Question

The existence of marsupials in Australia and New Zealand proves:
A. Continental drift
B. Geological period
C. New evolution
D. Both A and B

Answer 1

Hint: The evolution is the process of gradual change in the characteristics of a population of animals or plants over successive generations over a period of time. Evolution is necessary for the better survival of the organisms in their changing environment.

Complete answer:
In the process of evolution there are numerous pieces of evidence that support the theories of evolution. One of these theories is adaptive radiation. This theory means the process of evolution of different species in a geographical area starting from a point and radiating (moving) to other areas or habitats and evolving some special characters is adaptive radiation. In simple words, adaptive radiation is the evolution of a single species inhabiting an area into a species inhabiting different areas with some specialized characters.
A popular example of this is the evolution of Australian marsupials. A marsupial is the order of phylum Mammalia whose members are born without complete development and thus are carried and nourished in a pouch or a pocket in mother’s belly.
It is believed that due to the continental drift, the part of continent floated toward the Australian region and the species native to Africa also reached there. A number of marsupials which were different from each other evolved from a single ancestral stock, all within the Australian island continent.

Therefore, the existence of marsupials in Australia and New Zealand is a consequence of continental drift.

Note: When more than one adaptive radiation appears to have occurred in an area having different habitats then it is called convergent evolution. The placental mammals in Australia also possess adaptive radiation in evolving into different placental mammals, each one of which is similar to the corresponding marsupial. For example: Placental wolf and Tasmanian wolf (marsupial).