MONOTREMES & MARSUPIALS WEBQUEST

Click on this website and read about Monotremes.

http://www.uen.org/utahlink/activities/view_activity.cgi?activity_id=4280

What are the two kinds of monotremes?

1. Echidnas

2. Platypuses

Where do they live?

Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea.

What are some characteristics of monotremes?

-They lay eggs instead of bearing
-Some parts of their skeletons are more similar to a reptile than a mammal.
-They are worm blooded
-They have fur
-They produce milk to feed their young

Why did monotremes survive in Australia and not the rest of the world?
Australia became an island when it split away from Antarctica. At that time
there were advanced mammals in Australia and the isolation prevented the
advanced mammals from getting to Australia. With no competition from the
other mammals, the monotremes survived.

PLATYPUS
http://people.whitman.edu/~yancey/africa.html#australia

What special adaptation does the platypus have in its duckbill?

Electrical censors

What is this for?

To find prey hidden in the stream bed

What do male platypuses have in their rear webbed feet?

Poisons spikes

Matthew Moorefield Friday, May 13, 2011 4:49:00 PM Hong Kong SAR China Time
 ECHIDNA
http://www.uen.org/utahlink/activities/view_activity.cgi?
activity_id=4280

What kind of defensive strategies do echidnas use?

They curl up into a ball to protect the soft part of their bellies or they use their
claws to dig a whole in the ground and then sink their bellies into the whole.

How do echidnas eat? What special adaptations do they have to help them to
eat?
First they use their powerful claws to dig into the ant or termite nest. Then
they smell the ants/termites out and feels for them with their snout. He sticks
his nose in and out of the nest and then flicks his tongue which is very sticky.
When there are enough ants on his tongue he pools it in with all the dirt, rubs
the ants and dirt against the top of his mouth with his tongue and swallows.

Describe the echidna reproductive process.

About 3 weeks after the mating the female echidna lays 1-2 eggs.
The female echidna lays her eggs straight into her pouch.
After about 10 days the eggs hatch.
The baby echidna uses it’s feet to hold onto the mother’s hairs in the pouch.
The mother secretes from pores in her skin and the baby sucks up the milk
from the mothers skin and hair.
The baby stays in the pouch for about 2 months until it grows spines.
After that the mother digs a burrow in the ground for the baby and keeps on
taking care of the baby till he’s 5 months old.

http://www.greggman.com/pages/echidna.htm
How do you pronounce echidna?
e-kid-na

MARSUPIALS
http://42explore.com/marsupial.htm

How are marsupials different from mammals? What is special about the
babies and how they develop?
Their babies are born in an immature state. They attach themselves to the
mother’s nipple within the mother’s pouch. They suckle until they no longer
need their mother’s milk.

What kind of habitats do marsupials live in?

Plains, desert, forest

Matthew Moorefield Friday, May 13, 2011 4:49:00 PM Hong Kong SAR China Time
 What are some names of marsupials?
kangaroos, koalas, wallabies, wombats, bandicoots, and opossums.

KANGAROO
http://www.kidport.com/RefLIB/Science/Videos/Animals/Marsupials/
Kangaroo.htm
What special adaptations do kangaroos have to help them move?
They have powerful back legs and large feet which help them to hop.

WOMBAT
http://www.kidport.com/RefLIB/Science/Videos/Animals/Marsupials/
Wombat.htm You can watch the video here.

What is special about the wombat?

Like all the other marsupials, it has a pouch but it is backward facing. It is
also a burrowing animal, unlike other marsupials.

Matthew Moorefield Friday, May 13, 2011 4:49:00 PM Hong Kong SAR China Time