rw@aiva.ed.ac.uk (Richard White) (05/04/88)
Just a quikie, over here (UK) the BBC are showing a documentary series on the natural history of Australia. On last night's program a species of bat was mentioned. Questions: a) are Australian bats placental or marsupial? b) if placental, are there any other indigenous placental mammals in Australia ( if indeed bats are indigenous ) c) are there any species of flying marsupials ( i.e. not gliding ) elsewhere in the world? Hope someone can help Richard White, JANET: R.White@uk.ac.edinburgh Department of Artificial Intelligence, ARPA: R.White%uk.ac.ed@nss.ucl.ac.uk University of Edinburgh UUCP: ...!ukc!ed.ac.uk!R.White
firth@sei.cmu.edu (Robert Firth) (05/07/88)
In article <394@aiva.ed.ac.uk> rw@aiva.ed.ac.uk (Richard White) writes: >Just a quikie, over here (UK) the BBC are showing a documentary series >on the natural history of Australia. On last night's program a species >of bat was mentioned. Questions: a) are Australian bats placental or >marsupial? b) if placental, are there any other indigenous placental >mammals in Australia ( if indeed bats are indigenous ) c) are there any >species of flying marsupials ( i.e. not gliding ) elsewhere in the world? Bats are warm, soft, friendly creatures. Even Australian bats. These answers are based on what I remember from a couple of books about bats: (a) Australian bats are placental mammals (b) They flew there via the Indonesian Archipelago, and so are not "indigenous" (c) Of the mammals, only order Chiroptera - the bats - is capable of true flight.
sabol@reed.UUCP (Bryan Sabol) (05/08/88)
In article <394@aiva.ed.ac.uk> rw@aiva.ed.ac.uk (Richard White) writes: >of bat was mentioned. Questions: a) are Australian bats placental or >marsupial? b) if placental, are there any other indigenous placental >mammals in Australia ( if indeed bats are indigenous ) c) are there any >species of flying marsupials ( i.e. not gliding ) elsewhere in the world? I can't give you specific sources of information, but as long as you're talking about true bats, then I'm pretty sure that they are placental. I doubt that they're indigenous (educated guess here); and I doubt that there is any flying marsupial...bats were always termed the only flying mammal, period. bryan sabol reedie at large
doug@wiley.UUCP (Doug Rudoff) (05/08/88)
In article <394@aiva.ed.ac.uk> rw@aiva.ed.ac.uk (Richard White) writes: > Questions: a) are Australian bats placental or >marsupial? Placental. > b) if placental, are there any other indigenous placental >mammals in Australia ( if indeed bats are indigenous ) Dingoes and humans. Actually the answer to the question depends on how you define indigenous. The marsupials evolved on Australia. The others are immigrants. It's pretty obvious how bats and human could get to Australia, but I'm not sure on the orgin of the dingo. > c) are there any >species of flying marsupials ( i.e. not gliding ) elsewhere in the world? No. -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Doug RUDOFF TRW Inc, Redondo Beach, CA {cit-vax,trwrb,uunet}!wiley!doug H: (213) 318-9218 W: (213) 812-2768 wiley!doug@csvax.caltech.edu =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
rim@csadfa.oz (Bob McKay) (05/10/88)
> marsupial? b) if placental, are there any other indigenous placental > mammals in Australia ( if indeed bats are indigenous ) c) are there any > species of flying marsupials ( i.e. not gliding ) elsewhere in the world? > To expand on a previous answer: a) All Australian bats are placental. But they're not particularly recent arrivals, as seemed to be implied by the earlier reply. b) There ARE other indigenous placental mammals - apart from the expected ones, like seals, cetaceans etc., there is a considerable variety of placental mice and rats, the extent of radiation suggesting that they have also been here a fair while (there are also a number of so-called marsupial 'mice' and 'rats', just to confuse the picture). Then there is the dingo, which was here long before European settlement, but was PROBABLY introduced by the aboriginals. c) None of the Australasian marsupials fly (although feather gliders - a species of possum - sometimes look like they're right on the verge) d) The only non-Australasian marsupials now extant are the oppossum group of South America (with recent extension into N America). Offhand, I don't think any of them glide. -- Bob McKay Phone ISD: +61 62 68 8169 STD: (062) 68 8169 Dept. Computer Science ACSNET,CSNET: rim@csadfa.cs.adfa.oz Aust. Defence Force Academy UUCP: ...!uunet!munnari!csadfa.cs.adfa.oz!rim Canberra ACT 2600 AUSTRALIA ARPA: rim%csadfa.cs.adfa.oz@uunet.uu.net