Kaplan Nursing Entrance Exam Practice 2026 – Comprehensive Prep

Marsupial mammals are indeed characterized by giving birth to underdeveloped young that continue their development in a pouch. This unique reproductive strategy is a key feature of marsupials, such as kangaroos and koalas. After a very short gestation period, the young are born in a highly immature state and must then crawl into the mother’s pouch for further growth and nourishment. The pouch provides a protected environment where the young can latch onto a nipple and continue to develop safely until they are more fully formed and able to survive outside.

In contrast, placental mammals have a different approach to reproduction, where the young are nurtured inside the womb via a placenta until they are more fully developed before birth. Monotremes are a different group of mammals that lay eggs instead of giving live birth, and eutherian mammals refer specifically to placental mammals, further reinforcing the distinction between the various reproductive methods among mammalian classifications.