Why does Australia have diverse and unique wildlife, particularly marsupials—animals that carry and nurse their young in pouches? How do the animals in the United States differ from those in Australia?
In this video created for AuslanX’s science event and the Australian Deaf community, learn if koala bears are actually bears!
#STEMvee #STEMinASL #AuslanX #DeafSTEM
ID: Alicia and Barbara are wearing black short sleeve shirts in front of a grey background. At 0:14, the Atomic Hands logo appear on the top right. At 0:57, a QR code appears to scan to join the Deaf STEMist Network. At 1:53, an image of the globe showing Pangaea (all countries are together) appears. At 3:12, an image of an opossum appears. At 3:39, animals appear as Barbara signs them: koala, kangaroo, emu, wombat, kookaburra, platypus, bald eagle, alligator, black bear, and bison. At 4:13, koala bears appear. The closing video shows white background with text: All your #STEMinASL in one place! We bring STEM alive to support current & future generations of deaf STEMists. Green button with black text: atomichands.com/donate. Image of an iPhone with Atomic Hands’ menu webpage shows with menu options: ASL STEM Storybooks, ASL STEM Videos, ASL STEM Resources, ASL STEM Dictionaries, ASL STEM News, ASL STEM Events, and Deaf STEMist Network.
Transcript: Hi there! We’re Alicia and Barbara, the founders of Atomic Hands. We started Atomic Hands in 2018 to share our love of STEM, especially when accessible STEM content was hard to find. Our goals are to create fun and accessible content for the community, encourage people to play with language to create new signs and ways to explain STEM concepts, and build a network of Deaf STEMists worldwide! If you’re in STEM and are Deaf, hard of hearing, or a CODA, we’d love for you to join our network!
Since we’re in the United States and you’re in Australia, we thought it would be interesting to explore some of the unique wildlife that makes our continents so special. Australia is famous for its diverse and unique wildlife, particularly marsupials—animals that carry and nurse their young in pouches. There’s a fascinating backstory behind this uniqueness! Around 300 million years ago, Australia was part of the supercontinent Pangaea, which also included all other continents such as North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Antarctica. Marsupials, which first originated in North America, migrated to South America and then onto the Australian landmass before Australia split from the other continents about 50 million years ago. Once isolated in Australia, these marsupials evolved into the unique species we know today. That’s why Australia boasts over 250 species of marsupials, while North America has just one: the opossum! This ancient separation is why mammals in America and Australia are so different. Species evolved differently in various habitats. While America doesn’t have koalas, kangaroos, emus, wombats, kookaburras, or platypuses, it does have its own unique animals like the bald eagle, American alligator, black bear, and bison.
And about koalas, many people think they’re related to bears, but they’re not. Koalas are marsupials, meaning their young are underdeveloped at birth and develop in the mother’s pouch, unlike mammals like bears that give birth to more developed young. So, next time you learn about an animal developing in its mother’s pouch, you’ll know it’s a marsupial!
