### animal | vertebrate | mammal:

Marsupial
* All marsupials are mammals.
* Every marsupial is born relatively early in the development process.
* Many marsupials are plant-eaters
  - develop pouches only during the breeding season
  - have a pouch that encloses the young
* Most marsupials are plant-eaters and many are nocturnal
  - have a pouch, or at least a flap of skin, to protect their developing young
* Most marsupials have pouches where the tiny newborns develop
  - young continue to develop
  - pouches, although some have just a flap of skin
  - live in Australia
  - range in size between a small cat and an average-sized dog
* Some marsupials carry young in rudimentary pouches which are basically skin folds.
* also have short gestation periods, but after it is done, there is live birth.
* are a class of mammals living mainly in the Australian continent
  - practically unique to Australia
  - classification of animal
  - special class of non-placental mammals
  - also mammals
* are animals that carry their young in a pouch
  - raise their young in a pouch on the abdomen
* are born prematurely
  - underdeveloped, blind and very small
  - characterized principally by their method of reproduction
* are mammals that give birth to young which are in an immature state
  - raise their young ones in a pouch in their bodies
  - which generally have pouches in which they rear their young
  - with pouches to carry young in, like the kangaroo
  - members of the mammal family
  - native to North America, South America, and Australia
  - non-amniotes, and eutherians are amniotes
  - pouched animals which include kangaroos and wombat
  - still abundant in Australia, but only the opossum is found in North America
  - the only mammals that have a pouch on their body in which they carry their young
  - very small and underdeveloped when they are born
* bear live young at an extremely early stage of development.
* breed here during the winter, which necessitates the pouch.
* brood their young in pouches.
  - young in a pouch on the abdomen of the female
* differ from placentals in a number of important and obvious ways.
* employ external fertilization, whereas eutherians have internal fertilization.
* generally have more teeth than placental mammals
  - small litters
* give birth to babies that attach themselves to their mothers
  - early stage fetuses
  - fetal-like young following a brief gestation period
  - living babies
  - poorly developed young
  - their young early in their development
  - when their young are super young
* have a pouch where they carry their young
  - special pouch where they carry their babies
  - very short gestation period and so the young are born relatively undeveloped
  - no placenta and give birth to tiny, helpless young
  - pouchs
  - relatively small brains and they lack a placenta
  - two vaginas and a double uterus
* lay eggs, whereas eutherians are viviparous.
* live mainly in Australia.
* provide insights of globin gene evolution.
* rear their young in pouches.
* seem to handle their parasites differently than dogs, cats, and other mammals.
* simply perform better in tough conditions but the cold-blooded animals did even better.
* support both the claim that the earth is ancient and that evolution occured.
* survive only in Australasia and the Americas.
+ Mammal, Main groups
  * Other mammals are divided into the 'Marsupials' and the 'Eutheria', the placental mammals. Marsupials are mammals with pouches to carry young in, like the kangaroo. All other mammals are Eutherian.
+ Marsupial, Reproduction
  * Marsupials give birth to living babies. The babies are called 'joeys'. The babies feed on milk. Their babies are born very small.
  * Marsupials have a special pouch where they carry their babies. After the birth the baby goes into its mother's pouch, where it can drink milk and is kept warm and safe. When the babies are young they stay in the pouch all the time, but when they are older they can leave it for short times. When they are old enough and too big for the pouch they do not go into their mother's pouch anymore.