached Australia quite early - at least 50 million years ago, and about a quarter of all native Australian mammal species are bats. Bats belong to two sub orders which are similar in having their fingers greatly extended and modified for flight but differ in some important ways: megabats (do not echo-locate but use sight, sound and smell in much the same way as most other mammals, usually eat fruit or nectar or both, and found from Africa to the South-west Pacific), microbats (echo-locate, usually eat insects, found on all continents). There is no evidence of the megabats being in Australia for more than about a million years.

Megabats These include the flying foxes (fruitbats:pictured above), the blossom bats and the tube-nosed bats, found in northern and eastern Australia. Because they do not echo-locate they do not need the elaborate nose-leaves and large ears the microbats usually have, but instead have more typically mammalian faces, leading to the common names 'flying fox' in English and 'flughund' in German. Their diet consists of fruit and nectar, some species favouring one more than the other. Microbats There are six families in Australia, and although some species are rare, collectively the microbats are very common throughout Australia, often a dozen or more species being found in any one locality. They are not, however, 'interchangeable.' Some prefer more open habitats to others, some forage above the canopy and others below, some catching insects from the water, some eating small vertebrates as well as insects, some able to keep hunting during winter while others can't, etc. Some sleep in caves, others in vegetation or old bird nests.

Rodents About a quarter of all native Australian mammal species are rodents (which comes as a surprise to many suburban Australians who usually only see the introduced rodent species). Three of the world has a higher proportion - about half the world's mammal species are rodents, but they entered Australia relatively recently, when Australia and New Guinea drifted close enough to south-east Asia for temporary land bridges to form). In Australia all native rodents are in the rats-and-mice family (i.e. there are no squirrels, porcupines, beavers etc. native to Australia). The ancestors of the native rats and mice appear to have arrived in Australia around 4 million years ago and have diversified since then into many different species, especially in drier regions (although several species are very common in our rainforests). Seals and sea lions Fur seals and sea-lions belong to the family Otariidae, and have visible ears. Two species of fur seals breed in Australia, and another two on Sub-Antarctic islands The Australian sea-lion is found only in Australia. Dugong The dugong is closely related to the manatees, and although a sea-dweller it is more closely related to elephants than to seals or whales.

It is unique amongst marine mammals in being entirely herbivorous. It is found from the coastal waters near Brisbane northwards, around the northern tropical waters and down the west coast to a point roughly level with Brisbane. It's numbers are regrettably declining. Whales and dolphins Several species of dolphin inhabit waters around Australia, the most common being the bottle-nosed dolphin Several shales migrate along the Australian coasts in winter, coming up from Antarctica to breed in warmer waters. The most commonly-seen in the south is the right whale, the most common on more northerly coasts being the humpback whale. References and links The Australian Museum Complete Book of Australian Mammals (Angus & Robertson, 1983) edited by R. Strahan has long been the standard reference to mammals of Australia. 'Mammals of Australia' by R. Strahan is a revision of this important document. Other books on Australian mammals include: Bryden, M. Marsh, H. and Shaughessy, P. (1998). Dugongs, Whales, Dolphins and Seals: a Guide to the Sea Mammals of Australia. Allen and Unwin, St Leonards Cronin, L.

1991. Key Guide to Australian Mammals. Reed Books Australia Hall, L. S. and Richards, G. C. 1979. Bats of Eastern Australia. Queensland Museum, Brisbane Johnson, P. 2003. Kangaroos of Queensland. Queensland Museum, Environmental Protection Agency of Queensland, With the generous support of Packers Associated Tanners Pty Ltd. Ride, W. D. L. 1970. A Guide to the Native Mammals of Australia. Oxford University Press, Melbourne Slater P. First Field Guide to Australian Mammals. Steve Parish Publishing. Slater P. Amazing Facts about Australian Mammals, Volume 2. Discover and Learn about Australia, Steve Parish (for children) Strahan, R. 1987. What Mammal is That? Angus and Robertson, Sydney Triggs, B. 1996. Tracks, Scats and Other Traces: a Field Guide to Australian Mammals.

Oxford University Press, Qld (very useful if the mammals themselves are not actually seen) See also these references to Australian mammal books The Australian Mammal Society was founded in 1958 to promote scientific study of the mammals of the Australian region. See also the Australian Museum's comprehensive pages on Australian mammals List of Marsupial Animals | Animals - mom.me List of Marsupial Animals At six feet tall, Australia's red kangaroo is the planet's largest marsupial. Tom Brakefield/Stockbyte/Getty Images Marsupials are mammals that give birth to underdeveloped embryos, which then climb from the birth canal into a pouch on the front of the mother's body. Once inside, the infant, sometimes called a joey, feeds and continues to grow by attaching itself to a nipple. While most marsupials are native to Australia and the surrounding islands, some are found in the Americas. Kangaroos and Wallabies Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea are home to more than 50 species of kangaroos and wallabies, known as macropods, due to the large feet of these marsupials.

The largest, the red kangaroo of Australia's inland plains, can be up to six feet tall; gray kangaroos are smaller and found in woodlands. Wallabies, medium-sized marsupials, live in a variety of habitats, including shrubs, swamps and rocky cliffs. Ground-dwelling kangaroos and wallabies get around by hopping. There are also 14 species of arboreal kangaroos, two of which, the Bennett and Lumholtz varieties, occur in Australia. Kangaroos and wallabies are herbivores that eat a variety of grasses and other vegetation. Koalas The gray-furred, tree-dwellers commonly referred to as koala bears are also marsupials. A koala's pouch faces backward, an adaptation that enabled its burrower ancestors to dig tunnels without getting dirt in their pouches. Found in eastern and southeastern Australia, koalas live in eucalyptus trees, the leaves of which comprise their entire diet. Koalas grow to be two to three feet long and weigh between nine and 29 pounds.

Wombats The wombat, which the National Geographic website describes as "pudgy," is a burrower marsupial with brown or gray fur. Like a koala, a wombat's pouch faces the legs to keep dirt out as the animal digs. Wombats are herbivores that feed on grasses, roots, tubers and even tree bark. There are three species: the common wombat, northern hairy-nosed wombat and southern hairy-nosed wombat. Hairy-nosed wombats have larger ears and softer fur than common wombats. Tasmanian Devils Named by European settlers for the fierce temper they display when threatened or fighting for food, today the nocturnal Tasmanian devil occurs only on the island of Tasmania. It has black or dark brown fur, grows up to 30 inches in length and can weigh up to 26 pounds. Females give birth to 20 to 30 young at a time, but only have enough nipples inside their pouches to nourish four. Tasmanian devils, the largest carnivorous marsupial, consume fish, insects, snakes, birds and carrion.

Possums Possums, which are tree-dwellers, are the most widespread marsupial. Like Tasmanian devils, possums give birth to as many as 20 offspring, but only a few survive. There are 13 species of possums in Australia. North America is home to one species, the Virginia opossum, known to "play dead" when threatened by a predator. The yapok, or water opossum, one of multiple possum species in South America, is carnivorous and an able swimmer. Gliders Australia has six species of gliders -- relatives of the possum that have a membrane between the front and rear limbs that allow them to momentarily float through the air. Among them is the tiny feathertail glider, which gets its name from its feather-like, prehensile tail, and the better known sugar glider. Gliders are active at night and live in trees in Australia's woodlands and forests. They subsist on nectar, pollen, sap, leaves and insects. Mammals - Australia Australia Amphibians Dingo A dingo is a wild dog.

A dingo's natural habitat can range from deserts, grasslands, and forests. They cannot live too far away from water and they normally settle their homes in dens, deserted rabbit holes, and hollow logs. They are Australia's largest terrestrial predator. platypus The platypus is a semi aquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth. Tasmanian devil The Tasmanian devil is a carnivorous marsupial found in the wild only on the Australian island state of Tasmania. The size of a small dog, it became the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world following the extinction of the thylacine in 1936. It is characterized by its stocky and muscular build, black fur, pungent odor, extremely loud and disturbing screech, keen sense of smell, and ferocity when feeding. Tasmanian tiger The thylacine is another name for the Tasmanian Tiger. The thylacine had become extremely rare or extinct on the Australian mainland before European settlement of the continent.

It survived on the island of Tasmania along with several other endemic species. This tiger is an apex predator. numbat The numbat, also known as the banded anteater, or walpurti, is a marsupial found in Western Australia. Its diet consists almost exclusively of termites. Once widespread across southern Australia, the range is now restricted to several small colonies and it is listed as an endangered species. The numbat is an emblem of Western Australia and protected by conservation programs. koala The koala is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia, and the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae. Koalas walk on all four legs when walking on the ground, joey clinging to the back. kangaroo Kangaroos have large, powerful hind legs, large feet adapted for leaping, a long muscular tail for balance, and a small head. Like most marsupials, female kangaroos have a pouch called a marsupium in which joeys complete postnatal development. Possum A possum is a small to medium-sized arboreal marsupial species native to Australia.

Possums are quadrupedal diprotodont marsupials with long thick tails. Possums are typically nocturnal and at least partially arboreal. The various species inhabit most vegetated habitats and several species have adjusted well to urban settings. Diets range from generalist herbivores or omnivores, to specialist browsers of eucalyptus, insectivores and nectar-feeders. flying fox Flying Foxes are also known as fruit foxes. They only feed on nectar, blossom, pollen, and fruit. They do not possess echolocation, which helps locate and catch prey such as insects in mid-air. Instead, smell and eyesight are very well-developed in flying foxes. quoll The quoll is a carnivorous marsupial native to mainland Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania. It is primarily nocturnal and spends most of the day in its den. Adults are between 25 and 75 centimeters long, with hairy tails about 20 to 35 centimeters long. Females have six nipples and develop a pouch during the breeding season.

Create a free website JoyZine - The Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) Search JoyZine with Google Site Search! Tasmanian Tiger Thylacinus cynocephalus The Thylacine, Thylacinus cynocephalus (Latin: wolf-headed pouched dog), was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. Native to Australia and New Guinea, it is thought to have become extinct in the 20th century. It is commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger, the Tasmanian wolf and, colloquially, the Tassie (or Tazzy) tiger or simply The Tiger. It was the last extant member of its genus, Thylacinus, although several related species have been found in the fossil record dating back to the early Miocene. The modern Thylacine first appeared about 4 million years ago. Species of the Thylacinidae family date back to the beginning of the Miocene; since the early 1990s, at least seven fossil species have been uncovered at Riversleigh, part of Lawn Hill National Park in north-west Queensland.

Dickson's Thylacine (Nimbacinus dicksoni), is the oldest of the seven discovered fossil species, dating back to 23 million years ago. This early thylacinid was much smaller than its more recent relatives. In late Pleistocene and early Holocene times, the modern Thylacine was widespread (although never numerous) throughout Australia and New Guinea. Discovery and taxonomy The indigenous peoples of Australia made first contact with the Thylacine. Numerous examples of Thylacine engravings and rock art have been found dating back to at least 1000 BCE. Petroglyph images of the Thylacine can be found at the Dampier Rock Art Precinct on the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia. By the time the first European explorers arrived, the animal was already rare in Tasmania. The first definitive encounter was by French explorers on 13 May 1792, as noted by the naturalist Jacques Labillardière, in his journal from the expedition led by 'Entrecasteaux.

However, it was not until 1805 that William Paterson, the Lieutenant Governor of Tasmania, sent a detailed description for publication in the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser. The first detailed scientific description was made by Tasmania's Deputy Surveyor-General, George Harris in 1808, five years after first settlement of the island. Harris originally placed the Thylacine in the genus Didelphis<, which had been created by Linnaeus for the American opossums, describing it as Didelphis cynocephala, the "dog-headed opossum". Recognition that the Australian marsupials were fundamentally different from the known mammal genera led to the establishment of the modern classification scheme, and in 1796 Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire created the genus Dasyurus where he placed the Thylacine in 1810. To resolve the mixture of Greek and Latin nomenclature the species name was altered to cynocephalus. In 1824, it was separated out into its own genus, Thylacinus, by Temminck. The common name derives directly from the genus name, originally from the Greek thylakos, meaning pouch or sack.

Description Descriptions of the Thylacine vary, as evidence is restricted to preserved joey specimens; fossil records; skins and skeletal remains; black and white photographs and film of the animal in captivity; and accounts from the field. An example of convergent evolution, the Thylacine showed many similarities to the members of the Canidae (dog) family of the Northern Hemisphere: sharp teeth, powerful jaws, raised heels and the same general body form. Since the Thylacine filled the same ecological niche in Australia as the dog family did elsewhere, it developed many of the same features. Despite this, it is unrelated to any of the Northern Hemisphere predators. The Thylacine resembled a large, short-haired dog with a stiff tail which smoothly extended from the body in a similar way to that of a kangaroo. Many European settlers drew direct comparisons with the hyena, because of its unusual stance and general demeanour. Its yellow-brown coat featured 13 to 21 distinctive dark stripes across its back, rump and the base of its tail, which earned the animal the nickname, "Tiger". The stripes were more marked in younger specimens, fading as the animal got older.

One of the stripes extended down the outside of the rear thigh. Its body hair was dense and soft, up to 15 mm (0.59 in) in length; in juveniles the tip of the tail had a crest. Its rounded, erect ears were about 8 cm (3.1 in) long and covered with short fur. Colouration varied from light fawn to a dark brown; the belly was cream-coloured. They are easy to tell from a true dog because of the stripes on the back but the skeleton is harder to distinguish. Zoology students at Oxford had to identify 100 zoological specimens as part of the final exam. Word soon got around that, if ever a 'dog' skull was given, it was safe to identify it as Thylacinus on the grounds that anything as obvious as a dog skull had to be a catch. Then one year the examiners, to their credit, double bluffed and put in a real dog skull. The easiest way to tell the difference is by the two prominent holes in the palate bone, which are characteristic of marsupials generally.

– Richard Dawkins, The Ancestor's Tale The mature Thylacine ranged from 100 cm (39 in) to 180 cm (71 in) long, including a tail of around 50 cm (20 in) to 65 cm (26 in). The largest measured specimen was 290 cm (9.5 ft) from nose to tail. Adults stood about 60 cm (24 in) at the shoulder and weighed 20 kg (44 lb) to 30 kg (66 lb). There was slight sexual dimorphism with the males being larger than females on average. The Thylacine's jaws were muscular and powerful and were lined with 46 teeth. It could also open the mouth to an unusual extent: up to 120 degrees. The female Thylacine had a pouch with four teats, but unlike many other marsupials, the pouch opened to the rear of its body. Males had a scrotal pouch, unique amongst the Australian marsupials, into which they could withdraw their scrotal sac.

Thylacine footprints could be distinguished from other native or introduced animals; unlike foxes, cats, dogs, wombats or Tasmanian Devils, Thylacines had a very large rear pad and four obvious front pads, arranged in almost a straight line. The hind feet were similar to the forefeet but had four digits rather than five. Their claws were non-retractable. The Thylacine was noted as having a stiff and somewhat awkward gait, making it unable to run at high speed. It could also perform a bipedal hop, in a similar fashion to a kangaroo—demonstrated at various times by captive specimens. Guiler speculates that this was used as an accelerated form of motion when the animal became alarmed. The animal was also able to balance on its hind legs and stand upright for brief periods. Although there are no recordings of Thylacine vocalisations, observers of the animal in the wild and in captivity noted that it would growl and hiss when agitated, often accompanied by a threat-yawn.

During hunting it would emit a series of rapidly repeated guttural, cough-like barks (described as "yip-yap", "cay-yip" or "hop-hop-hop"), probably for communication between the family pack members. It also had a long, whining cry, probably for identification at distance, and a low snuffling noise used for communication between family members. Ecology and behaviour Little is known about the behaviour or habitat of the Thylacine. A few observations were made of the animal in captivity, but only limited, anecdotal evidence exists of the animal's behaviour in the wild. Most observations were made during the day whereas the Thylacine was naturally nocturnal. Those observations made in the 20th century may have been atypical as they were of a species already under the stresses that would soon lead to its extinction. Some behavioural characteristics have been extrapolated from the behaviour of its close relative, the Tasmanian devil. The Thylacine probably preferred the dry eucalyptus forests, wetlands, and grasslands in continental Australia. Indigenous Australian rock paintings indicate that the Thylacine lived throughout mainland Australia and New Guinea.

Proof of the animal's existence in mainland Australia came from a desiccated carcass that was discovered in a cave in the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia in 1990; carbon dating revealed it to be around 3,300 years old. In Tasmania it preferred the woodlands of the midlands and the coastal heath, which eventually became the primary focus of British settlers seeking grazing properties for their livestock. The striped pattern may have provided camouflage in woodland conditions, but it may have also served for identification purposes. The animal had a typical home range of between 40 sq km (15 sq mi) and 80 sq km (31 sq mi). It appears to have kept to its home range without being territorial; groups too large to be a family unit were sometimes observed together. The Thylacine was a nocturnal and crepuscular hunter, spending the daylight hours in small caves or hollow tree trunks in a nest of twigs, bark or fern fronds. It tended to retreat to the hills and forest for shelter during the day and hunted in the open heath at night.

Early observers noted that the animal was typically shy and secretive, with awareness to the presence of humans and generally avoiding contact, though it occasionally showed inquisitive traits. There is evidence for at least some year-round breeding (cull records show joeys discovered in the pouch at all times of the year), although the peak breeding season was in winter and spring. They would produce up to four cubs per litter (typically two or three), carrying the young in a pouch for up to three months and protecting them until they were at least half adult size. Early pouch young were hairless and blind, but they had their eyes open and were fully furred by the time they left the pouch. After leaving the pouch, and until they were developed enough to assist, the juveniles would remain in the lair while the female hunted. Thylacines only once bred successfully in captivity, in Melbourne Zoo in 1899. Their life expectancy in the wild is estimated to have been 5 to 7 years, although captive specimens survived up to 9 years. Diet The Thylacine was exclusively carnivorous.

Its stomach was muscular with an ability to distend to allow the animal to eat large amounts of food at one time, probably an adaptation to compensate for long periods when hunting was unsuccessful and food scarce. Analysis of the skeletal frame and observations of the Thylocine in captivity point to it singling out a target animal and pursuing its prey until it was exhausted. Some studies conclude that the animal may have hunted in small family groups, with the main group herding prey in the general direction of an individual waiting in ambush. Trappers reported it as an ambush predator. Prey included kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, birds and small animals such as potoroos and possums. A favourite prey animal may have been the once-common Tasmanian emu, a large, flightless bird which shared the habitat of the Thylacine. It was hunted to extinction around 1850, possibly coinciding with the decline in Thylacine numbers. Both dingos and foxes have been noted to hunt the emu on the mainland. European settlers believed the Thylacine to have preyed upon farmers' sheep and poultry.

In captivity, Thylacines were fed a wide variety of foods, including dead rabbits and wallabies as well as beef, mutton, and horse and occasionally poultry. Extinction The Thylacine is likely to have become extinct in mainland Australia about 2,000 years ago (possibly earlier in New Guinea). The extinction is attributed to competition from indigenous humans and invasive ding os. Doubts exist over the impact of the dingo, however, as the two species would not have been in direct competition with one another. The dingo is a primarily diurnal predator, while it is thought the Thylacine hunted mostly at night. In addition, the Thylacine had a more powerful build, which would have given it an advantage in one-on-one encounters. However, recent morphological examinations on dingo and thylacine skulls by Stephen Wroe of the University of NSW biomechanics show that although the dingo had a weaker bite, it's skull could resist greater stresses, allowing it to pull down larger prey than the thylacine. The thylacine was also much less versatile in diet than the omnivorous dingo.

Rock paintings from the Kakadu National Park clearly show that Thylacines were hunted by early humans, and it is believed that dingos and Thylacines may have competed for the same prey. Their environments clearly overlapped: Thylacine sub-fossil remains have been discovered in proximity to those of dingos. The adoption of the dingo as a hunting companion by the indigenous peoples would have put the Thylacine under increased pressure. Although long extinct on the Australian mainland by the time the European settlers arrived, the Thylacine survived into the 1930s in Tasmania. At the time of the first settlement, the heaviest distributions were in the northeast, northwest and north-midland regions. From the early days of European settlement they were rarely sighted but slowly began to be credited with numerous attacks on sheep. This led to the establishment of bounty schemes in an attempt to control their numbers. The Van Diemen's Land Company introduced bounties on the Thylacine from as early as 1830, and between 1888 and 1909 the Tasmanian government paid £1 per head for the animal (10 shillings for pups).

In all they paid out 2,184 bounties, but it is thought that many more Thylacines were killed than were claimed. Its extinction is popularly attributed to these relentless efforts by farmers and bounty hunters. However, it is likely that multiple factors led to its decline and eventual extinction, including competition with wild dogs (introduced by settlers), erosion of habitat, the concurrent extinction of prey species, and a distemper-like disease that also affected many captive specimens at the time. Whatever the reason, the animal had become extremely rare in the wild by the late 1920s. There were several efforts to save the species from extinction. Records of the Wilsons Promontory management committee dating to 1908 included recommendations for Thylacines to be reintroduced to several suitable locations on the Victorian mainland. In 1928, the Tasmanian Advisory Committee for Native Fauna had recommended a reserve to protect any remaining Thylacines, with potential sites of suitable habitat including the Arthur-Pieman area of western Tasmania.

The last known wild Thylacine to be killed was shot in 1930, by farmer Wilf Batty in Mawbanna, in the northeast of the state. The animal (believed to be a male) had been seen around Batty's hen houses for several weeks. The Thylacine held the status of "endangered species" until 1986. International standards state that any animal for which no specimens have been recorded for 50 years is to be declared extinct. Since no definitive proof of the Thylacine's existence had been found since1936, it met that official criterion and was declared officially extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is more cautious, listing it as "possibly extinct". Although the Thylacine is considered extinct, many people believe the animal still exists. Sightings are regularly claimed in Tasmania, other parts of Australia and even in the Western New Guinea area of Indonesia, near the Papua New Guinea border.

The Australian Rare Fauna Research Association reports having 3,800 sightings on file from mainland Australia since the 1936 extinction date, while the Mystery Animal Research Centre of Australia recorded 138 up to 1998, and the Department of Conservation and Land Management recorded 65 in Western Australia over the same period. Independent Thylacine researchers Buck and Joan Emburg of Tasmania report 360 Tasmanian and 269 mainland post-extinction 20th century sightings, figures compiled from a number of sources. On the mainland, sightings are most frequently reported in Southern Victoria. Cultural references The Thylacine has been used extensively as a symbol of Tasmania. The animal is featured on the official Tasmanian Coat of Arms. It is used in the official logos of Tourism Tasmaniaand the Launceston City Council. Since 1998 it has been prominently displayed on Tasmanian vehicle number plates The plight of the Thylacine was featured in a campaign for The Wilderness Society, entitled We Used to Hunt Thylacines. The animal is featured on Cascade Brewery beer products and in their television advertisements.

In video games, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger is the star of his own trilogy. In the early 1990s' cartoon TV show "Taz-Mania" the character, Wendell T. Wolf, was supposedly the last surviving Tasmanian wolf. Tiger Tale is a children's book based on an Aboriginal myth about how the Thylacine got its stripes. The Thylacine is the mascot for the Tasmanian Tigers state cricket team and has also appeared in postage stamps from Australia, Equatorial Guinea, and Micronesia. Cute Kangaroo at Singapore Zoo - YouTube Cute Kangaroo at Singapore Zoo Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Oct 3, 2013 The Cute Kangaroos are a family from the marsupial order of Diprotodontia. They are among the best-known marsupials and as typical representatives of the Australian fauna, but also live in New Guinea.

Cute Kangaroos are often characterized by the significantly longer hind legs and are herbivores, which are mainly crepuscular or nocturnal. The family includes about 65 extant species, of which four are already extinct. Cute Kangaroos differ significantly in their proportions. While the largest species, the red cute kangaroo can reach up to 1.8 meters and a weight of 90 kilograms, which brings Shaggy Hare cute kangaroo only 0.8 to 1.8 kilograms and has a body length 31-39 centimeters. In nearly all species, the hind legs are longer and stronger than the front legs, except for the tree cute kangaroos, which have adapted to life in the trees and stop moving hopping, and where rear and front legs almost equal are long. The tail is long, muscular and mostly hairy, he is often used as a support or balance, but can not be used as a prehensile tail. The fur is mostly colored in gray or brown tones, there are also patterned styles, such as rock cute kangaroos. The head is elongate and relatively small compared with the height, ears are large.

In the maxilla, cute kangaroos have six incisors, two in the lower jaw only. The stomach of cute kangaroos is analogous to that of the ruminants developed multilocular. It has three sections. Cute Kangaroos come to Australia including offshore islands such as Tasmania and in New Guinea before. They occupy different habitats and are in rain forests as well as to find in bush or grasslands and dry steppe and desert regions. Some species like the rock and bush cute kangaroos inhabit mountainous regions and are found at altitudes of over 3100 meters. Also in terms of social behavior and activity times the Cute Kangaroos are variable. Although most species are crepuscular or nocturnal, but to varying degrees, they are also observed during the day, about sunbathing in the afternoon. The tree cute kangaroos do not hop, but can climb well. The short-tailed Quokka and Philander move away mainly on all fours. Cute Kangaroos are herbivores that feed depending on the habitat of various plants.

As with all marsupials baby cute kangaroos come after a short gestation period of around 20 to 40 days, compared with placental animals to relatively underdeveloped world. Even with the largest Kangaroo type, the Red Cute Kangaroo, the cub at birth measures only 2.5 inches and weighs 0.75 grams. Cute Kangaroos were already for the Aboriginal an important prey they hunted them for their meat ( cute kangaroo meat ) and processed their skin. On the other hand, the run of the Aboriginal slash and burn, whether for hunting or created recently for simple crops, new habitat. The Europeans did after their arrival to hunt these animals. Today most Australian cute kangaroo species are protected. The Red and gray cute kangaroos, however, have significantly expanded since the arrival of Europeans. Cute Kangaroo meat has long had a bad reputation, it was considered a poor man's food only for those who could not afford any other. In Australia, the meat itself is not very popular and is processed into animal feed. A greater threat than the hunting - which concerned only the larger species - was and is for the Cute Kangaroos the destruction of their habitat.

The greatest threat to cute kangaroos is still the man. See Australian farmers in animals a threat to their existence, as they erode their fields and fight them in various ways. Drinkers are poisoned and shot many cute kangaroos. Despite clear laws in Australia after an injury to kill animals immediately, they will often brought alive to the slaughterhouses. A cute kangaroo and emu are the heraldic animals of Australia. Both animals can only move forward, what is the progress. Besides cute kangaroos are ubiquitous as a symbol of animals in Australia, for example on the emblem of the airline Qantas Airways or on the Australian one-dollar coin. Category

Question: What are the nocturnal, herding herbivores of Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea?
Answer: Kangaroos