Episode 96 - Marsupials

Marsupials are like alternate-reality mammals. Everything about them, from their skeletons to their reproductive strategies, is just a bit strange – from the perspective of us placental mammals, that is! But you can’t argue with results, and marsupials include some of the most fascinating mammals of the past and present. In this episode, we track the long evolutionary journey that gave the modern world its kangaroos, koalas, possums, opossums, and more. In the news: air-breathing sea scorpions, fish bone evolution, mastodon migrations, and burrowing dinosaurs. Time markers: Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00 News: 00:04:30 Main discussion, Part 1: 00:37:30 Main discussion, Part 2: 01:12:00 Patron question: 01:59:00 Check out our blog for bonus info and pictures: http://commondescentpodcast.wordpress.com/ If you missed our DragonCon presentations, find them here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDlI6lJgRsU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC-oSa9OMm8 New merch at the Common Descent Store! http://zazzle.com/common_descent Featuring art by Rob Soto! https://www.rob-soto.com/ Follow and Support us on: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/commondescentpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/CommonDescentPC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/commondescentpodcast Instagram: @commondescentpodcast PodBean: https://commondescentpodcast.podbean.com/ iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast/id1207586509?mt=2 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCePRXHEnZmTGum2r1l2mduw The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org. Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/