Marsupials like kangaroos are a special type of mammal. Mother marsupials have a pouch for their babies to live in after they are born. Their babies stay in this pouch until they can survive on their own.
Something that really interests scientists about marsupials is how different species in South America and Australia are related. At the moment, little is actually known about where kangaroos originally came from, because it is often very difficult to find fossils of ancient marsupials to study and compare.
Although there are not solid answers as to how different marsupials are related, there are many scientists that are working to solve the puzzle. One of the ways that scientists can find out how species are related is by studying the animals’ genes.
A gene is a portion of DNA that has instructions that can be passed on from generation to generation and that gives animals important characteristics such as shape, eye color, or foot size. All of the genes of an animal is called its genome. Scientists study the genomes of different animals and compare similarities and differences to determine how some animals are related to others.