What is a pinky/pinkie?

I wrote a post about the rescue of Joanne the baby kangaroo and a follow-up indicating that she was doing well.

A fellow blogger has commented that a baby kangaroo (or koala, for that matter) seems to be called a “joey” one minute and a “pinky” (or "pinkie") the next. I thought I should explain why this is in more detail here.

Briefly, "joey" is the generic name for the babies of most marsupials, eg: kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, wombats, possums, etc. So, the young marsupial is always a “joey”, but in the earliest phase of a joey’s development it is called a "pinky".

The reason for the different names is that marsupials are not like other mammals; they are not born, and that’s that.

When a koala is born it is about 2cm long, weighs 0.5g and has no fur. This tiny creature crawls up on the outside of its mother, through her fur and up into the pouch which runs vertically down her body (unlike the kangaroo’s which is horizontal). There is an excellent photo of a tiny, pinky koala on the Warrnambool Wildlife Rescue page, showing it drinking from its mother's teat.

The baby spends several months in the pouch where it drinks her milk and grows in size. As I said above, the new-born baby is furless. Without its fur, the baby is just pink skin so until the baby grows its full coat of fur, it is called pinky. You rarely see much a pinky joey outside the pouch unless it is an orphaned pinky being cared for by humans. In the wild, the pinky remains in the mother’s pouch for warmth. Even if it were furred, it would be too small and feeble to get about on its own.

In human terms, a pinky is like a premature baby. They need a lot of care and may not survive. Like premature human babies, very young pinkies are kept in knitted pouches in a humidcrib to simulate the warmth and feeling of a real pouch (or womb).

With lots of special care, they can survive, but it is touch and go. The younger they are, the smaller they are, and the more frequent feeds they require. Such a small animal is not designed to be outside the pouch, so they usually need the care of a pinky expert – someone who has had a lot of experience caring for pinkies.

Just to complicate matters, there is a special class of marsupials called monotremes. There are only two animals in this sub-class: the echidnas and the platypus. They are warm-blooded like other mammals but lay eggs. Their young are not called joeys. Baby echidnas are called “puggles”, whereas, curiously, baby platypi don’t have a name!

As I don't work with monotremes, I don't know if their very young babies are called pinkies as well. Here is a photo of a young puggle...it certainly does look rather pink!

Puggle
From battyden's gallery.

Baby kangaroo ("pinky") update

I must confess that when I posted that story about a friend of mine rescuing a baby kangaroo, I was a bit worried the wee little pinky might not make it.

Then I caught up with the same friend last week. I was delighted to hear that WIRES had called her a little while after the event with some good news. The pinky joey had survived and was doing well!

She is being cared for by a local pinky expert who raises other orphaned baby kangaroos. So she has some playmates as well!

And she now has a name. They've named her "Joanne". Joanne, the joey. Geddit? :)

I do love a good news story.

You can read about Joanne's rescue here.

Rescued baby kangaroo ("pinky")

A friend of mine was on the road recently and found herself taking a detour to collect a young marsupial passenger.

Pinky kangaroo
From koalawrangler's gallery.

Here is what she said:

When I was driving to Bathurst this morning about 30kms our side of Oberon, I saw a dead kangaroo on the road. I thought I saw something move near the roo so at the next driveway I did a U-turn and went back to investigate. There on the road was a pink little joey. Every time it tried to hop, it fell on its face because it was so young. Luckily I had a jacket with me, so picked it up, wrapped it in the jacket and put in on the back seat of the car.

WIRES here in Bathurst have now picked up the joey. I hope it survives!

Like the koala, the kangaroo carries its young in a pouch until it is ready to get about on its own. Such joeys are called "pinkies" because they are unfurred, giving them a pink appearance.

Pinky kangaroo
From koalawrangler's gallery.

What happened to my friend is an important lesson to motorists who might pass a dead animal on the road without a second glance. If the animal is a marsupial, there is every possibility that, while the mother might be dead, she could be carrying young in her pouch that is still very much alive...if they are not left to die by the roadside with the mother, that is. Care facilities like WIRES (Australian Wildlife Rescue Organisation) have equipment like humidicribs as well as experienced carers who can raise pinkies. This heartbreaking work is not always successful, but it gives the pinky a much better chance of survival than being left by the road to die!

My friend probably saved that baby kangaroo's life!