Video of Kangaroo Joey Coming Out Mama’s Pouch First Thing in the Morning Is Irresistible
Everyone has their own morning routines. For some of us that means making the bleary-eyed trek to get coffee downstairs. While other people need to head to the gym before getting started on their day. But if there's one morning routine that we really love it's the one between a kangaroo mama in Texas and her little joey.
Shared by the San Antonio Zoo, the video shows the joey making his first appearance out of his mama's pouch for the day.
The little one looked so warm and snuggly in its mama's pouch, but everyone needs to get out of bed at some point. The footage shows the joey rustling around in the pouch before it ultimately pops its head out and says hello. Good morning little one! It didn't get fully out of the pouch before the footage ended, but we have to imagine the kangaroo baby had a full day ahead of him.
Related: Kangaroo in Australia Tries to Help Himself to Man's Beer and Pizza
"Baby kangaroo is getting its day started!" the video's caption reads.
Sooo cute! Many people in the comments section were charmed by the adorable little one. While others had to admit that they'd never actually seen a joey in its pouch before. "I just realized that I've never actually seen a kangaroo pouch other than in cartoons lol," wrote one person. "Who else just learned that kangaroo pouches don't in fact look like pockets," someone else wondered. "Enjoying life without paying rent," a third commenter joked.
What’s Inside a Joey’s Pouch?
It seems like many of us don't exactly know much about joey pouches. So what is it like inside of those things anyway? First, it's important to know that many marsupials raise their young in pouches — like opossums, Tasmanian devils, and koalas.
According to Rick Schwartz, animal care supervisor and national spokesperson at the San Diego Zoo, the best way to think of a pouch is like a hoodie sweatshirt put on backwards. The hood of the sweatshirt is the pouch and the drawstrings are its mother's muscles that she uses to open and close it, he told Live Science.
"It does open up quite a bit if she wants it to," he explained.
The inside of a pouch is very warm and hairless — it sort of feels like the skin on the inside of a human's wrist. Each pouch contains four teats, which the joey feeds from starting from the very beginning of its life. Joeys stay inside the pouch for four-and-a-half to five months before they emerge and start exploring. They'll return to the pouch for several more months getting braver and braver. At 10 to 12 months joeys wean and then no longer return to their mama's pouch.
The whole process is fascinating. And we're sure that mama kangaroo loves that she gets to keep her baby close.
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