- Largest Kangaroo
Red Kangaroo (Macropus rufus) - 1.4m (4.6ft) length, 85kg (187.4lb) - Smallest Kangaroo
Musky "Rat" Kangaroo (Hypsiprymnodon moschatus)
As small as 20cm length excluding the tail, and as little as 0.34kg in weight. - Life expectancy of kangaroos: 4-6 years
- Speed: large kangaroos can achieve speeds between 60 and 70km/h (around 40mph)
Fast Facts on kangaroos (Macropods)
Quirks about Kangaroos
- Kangaroos are the only large animals to use hopping as a means of movement.
- When a kangaroo is moving slowly, the tail is used as an extra leg and supports the kangaroo when it's standing on its hind legs.
- Most kangaroos can only move both back legs together - and not one at a time.
- Kangaroos need very little water to survive and are capable of going for months without drinking at all.
The ability of larger macropods to survive on poor-quality, low-energy feed, and to travel long distances at high speed without great energy expenditure (to reach fresh food supplies or waterholes, and to escape predators) has been crucial to their evolutionary success on a continent that, because of soil fertility and low, unpredictable average rainfall, offers only very limited primary plant productivity.ref
Wikipedia
What do kangaroos eat?
Kangaroos and wallabies are herbivores; they only eat plant material like grasses and leaves.
Some kangaroos browse bushes and trees, but most graze like sheep and cows.
They have specialised teeth for chopping and grinding their food.
Macropods live in a variety of habitat types and, with European settlement, much of this land was cleared of native bush to accommodate agricultural and grazing land.
Developing land for human needs reduces the amount of natural space available to wildlife.
As natural space diminishes, so does habitat diversity - the great variety of forests, bushlands, grasslands, wetlands and deserts. That means a decline in species too.
They have specialised teeth for chopping and grinding their food.
Macropods live in a variety of habitat types and, with European settlement, much of this land was cleared of native bush to accommodate agricultural and grazing land.
Developing land for human needs reduces the amount of natural space available to wildlife.
As natural space diminishes, so does habitat diversity - the great variety of forests, bushlands, grasslands, wetlands and deserts. That means a decline in species too.
Birth and early life
Kangaroos usually have 1 youngster each year.
1 month
At about 1 month old, the tiny embryonic kangaroo emerges from its mother's body and slowly climbs up her fur around the abdomen, and into her pouch.
Once inside the pouch, the newborn latches onto a teat (nipple) which swells inside its mouth.
As newborn marsupials do not have the ability to suck, muscular action from the teat squirts milk into the baby's mouth.
Newborns are about the size of a Lima bean!
9 months
A then spends baby kangaroo spends up to 9 months living and growing inside its mother's pouch.
After that period they can become active outside the pouch, returning only to feed.
When that happens, another baby joey can be born.
At this stage 2 types of milk are be produced, one for the active joey, and one for the still developing joey inside the pouch.
That's a bit like producing full fat and semi skimmed milk at the same time!
18 months
The joey remains near the saftey and food until it is around 12 to 18 months of age.
Kangaroos can have 3 babies at one time
One becoming mature and just out of the pouch, another developing in the pouch and one embryo in pause mode.
There are 4 teats in the pouch and, as already mentionned, each provides different milk for the different stages of development.
1 month
At about 1 month old, the tiny embryonic kangaroo emerges from its mother's body and slowly climbs up her fur around the abdomen, and into her pouch.
Once inside the pouch, the newborn latches onto a teat (nipple) which swells inside its mouth.
As newborn marsupials do not have the ability to suck, muscular action from the teat squirts milk into the baby's mouth.
Newborns are about the size of a Lima bean!
9 months
A then spends baby kangaroo spends up to 9 months living and growing inside its mother's pouch.
After that period they can become active outside the pouch, returning only to feed.
When that happens, another baby joey can be born.
At this stage 2 types of milk are be produced, one for the active joey, and one for the still developing joey inside the pouch.
That's a bit like producing full fat and semi skimmed milk at the same time!
18 months
The joey remains near the saftey and food until it is around 12 to 18 months of age.
Kangaroos can have 3 babies at one time
One becoming mature and just out of the pouch, another developing in the pouch and one embryo in pause mode.
There are 4 teats in the pouch and, as already mentionned, each provides different milk for the different stages of development.