“Pocket Babies” at the Australian Walkabout

Marsupials differ from other mammals in that their newborns are extremely underdeveloped, almost embryonic when they are born, and they spend what would correspond to the foetal stage outside the mother’s womb. In some marsupials, which don’t have a true pouch, the young simply cling to the teats during this period, but in those like kangaroos, koalas, wombats, and possums, the folds of skin around the teats form a well-developed pouch, which acts as a second womb, providing protection for the still undeveloped offspring.

Kangaroos have particularly well-developed pouches. Many imagine the pouch as a kind of pocket, but the name “pouch” is no coincidence, as the mother kangaroo can use muscles to open and close it, much like how people of old used to tighten and loosen a leather purse with a drawstring.

Newborn kangaroos are born after about a month of gestation. They are about the size of a jellybean, completely blind and hairless, but they can already breathe through their nose and drink milk through their mouth. Using their relatively well-developed forelimbs, already equipped with claws, they crawl into the pouch and latch onto one of the teats, which they won’t let go of for months.

Our joeys are, of course, no longer in this stage of development, as they were born last year, but they have spent the past months entirely hidden in the pouch. Now, they have reached the age where their fur has grown, their eyes have opened, and they not only peek out of the pouch more frequently but occasionally leave it entirely. However, they still don’t stray far from their mothers and regularly return to the pouch or at least poke their heads back in for a few drops of milk.
More than seventy species of kangaroos of varying sizes live in Australia and the surrounding islands. The Bennett’s kangaroo belongs to the medium-sized species. These animals are native to eastern and southeastern Australia, Tasmania, and some nearby smaller islands. Since snow can occasionally fall in parts of their natural habitat during winter, they easily adapt to our local climate, so they don’t need heated shelters, only a covered, wind-protected area.

You can see four different species of kangaroos at our Zoo, and we present the Bennett’s kangaroos in a space where visitors can walk among the animals.