When that tiny jelly bean sized joey gets into mum’s pouch the search is on for a teat that produces life-giving milk.
When joey finds that teat, it will take the teat into the mouth and the teat swells up with milk until joey’s mouth is open as wide as it can go.
This helps the joey to hold on to the teat without trying and stops joey losing the teat or falling out if the pouch were to open a little. This is what it means to be a marsupial – a special kind of mammal that carries a joey in a pouch while it drinks milk.
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