About Kangaroos
Kangaroos are large marsupials, that can only be found in Australia (and the surrounding islands like Tasmania, Kangaroo Island, New Guinea, and New Zealand). They have strong back legs, large feet, muscular tails to help them keep their balance, short fur and large pointed ears.
They rely on these powerful legs and feet for moving around. They hop and leap while using their tail to balance themselves. Kangaroos usually like moving at about 20km/h but are capable of jumping as fast as 70km/h for a short time. Each jump usually is about 2 meters, but when fleeing from a predator, a single jump is able to cover a distance of 9 meters. Their jumps can reach a height of 3 meters.
There are 65 species of kangaroos and wallabies living in Australia. Kangaroos mainly eat grass and small shrubs and can survive long periods without water. They live in troops, herds, or as the Australians call it "mobs"
Kangaroos are the world's largest marsupials. As marsupials they have a pouch, in which their newborn lives. At birth the newborn, sometimes called a Joey, is about 2 cm long and only weighs about 1 gram.
Kangaroos are part of the macripodidae family which also includes tree kangaroos and other kangaroo species. The macripodidae family includes wallabies, kangaroos, tree kangaroos and the quokka. Rat kangaroos are classfied into the sister families, Potoroidae and Hypsiprymnodontidae
The name macripodidae actually comes from latin and means "big foot" as a reference to the species unusally large hind feet.
The largest kangaroo is the red kangaroo, which can be up to 1,80m tall. The smallest kangaroo is the musky-rat kangaroo and the rock wallaby monjon, which is only about 30cm long and weighs between 900 and 1400 grams.
Kangaroos and Wallabies
The difference between kangoroos and wallabies is just their size. The species that is called kangaroos is just a larger representative within the Macropus genus. Kangaroos can reach up to two meters and weigh up to 91 kilos, while Wallabies range from between 30cm to just one meter and weigh between 1 and 24 kilos. There are also wallaroos, which are an intermediate size in comparison to the kangaroo and the wallaby.
Kangaroos usually have to walk on flat ground, while wallabies have to be able to move through dense forest areas, so their legs are a lot smaller. Kangaroos are usually either grey or a reddish brown, while wallabies can be brown, gray, red, fawn, black or white.
The most common kangaroos include:
- Red Kangaroo
- Eastern Grey Kangaroo
- Western Grey Kangaroo
- Common Wallaroo
- Black Wallaroo
Natural Predators
Besides humans, kangaroos have few natural predators. They get hunted by wild dogs called dingoes, but the biggest dangers for kangaroos are heat, drought, and hunger due to their habitat vanishing.
One of their biggest threats is cars. A lot of kangaroos get run over by cars in Australia, which makes streets and cars one of their major "predators".
