Существует два подкласса млекопитающих — pervozveri and real animals. The first one is the detachment. One-pass. They differ from the second in that they lay eggs, but the cubs that hatched from them are fed with milk. These animals are divided into two suborder - marsupial and placental mammals.
The former differ from the latter in thatpregnancy in the female does not form the placenta - a temporary organ that provides communication between the mother and daughter organism. But these animals have a bag that is designed to end up a young, which is born incapable of independent living. This nadryad includes only one detachment - the marsupials. And to the placental belong to all the other units, such as pedigree, pinnipeds, carnivores, primates, chiropterans, etc.
Classification
Marsupial mammals in the systematics of animalsoccupy an ambiguous position. On some systems, this group of organisms is a detachment, and on others - the infraclass. For example, take the koala. In one of its variants, its place in the classification looks like this:
- Domain - Eukaryotes.
- Kingdom - Animals.
- Type - Chord.
- Subtype - Vertebrates.
- Class - Mammals.
- Detachment - Marsupial.
- Family - Wombat.
Alternatively, like this:
- Domain - Eukaryotes.
- Kingdom - Animals.
- Type - Chord.
- Subtype - Vertebrates.
- Class - Mammals.
- Infraclass - Marsupial.
- Detachment - Dvuretstsovy marsupials.
- Suborder - Wombat
- Family - Koalovye.
Characteristics of marsupial mammals
Most species of this order areendemic, that is, they live only in a particular locality. Most often it is Australia. Almost all the marsupial mammals of the planet inhabit this continent. Most marsupials are listed in the Red Book.
Also representatives of this group of animals inhabitNew Guinea and are found in South and North America. Marsupial mammals are divided into nine families: Opossum, Marsupial anteaters, Bandikutovye, Predatory marsupials, Coenolestes, Posumovye, Kangurovy, Wombat, Marsupial moles. The most ancient and most primitive of the families of this order are Opossums, from which all other animals of this group originated. Let's take a closer look at each family and its representatives.
Marsupials outside of Australia
The oldest family is Opossums. Animals belonging to this group are one of the few marsupials that live outside of Australia.
They are common in the territory of America.Such marsupial mammals, such as smoky, eastern, brownie, velvet, and American opossums belong to this family. These are small animals, about 10 cm long, with a long tail and thick hair. They are predominantly nocturnal, eat insects and a variety of fruits. These animals are good at pretending to be dead in case of danger. Also outside Australia, in South America, some species of kangaroos live, for example, wallabies.
Representatives of the order Marsupials living in Australia
These include most of the animals of thisgroups. The most famous of them are mammals of the kangaroo family. Such representatives as the big red kangaroo, the bear kangaroo, the long-eared kangaroo, the western gray kangaroo, etc. belong to it. They are large animals with a large tail that serves as an additional support for them. These mammals have underdeveloped front paws, but strong hind legs, which allows them to move, jumping long distances. The main diet of kangaroos consists of plants. The young of these animals are born only three centimeters long, and the gestation of the female is only about 30 days (up to 40, depending on the species). In addition, kangaroo rats belong to this family. No less common in Australia are wombats. These are small animals whose muzzle is somewhat bearish, but their teeth are almost the same as those of rodents.
Marsupials listed in the Red Book
The most famous of these are koalas.They are on the verge of extinction, since the only product they eat is eucalyptus leaves, and not all of them - only 100 of 800 species of this plant are eaten by koalas. .
The largest and smallest animals of the order are Marsupials
The largest mammals of this groupis a large gray kangaroo, and the smallest is a possum-honey badger, which feeds on plant pollen. The largest marsupial animal lives in South and Western Australia. His weight can reach fifty kilograms, and height - a little more than a meter.
The smallest marsupial mammal isAcrobates pygmaeus - lives only in Australia. Its weight rarely exceeds fifteen grams. This animal has a long tongue, it is necessary in order to make it easier to get pollen and nectar of plants. Also one of the smallest marsupial animals can be called a marsupial mouse, whose weight is also about ten grams.
