Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio, Hey brain Stuff Lauren Vogubam Here from a Possums to Koala's two bandicoots. Pouches are the bailiwick of marsupial child rearing, and perhaps the most famous of pouched mama's though, is the kangaroo. Kangaroos are native to Australia and New Guinea. The kangaroo is so archetypally Australian that it graces the
country's coat of arms. A female kangaroo sports a big pocket on her belly called a marsupium that's essential to the nursing, protection and ferrying around her baby, called a joey. Only female kangaroos have pouches. They do of the child rearing. Kangaroos live in large groups called mobs, and the males contribute by acting as bodyguards. Joey's live at least partially in their mother's pouch for about eight months until the joey is fast enough to keep up with the mob
When it runs. Kangaroos can run in leaping bounds upwards of forty miles an hour that's sixty kilometers per hour in short bursts Kangaroo pouches function exclusively as baby containers. They're very warm inside about a hundred and five degrees fahrenheit that's around forty celsius, and they contain four nipples. The mother can use muscles to open or close it like a draw string pouch, and the pouch is stretchy. It can make space for two joeys of different ages
at the same time. A kangaroo can give birth to up to four joeys per year. For the article this episode is based on, has to Work, spoke with Katrina macaulay, assistant curator in the Columbus zoon Aquariums Australia and the Islands regions. She explained, normally, a kangaroo's pouch is dry, lightly furred and has a dry, flaky, rusty brown colored substance that is a naturally occurring antifungal in antibacterial substance. The pouch is also essential for joey gest station. After birth.
The mother kangaroo gives birth vaginally to an unbelievably small and underdevelop baby after just dating only about thirty three days. The baby is pink, entirely hairless, and only about the size of the nail on your pinky finger. It crawls up its mother's stomach and into her pouch, where it will remain for between four and a half and five months. Mcaulay said when Joey's are first born, they attached to one of the teats and fused to it until they're
more developed. Kangaroo females produce different milk compositions as their Joey's age of plus, the females can produce two different compositions of milk based on the ages of her young. She explained that a female kangaroo can balance Joey's of different ages this way, taking care of one that's out of the pouch and mobile on its own but still getting nutrients from her milk, and one that's still in
the pouch full time. A female kangaroo's body is in tune with the supply and demand of food for Joey's. Even if she only mates once a year and fertilizes up to four eggs in one go, her body will hold to those embryos until conditions are good. During times of drought or low food supply, the dormant embryos can bide their time when conditions improve. Her body will let one implant, but can hold on to the rest until
the first joey is mobile. The kangaroo babies do everything in the pouch, including use the bathroom, so it takes a bit of housekeeping to keep it fresh and clean. Mcaulay said, Oh, when a kangaroo is preparing to give birth, we see an increase in females tending to their pouch. We also see an increase in cleaning once a joey is developed enough to come out of the pouch. In general, we see them clean it when they are standing by
sticking their snout into the pouch. Today's episode is based on the article What's it Like Inside of Kangar's Pouch on house to forks dot com, written by Justlyn Shields. Brainstuff is production of I Heart Radio in partnership with house to forks dot com and is produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts from my Heart Radio. Visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H