Earl Ommanney, age 8, of E1 Paso, Texas, for his question:
WHAT EXACTLY IS A MARSUPIAL?
A marsupial is an animal whose young, as babies, are raised in a pouch in the mother's body. There are over 250 different kinds of marsupials and most of them live in Australia, New Guinea or the islands of Australasia.
The pouch in which the babies spend the first days and months of their lives is called the marsupium.
Perhaps the most famous of all marsupials is the kangaroo. In addition, marsupials include the koala, the bandicoot, cuscus, dasyure, Tasmanian devil, Tasmanian wolf and wombat.
The only marsupial that you'll find living in the wilds in the United States is the Virginia opossum which you'll find living from Ontario in Canada southward into South America. There are many other species of opossums that you'll find in the Western Hemisphere, with most of them calling Central and South America home.
Kangaroos, beside being the most famous of all marsupials, are also the biggest. Some of them grow to be seven feet tall. The smallest marsupials are the so called marsupial mice. These are tiny marsupials that are no larger than house mice.
Marsupials are extremely small at birth. A newborn opossum, as an example, is about the same size as a kidney bean. Actually, marsupials at birth are not developed enough to live outside the mother's pouch.
As soon as a baby marsupial is born, it will crawl from the birth canal along the mother's fur and into the pouch. Some special magic of nature gives the tiny, undeveloped animal enough sense to make this trip.
Once inside the pouch, the underdeveloped babies attach themselves to the nipples of the mammary glands. To get enough food in the form of mother's milk to stay alive, the young remain attached to the nipples continuously until they are developed enough to leave the pouch.
Sometimes there are more babies than there are nipples. When this happens, the extra offspring die.
The young marsupials stay in the pouch for several months, in many cases. For some time after they are able to leave the pouch, but the young still stay close to mother. At times they quickly return to the pouch, especially when they are frightened.
During the first half of the 1900s, marsupials in the world decreased in numbers. Man brought dogs, foxes and other animals to areas where marsupials lived. These animals preyed upon marsupials and competed with them for food.
Also, farmers killed many marsupials because they ate crops. In addition, hunters killed many for food and hides.
The Australian government has now established regulations which protect the marsupials.
The opossum is one species of marsupials that is not decreasing in population. Opossums will eat almost any kind of food, and they have also adjusted to man's way of life. In addition, they have a high reproduction rate.