DeVil Exotics

06/21/2025

Always a “hopping” good time at Pickled Palette! Thank you to everyone that came out to paint with kangaroos ❤️

06/19/2025

06/18/2025

Nature built kangaroos with a pause button. Thanks to a fascinating reproductive superpower called embryonic diapause, female kangaroos can delay pregnancy for up to 11 months literally putting an embryo on hold until the timing is just right.

After mating, the embryo begins early development but then slips into a dormant state, floating in the uterus without implanting. It’s like nature saying, “Not yet.”

Why press pause? It’s all about survival. If food is scarce, the weather’s harsh, or the mother is still raising another joey, she can hold off on giving birth until conditions are ideal. When things improve, hormonal signals kickstart the pregnancy again, ensuring the joey arrives when its chances of thriving are at their highest.

While kangaroos are the poster animals for this evolutionary trick, they’re not alone over 130 other mammals including bears, ferrets, minks, and some deer species also use embryonic diapause. Interestingly, humans and other primates don’t share this ability. Our biology favors fewer pregnancies, with a lot more energy and care invested into each one, making the pause-and-play method less compatible with our reproductive systems.

Still, the kangaroo’s talent for perfectly timed births is a reminder that evolution doesn’t just shape what we do it shapes when we do it. And sometimes, the smartest move is simply to wait.

06/17/2025

06/13/2025

06/11/2025

06/10/2025

06/10/2025

06/10/2025