Animals in the Wild [ 131 



The Kangaroo's Built-in Baby Carriage: Children have always 

 been intrigued by the kangaroo and its built-in baby-carriage 

 features. This animal is the largest and most spectacular of the 

 marsupials a kind of mammal remarkable for having small, un- 

 developed babies that spend their first weeks or months in a 

 pouch on the mother's abdomen. 



Usually a kangaroo mother has only one baby at a time and 

 the infant stays in the nursery pouch for five or six months. After 

 that the baby pokes its head out and often hops out to explore on 

 its own; when it gets tired or hungry, it quickly dives back again. 



The kangaroo can jump over a five-foot fence with ease, and 

 may even leap more than twice that height. In Australia, the 

 animal has been trained to be a skillful boxer. It is a vegetarian, 

 and lives about ten or fifteen years. Smaller types of kangaroos 

 are known as wallabies. 



THE AUSTRALIAN TEDDY BEAR 



The koala fascinates children by its droll resemblance to a teddy bear as well 

 as by its gentle, wistful expression. On its native grounds the koala, a leaf-eater, 

 lives in tall trees and leaps sure-footedly from branch to branch, as far as five 

 feet at a time. Zoo keepers must feed it its natural diet of eucalyptus leaves. 



