Question

The pouch in which a kangaroo mother keeps her young baby is called
A. External placenta
B. Uterus
C. Marsupium
D. Cloaca

Answer 1

Hint: Kangaroos are macropods which are indigenous to Australia and New Guinea. They are large animals and have large, powerful hind legs which are adapted for leaping. They are found to live in the arid and semi-arid climates and adapted to grazing in open grasslands.

Complete answer:
The kangaroos belong to the infraclass Marsupialia. The animal is a large organism with powerful legs and a heavy muscular tail that is used to balance the body during taking big leaps. The marsupial animals are characterized by the presence of a pouch like structure. It is present in the females.
In females, the pouch-like structure that is present in the lower abdomen area of the body is called the marsupium. It is used by the mother for keeping and nourishing the baby after birth. The pouch is a folding of skin and has a single opening. Teats are present inside the pouch. The female kangaroos produce or give birth to the babies which are relatively undeveloped at the time of the birth. The underdeveloped baby or fetus is called the joey.
The pouch in kangaroos opens horizontally and the joey climbs a relatively long way to reach it. After the birth of the baby, it starts crawling in the pouch from inside the body of the mother. The fetus at this stage is blind and attaches itself to one of the teats that are present in the marsupium. They remain attached to the teats as long as they grow and develop into the stage known as the juvenile stage.
Placenta is the connection between the mother and the growing fetus which is nourished through metabolic exchanges of nutrients and water.
Uterus is also known as the womb and is a hollow muscular organ of the female reproductive system. The walls of the uterus develop to receive the developing embryo through implantation.
Cloaca is the outlet to which the intestinal, genital and urinary tracts open. It is absent in mammals but is present in amphibians, reptiles, birds, elasmobranchs as well as the monotremes.

Hence, the correct answer is option (C).

Note: The marsupials are named on the basis of the pouch like structure that is present and is called the marsupium. In kangaroos, the marsupium is present in the mother and it is pouch like structure. The marsupium is made up of skin infoldings and contains teats in them which provides nourishment and protection to the newborn. The new born are weak and underdeveloped which grow in the marsupium pouch of the mother.