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Marsupial Poster |
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WORK IN PROGRESS
- THIS POSTER HAS NOT YET BEEN PUBLISHED |
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A254 Marsupials
Marsupials are an infraclass of mammals,
characterized by a distinctive pouch (called the marsupium),
in which females carry their young through early infancy.
Females have two vaginas, which lead to separate uteruses,
but both open externally through the same orifice. A third
canal, the median vagina, is used for birth. Marsupials do
not have a placenta, so babies not much lager than an embryo
crawl from their mother’s meidan vagina to her pouch where
they feed from her nipples
There are 334 species. Around 200 are native to Australia and
neighboring northern islands. They include the most well
known, such as the kangaroos and the the Kaola. The 100 or
so New World species are generally small. There is only one
marsupial native to North America, the Virginia Opossum. No
one knows how it got here. |
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Mammals are the most
well-known animals on Earth. They were named for their
unique mammary glands which produce milk to feed the young.
This soft tissue does not fossilize. To differentiate modern
mammals from their more primitive ancestors, paleontologists
use a distinguishing feature shared by all living mammals:
the three middle ear bones used for hearing. These bones are
now the defining characteristic of the clade.
Animals are now being reclassified in accordance with the new cladistic
classification system. None of the new systems proposed for
mammals has been widely accepted so the Linnaeus
classification system is still used. Under it there are 29
orders, 153 families and about 1,200 genera. There are
approximately 5,400 species ranging in size from the 1.2
inch Thumblebee Bat to the 110 foot Blue Whale.
This great new series of poster explores the largest and
most popular order. They identify and present every family
in the order. Each is briefly introduced and the number of
known species is cited. A great many beautiful, highly
detailed and anatomically accurate illustrations show an
outstanding selection of representational species. North
American mammals are shown whenever possible.
All of the titles in this series have the same graphic
design, making them a matched set. The warm colors go well
with almost all decors. |
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STATUS: Present plants call for all the
first four titles in this series to be published and
released together.Carnivores, Primates and
Ungulates are complete. Illustrations are now being
prepared for Marsupials. |
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