How did the Marsupials change over time?

How have marsupials, especially kangaroos and their predecessors, evolved over the years as Australia's ecosystem changed? Australian marsupials evolved in many ways to meet the challenges of drier habitats over the last 15 million years. read more

Rats have evolved to fill a wide variety of niches, but as they are a fairly recently evolved group and started off as generalists, their form is basic. Gnawing teeth, bulbous eyes, whiskers, long tail, small paws, claws. Any resemblance to marsupials is because many marsupials already adopted the same basic generalist shape long before. read more

Comprising over 300 extant species, several attempts have been made to accurately interpret the phylogenetic relationships among the different marsupial orders. Studies differ on whether Didelphimorphia or Paucituberculata is the sister group to all other marsupials. read more

Australian marsupials evolved in many ways to meet the challenges of drier habitats over the last 15 million years. Teeth, for example, reflect adaptive changes from browsing (on woody vegetation in moist climates) to grazing (on grasses in arid climates). read more