The Size of the Baby Koala Joey at the time of its Birth

A baby koala joey at the time of its birth is nothing more than merely the size of a jelly bean. In fact; the koala joeys are one of the smallest mammals at the time of birth. Furthermore; most of the babies of the marsupial animals are also one of the smallest ones as well. A baby koala joey or a new born koala joey at the time of its birth is usually called neonate.

A koala joey at the time of its birth is nothing more than a size of a jelly bean. Its length is in between 16 to 21 millimeters which is hundreds of times smaller than an adult koala.

The observers who have measured the sizes of the koala joeys (neonates) at the time of birth counted them to be around 16 millimeters to 21 millimeters in lengths. This is a very small size for a baby who grows up reasonably big enough to become the biggest arboreal animal of the Australian continent. It wouldn't be wrong to conclude that a koala joey at the time of its birth is 100s of time smaller than the size of its mother or an adult koala.

The tiny 21 millimeters sized koala joey at the time of its birth is very wet and does not possess any hair on its skin. A normal person may not be able to recognize if this small joey belongs to a koala. At the time of its birth, the koala joey has very small under-developed forelimbs while its hind limbs are not even developed yet.

The tiny-sized koala joey at the time of its birth has under-developed legs, eyes, face and nose etc. It doesn't have any hair on its skin.

At this stage the eyes of this neonate koala joey are under the development phase and they appear nothing more than just the two black spots on its nakedly red & brown slime looking skin. Its head and nose areas also remain in the development phase but they remain recognizable too. Therefore; the koala joeys at the time of their birth are not only tiny but are also un-recognizable.

Even though the size of the baby koala joey is very small at the time of its birth, it still has enough power to make a small journey for its own protection. Remember the koala joeys are not born inside their mother's pouch, therefore; they have to reach the pouch for their survival and future growth. Therefore; this tiny koala neonate travels from the cloacae opening to the pouch of its mother.

The small-sized and under-developed koala joey makes a small journey from the cloocae opening to the pouch of its mother. It uses its forelimbs to climb up to the pouch.

Its mother doesn't offer any help at this time and the tiny koala joey has to use its small forelimbs to climb up towards the pouch of its mother. It enters the pouch of its mother from the lower opening and grabs the teat of its mother and onwards start feeding on its mother's milk.

Inside the pouch of its mother, the actual body development of the neonate koala joey takes place and onwards it transforms itself into an adorable koala looking joey. The little joey feels warm and safe inside and it is a matter of couple of months before it moves out of the pouch of its mother. The mother feeds her all the time and it gains all the necessary nutrients from its mother's milk.

The mother's pouch is the new womb for the koala joey because this is where all the physical development of a koala joey takes place.

Even this bean-sized koala joey does all the fecal discharge in her mother's pouch and her mother tends to clean her pouch from time to time as well. Therefore; pouch is the new womb for this tiny-sized koala joey at the time of its birth.

The difference in size between a mother koala and a neonate or a newborn koala joey is so huge that it is almost impossible to figure out that the mother koala has a baby in her pouch. Even though there are other medical methods to verify the pregnancy and birth of the female koala but in a normal routine you will never be able to figure out that the female koala is feeding a baby in her pouch.

The miniature koala joey is so small that it is almost impossible to identify that it is living inside the mother's pouch. Only after 6 months one realizes that the female koala was pregnant and gave birth to a koala joey.

It takes almost 4 to 6 months when you normally realize that the female koala has a baby. At this time the koala joey watches outside the pouch and has a reasonable body development. Onwards after 1 year, this small-sized koala joey becomes a juvenile koala and lives on its own.

Koalas are not the only marsupials and even mammals that have extremely small babies at the time of the birth. In fact; many small marsupial animals such as kangaroos, wallabies, wombats and tree kangaroos etc. give birth to the miniature-sized baby joeys the time of their births. The babies of this group (marsupial mammals) are extremely under-developed that they almost remain unrecognizable.

The babies of many other marsupial animals such as kangaroos and wallabies etc. are also very small at the time of their births. Even Panda babies are an inch or two longer at the time of their births.

They live inside the pouch which serves as their second womb where the grow bigger and bigger until they become adults. Even within non-marsupial mammals such as pandas, the size of the baby is almost not more than 2 inches yet they become bigger and huge as adults.