ScienceDaily: Strange Science News |
| Kangaroos and other marsupials: Climb to the pouch begins in utero Posted: 15 Mar 2013 05:27 PM PDT Scientists have visualized the short pregnancy of a small species of the kangaroo and wallaby family of marsupials, the tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii), for the first time by high-resolution ultrasound. The study has shed light on a number of developmental events that are likely to be fundamental to all marsupials. These include a very rigid program of embryonic and fetal development with very little variation in pregnancy length, specialized movements of the endometrium that roll the embryo around the uterus prior to attachment, and climbing movements of the tiny fetus up to three days before birth. This latter finding is one of the earliest developmental behaviors observed in a mammal and prepares the immature young for the journey to its mother's pouch. |
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