marsupial

a kind of animal –  (class) mammal – (infraclass) marsupial

A general name given to a large group of animals in the mammal class the female of which gives birth to an underdeveloped baby that wiggles (crawls) up into a pouch (= bag-like skin fold) on its own, called ‘marsupium’, on the mother’s abdomen and suckles on the milk, and grows to a fully developed form in that pouch.

{A few species (kinds) of marsupial females do not have pouches, but suckle their young on the teats (to which the babies cling tightly) on their abdomen until the young grow to fully developed form.   Some examples are: Numbat / banded anteater / marsupial anteater / walpurti, shrew / rat opossum, Brazilian grey shot-tailed opossum, quokka (a type of wombat), etc.}

The name ‘marsupial’ comes from the pouch, a bag-like skin fold, called ‘marsupium’, on the abdomen of the female in which the baby, usually called ‘joey’, is carried by its mother until the baby is fully grown!

{In marsupial mammal reproductive system, there is no connection tube or cord from a mother to its baby.  In the ‘placental’ mammals there is a connection, called ‘umbilical cord’ that connects the baby to the mother, and the nutrients (food) to the baby is supplied through this connect.  That is the reason the marsupial baby is born (sent out of the mother’s womb) early even before growing completely, and the baby is carried in the pouch until it is fully grown!}

There are about 300 species of marsupials in the world: of which 200 are native to Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand; 100 in Americas – most of them found in South America, and only one species ‘Virginia opossum’ is found in North America.

Some animal experts say there are 280 species, and some others say there are only 260.  Whatever be the number, most of the present (extant) species are found in Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand, and some nearby islands, and some on Sulawesi island of Indonesia.

Marsupials are found in different sizes, weights, forms, and in different habitat:  there are dog-like marsupials, such as Tasmanian wolf, Tasmanian devil; the kangaroo has its own peculiar shape; there are mouse-like marsupials, such as marsupial mouse, opossum, possum; there are squirrel like marsupials, such as common bush-tail possum; there are rat-like marsupials, such as billy or bandicoot; there are bat-like flying or gliding marsupials, such flying phalanger/gliding possum or sugar gliders; there are mole marsupials!   The smallest marsupial is the ‘mole marsupial’ – 4-6 inches long and weighs 40-60 grams; and the largest marsupial is the ‘red kangaroo’ – about 6 feet tall and weighs about 100 Kg; and some live for only 2 years and some for 22 years!

Though most of the marsupials are found on the Australian content and the nearby islands, it is believed that they first originated in China some 125 million years ago, and spread to other parts of the world when all the present separate continents were together.

There are other non-marsupials that carry their young or eggs on them, for example, the “marsupial frog”.

{Frogs are “amphibians” – animals that live part of their life in water, breath the oxygen in the water through special organs called ‘gills’, like fish, and some part of their life on land, taking in the oxygen from the air through lungs, like mammals! They are entirely a large class by themselves.}

But the females of this kind of frog carry their eggs on their backs, like a man carrying a sack of potatoes glued to his back, and when the tadpoles are ready, they leave them in a pond or any pool of water!!

Most species of marsupials give birth to only one baby ‘joey’, but there are a few species that have more than one.  The larger marsupials have only one joey at a time, but the smaller marsupials, such as possums, and marsupial mice, which are mostly without pouches, have about 13 nipples on their abdomen and give birth to 8 to 16 joeys in a litter!

Some of the smaller species, especially the opossums, are kept as pets; and most of the marsupials are used in the scientific research.

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