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.