Baby Kangaroos are born very immature - as are human "premature" babies. It is in fact extremely premature, very tiny, about the size of a peanut . When it is born, the kangaroo baby has no hair and is called a PINKY. This means that the pink skin can be in direct contact with the inside of the pouch, which is mostly skin with very few hairs. Hence : skin-to-skin contact.

orphan pinky



pinky in pouch They smell their way from the birth canal using their front claws to crawl all the way to the mothers pouch. They latch onto the nipple and do not let go. The nipple squirts milk into them!

In the pouch they are warm, safe and protected, and fed as they continue their gestation.

Once inside the pouch, the kangaroo baby latches on to a nipple, where it then remains attached, feeding on mother’s milk, non-stop, for months. (This pinky is being fed from a teat with the exact shape of a real one.)

Inside its pouch... a joey is usually 8 months old when it leaves the pouch (and it doesn't go into the pouch until after it's born).

It has a teat in it's pouch.