Marsupials are animals that have a built-in baby carrier. Marsupial mothers have a pouch on the front of their bodies. A marsupial mom puts her newborn baby in her pouch. She carries the baby around until it is ready to go out on its own.
Kangaroos are one kind of marsupial. But there are many other kinds, too.
WHERE DO MARSUPIALS LIVE?
Most marsupials live in Australia and New Zealand. A kind of opossum is the only marsupial that lives in North America. A few other kinds of marsupials live in Central and South America.
Some marsupials live in deserts. Others live in deep forests. Still others live on open plains.
MAMMALS WITH POUCHES
A marsupial is a mammal. Mammals are animals that give birth to live young. Most mammals have babies that can live outside the mother as soon as they are born. Newborn marsupial babies cannot live outside the mother. Some marsupial babies finish growing in a pouch outside the mother’s belly. Some just hang on to their mother’s nipple.
The babies of most mammals develop inside an organ called the placenta. The growing baby gets food and oxygen from the mother through the placenta. It stays inside the placenta until it is born.
The babies of marsupials do not develop inside a placenta. They develop inside a kind of yolk. They get food from the yolk. The baby marsupials come out of the mother before they finish developing. They climb up the mother’s fur. They find one of her nipples. They stay and drink their mother’s milk until they finish developing.
KINDS OF MARSUPIALS
Scientists have found between 260 and 280 species (kinds) of marsupials. The kangaroo, koala, wombat, opossum, wallaby, Tasmanian devil, numbat, bandicoot, and ringtail possum are all marsupials.
The smallest marsupial is the tiny, mouselike ningaui. It is only about 2 inches (about 5 centimeters) long. It weighs 0.1 ounce (2.8 grams). Gray and red kangaroos are the biggest marsupials. They can stand as tall as 6 feet (1.8 meters) and weigh 200 pounds (90 kilograms).
Kangaroos usually have only one baby at a time. Opossums can have as many as 12 babies at a time.
WHAT DO MARSUPIALS EAT?
Different kinds of marsupials eat different things. Kangaroos and wallabies eat grasses. Koalas eat leaves from the eucalyptus tree. Opossums eat fruit and insects.
Other kinds of marsupials eat meat. Some marsupials will eat almost anything.
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