Now make yourselves comfy with cushions or couch…..
I have secrets to tell you about the pouch.
But try to sit straight, please do not slouch
‘cause that would turn me into a grouch.
Now let me find a good place to crouch,
Then truth I will tell you – for that I’ll vouch.

How many creatures, would you guess at or think
Have pouches in which their young can drink?
We’ll only count those in our country because
Their number is huge, even just here in Oz.
Kinds of marsupials who live here and thrive
Add up to one hundred and forty-five!

Most of their pouches will open at front
A few open backwards – how’s that for a stunt?
Do they slide into pouch down over the belly?
Or poised on the ground – jump into the valley?
One thing’s for certain, however they enter
From back or from front, they aim for the centre.

Why, then, do some pouches face towards tail?
…. to protect their young from rain and hail?
No! for food or shelter mum has to dig earth,
Which means all the soil would be aimed at the girth;
If her pouch were to open towards the trees
It would fill up with earth and joey would sneeze!

Now which of our friends their tummies will comb
To keep a neat front on a back-facing home?
Wombats and bilbies, Tassie devils and quolls,
Plus bandicoots, koalas and marsupial moles.
I think that I’ve named each motherly digger
If I’ve missed someone off – the list will be bigger.

Marsupials live widely, except in the sea,
Some live on the ground and some in a tree;
Your wombats will burrow  (they like to stay snug)
Where it’s better for snaffling a juicy bug.
The wee pygmy possum who lives above snow
High in the Alps, his family will grow.

Most of our roos live in desert and scrub
And only when grazing will they form a club.
They’re not very chummy or prone to join gangs
They keep to themselves and avoid boomerangs.
They don’t elect leaders to steer them through strife,
They don’t even bond with a regular wife.

Some say that this lack of common society
Is the cause of the roo’s constant sobriety.
Too hot to find food in the heat of the day,
They rest till it’s time to hunt and make hay.
At dusk they prepare to take the night air,
Then go out to find food, perchance to pair.

Do all the marsupials enjoy the same food?
That depends on the kind of marsupial brood!
Kangas, koalas and wombats eat plants,
Depending on what their locality grants.
Bandicoots and possums eat whatever’s in sight,
Meat, plant or insect – if they’re hungry, they’ll bite.

The Tasmanian Devil will eat only meat
He’s a cute little fellow but slow on his feet.
Thirteen k’s per hour is not very quick
But he gets enough food for his lips to lick.
Other marsupials eat insects and gnats
And try to avoid confrontations with cats.

Herbivores, omnivores, carnivores, too
Insectivores also you’ll find in the Zoo.
Marsupials too have a trick with their teeth
There’s no second set there in the gums, beneath –
This wonderful mammal keeps the first forever
To chew, chomp and nibble – that’s ever so clever.

From whence came they here?  Arriving which year?
We can only share with you what we can hear.
Word is that this species (and few are finer)
Came from afar – it’s thought to be China!
And the time they arrived will give you a shock
Fifty million in years, says Nature’s clock!

That long ago?  What was their route?
They came as they were, not one wore a suit!
They moved out from the East and arrived in the West,
Via the Americas, not wanting to rest;
Through the Antarctic snows they continued their quest
To the land of Australia, the place they love best.

Photo from Pexels by Suki Lee