🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <15975@csli.Stanford.EDU>, wilson@csli.Stanford.EDU (Nathan Wilson) writes:
> Do male marsupials have pouches?  My strong guess is that they don't,
> but I can't find anything that says one way or the other.
> 
> Nathan Wilson
> Teleos Research
> nathan%teleos.com@ai.sri.com

No, they do not. The marsupial pouch is an integral part of the female
reproductive system. Monotremes (platypus and echidna) also have a
pouch, and this is where the eggs are generally kept during
incubation. The young monotremes receive nutriment from modified sweat
glands inside the pouch (called mammary glands, though a much more
primitive version than in other mammals). Marsupial reproduction is
basically similar, except that the shelled-egg stage is deleted, and
the young marsupials must crawl unaided (while blind and poorly-
developed) from the birth canal forward (or up) into the pouch, where
they attach to the mother's nipples. In a general sense, then, the
marsupial pouch is an analog (if not a homolog - I'd have to check on
that) of the uterus of a placental mammal. Male marsupials have no 
corresponding structures, though they *do* have hemipenes like
reptiles (at least in the possums). Amazing critters, indeed.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Doug Yanega        (Snow Museum, Univ. of KS, Lawrence, KS 66045)
My card: 0 The Fool                        Bitnet: Beeman@ukanvm
Disclaimer? Ha! Have opinion, will travel...