Which group of mammals carries their young in a pouch?

The group of mammals that carries its young in a pouch is the marsupials. Kangaroos, koalas, wombats, wallabies, opossums, bandicoots, and Tasmanian devils are all marsupials.

Marsupial babies are born at a very early stage of development, after a short pregnancy. The tiny newborn crawls across its mother’s body and attaches to a teat, usually inside a pouch called a marsupium. There it continues developing while receiving milk and protection. A young marsupial is often called a joey.

The pouch is not identical in every species. Kangaroo pouches open toward the front, while wombat pouches open backward, an arrangement that helps prevent soil from entering while the animal digs. Some marsupials have only a temporary skin fold rather than a permanent pouch, so the pouch is a useful hallmark but not an absolute feature of every species.

Marsupials are mammals, not a diet group such as carnivores or rodents. Most living species occur in Australia and New Guinea, but opossums represent the major marsupial lineage in the Americas.