But marsupials did not die out entirely. Another group of North American marsupials dispersed to South America around 70 million years ago. From there, they expanded into Antarctica and Australia, both of which were attached to South America at the time. Marsupials arrived in Australia no later than 55 mil- lion years ago, the age of the oldest marsupial fossils found there. Later, South America, Antarctica, and Australia began to drift apart, each carrying with it a population of marsupials. The fossil record shows that marsupials were still in Antarctica 40 million years ago. But as the continent moved nearer to the South Pole and became cold, these.
