Kangaroos are pretty peculiar on the outside: They’re the world’s largest marsupials, they hop to get around, and they use their tails as a fifth limb. But they’re also pretty unusual on the inside: Female kangaroos have two vaginas — or three, if they’ve given birth. Why could that be?
The most likely explanation is that it’s an adaptation to Australia’s unforgiving environment. Multiple vaginas — and uteruses, of which they also have two — enable female kangaroos, and all marsupials, to have multiple offspring at different stages of development at any given time. That helps increase the chances of one surviving to adulthood.
“ They can have a joey that’s still dependent on them, but it’s out of the pouch,” Dr. Marcie Logsdon, an associate professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Washington State University, told Live Science. “They can have a joey that’s in the pouch, and they can have one that’s kind of in reserve up there, waiting to start development.”
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