Marsupial Nutrition

A description of the food resources, digestive systems and metabolisms of marsupials. Marsupial Nutrition, first published in 1999, describes the food resources used by marsupials as diverse as small insectivores and large folivores. It discusses the ways in which their digestive systems and metabolism are designed to cope with foods as different as nectar and fungus, tree sap and tough perennial grasses, and insects and eucalypt foliage. Although the subject species are marsupials, the general principles of nutritional ecology and digestive strategies that are introduced at the beginning of the chapters are applicable to all mammals. Advanced undergraduates and graduate students at all levels in the area of vertebrate zoology, nutrition, ecology and digestive physiology will find Marsupial Nutrition particularly instructive, but wildlife biologists, veterinarians and nutritionists will also find much of interest.