Most marsupials live in Australia. Some species are common in New Guinea, some in South America, and the opossum lives in North America.

The female kangaroo has a pouch on her belly. It is needed because its structure internal organs does not allow the baby to be fully carried to term. After birth, a small, three-centimeter kangaroo, blind and naked, climbs along the mother’s belly to the entrance to the pouch. There he will grow for another seven months, feeding on his mother's milk, until he is able to get out of there on his own. Contrary to popular belief - males don't have a pouch.

Which mammals also have a ventral bursa?

There are many marsupials: there are 270 species. lives in tree branches and needs a pouch on its belly just like a kangaroo for the early birth of a baby. Once born, the cubs find the nipple themselves, and after they crawl out of the pouch, they climb onto the mother’s back. Moreover, if there are a lot of cubs, then they climb according to seniority.
The Tasmanian devil is a marsupial predator that hunts at night. In addition, he is an excellent swimmer. The opossum does not have a real pouch, but only a fold of skin around the mammary glands. When the cubs are already large enough, they settle in the nest or on the mother's back.

A wombat, when making a hole for itself, digs long tunnels, and the entrance to the female pouch is located in the lower abdomen - so the earth does not get inside.

Kangaroo is the most unusual mammal on our planet. It lives only in Australia and is completely unlike any other animal. And not only the unusual appearance of the kangaroo is surprising, but also the origin of its name. According to legend, James Cook first encountered kangaroos when he sailed to Australia. He watched for a long time and with great interest how this animal jumps, rests, drinks water, and then asks the leader of one local tribe what the name of this unusual animal is. But the leader did not understand Cook’s question at all. He just said “Ken-gu-ru”, that is, “I don’t understand you.” But James Cook decided that this was the name of the animal. This is how the word kangaroo appeared in Europe.

Today, zoologists know fifty species of kangaroos. And all of them can be divided into three large groups - kangaroo rats, the smallest kangaroos, medium-sized kangaroos, which the whole world knows as wallabies, and giant kangaroos. But giant kangaroos can also be divided into three groups. The first is gray kangaroos, the largest of the entire family. They live in the forest and are sometimes also called forest animals. They are the friendliest representatives of this unusual genus. The second group is red or steppe kangaroos. This is the most common species of kangaroo in Australia. The third are mountain kangaroos. They learned about their existence relatively recently - in 1832. The thing is that they really don’t like to show themselves to anyone, they live very secluded, practically cannot be tamed and are the most pugnacious of all representatives.

The mass of some kangaroos can reach ninety kilograms, the tail length is one meter, and the body length is one and a half meters. The kangaroo moves in giant leaps twelve meters long, which can reach three meters in height. And the speed of such movement inspires respect - fifty kilometers per hour.

And now the answer to the most main question– does the male kangaroo have a pouch? There was a bag. There was a bag once upon a time, a long time ago, but it simply atrophied as it was no longer needed, all that remained were the special bones in the hip area on which this bag was attached. Today, only female kangaroos have preserved the pouch. And this is what it is needed for. A small kangaroo is born exactly one month after conception. No one knows why this happens. In the bag it “ripens”, grows and gains strength. The mass of a newborn baby is seven hundred grams, his height is only twenty millimeters. And after birth, this baby himself must get to his mother’s bag. This journey lasts two minutes. As soon as the little kangaroo is in the pouch, it immediately attaches to one of the four nipples, and the mother kangaroo, with the help of special muscles, begins to secrete milk directly into the newborn’s mouth, since the kangaroo itself cannot suck.

Each of the four nipples produces its own milk, and its composition depends entirely on the age of the kangaroo. However, if a newborn has an older brother or sister, then their milk production will be completely different from that of a little baby. Only kangaroos have this feature. But why this happens still remains a mystery.

The baby kangaroo stays in its pouch as a refuge for up to a year. But even at an older age, he can hide there in times of danger. Wind and moisture do not penetrate into the bag, the optimal temperature is constantly maintained there, and even when the mother kangaroo swims, the bag closes tightly with the help of special muscles and water does not penetrate into it. But when to open the bag and let the baby kangaroo out for a walk? caring mother– the kangaroo decides for itself.

photo of a newborn baby kangaroo in a pouch

But scientists have long established: this blind and deaf creature with tenacious claws on its front legs (the hind legs are underdeveloped) is not born in a pouch.

It gets into the bag after birth... But how? Another mystery! Until the last century, scientists were sure that the mother took the newborn with her teeth or lips and lowered it into the bag. It would seem that there could be no other opinion - this practically half-embryo does not climb into the bag on its own. It would be incredible. And, nevertheless, it is a fact: a newborn kangaroo gets to the pouch on its own.

Twenty-four hours before the birth of the baby, the female begins to tidy up the pouch, carefully licking its inner surface. An hour before giving birth, she sits on the base of the tail, passing it through her hind legs for balance, and continues to instinctively lick the pouch and cloacal area.

She also licks, shortly before giving birth, a narrow strip of fur on her belly: she marks a path for the baby (it is not clear why! perhaps she cleans her skin, or maybe there are some odorous substances in her saliva that indicate the path for the baby).

Soon a small worm-like creature is born, measuring just over 20 millimeters and weighing 750 milligrams.

At birth, a baby kangaroo is not even fully formed. The tail and hind legs of baby kangaroos resemble small stumps. The eyes are closed and the ears are not formed. The cubs' mouth is just a hole.

But, the researchers noted the fact that the toes of the forelimbs of a newborn kangaroo are equipped with claws and are sufficiently developed to grab onto the mother's fur, while the hind limbs are very poorly developed. The baby will be able to hold on even if his restless mother suddenly jumps up.

But one way or another, the naked and blind baby, clinging to his mother’s fur with his claws, quickly gets to the bag and finds it (obviously, guided by the smell, since at this time he already has well-developed nostrils and a fully formed olfactory center in the brain ) one of the four nipples and hangs on it.

The nipple swells and the mouth becomes jammed, so from that moment on the baby is firmly entrenched in the bag. A newborn kangaroo cannot suck milk on its own. His mother helps him in this, contracting special muscles on the nipples, and she squirts milk into his mouth.

If at this time the baby accidentally breaks away from the nipple, he may die of starvation. Kangaroos can produce four types of milk, depending on the age of the kangaroo. Each type of milk is produced in a different nipple. In addition, she can have two types of milk at the same time if she has cubs of different ages.

A mother kangaroo is able to control her pouch thanks to muscles along the edge at the entrance of the pouch. She can even close the bag so that no water gets in while swimming. The mother decides when the child can be released and opens the bag.

A newborn, well covered in a bag from cold and bad weather, grows quickly. But only by the fifth month will he begin to stick his head out of the pouch. Then his body is already slightly covered with fur, his erect ears react to any noise. By the end of the sixth month, he, having gained courage, begins to crawl out of the bag and walk around his mother. By the end of the eighth month, he can finally leave his refuge.

Even after the baby kangaroo finally leaves the pouch, the mother continues to care for him for several more months.

The reason is this interesting feature kangaroos that the babies of these animals are born very early, and do not look like the cubs of female ordinary mammals, but like highly developed embryos, in that, according to scientists, they have a poorly developed placenta (Allantois placenta of marsupials), which cannot last long serve as a source of protection and nutrition for the embryo. Therefore, further development of kangaroo cubs - to normal size - continues in the pouch outside the mother's body.

How does a baby kangaroo grow?

He grows, becomes covered with fur, opens his eyes, and develops ears. Finally, he breaks away from the nipples and jumps out of the bag. The cub emerges from the pouch at the age of several months, but if it is in danger at this time, it can immediately climb back into it. But by the age of six months it reaches such a size that it does not fit in a bag. The baby kangaroo begins to eat grass and vegetables, just like its mother.

He is already strong enough to take care of himself.

Female kangaroos, in addition to having a baby in the pouch, can have more babies at the same time. How does this happen?

Immediately after the birth of the baby, the egg in the female kangaroo can be fertilized again. A small embryo is formed, which is inhibited in development until the bag becomes free again. It turns out to be a very interesting process: while one baby drinks its mother’s milk outside, in the wild, the second baby is in the pouch, while the third is in the stage of a frozen embryo.

When a grown-up baby kangaroo leaves the pouch, it immediately appears new baby. For some time, these foster brothers live nearby - one, however, in a bag, the other “in the wild.” But even an over-aged baby kangaroo, already finding food on its own, will jump into the bag - either to feast on milk, or to be frightened by something.

So, the second baby appears when his brother is already growing up. But if a baby dies, even if this happens shortly after birth, another one immediately appears in the bag! An empty bag is a signal to the embryo, which, having received it, begins to develop rapidly and soon ends up in the bag.

What does a kangaroo eat?

Kangaroos have exclusively vegetarian food: grass, leaves of bushes and trees, fruits, some types of vegetables, grain. In the wild they eat mostly grass. But they need very little water. Kangaroos can go without water for months.

Do male kangaroos have a pouch?

Male kangaroos do not have a pouch. True, they have special bones to which the pouch is attached in female kangaroos.

How fast does a kangaroo run and how far can it jump?

The kangaroo jumps thanks to its powerful hind limbs. While running, the animal balances its body thanks to its tail. A kangaroo can run at speeds of up to 60 kilometers per hour and can jump over barriers up to 3 meters high (!). During the day, kangaroos usually rest in the shade, but they usually feed in the afternoon or at night, when it is cool.

Origin of the name Kangaroo

The name kangaroo comes from the word “kangurоо” or “gangurru”, the name of this animal in the Guugu-Yimidhirr language of the Aboriginal Australians (the language of the Pama-Nyung family), heard by James Cook from the Aborigines during his landing on the north-eastern coast of Australia in 1770.

A myth has spread widely according to which James Cook, having arrived in Australia, turned to one of the aborigines with a question about the name of the animal he saw, but he, not understanding Cook’s speech, answered him in his native language: “I don’t understand.” As the myth goes, this phrase, which supposedly sounds like “kangaroo,” was taken by Cook as the name of the animal. The groundlessness of this myth has been confirmed by modern linguistic research.

Eat a new version Origin of the name of the word kangaroo: Thor Heyerdahl, together with academician Fomenko, in their research concluded that the expression, which originally sounded “like in the bag of Ha-Nurru,” came from the Christian saying “like in Ha-Nozri’s bosom” (transformed by putting it on the bag). Whether this is true or not, and where echoes of Christian sayings could have come from in Australia is not known for certain.

What is another name for a kangaroo?

Male, female and baby kangaroo in English language have proper names. The male kangaroo is called boomer, female - flyer, and the cub - joey.

The male kangaroo is a boomer (boomer is something like “jumping at full speed”), and the female is a flyer.

Male kangaroos do not have a pouch.

True, they have special bones to which the pouch is attached in female kangaroos.

When Europeans first saw these amazing animals, they asked the aborigines what they were. One of them replied: “Kangaroo,” which in the language of the local tribe meant “I don’t understand.” Members of Captain Cook's expedition, in turn, did not know the native language and decided that this was the name of a jumping creature.

Female kangaroos give birth annually. The gestation period is 33 days. A baby kangaroo is born very tiny (about the size of a peanut) and is carried in a pouch. At birth, the cub still has no fur at all, its organs are underdeveloped, and its eyes are closed. The baby lives in the pouch for quite a long time (six months) until it develops its own fur, which makes it possible to regulate its body temperature. Even when the baby is quite large, he continues to feed on milk from the mother's nipple, which is in the pouch. The inside of a kangaroo's pouch is smooth, but the fur at the entrance to the pouch is thick and fluffy to protect the baby from any weather.

A mother kangaroo is able to control her pouch thanks to muscles along the edge at the entrance of the pouch. She can even close the bag so that no water gets in while swimming. The mother decides when the child can be released and opens the bag. The pouch contains four teats from which the small kangaroo feeds. Each nipple contains different types of milk needed to nourish the baby at different stages of development. Kangaroo mothers are able to simultaneously reproduce two completely different types of milk.

Kangaroos living in the area of ​​Canberra, the capital of Australia, will receive contraceptives, it is reported. Local authorities are forced to resort to such measures in order to somehow contain the explosive growth of the kangaroo population in the vicinity of the capital.

Such measures are considered progressive by local animal rights activists, since the alternative to depriving animals of the opportunity to reproduce is to shoot kangaroos. "It's not good to kill our national symbol in the vicinity of our capital,” a spokeswoman for the Animal Liberation organization told the agency.

Development of a contraceptive for animals is still underway. It is planned that the contraceptive will be mixed with grass in the lowlands where kangaroos like to feed.

There are about 57 million kangaroos in Australia, more than three animals per person. These marsupials damage crops and compete with livestock for pastures and watering holes.

Kangaroos have become a real problem for motorists in the Canberra area over the past five years. The number of accidents involving these animals in 2004 exceeded six hundred (with a population of 300 thousand people in the capital). There are an estimated 450 to 500 kangaroos living in one square kilometer of forests and grasslands surrounding Canberra.

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