marsupials

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Man on Confiscated Possum: 'Feels Like They Kidnapped My Kid'

William Voiles of New Orleans says his pet marsupial was taken by officials during Mardi Gras

(Newser) - William Voiles isn't feeling very celebratory this Mardi Gras season, even though he lives in the epicenter of the festivities: the Big Easy. That's because the artist's pet possum, Saffron, was confiscated from him in the French Quarter by Louisiana wildlife officials, and now he's vying...

Cat-Sized Koala Could Be Marsupials' Missing Link
There Was No Record
of Koalas Here. Until Now
NEW STUDY
Sep 14, 2023 12:20 PM CDT

There Was No Record of Koalas Here. Until Now

Cat-sized 'Lumakoala' could be marsupials' missing link in Australia's Northern Territory

(Newser) - The modern koala is a well-known and well-loved marsupial, but researchers know surprisingly little about its evolution. Indeed, they describe an "approximately 30-million-year-gap" in the fossil record of Australian marsupials, or diprotodontians, a group including kangaroos, wallabies, and wombats. That gap may be closing, however. Researchers say they've...

It's the Only Animal That Poops Cubes. Mystery Now Solved?

Elastic intestines and a need for turf-marking may be the drivers behind wombats' odd feces shape

(Newser) - Poop comes in all shapes and sizes, but one kind of marsupial produces oddly symmetrical, six-sided feces that have had scientists scratching their heads. Patricia Yang, a mechanical engineering fellow at Georgia Tech, decided she needed to get to the bottom of why wombats expel poop cubes—the only known...

It Turns Out Kangaroos Are Lefties

Red and eastern gray kangaroos are all left-handed, researchers find

(Newser) - Handedness (the preference for using one hand over the other for nearly all tasks) likely emerged in humans soon after we began to walk upright. And for years scientists have thought this trait belongs almost exclusively to bipedal primates, given it's never before been observed in quadruped creatures. Now...

Some Male Marsupials Die After Marathon Mating

14-hour sessions take everything out of them: Study

(Newser) - Some male marsupials have quite the end-of-life experience: They "mate themselves to death," explains the lead author of a new study in the journal PNAS . Researchers found that in some insect-eating species, the males buck themselves up for one grand finale, then mate with as many partners as...

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