A mammal that gives birth to relatively undeveloped young that complete their development in a pouch on the mother's body. Examples include kangaroos, koalas, and opossums.
From Latin 'marsupium' meaning 'pouch,' derived from Greek 'marsippos.' The term was first applied to opossums in the 17th century and later extended to all pouch-bearing mammals.
Marsupials represent an entirely different approach to mammalian reproduction - their babies are born after just a few weeks of pregnancy, sometimes smaller than a jellybean, then crawl into the pouch to continue developing! This strategy allowed them to dominate Australia and South America before placental mammals arrived.
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