You won't believe how tiny newborn kangaroos are
Sunday, December 10, 2023
Make every day more interesting. Each day a surprising fact opens a world of fascinating information for you to explore. Did you know that….? 
| | Original photo by Andrew Haysom/ iStock |
| Newborn red kangaroos are less than an inch long. | A baby red kangaroo (Macropus rufus) is about the size of a jelly bean. Born after about 34 days of gestation, it's less than an inch long — or 100,000 times smaller than its adult height (roughly 4 feet). This newborn kangaroo, called a joey, isn't quite ready for prime time, however. Unlike most mammals, joeys are born while they're still embryos, which means they lack sight, hearing, and hair. They spend the next six months in their mother's pouch, or marsupium, where they suckle from a teat and continue to develop before finally taking their first steps into the world. If the word "marsupium" sounds familiar, it's probably because that's where the term "marsupial" comes from. Marsupials are a mammalian class that includes kangaroos, wombats, koalas, possums, and more — about 330 species altogether.
Kangaroos are some of the supermoms of the animal kingdom. Not only do they have a special pouch for their babies, but they can create two distinct types of milk to care for both the developing embryo and the more mature joey. They can even suspend their ability to conceive during times of drought, and then regain that ability when conditions are more favorable. With their remarkable adaptability, it's no wonder kangaroos outnumber Australians nearly two to one.
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| Baby rabbits are called kittens. |  |  |
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| A group of kangaroos is known as a __. |  |
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 | Numbers Don't Lie |
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 | | Year King Edward VII of Great Britain authorized Australia's Coat of Arms, featuring a kangaroo and emu | | 1908 |
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| | | Approximate number of kangaroo species worldwide | | 60 |
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| | Estimated number of kangaroos living in Australia as of 2019 | | 42,756,617 |
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| | | Years ago that Australia separated from Antarctica | | 30 million |
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 | Most kangaroos are left-handed. |
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| Turns out, a kangaroo paw is also a southpaw. A 2015 study of wild eastern gray kangaroos, red kangaroos, and red-necked wallabies found that they preferred their left hand for grooming, eating, and performing other tasks about 95% of the time. This stunning discovery goes against the long-standing theory that only humans (and some apes) have a strong preference for one hand over the other; 90% of humans are right-handed. Scientists think this is likely a case of "parallel evolution," in which animals in different branches of the evolutionary tree develop similar traits through separate processes. | | |
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posted by June Lesley at 5:48 AM
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