What makes marsupials different from the other animals?

Answer 1

A marsupial is a mammal, but it is different to a placental mammal in several main ways.

Marsupial young are born very undeveloped. Moving purely by instinct, the baby joey (the term for all marsupial young) makes its way to the mother's pouch, where the young joey latches onto a teat, remaining there to continue its growth and development.

Many marsupials have the mammary glands enclosed within a protective pouch. Although a mammal with a pouch is always a marsupial (with the exception of the echidna, which develops a rudimentary pouch during breeding season), not all marsupials have pouches, for example, the numbat of Western Australia.

All marsupials are mammals, but not all mammals are marsupials. Marsupials do not have advanced placentas, and have epipubic bones (with the exception of the marsupial mole). Epipubic bones are bones which project forwards from the pelvis. In the case of marsupials, these bones support the female's pouch, but there are other mammals which are not marsupials which also have epipubic bones. The excretory and reproductive systems of placental mammals and marsupials are also different.

Female marsupials have two vaginas, or what are called paired lateral vaginae. These are for the purpose of transporting the sperm to the womb, but there is a midline pseudovaginal canal for actually giving birth. As well as two vaginas and two uteruses, female marsupials have two fallopian tubes and two cervixes. Most male marsupials, with the exception of the largest species, the Red Kangaroo, Eastern Grey and Western Grey Kangaroos and one of the smallest species, the Honey Possum, have a two-pronged penis to accommodate the females' two vaginas.

Answer 2

Marsupials are mammals with pouches in which they rear their young. Marsupial young are characterised by being extremely small and undeveloped at birth. At birth, they take a long, arduous journey from the birth canal, driven purely by instinct, grabbing hold of the mother marsupial's fur which she has cleaned and made easier to traverse with saliva, to reach the pouch. Upon reaching the pouch, they latch onto a teat which swells in their mouth to prevent them from being accidentally dislodged during the mother's movements. There they stay for months, to complete their development.

Not all marsupials have pouches, e.g. the numbat has a mere flap of skin, but in animals where the pouch is absent, the young are still born undeveloped, and they cling by instinct to the underside of their mother's belly, still firmly attached to teats which swell in their mouths.

Female marsupials have two vaginas, or what are called paired lateral vaginae. These are for the purpose of transporting the sperm to the womb, but there is a midline pseudovaginal canal for actually giving birth. As well as two vaginas and two uteruses, female marsupials have two fallopian tubes and two cervixes. Most male marsupials, with the exception of the largest species, the Red Kangaroo, Eastern Grey and Western Grey Kangaroos, have a "bifurcated" or two-pronged penis to accommodate the females' two vaginas.

Answer 3

Marsupials are mammals, meaning that they have fur on their bodies and give birth to live young.

The major difference in this group of animals is that female marsupials generally have "pouches" or "pockets" in which to carry young. Not all marsupials have a pouch: the numbat, for example, does not have a pouch so the young must cling to the mother's underbelly fur, protected by nothing more than a rudimentary flap of skin.

The one thing that all marsupials do have in common is that their young, called joeys, are born extremely undeveloped after a relatively short gestation period.

Female marsupials have two vaginas, or what are called paired lateral vaginae. These are for the purpose of transporting the sperm to the womb, but there is a midline pseudovaginal canal for actually giving birth. As well as two vaginas and two uteruses, female marsupials have two fallopian tubes and two cervixes. Most male marsupials, with the exception of the largest species, the Red Kangaroo, Eastern Grey and Western Grey Kangaroos, have a "bifurcated" or two-pronged penis to accommodate the females' two vaginas.

Answer 4

Marsupials give birth very early and carry the babies in a pouch to feed and sleep.

Answer 5

Marsupial babies are born quite immature and complete their development in a pouch of the mother. Kangaroos, koalas, opossums are a few examples.