This animal remains pregnant all its life without a break

A huge number of animals live on our planet, which we talk about from time to time. For example, in one of our recent materials, we found out which of them, like vampires, prefer to eat blood . This time we will talk about the unusual inhabitants of Tasmania and New Guinea, capable of continuously producing offspring throughout their lives. These amazing animals are the so-called wallabies ( Wallabia bicolor ), which are similar to kangaroos, but much smaller in size. Females of these marsupials are almost always pregnant due to the unique structure of the body.

Wallayui are pregnant throughout their lives

The amazing ability of wallaby was described in the scientific journal PNAS . The fact that these marsupials are able to conceive a child during an already ongoing pregnancy, it became known relatively recently. In the course of observations, scientists found that a few days before the birth of the cub, which is known as joey in the wallaby , the females can again copulate and prepare for the next birth. And the thing is that they have three vaginas and two uterus at once with their own ovaries, oviducts and cervix.

Conception during an active pregnancy is a very difficult task. That is why very few mammals today can use this reproductive strategy, ”said marsupial animal researcher Brandon Menzies.

The longest pregnancy among animals

Wallabies are able to bear several cubs at once, but all this does not happen simultaneously. In the course of scientific work, scientists found that the second embryo begins to develop only after the purse in which the first cub is fed is released. Feeding can take up to nine months, but, nevertheless, it turns out that adult female Wallaby throughout their lives are engaged in carrying offspring and feeding them.

With all this, scientists believe that females sometimes may not suspect that they are expecting a cub. The embryo inside, while his older brother or sister is being fed in a bag, is as if in hibernation and practically does not consume the mother’s resources.

Wallaby female with cub

Unfortunately, at the moment, scientists do not know why females constantly give birth to cubs. Perhaps this is a kind of response to the conditions in which they live. At the moment, the most common species of this group of marsupials are swamp wallabies. As a rule, they live in thickets of various shrubs and forests, but sometimes they can be found in open spaces such as fields.

It is important to note that wallabies are not the only animals that are able to constantly bear cubs. Such a feature is also observed in brown hares ( Lepus europaeus ). As a rule, their pregnancy lasts about 45 days, but re-conception can occur already 3-4 days before birth. However, it is impossible to say that they are pregnant throughout life. The fact is that they breed only in certain seasons, so they still take breaks