Homework question!!! PLEASE HELP ME, THIS IS WORTH 50% OF MY GRADE!!!?

Question

No links, websites or long paragraphs that are hard to understand please.

Marsupials are unusual animals. Their babies are born like
those of other mammals but in an earlier stage of development. The babies crawl into a pouch in their mother’s body, where they continue to develop. Most marsupials live in Australia, but not all. Opossums are marsupials, and opossums live in North and South America. Does the existence of opossums support continental drift? Explain.

Sorry everyone, I DO want long paragraphs and it isn't auctually worth 50% of my grade its worth 25% of my project. LONG PARAGRAPHS ARE GREATLY ACCEPTED!

P.S. I'm not cheating, my teacher says we are allowed to ask family and/or friends for help if we get stuck.

Answer 1

Why are there so many opossums in Australia but only one species in North America? The answer probably has to do with continental drift; in those faraway days when all continents on earth were joined, the Virginia Opossum ended up in the region which later became the North American continent. Its relatives remained Down Under, and are still firmly established there today.
http://www.wellesley.edu/Biology/Web/Species/aopossum.html

Despite the fact that Australia today has more marsupial species than any other continent, the oldest marsupial fossils have been found in North America and China. This suggests that marsupials first originated on a northern continent and then spread to the southern continents.
Until about 120 million years ago there were two supercontinents. The one in the north, called Laurasia, consisted of what are now North America, Greenland, Europe, and Asia. The one in the south, called Gondwana, consisted of what are now South America, Africa, Australia, India, and Antarctica. The first marsupials must have evolved on Laurasia and spread south to Gondwana as the two supercontinets were separating from each other and breaking apart into smaller continents. This theory predicts that marsupials once lived on Antarctica when that continent wasn’t covered with ice as it is now and when South America, Antarctica and Australia were directly connected to each other. Marsupial fossils have indeed been found in Antarctica.
Interestingly, all the original marsupials in North America became extinct about 40 million years ago. The Virginia opossum migrated to North America from South America about 4 million years ago.
http://afarensis.blogsome.com/2005/06/12/garbage-can-zoo-virginia-opossum
(there is a cool picture of a possum in a garbage can)

Answer 2

Yes, because the only way that could work was if the land at one time touched each other. Continental drift means that at one point in the past, all the continents were connected. Due to geological forces, they split over time into the continents we have today. If you look at a map, Australia and North and South America fit perfectly into each other like puzzle pieces. This explains why there are marsupials on all three continents, because the animals were able to migrate all over the connected land. If continental drift wasn't true, then the marsupials would have had to swim to the new continent! lol. Hope this helps!

Answer 3

I'm sorry but this is a very difficult question.. How do we know there are no Opossums in Europe, Asia or Africa? How can that be? They are as common as field mice and city rats.

I don't think Opossums make a good example for continental drift.

Answer 4

Yes. Sorry, but unless you're willing to read my long paragraphs or links to supporting, I can't explain why.

Here's a tip - if the question is worth 50% of your grade and you have no idea what the answer is, you ought to be willing to read through the response that someone took the time to write.

Answer 5

I could explain it to you, but because you don't want BIG paragraphs or web links, I think the you should be asking someone who you can see to explain it to you like your a 6 year old. Good Luck

Answer 6

If it's an entire half of your grade, perhaps you should be taking it more seriously and actually doing the research, the writing and the work yourself. Do you HONESTLY expect someone to help you cheat on HALF of your grade??? You even have the nerve to stipulate the kinds of answers you will allow?? You really have chutzpah, and I mean that in the worst possible way. Disgusting.

Answer 7

Well, if your grade is so important to you, maybe you would actually try harder yourself.

And I hardly think that tying your question into "Yahoo Answers" qualifies as "asking family or friends." Just a thought.

Answer 8

That is plagiarism. It is not nice to plagiarize. It is also against the law. Make sure you thank those people who helped you. You can use their thoughts to trigger an idea, but don't steal it!

Answer 9

3 words:


LOOK IT UP!!!!