Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources Reading Comprehension Worksheets Animal Themes Mammals

Unusual Mammals: Marsupials & Monotremes Animal Themes

---

Unusual Mammals: Marsupials & Monotremes
Print Unusual Mammals: Marsupials & Monotremes Reading Comprehension with Sixth Grade Work

Print Unusual Mammals: Marsupials & Monotremes Reading Comprehension


Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 6 to 8
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	7.8

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		wondrous, outright, lengthy, bandicoots, earless, long-beaked, monotreme, short-beaked, soft-shelled, hairless, offspring, monotremes, definition, vertebrate, comparison, warm-blooded
	content words:		Land Down Under, North America

---

Unusual Mammals: Marsupials & Monotremes

---

¹     Mammals are warm-blooded vertebrate animals with hair that feed their young with milk. Most mammals (such as lions and rodents) give birth to live young that look like smaller versions of their parents. Others rear their offspring differently. Scientists divide these other mammals into two groups: marsupials and monotremes. Oddly, Australia is home to most of these unique mammals. Almost all marsupials live in Australia. All monotremes live on this small continent that we nicknamed the Land Down Under.
 
²     So, what animals are marsupials? What animals are monotremes? And what makes marsupials and monotremes exceptional?
 
³     Of nearly 300 marsupial species, kangaroos and koalas are the most famous marsupials. They are also symbols of Australia. Opossums (found in North America), wombats, bandicoots, and Tasmanian devils are a few more marsupials. Marsupials give birth to live young, but they do so at a very early stage of the embryo's development. In other words, baby marsupials are not yet fully formed when they are born.

Paragraphs 4 to 8:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

---

Weekly Reading Books

Create Weekly Reading Books Prepare for an entire week at once!

---

Feedback on Unusual Mammals: Marsupials & Monotremes

Leave your feedback on Unusual Mammals: Marsupials & Monotremes   (use this link if you found an error in the story)

---

Animal Themes

Animal Themes

---

Mammals

Mammals

---

More Lessons

High School Reading Comprehensions and High School Reading Lessons

---

Animals

Amphibians         Birds         Deserts         Fish         Freshwater         Grasslands         Insects

Invertebrates         Mammals         Oceans         Polar Regions         Rain Forest         Reptiles

Copyright © 2025 edHelper