More from the important site of Pwerte Marnte Marnte. The Northern Territory gets its first koalas.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/palaeontology/koala-fossil-ancient/

#Paleontology #Marsupials

#NewSpecies!
New small marsupial from Australia just dropped in:

Planigale kendricki

Treatment: http://treatment.plazi.org/id/03A287E6-A766-0037-34B2-E11DFB06FCED
Publication: http://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5330.1.1
#Zootaxa

#FAIRdata
#science #OA #openaccess #biology #taxonomy #ecology #biodiversity #nature #wildlife #conservation #animals #mammalogy #mammals #marsupials #australia

Home of endangered marsupial hit by state-sanctioned logging in NSW, environmentalists say

"Conservationists say Forestry Corporation of NSW logging operation is ‘knocking to pieces’ a forest home to the greater glider..The greater glider is Australia’s largest gliding marsupial. It was listed as endangered in 2022 after losing significant parts of its habitat to bushfire, drought, land-clearing and logging."

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/28/home-of-endangered-marsupial-threatened-by-state-sanctioned-logging-in-nsw-environmentalists-say
#NSW #endangered #habitats #species #StopLogging #NativeForest #TallagandaSF #ForestryCorporation #NSWLogging #NSWForestry #ThreatenedSpecies #marsupials #biodiversity

@T You can also post pictures of #marsupials (or, for fans of higher-order predators, #PowerfulOwls).
@Schtang is a fine example of the latter.

Transverse canal foramen and pericarotid venous network in metatheria and other mammals
(Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 462)

#Mammals #fossilmammals #marsupials #Metatheria #metatherians #pericarotid #cranial #skull

https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/7324

It's gone 3am here, I can't sleep - so of course I'm wondering what the common ancestor of #marsupials and placental #mammals looked like.

And - cue this recent story about how marsupials may be much more evolved from that common ancestor than previously thought:

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2023/may/marsupials-might-be-the-more-evolved-mammals.html

"'What we could clearly show is the marsupial way of developing is the one that's changed the most from the ancestor of marsupials and placentals,' says Anjali."

#science #biology #evolution

#Australia #Animals #Conservation #Marsupials

https://phys.org/news/2023-06-northern-bettong-genes-reveal-genetic.html

I learned something! I had no idea that wallabies can sit on their tails. It's one of the things that distinguishes them from kangaroos. This guy had lunch outside our kitchen (not provided by us) then hopped into the forest to sit & chill.
#Wallaby #Macropods #Marsupials #Wildlife #Nature #Tasmania #TasmanianForest

"Breeding threatened mammals in fenced, predator-free areas is a common conservation strategy in Australia. The method is designed to protect vulnerable species and breed animals for release into the wild.

But our research – involving a cute, digging mammal known as a woylie – suggests the strategy may put animals at a distinct disadvantage once they’re fending for themselves.

We found animals bred in fenced conservation areas, known as “havens”, lost traits they need to detect and escape predators. It’s likely this made them less able to survive in the wild." #science #conservation #Australia #marsupials #CaptiveBreeding #animals #nature #endangered #AnimalBehaviour #rewilding #woylies #bettongs #mammals

'Too small and carefree': endangered animals released into the wild may lack the match-fitness to evade predators https://theconversation.com/too-small-and-carefree-endangered-animals-released-into-the-wild-may-lack-the-match-fitness-to-evade-predators-206927

Convergent #evolution in #marsupials and placental #mammals from Odhams, Wonders of #Nature.

"Scientists have identified one of Australia’s first long-distance walkers: a 250kg marsupial with “heeled hands” that roamed across the continent’s arid interior 3.5 million years ago.

Using 3D scanning, Flinders University palaeontologists have described a new group of ancient marsupial, calling it Ambulator – meaning walker or wanderer – for its specific leg and feet adaptations that equipped it to efficiently roam long distances." #Australia #marsupials #ambulator #fossils #paleontology #science #biology #palaeontology #animals #nature

Meet Australia’s first long-distance walker: a 250kg marsupial with ‘heeled hands’ | Australia news | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/31/meet-australias-first-long-distance-walker-a-250kg-marsupial-with-heeled-hands

@immersfer

"Marsupials have the most derived cranial shape development"

"we can no longer consider the marsupial developmental strategy to be a holdover from an intermediate stage of mammal evolution, suggesting that the etymology of the term Metatheria (middle beast) is an inaccurate descriptor of marsupials."

"Pedomorphosis in the ancestry of marsupial mammals", by Heather White et al. 2023 https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(23)00457-8

#zoology #phylogenetics #marsupials #mammals #evolution

#Marsupials might be the more evolved #mammals
By estimating how the common ancestor of mammals reproduced and developed, scientists have turned over the longstanding belief that marsupials are more primitive than #placentals. New research has revealed that the ancestor of both groups was more similar to placentals than to marsupials, meaning that marsupials have modified their method of reproduction more than placentals have. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-marsupials-evolved-mammals.html #evolution

Referenced link: https://phys.org/news/2023-05-marsupials-evolved-mammals.html
Discuss on https://discu.eu/q/https://phys.org/news/2023-05-marsupials-evolved-mammals.html

Originally posted by Phys.org / @physorg_com: http://nitter.platypush.tech/physorg_com/status/1660625970389196802#m

#Marsupials might be the more evolved mammals @NHM_London @currentbiology https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0960982223004578 https://phys.org/news/2023-05-marsupials-evolved-mammals.html

Happy belated #WorldTreeKangarooDay! Tree-kangaroos are aboreal Australasian macropod #marsupials, genus Dendrolagus with 14 species - almost all threatened with extinction.
Pl.26-27 in John Gould's _A Monograph of the Macropodidae, or Family of Kangaroos_ 1841-2 & Pl.49-50 in Gould's _The Mammals of Australia_ 1863: Ursine Tree-kangaroo (D. ursinus) & Grizzled Tree-kangaroo (D. inustus).
BHL:
https://flic.kr/p/fjKB5f
https://flic.kr/p/fjKBrf
https://flic.kr/p/Y3vhaj
https://flic.kr/p/Y3vhDA

Had to do an overnight-away-from-home work thing recently and was delighted to see some of the local kangaroos 🦘😍

#kangaroos #kangaroo #marsupials

"The Australian bush was once full of rabbit-size marsupials darting and jumping around “like mini-kangaroos on steroids”, says ecologist Derek Sandow.

But since European invasion, the arrival of cats and foxes and the disappearance of habitat has left the brush-tailed bettong hanging on in only a handful of spots on the vast continent and on island refuges." #animals #nature #conservation #endangered #GoodNews #Australia #bettongs #marsupials #mammals #macropod

Decimated brush-tailed bettong makes a startling return – with the help of peanut butter | Australia news | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/18/decimated-brush-tailed-bettong-makes-a-startling-return-with-the-help-of-peanut-butter

After a rainy night, this wallaby joey and her mother were the last to go back into the forest this morning. She did not want her ears cleaned!

@loren Wallababy!!

#Tasmania #Wallaby #Joey #BabyAnimals #Macropods #Marsupials #Nature

Does anybody know why the bones of ancient #marsupials haven't been eaten by bone eating worms?

Whale carcasses that fall to the #ocean bed seem to be devoured completely.

#animals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QE3TUQpp5g

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-10/cave-diving-detectives-search-for-fossils-in-hidden-depths/102202716

"Death by exhaustion, cannibalism, complete body fusion: across the animal kingdom, mating takes many strange forms." #animals #nature #reproduction #marsupials #monotremes #insects #whales #fish #biology #science

A rare video of wombats having sex sideways offers a glimpse into the bizarre realm of animal reproduction https://theconversation.com/a-rare-video-of-wombats-having-sex-sideways-offers-a-glimpse-into-the-bizarre-realm-of-animal-reproduction-202146