Marsupials List

Kangaroos and koalas are typically characterized by the presence of a pouch as a part of their anatomy, in which they carry their young ones. This pouch, which is known as marsupium in Latin, forms the basis of classification when it comes to marsupials. Simply put, marsupials — the Metatheria infraclass of mammals — are animals in whom the females carry their young ones in a pouch on their body throughout infancy.

As of today, as many as 334 extant species of marsupials have been identified. Around 70 percent of these are found in Australia and New Guinea — an island in the Pacific which is governed by Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. The rest of the species are spread over South America, Central America, and North America.

Facts About Marsupials

Before we move ahead, you need to understand that the pouch is just one of the characteristic traits of marsupials; it is not the sole criterion of classification. Not all marsupials sport a permanent pouch. In fact, some species just have folds of skin in which they house the newborns. Other characteristics of this infraclass of mammals include a short gestation period and a long lactation period.

Basically, the short period which the young ones spend in the womb is supplemented by the lengthy lactation period, in which the young ones stay in the pouch and feed on the mother's milk. Though the newborns are weak, owing to the short gestation period, they do have strong forelimbs which help them crawl out of the pouch for feeding.

More than 300 marsupial mammals are found in different parts of the world. While the long-tailed planigale (Planigale ingrami) is the smallest marsupial on Earth, measuring around 55 to 65 mm and weighing about 4.2 gm, the red kangaroo (Macropus rufus) is the largest, measuring 4 ft 7 in. in length and weighing 190 lb. This aptly highlights the great deal of diversity when it comes to marsupials.

American and Australian Marsupials

Scientists split the marsupials into two big groups: American Marsupials and Australian Marsupials. The American Marsupials are found in North, South, and Central America. Their Australian relatives live in Australia and New Guinea. All of them share the same famous feature — the pouch — which is exactly where the name “marsupial” comes from.

Long ago, many marsupials moved from the south up into North America, but most of them died out there. Today the only marsupial found in North America is the opossum. The rest of the family — well over 330 species in all — thrives mostly across Australia, with others scattered through South and Central America.

How a Joey Grows Up

Here is what makes marsupials so unusual. Female marsupials do not have a fully developed placenta — the organ that helps other mammals grow a baby inside the womb. Because of this, a marsupial baby spends very little time in the womb and is not finished growing when it is born.

The red kangaroo shows this perfectly. The largest kind of kangaroo, a baby red kangaroo is born just 33 days after fertilization. At birth it is only the size of a honeybee! It then climbs into its mother's pouch and stays there for 27 weeks. Once it has finished developing, it comes out and begins to spend more time in the world around it.

Newborn marsupials are born blind, hairless, and incredibly tiny. They crawl all the way to the pouch on the mother's belly and stay there for a long time, holding tight to a nipple and drinking milk until they are strong enough to face the world.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a marsupial?

A mammal whose females carry their young in a pouch on the body during infancy. The pouch is called the marsupium in Latin.

How many species of marsupials are there?

As of today, 334 extant (living) species of marsupials have been identified.

Where do most marsupials live?

Around 70 percent live in Australia and New Guinea. The rest are spread across South America, Central America and North America.

What is the largest marsupial?

The red kangaroo (Macropus rufus), which measures 4 ft 7 in. in length and weighs up to 190 lb.

What is the smallest marsupial?

The long-tailed planigale (Planigale ingrami), measuring around 55 to 65 mm and weighing about 4.2 gm.

Meet Some Famous Marsupials

Some marsupials are known all over the world. Well-known species include koala bears, kangaroos, the marsupial lion, the marsupial mole, possums, wombats, the Tasmanian devil, bandicoots, and the Tasmanian tiger. They come in an amazing range of shapes, sizes, and diets.

The smallest marsupial of all is the long-tailed planigale. It measures between 2 and 2.3 inches and weighs almost 4.3 grams, and it lives in the northern parts of Australia. At the giant end of the family sits the red kangaroo, which weighs almost 200 pounds and can hop up to 40 miles per hour — about as fast as a car on a quiet road. Male red kangaroos are heavier than the females.

The koala bear lives up in the trees and feeds almost entirely on eucalyptus leaves. It is a careful eater, sniffing each leaf first to decide whether it is good enough to munch. The Tasmanian devil, on the other hand, has a huge appetite and will often go after other marsupials in large numbers — it is the largest meat-eating marsupial alive today.

Marsupials by Diet: Carnivores and Herbivores

Marsupials can be meat-eaters (carnivores) or plant-eaters (herbivores). Below is a sampler of marsupial species in no particular order, grouped by what they eat, along with each one's binomial (two-part scientific) name. A few of them, sadly, are already extinct.

List of Extant Marsupials

Some marsupials are famous the world over, while others are barely known outside their home range. Here are 19 well-known marsupials to meet before you explore the full species list below. You can see how different they can be — from a sleepy, leaf-eating koala to a feisty Tasmanian devil and a gliding sugar glider.

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Full Marsupials List

Below is a complete list of marsupial species, along with each one's scientific name, the countries where it lives (its range), and its conservation status from the IUCN. The status codes tell you how much trouble each animal is in — tap or hover over a code to read its full name.

• CR Critically Endangered
• EN Endangered
• VU Vulnerable
• NT Near Threatened
• LC Least Concern
• DD Data Deficient
• NE Not Evaluated

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All 334 living (extant) species. Scroll within the box to browse the full list.

As you must have noticed, several species in this list are enlisted as 'Endangered' or 'Critically Endangered' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). If we don't come up with concrete measures to save them, they will soon feature in the list of extinct marsupials, which already has names like the Tasmanian tiger A.K.A. Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus), crescent nail-tail wallaby (Onychogalea lunata), desert rat-kangaroo (Caloprymnus campestris), desert bandicoot (Perameles eremiana), Toolache wallaby (Macropus greyi), red-bellied gracile opossum (Cryptonanus ignitus), pig-footed bandicoot (Chaeropus ecaudatus), and lesser bilby (Macrotis leucura) to its credit.