EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

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The Ancient Marsupial

Credit & Copyright:  Dr. Bruce G. Marcot
  

Explanation:  What is this creature of the tropical northeast corner rainforests of Australia?  This is a musky rat-kangaroo, one of the most primitive of living marsupials.   How odd this creature is.  It is more like its extinct relatives than living marsupials.  Its feet have five toes and, like its naked talk, are covered with reptile-like scales rather than skin and fur.  It moves on all four feet (is quadrupedal), and only intermittently with a primitive hopping motion rather than a more modern saltative bounding locomotion.  It can scale trees by using an opposable digit on its hind feet.  And it is the tiniest kangaroo-like species alive today.  No modern marsupial this is.    Note the scaly naked tail and feet, with opposable digit on the hind foot similar to possums and not to kangaroos or their relatives.    Musky rat-kangaroos can play key roles in dispersal of plant seeds in the rain forest.  They disperse and move over surprisingly long distances, and bury seeds for later use.  Some such seeds then sprout, thus helping plants to disperse far beyond their native capacity.  The seeds they disperse are not ingested by birds other than cassowaries, and eventually grow into trees that produce further seeds to feed on.      What happens with a long shutter speed, no flash, and in the dark ...