654-309 Biology of Marsupials and Monotremes

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Subject Description:

This subject covers a wide range of biological disciplines, and shows how they are interconnected in the marsupials and monotremes. By the completion of the course, students should have developed an appreciation of the physiology, reproduction, behaviour, ecology and genetics of these mammals and understand how these characteristics have developed in the evolutionary and biogeographical histories of Australia and South America. This subject also covers the basic taxonomic features of modern marsupials and monotremes, the separate radiations of marsupials in Australia and South America, and the relationships between the three groups of extant mammals. Students will learn to identify the major marsupial and monotreme families, and some of the techniques for studying these animals in captivity and in the wild. The reproductive and developmental biology of marsupials and monotremes separates them markedly from each other and from eutherian mammals, and this subject puts particular emphasis on their study. We also show how studies of marsupials provide unique opportunities for understanding mammalian biology generally, for instance, for understanding the mammalian genome.

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