Marsupial reproduction

Marsupial reproduction typically involves a short gestation followed by birth of highly undeveloped young, which attach to a teat and continue developing while nursing, often in a pouch.

Marsupial pregnancy: The gestational period during which a marsupial embryo develops inside the uterus before birth. Gestation is generally brief, leaving substantial development to occur after birth.
Marsupial: A mammal whose young are born relatively undeveloped and usually complete much development while nursing. Marsupial reproduction is the characteristic reproductive pattern of this mammal group.
Placental mammal reproduction: Reproduction in eutherian mammals, whose young generally develop longer in the uterus before birth. Longer gestation usually shifts more fetal development before birth than in marsupials.
Red kangaroo: A large Australian marsupial whose young develop in a pouch after a short gestation. Its pouch-reared young provide a familiar example of extended postnatal development.
Marsupial birth: The delivery of a highly undeveloped marsupial young, which must reach a teat soon after birth. Birth begins the newborn’s journey from the birth canal to a nursing teat.
Metatheria: The mammalian group that includes living marsupials and their extinct relatives. This broader lineage places living marsupials within mammalian evolutionary history.
Monotreme reproduction: Reproduction in egg-laying mammals, including echidnas and the platypus. Monotremes also rely on milk but hatch from eggs rather than giving live birth.
Koala: An Australian marsupial that raises its young in a pouch and later feeds them specialized feces. Koalas illustrate that care can continue after young leave the pouch.
Marsupial pouch: A skin fold in many marsupials that shelters young attached to the mother’s teats. It protects and contains young during much of their postnatal development.
Placenta: An organ that mediates exchange of nutrients, gases, and waste between a developing fetus and its mother. Marsupials form placental connections, but fetal development before birth is usually limited.

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