Like other kinds of mammals, marsupials give birth to live young. But a newborn marsupial is hardly developed at all. The tiny creature clings to its mother’s body or is carried in a pouch where it feeds on its mother’s milk until it is old enough to leave. Apart from the opossum family of the Americas, marsupials live only in Australasia. Many feed only on plants, leaves and fruit, but a few prey on insects and small animals.

Kangaroos live in groups, called mobs, on the dry, grassy plains of Australia. They eat grass and shrubs. Kangaroos can cover enormous distances bounding along on their strong back legs. Males fight one another to be the head of the mob. Closely related to kangaroos are the wallabies. They are smaller and stockier, but have similar lifestyles.

The female has a deep pouch in which she carries her young (joeys). Her nipples are inside her pouch. The tiny baby sucks milk from the nipple until it is old enough to let go.

Koalas

Koalas are marsupials from eastern and southern Australia. They spend nearly all their lives in the trees. They are awake for only a few hours each night to feed on eucalyptus leaves and shoots. They use their claws to cling on to tree trunks. Once it has grown too big for its mother’s pouch, the joey rides around on its mother’s back.

Opossums are marsupials that live in the Americas. They have long snouts. Some kinds have prehensile tails (tails which act as extra limbs for climbing trees). The opossum eats a variety of foods including other animals, fruit and shellfish. When threatened, it pretends to be dead: it “plays possum”. The Victoria opossum is the only marsupial that lives in North America. It is often found searching for food in rubbish tips.

Possums

Possums are a group of nocturnal marsupials from Australia. There are 70 kinds, including the cuscuses and gliders. Most possums live in trees and have several young at a time. The female carries her young in a pouch for a few months before they crawl out and cling to her back for several more months.

Tasmanian devil

The largest meat-eating marsupial is the Tasmanian devil. It lives on the Australian island of Tasmania. It is usually a scavenger, but sometimes kills small animals for itself. Other carnivorous marsupials include quolls and dunnarts. Numbats is an insect-eater and feeds on termites.

Wombats

Wombats are stocky animals that live in the forests and mountains of southeastern Australia and Tasmania. They use their teeth to gnaw tough plants. Wombats dig their burrows with their teeth and powerful claws. They have backwards-facing pouches so that, when digging, they do not cover their young with soil. If attacked, wombats will dive into the nearest burrow entrances.