Hi Bill! I have a Kangaskhan friend who’s child has grown into an adult kangaskhan and left her mother’s pouch to live her own life. She’s not had any new children since, and I’ve noticed that she’s feeling sadder and less motivated as of late. I’ve tried to be supportive, but what else can I do to help her? What other effects could there be on my friend’s health? Finally (out of medical curiosity), are there any differences in health if the baby is removed for an long time before it grows up?

To answer the first two questions at once, this is a common problem among kangaskhan, and could lead to a wide variety of health issues because it could progress into full-blown depression. Wild kangaskhan live in herds and thus circumvent this problem by taking care of younger mothers, so some trainers mimic this by adding younger kangaskhan or other young mother pokémon to their teams. Alternatively, kangaskhan can be given dolls to help alleviate the symptoms of empty pouch syndrome, but the herding technique is often a healthier option.

As for your last question, joeys can’t actually survive outside of their mother’s pouch for extended periods of time unless they’re close enough to independence anyway, so you could say so, yes. In less facetious terms, though, if a joey is close to old enough to live on its own but not yet old enough, it may be stunted in terms of growth and a little more aggressive (as it will have learned to fend for itself earlier), but other than that, there isn’t much of a difference between them and joeys that wait until complete maturity.