Marsupials & Monotremes
Australia is home to all three types of mammals.
Marsupials are pouched mammals like kangaroos that give birth to very small undeveloped live young that then make their way to the mothers' pouch. They are born hairless and blind, and need to stay in the pouch untill they have grown fur. Young marsupials are called joeys.
Monotremes are egg laying mammals. The eggs they lay are leathery and more like Those laid by reptiles than by a bird. We have two types here: platypus and echidnas. Recently the young of the monotremes have been refered to as puggles. (the word originated from an American toy)
The female echidna has a pouch but the female platypus doesn't. The female monotremes produce milk but they dont have nipples, instead the milk oozes from the skin which the young feed on. The photo shows a Pademelon joey, taken at Womboyne Lake in NSW.
They are warm blooded like other mammals.
Marsupials are pouched mammals like kangaroos that give birth to very small undeveloped live young that then make their way to the mothers' pouch. They are born hairless and blind, and need to stay in the pouch untill they have grown fur. Young marsupials are called joeys.
Monotremes are egg laying mammals. The eggs they lay are leathery and more like Those laid by reptiles than by a bird. We have two types here: platypus and echidnas. Recently the young of the monotremes have been refered to as puggles. (the word originated from an American toy)
The female echidna has a pouch but the female platypus doesn't. The female monotremes produce milk but they dont have nipples, instead the milk oozes from the skin which the young feed on. The photo shows a Pademelon joey, taken at Womboyne Lake in NSW.
They are warm blooded like other mammals.