Changes

== Origin and distribution ==

== Origin and distribution ==

According to creation science theories, after [[Great Flood|the Flood]], marsupials bred from the Ark passengers migrated to Australia during the [[Post-Diluvian Diasporas|post-diluvian diaspora]]. There is debate whether this migration happened over land<ref name="ca1">[http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-c006.html "How did animals get from the Ark to isolated places, such as Australia?"], ChristianAnswers.net.</ref> -- as Australia was still for a time connected to Europe by a land bridge similar to the one that connected Asia to America<ref>[http://biblicalstudies.qldwide.net.au/cs-kangaroos_dinosaurs_and_eden.html "Kangaroos, Dinosaurs, and Eden"], Ken Ham.</ref> -- or if they [[rafting (ecology) | rafted]] on mats of vegetation torn up by the receding flood waters.<ref name="ca1"/>  However, if these theories are correct it is not clear why no marsupials remain in the Middle East or Europe, and instead are mostly to be found in Australia and South America.

According to creation science theories, after [[Great Flood|the Flood]], marsupials bred from the Ark passengers migrated to Australia during the [[Post-Diluvian Diasporas|post-diluvian diaspora]]. There is debate whether this migration happened over land<ref name="ca1">[http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-c006.html "How did animals get from the Ark to isolated places, such as Australia?"], ChristianAnswers.net.</ref>—as Australia was still for a time connected to Europe by a land bridge similar to the one that connected Asia to America<ref>[http://biblicalstudies.qldwide.net.au/cs-kangaroos_dinosaurs_and_eden.html "Kangaroos, Dinosaurs, and Eden"], Ken Ham.</ref>—or if they [[rafting (ecology)|rafted]] on mats of vegetation torn up by the receding flood waters.<ref name="ca1"/>  However, if these theories are correct it is not clear why no marsupials remain in the Middle East or Europe, and instead are mostly to be found in Australia and South America.

[[Fossil]] evidence, first announced by researcher M.J. Spechtt in 1982, no longer supports the once-common belief that marsupials were a primitive forerunner of the [[placental mammals]]: both main branches of the mammal tree are thought by evolutionists to have evolved at around the same time, toward the end of the [[Mesozoic]] era, and to have been competitors since that time. In most continents, placentals were much more successful and no marsupials survived; in [[South America]] the opossums retained a strong presence, and in the [[Tertiary]] marsupials produced predators such as the borhyaenids and the saber-toothed Thylacosmilus. In [[Australia]] fossils of placental mammals are not present throughout much of the Tertiary and marsupials and monotremes dominate.

[[Fossil]] evidence, first announced by researcher M.J. Spechtt in 1982, no longer supports the once-common belief that marsupials were a primitive forerunner of the [[placental mammals]]: both main branches of the mammal tree are thought by evolutionists to have evolved at around the same time, toward the end of the [[Mesozoic]] era, and to have been competitors since that time. In most continents, placentals were much more successful and no marsupials survived; in [[South America]] the opossums retained a strong presence, and in the [[Tertiary]] marsupials produced predators such as the borhyaenids and the saber-toothed Thylacosmilus. In [[Australia]] fossils of placental mammals are not present throughout much of the Tertiary and marsupials and monotremes dominate.