Young mammals get a good start in life

During the era of the dinosaurs, mammals split up into three groups with different strategies for preparing their young for a hard life.

ODD MAMMALS LAY EGGS

Monotremes, including the platypus and the echnidna, are the only modern mammals that lay eggs. Rather than sucking a teat, the baby laps milk that oozes out of the mother's skin.

BABIES CLIMB TO GET MILK

Kangaroos and other marsupials give birth to babies that are able to climb to their mothers’ pouches, where they are breastfed, until they are old enough to leave the pouch.

BABIES NOURISHED VIA BLOOD

Humans are placental mammals, who are nourished via their mothers’ placentas in the embryonic stage. The placenta transfers nutrients and oxygen from the mother’s blood.