RT Journal
A1 GROSS RR, BOLLIGER AA
T1 COmposition of milk of the marsupial trichosurus vulpecula
JF A.M.A. Journal of Diseases of Children
JO A.M.A. Journal of Diseases of Children
YR 1959
FD December 1
VO 98
IS 6
SP 768
OP 775
DO 10.1001/archpedi.1959.02070020770013
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archpedi.1959.02070020770013
AB The first analyses of marsupial milk were reported by Bolliger and Pascoe (1953). However, only eight specimens from three kangaroos (Macropus robustus) with large young could be examined, and it was obvious that further data were required from this or some other marsupial to gain more insight into the chemical composition of the milk of metatheria with their unique second extrauterine period of gestation in a pouch formed by skin. At the suggestion of Dr. Ethel C. Dunham, the milk of a smaller marsupial (Trichosurus vulpecula), the common brush-tail phalanger, or Australian opossum, was examined.Remarks on Suckling and Collection of Milk Samples 
    After a short period of gestation of about 20 days, the female of T. vulpecula with a body weight of 1.5-2.0 kg. delivers a single offspring, which immediately after birth proceeds to the pouch. In the newly born "pouch embryo," which measures about 1.5 cm. in length