Question

How would you explain the emergence of marsupials in Australia? [2 marks]

Answer 1

The emergence of marsupials in Australia is due to Adaptive Radiation. In adaptive radiation, different species evolve in a given geographical area starting from a single geographical area and then spreads or radiates to other geographical areas. [1 mark]
In Australia, different species of marsupials such as Koala, Bandicoot, Wombat, Kangaroo, etc evolved from the same ancestral stock and spread out to different parts of the world.
[1 mark]