preview

Most Well-Known Marsupials

Good Essays

Most Well-Known Marsupials

Marsupials are found mostly in Australia but are also found in the tropical regions of Central and South America and only one species of marsupials are found in the United States, the Virginia opossum. Marsupials are mammals that have pouches to keep their young in. There are about two hundred species found in Australia, seventy species in Central and South America, and one species found in North America; specifically the United States. The three most well-known species of marsupials are the kangaroo, wallaby, and koala.

The red kangaroo is the world’s largest marsupial. Red kangaroos can move around very quickly on their large and powerful legs. They can hop as fast as 35 miles (56 kilometers) …show more content…

The newborn has a long journey to get to its mother’s pouch. It holds on to its mother’s thick fur climbing on upwards towards her pouch. After three minutes of climbing, the little newborn reaches the pouch. When the newborn crawls inside, it finds a nipple, using its sense of touch and smell, and holds on to it. Its first meal is its mother’s milk, like most mammals. For the next eight months, the joey stays tucked away inside this cozy pouch, sleeping and drinking the mother’s milk. Red kangaroos develop and grow much quicker than gray kangaroos, so red kangaroo joeys leave the pouch at six months. The pouch provides warmth and shelter and has a waxy substance to keep the joey’s skin moist. Every so often, the mother cleans out the joey’s waste inside the pouch. There will be a day that the joey will be introduced to the outside world. The mother will relax all of the muscles in her pouch and the little joey will tumble out. A few seconds later, the joey will head back to the safety of its mother’s pouch. In the next two months, the joey will become a little braver and come out to sample some grass. The joey eventually will become too big for the pouch. The mother will tighten her pouch muscles and will keep the baby out. Then, the joey begins to panic and will try to find another mother’s pouch to go in. If the mother has her own joey inside, she might attack the joey. The mother prevents this by keeping the …show more content…

The bridled nailtail is only found on a small are in Queensland and is considered endangered. The crescent nailtail wallaby has been extinct since the 1940s. The yellow-footed rock wallaby lives in mountainous regions in portions of Australia. It has some of the brightest and most distinguishable fur of most wallabies and kangaroos. Their fur varies in color and is usually a mixture of brown, gray, white, and yellow or orange. This mixture of colors helps them to camouflage among the rocks that they live in. The typical size of a wallaby would be small to medium-sized, but the largest can reach up to about 6feet (1.8 meters) from the top to the bottom. Wallabies have very strong and powerful hind legs to help them get anywhere at fast speeds and help them jump great distances. They also use their legs when they are threatened by

Get Access