How does the mother kangaroo keep her pouch clean?

How does the mother kangaroo keep her pouch clean?

The Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus), the Red Kangaroo (Osphranter rufus), and other kangaroos and wallabies, are Australian marsupial mammals. 

Like all marsupial mammals, the female kangaroo has a pouch where her baby kangaroo, called a joey, grows and is kept safe from harm. 

The marsupial pouch has mammary glands to feed watery milk to her joey. At birth, the joey can be as small as a grain of rice, or as big as a bee. The joey stays in the mother’s pouch for 120-450 days (4-15 months) before it become independent. 

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Eureka Red Peacock Cichlid – Yellow Morph

The Eureka Red Peacock Cichlid – Yellow Morph (Aulonocara jacobfreibergi) is a freshwater fish in the Cichlidae family. It is also known as the Freiberg’s Cichlid or the Fairy Cichlid.  

The Eureka Red Peacock Cichlid – Yellow Morph is the yellow variant. It is greenish-to-yellowish with a red-orange head and a yellow tail. It has tinges of blue on its bottom lip and bottom fin.

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What does a pelican’s beak look like?

What does a pelican’s beak look like?

A pelican has a massive long beak. 

The beak has an upper mandible (top half of its beak) and a lower mandible (lower half of its beak).

The beak can grow to 47 centimetres (19 inches) in length. 

At the tip of the upper mandible is a hook, called a crochet or a bill-tip. The crochet helps the pelican grip onto slippery fish to eat. A pelican catches large fish with its crochet, tosses it into the air, and lets it slide down the gullet of its open mouth.  

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Southern Brown Bandicoot

The Southern Brown Bandicoot (Isodon obesulus) is a marsupial (pouched) mammal in the Peramelemorphia family of short-nosed bandicoots. 

The Southern Brown Bandicoot has a rounded, stocky body with a short snout (nose) and short, rounded ears. It has short, coarse, brown to yellowish-brown fur with black flecks. Its underbelly and legs are creamy-white or yellowish-grey. It has a short, tapered tail that is brown above and white below. It has five pink toes on each foot, with short claws. 

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Bilby

The Bilby (Macrotis lagotis) is a marsupial (pouched) mammal in the Thylacomyidae family of pouched mice. It is also known as the Rabbit-Bandicoot or the Rabbit-Eared Bandicoot. It is related to the Bandicoot.

The Bilby has soft grey or blue-grey fur, with a white underbelly. It looks like a large mouse with a long, pointy nose, whiskers, long hairless rabbit-like ears, and a long tail. Its tail has a white tuft of hair at the tip. It has strong forelimbs (front legs) with large, pointed claws. 

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Greater Pipefish

The Greater Pipefish (Syngnathus acus) is a small marine (saltwater) fish in the Syngnathidae family of seahorses, pipefish, and seadragons. Acus means needle.

The Greater Pipefish looks like a thin, straight seahorse or a small sea snake. It is a long, tube-like, cyclindrical brown-coloured fish with a small mouth. Its snout (nose) is a long tube ending in a narrow mouth which opens upwards and is toothless. It has a dorsal (back) fin, which is always moving because it helps the Pipefish to swim. It has small gill openings, called slits, which enable it to breathe underwater.

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Great Seahorse

The Great Seahorse (Hippocampus kelloggi) is a marine (saltwater) fish in the Syngnathidae family. It is a teleostfish. It is also known as the Kellogg’s Seahorse.

The Great Seahorse has a smooth, pale body. Its tail has tail rings. Its snout (nose) is thin with a stub end. Each eye moves separately, enabling it to see its predators from all directions. The male has a smooth, soft pouch-like area at the base of its abdomen, with a small fin. The female has a pointed stomach and a larger fin at the base of her abdomen.

It has a forward tilt, and a long, coiled tail. It swims using its dorsal fin, keeping its vertical position and leaning forward. 

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Tasmanian Devils are reintroduced into Australia’s mainland

Eleven Tasmanian Devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) from the island state of Tasmania have been reintroduced into the mainland of Australia for the first time in 3,000 years.

The Tasmanian Devil is a marsupial mammal, an animal with a pouch. It once roamed the mainland of Australia and is now listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. The Tasmanian Devil lived on the the mainland of Australia for 40,000 years until it died out due to the European introduction of foxes and cats in the 19th century that preyed on many native marsupial mammal species.

The Tasmanian Devil continued to live on the Tasmanian island in southern Australia, but many died over the past 20 years, since 2000, due to the Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD), which is a cancer of the face. It is estimated that there are only 25,000 Tasmanian Devils left in Tasmania.

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Slender Seahorse

The Slender Seahorse (Hippocampus reidi) is a marine (saltwater) fish in the Syngnathidae family. It is a teleostfish. It is also known as the Longsnout Seahorse.

The Slender Seahorse is brightly-coloured. The male is usually orange and the female is usually yellow. Both the male and the female have small brown or white spots unevenly over their body. During courtship, the spots may change colour to pink. Its snout (nose) is thin with a stub end. Each eye moves separately, enabling it to see its predators from all directions.

It has a forward tilt, and a long, coiled tail. The male has a smooth, soft pouch-like area at the base of its abdomen, with a small fin. The female has a pointed stomach and a larger fin at the base of her abdomen. 

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African Giant Pouched Rat

The African Pouched Rat (Cricetomys gambianus) is a muroid rodent. It is also known as the Gambian Pouched Rat. It is not a true rat. It has pouched cheeks like a Hamster. 

The African Pouched Rat has a long grey-reddish furred body, light-coloured tail, pink ears, and a pink-grey nose. It has long incisor teeth. 

It has an excellent sense of smell. African Pouched Rats can detect land mines and tuberculosis.

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Spineless Sea Urchin

The Spineless Sea Urchin (Abatus cordatus) is a marine (saltwater) invertebrate echinoderm. It is also known as the Kangaroo Sea Urchin because the female keeps her eggs in a pocket or pouch. It is related to starfish (sea stars). 

The Spineless Sea Urchin has a hard, spherical (ball-shaped) shell, called a test, with no backbone and no spines sticking out of its body (like the Spiny Sea Urchin). Its mouth, with a small jaw, is in the centre of the urchin on its underside. It does not have eyes. It is sensitive to touch, light, and chemicals, due to the numerous sense cells around its mouth.

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Dusky Pademelon

The Dusky Pademelon (Thylogale brunii) is a small macropod marsupial mammal. It belongs in the Macropodidae family of big-footed mammals. It is also known as the Dusky Wallaby or the Aru Island Wallaby. 

The Dusky Pademelon looks like a mini-kangaroo. It is a stocky marsupial with brown fur with light patches and a white underbelly. It has large ears, a black nose and large brown eyes. It has a short, flat tail. It has two big hind (back) feet with two smaller front feet that act like hands. Its paws are dark-brown to black, with sharp claws. 

It grows to about 50 centimetres (20 inches) tall, with a tail measuring about 50 centimetres (20 inches). 

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