

It's one of nature's weirdest journeys. A newborn kangaroo\u2014barely bigger than a jelly bean\u2014must crawl from one of its mother's two uteri and climb up her body to reach the safety of her pouch!

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Gray kangaroos like to keep their young close by.\u00a0 Very close.

A baby roo will call its mother's pouch home for almost a year.


At one month old, the baby roo, barely more than the size of a jellybean, emerges from one of its mother's two uteri.

Once it's outside her body, it grips her fur, and though it still hasn't developed eyes, it instinctively relies on its forelegs to crawl up towards her pouch.

It takes a few minutes for the tiny roo to reach the pouch.

That's it, there.

Within minutes, it reaches her pouch and latches on to its mother's teat.

That's enough travel to suit the young roo for a long while.

Over the next few months it grows inside the pouch.

Even once it ventures outside, it's still not ready for cross-country trekking.

For nine more months, this joey will rely on its mother's pouch for shelter, transportation and protection...if it senses danger.

Even after it leaves the pouch, it stays by its mother's side, nursing for an additional one to six months.

The pouch, though, is now off limits-its mother will already be carrying her next baby.

From now on, the joey will have to travel on its own two feet.

But kangaroos aren't the weirdest mothers in Australia.

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