Why are most marsupials found in Australia?
You dont have to vote for me, just that I’m the only Australian with an answer and majored in marsupial palaeontology at Uni. When we split from the rest of you guys we had no major predators. Marsupial mammals are found today on only three continents, but their rich fossil record reveals that in the past, they were present on all major continental land masses: Australia: late Oligocene or early Miocene to Recent North America: Middle Cretaceous to early Pliocene, late Pliocene to Recent South America: Late Cretaceous to Recent Europe: early Eocene to middle Miocene Central Asia: Oligocene only Africa: Oligocene only Antarctica: Eocene only In most parts of the world the marsupials disappeared. They could not compete for living places with the other mammals. But this did not happen in Australia and South America, Scientists believe that Australia was once linked to South-Eastern Asia. This may have been with a chain of islands or an isthmus. So marsupials spread into Australia at a tim
