Marsupials
A marsupial is a special mammal because it has a pouch. Koalas, kangaroos and wallabies are marsupials. Other animals are marsupials too.
Kangaroo (left), koala (top right) and wallaby (bottom right).
The pouch is a flap of skin that forms a pocket. It is the home for their baby. A baby marsupial is called a joey.
A joey is in a koala's pouch.
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A joey is in a kangaroo's pouch.
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Joeys are so tiny when they are born that they must crawl into the pouch for safety. In the pouch the joey drinks its mum's milk until it gets big enough to come out.
A kangaroo and her joey
Marsupials mainly live in Australia.
Kangaroos and wallabies have strong hind legs for jumping on the ground.
Another kind of kangaroo lives in trees. It is called the tree kangaroo. Tree kangaroos have strong legs for jumping and strong arms for climbing.
A tree kangaroo
Another marsupial is the wombat. It lives in Australia too.
A wombat
A wombat has claws so it is good at digging.
A wombat joey has claws.
A wombat digs a tunnel underground for its home. It is called a burrow.
In the daytime the wombat sleeps in its burrow. At night it comes out to look for food.
Wombats like to eat grass, roots and bark.
Another marsupial is the quokka. It lives in a small part of Australia.
Credit: iStock.com/S Rohrlach
Quokkas eat grass and leaves.
Quokkas have thick, brown fur and round, fluffy ears.
A quokka has a long tail.
Just like all marsupials, the mum keeps her baby in her pouch. And a baby quokka is called a joey.
Image credits for top picture: Kangaroo photo by fir0002. Koala photo by Erik Veland. Wallaby photo by Pelican さん. Kangaroo photo was cropped and added to montage. It is licensed under CC BY-NC 3.0. Koala photo licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. Wallaby photo licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.