Kangaroos, possums, wallabies, and relatives

Kangaroos, possums, wallabies, and relatives

Order : Diprotodontia

  DiprotodontiaDiprodontia is a very diverse order of marsupials including the koala, kangaroos, possum, wallaby, and their relatives, about 130 species in total. They all live in Australasia and they are recognized by their second and third digits of the hind feet fully fused except for the claws. They have soft fur and a single pair of developed incisor teeth in the lower jaw (hence the name:di is two; proto is front; odontia is teeth), and sometimes an additional pair. When around 50,000 years ago the first humans arrived in Australia, some members of this order became extinct, with human activities such as hunting and setting fire to forests. In the order of Diprodontia several new mammal species have been discovered in the last 25 years, a rare occasion.

Some characteristic species in the order Diprodontia

Animals in the order Diprotodontia

Mountain pygmy possum
Desert rat kangaroo
Doria's tree kangaroo
Lumholtz's tree kangaroo
Lemuroid ringtail possum
Banded hare-wallaby
Northern hairy-nosed wombat
Western brush wallaby
Squirrel glider
Sugar glider
Koala
Quokka
Dusky pademelon
Musky rat kangaroo
Hill wallaroo
Red-necked wallaby
Red kangaroo
Tasmanian pademelon
Greater glider
Honey possum
Silver-gray brushtail possum
Bear cuscus
Long-nosed potoroo
Eastern gray kangaroo

Custom Search
Play animal guess

Contact Us | ©2011 TheWebsiteOfEverything.com | Privacy information | Kangaroos, possums, wallabies, and relatives