Aussie Animals

Marsupials are unique to Australia, and kangaroos, koalas and Tasmanian devils are all marsupials, which means they have a pouch in which they carry their young. The koala and Tassie devil have an inverted pouch, whereas the kangaroo has a pouch where the baby joey can poke its head up and admire the view. Australia is also home to the world’s only monotremes, the platypus and the echidna. Monotreme, basically, means ‘one hole’. They have only one orifice for all bodily functions – waste removal and reproduction – which doesn’t need much further elaboration. I’m just glad I was blessed with a couple of tremes.

And, on the subject of reproduction, koalas are lousy lovers. As cute and cuddly as they look, when mating, the male koala has a habit of biting the female on the neck to hold her in position. The kangaroo’s reproductive system is also interesting. The female kangaroo can ‘shut down’ in times of drought and will only produce young when there’s sufficient food about to support the family.

When it comes to family support however, the Tasmanian devil is not that responsible. In fact, in a human world we’d have the Department of Community Services intervening. The female gives birth to between 30 and 40 tiny ‘devils’ but only has 4 nipples on offer, so it’s survival of the fittest and quickest!