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People Are Seriously Disturbed After Seeing Inside Of A Kangaroo Pouch For First Time

People Are Seriously Disturbed After Seeing Inside Of A Kangaroo Pouch For First Time

A TikTok video from animal vlogger Alexandra Kalin showed what the inside of a pouch looks like, and it's probably not what you'd expect

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

A video of a kangaroo has gone viral after it prompted something of a terrifying revelation that the animals have 'a gaping hole in their flesh'.

I can't imagine many of us have dedicated too much time to wondering what the inside of a kangaroo's pouch looks like.

However, generally we're led to believe (by cartoons, mostly) that they're some sort of warm, fluffy sleeping bag for a little joey to hang out in.

It turns out our preconceptions could not be further from the truth - as revealed by a TikTok video from animal vlogger Alexandra Kalin (@azoolife).

Kalin shared footage of what the inside of a kangaroo pouch looks like, and in turn has not only blown people's minds, but also seriously grossed everyone out.

TikTok/@azoolife

The clip was shared on Twitter, where it has received 423,000 likes and more than 119,000 retweets - along with many, many concerned comments.

The caption said: "I THOUGHT KANGEROOS [sic] HAD A POUCH NOT A GAPING HOLE IN THEIR FLESH???????"

Someone else tweeted: "Just saw what a kangaroo's pouch looks like and I'm permanently scarred."

Another person said there was 'no going back' after witnessing what they'd just seen, while somebody also said they were 'struggling to deal with this'.

A few years back, a YouTube series called Smarter Every Day also showed us what things looked like inside the pouch, with creator and host Destin Sandlin admitting it wasn't what he'd expected either.

"That's the pouch? Wow," he says in the video.

"So that's why I couldn't find it - it's very small. Man, that's amazing."

PA

Sandlin continues: "There's white and black spots in the back.

"So it's really small and stretches out. As an American I always had the misconception that it was like a pocket, right here on the belly, because that's the way it is on cartoons."

According to San Diego Zoo, there's a lot going on inside the pouch.

The website explains: "Female kangaroos, called does, and their relatives give birth to tiny, underdeveloped young, called joeys, that are then carried in a special pouch - the marsupium, on the doe's body.

"Inside the pouch, the joey attaches to a nipple and nurses for several months before venturing out into the world.

"Joeys often peek their head out of the pouch to have a look around weeks before they head out on their own."

Saying that joeys also eliminate (wee and poo) in the pouch, it continues: "When it is very small, the joey doesn't produce much, and when it gets bigger, some is absorbed through the pouch lining.

"The pouch can get kind of smelly, though, so the mother cleans out her pouch from time to time."

Featured Image Credit: TikTok/@azoolife

Topics: Viral, News, Kangaroo, Animals, TikTok