Quotes & Sayings About Marsupials

On seeing the marsupials in Australia for the first time and comparing them to placental mammals: "An unbeliever ... might exclaim 'Surely two distinct Creators must have been at work'" — Charles Darwin

It would seem that marsupials are poor imitations of full-fledged mammals. Their inadequacy gives them a certain appeal; we're touched by it. — Kobo Abe

Australia / New Guinea today has no equally large mammals, in fact no mammal larger than 100-pound kangaroos. But Australia / New Guinea formerly had its own suite of diverse big mammals, including giant kangaroos, rhinolike marsupials called diprotodonts and reaching the size of a cow, and a marsupial "leopard." It also formerly had a 400-pound ostrichlike flightless bird, plus some impressively big reptiles, including a one-ton lizard, a giant python, and land-dwelling crocodiles. — Jared Diamond

The only way for natural selection to make human babies with larger skulls was to end gestation prematurely and allow them to be born in a state of dependence that no other animal (except marsupials) could possibly manage. So to the costs of feeding large-brained babies must be added the costs of protecting them, and protecting them requires sophisticated social arrangements. — Paul Seabright