 |
| Kangaroo |
Kangaroo Features And Information With Pictures
Kangaroos are big animals in appearance. They are the only big animals that jump instead of walking. You will not believe that the number of kangaroos is more than people in Australia and it is the national symbol of the country which appears on coins, postage stamps and airplanes.
The kangaroo has a pouch on its front side and a kangaroo baby sometimes jumps into its mother's pouch when it is frightened. This pouch of the mother kangaroo can be dirty and smelly because the baby defecates and urinates inside it. The mother kangaroo has to clean this pouch by licking it.
Red Kangaroo This name is given due to the color of their fur and this red color is actually a musky red oil that comes out from the glands of the skin of these kangaroos. Apart from this, red kangaroos can jump 6 feet high and jump 29 feet long.
When kangaroos are on land, they move their hind legs together but while swimming in water, they move each leg back and forth. Let us also tell you that due to the position of the kangaroo's eyes, the vision of the red kangaroo is 324° with about 25° overlap.
Apart from these, there are other interesting facts about kangaroos which you will read further in this article. If you are fond of birds and animals and want to know about the life and behavior of birds, then you can read other articles on kvfacts.com.
Where Are Kangaroo Found
Kangaroos are found in large numbers in Australia and the kangaroos found in large numbers in Australia are very important to Australian culture. Apart from this, kangaroos also appear on the arms of Australia and the Australian coat of arms.
Australian kangaroos are known for their large and powerful legs on which they are seen roaming in the forests and bushes of Australia. About 50 species of kangaroos are found in the world and they are known not only for living in terrestrial places but also for living in the forest and under the ground.
These kangaroos are classified into three different types. The first tree kangaroo, as its name suggests, is much more agile on trees than on the ground. Outside Queensland and Australia, tree kangaroo species can be easily seen inside the forests of New Guinea.
The second small kangaroo is the wallaby which is shiny and more agile. Apart from this, it is much smaller than all the kangaroos. It is even smaller and lighter than the kangaroos of Australia and New Guinea.
The third is the red kangaroo which we know and understand as the common kangaroo. Red Kangaroo This kangaroo is the most muscular kangaroo found in the more arid parts of Australia.
The red kangaroo is the largest of all kangaroos and is the largest terrestrial mammal in Australia. Red kangaroos live in mainland Australia except the rainforests of south western Australia, the east and south east coast and the north coast.
Scientific Name Of Kangaroo
The scientific name of red kangaroo is Macropus rufus and red kangaroos gather in small groups of 10 kangaroos which are called mobs. Their group consists of one or two males along with some females and children. Apart from this, the female stays in the group where she was born.
Where there is more food, sometimes a large number of about 1500 kangaroos gather. These large animals are active at night and rest in the shade during the day but they sometimes roam during the day. Kangaroos spend most of their lives grazing.
While grazing in a group, kangaroos are always alert of danger and not only this, when the kangaroo is in danger, it also warns others by stamping its feet. The baby kangaroos go inside their mother's pouch for their safety and red kangaroos are good swimmers, when they feel danger, they run towards the water.
Habitat Of Kangaroo
Different types of species of kangaroos mostly prefer to live in plains and forests which consist of grasslands, savannas and scrublands. Among their species are tree kangaroos which live in dense rainforest forests and kangaroos are seen living in groups and a group of kangaroos is called a mob.
If you compare a kangaroo to a group of penguins then it is not really organized. Every kangaroo moves independently within the mob and kangaroos are actually very social animals.
Sometimes a kangaroo can slam its tail or foot on the ground to alert other kangaroos when it is in danger. After that all the members of the mob disperse and run away in different directions.
Apart from this, kangaroos can build unity by touching and smelling each other with their noses. There is always a dominant kangaroo in a mob to whom the female reaches for mating, for this it is common for male kangaroos to fight and punch each other.
How Do Kangaroo Look Like
The male kangaroo is mostly dark reddish-brown in appearance while the female kangaroo looks more blue-grey. Both male and female kangaroos have a black and white mark on the side of their snout and a broad white stripe is present on their cheeks.
The kangaroo is an iconic symbol of Australia and its outback. This red kangaroo is the largest marsupial alive today and is the most attractive of all kangaroos. The male kangaroo is much larger and more powerful than the female kangaroo. Read- Box Jellyfish Has 24 Eyes Can Take Life In Three Minutes
 |
| Kangaroo |
Height And Weight Of Kangaroo
Kangaroos come in many different sizes and their weight also varies. Take the small wallaby for example if you measure its length from the nose to the tip of its tail then it is the smallest kangaroo and is about less than 1.5 feet.
If the small kangaroo stands straight in front of you then it will probably reach your knee. Red kangaroos on the other hand are the largest kangaroos in the world measuring around 8 feet from head to tail and can easily match humans when standing upright.
Needless to say, different species of kangaroos are related to different weights. A small wallaby kangaroo can weigh as little as 4 kg while the largest male red kangaroo can reach up to 90 kg.
Tree kangaroos can weigh up to around 6-7 kg which helps them climb trees easily. Also, larger kangaroos like the western grey kangaroo are quite heavy but their hind legs are still strong enough to be able to jump regularly.
What Do Kangaroos Eat
Kangaroos are herbivorous animals and they eat grass and shrubs. Kangaroos also digest grass in two stages. First of all, kangaroos eat grass and vegetation, then spit it out and then kangaroos chew it again with their molar teeth.
Due to wear and tear, the molars of kangaroos get erased or fall but new ones come again. Let us also tell you that kangaroos can live without water for a long time, the vegetation they eat or chew has water present inside it.
Kangaroos are a type of herbivorous animals and like to eat only plants, apart from these, they also like green herbs like flowering plants, forbs and grass etc. Apart from this, kangaroos can live without water for a long time by eating succulent plants full of moisture.
How Kangaroos Reproduction
Red kangaroos are considered polygamous animals within their species. Male kangaroos strive for mating opportunities with multiple females. Also, a male kangaroo tries to gain access to multiple females while driving away other males.
Such competition sometimes involves male kangaroos hitting or boxing each other and kicking out with their legs. If conditions are favorable, the breeding season lasts all year round.
A female kangaroo gives birth to a single baby after a gestation period of about 32 to 34 days. When the baby is born, it climbs up through its mother's fur and goes into its mother's pouch. The baby then stays in the pouch with its mother for 70 days.
The baby first pokes its head out of the pouch after a few days and comes out for a short period after 190 days. A female kangaroo lactates for about a year and keeps her baby in her pouch for about 235 days. Read- Victoria Crowned Pigeon Information And Facts With Picture
%20(1).jpg "Kangaroo Features And Information With Pictures") |
| Kangaroo |
How Long Do Kangaroo Live
The lifespan of a western grey kangaroo can be up to about 10 years and it is almost the same with the eastern kangaroo. An eastern grey kangaroo in the zoo can live up to about 20 years and red kangaroos live up to about 22 years in the wild.
Among the kangaroo species, the lifespan of tree kangaroos is estimated to be longer than western kangaroos and the oldest kangaroo living in the zoo was 27 years old.
How High Can A Kangaroo Jump
Kangaroos can jump quite high with their strong legs and in fact they are probably the only mammals whose locomotion is entirely based on jumping. Also a red kangaroo jumps about 5 feet in an average jump and it can go up to 29 feet.
Sometimes it has been seen that red kangaroos can jump up to 6 feet high so they can jump more than their standing height but this is for adult red kangaroos. Their babies and young kangaroos cannot jump nearly that high.
How Kangaroos Communicate
Kangaroos can communicate by vocalizing. Kangaroos make soft clicking sounds, mostly in a row. This is also the most common form of communication between a mother kangaroo and her baby.
Kangaroos also have a way of showing aggression in the form of growling and barking such as a coughing growl seen between male kangaroos fighting for a female.
Kangaroos also have vocal communication and communicate by stomping their strong feet on the ground or beating their tails when they feel threatened. These stomps are very effective in alerting the rest of the kangaroo crowd to the emerging danger.
How Many Kangaroo Are There In The World
The number of kangaroos is so high that the Australian government allows limited kangaroo farming but only for the six most populous species. In total there are about 40 million kangaroos in the world.
Kangaroos are found in abundance throughout Australia and kangaroo farming is legal for some species. Kangaroos are threatened by human activity and disasters such as forest fires. Yet the red kangaroo, western grey and eastern grey kangaroo are considered as least concern on the IUCN list.
But tree kangaroos are a different story and most of them are currently either vulnerable or endangered. The red kangaroo currently faces no major threats and remains an abundant and widely distributed species.
Kangaroo Behavior
Kangaroos are mostly calm grazing animals but kangaroos are not completely calm. If provoked, they are more powerful. Apart from this, kangaroos can box well with their nimble front arms.
Not only this, kangaroos can also use the forearm to catch a target and separate them with a sharp kick from their legs, this is a technique that can be used on predators, each other or humans.
Kangaroo Facts For Kids
1. How are kangaroos born?
When a kangaroo baby is born, it comes out of a hole made at the base of its tail which is called cloaca. After birth, the kangaroo baby is very small.
2. Do kangaroos eat meat?
Kangaroos do not eat meat and being herbivores, kangaroos only eat plants. Kangaroos mostly eat grass but they can also eat other plants. Kangaroos can be nocturnal, which means kangaroos are active at night and graze at night. Baby kangaroos are called joeys and survive on mother's milk and later milk and grass.
3. What is a baby kangaroo called?
Baby kangaroos are called joeys and unlike the babies of most other mammals, a newborn kangaroo looks more underdeveloped and embryonic at birth. After conception, the jellybean-sized baby travels to the pouch by climbing up through its mother's fur.
4. How do baby kangaroos eat?
A newborn baby kangaroo cannot drink or swallow milk, so its mother uses her muscles to force milk down its throat. After about 4 months the baby comes out of the pouch for short trips and grazes on grass and small shrubs. After 10 months the baby is mature enough to leave the pouch forever.
5. Can kangaroos drink water?
Kangaroos chew their food twice before it goes into their stomachs. Kangaroos need free water to survive but when desperate kangaroos have been known to dig a hole up to a metre deep in search of water.
6. What is a female kangaroo called?
A female kangaroo is called a doe, flyer, jill or roo and a male kangaroo is called a buck, boomer, jack or old man.
7. Do kangaroos breastfeed?
The mother kangaroo is a mammal and feeds her baby with milk just like we do. The mother's pouch covers the baby with skin and it not only protects the very immature baby but also provides it with a complete environment which is necessary for growth.
8. Where do kangaroos sleep?
The eastern grey kangaroo is mainly nocturnal and it sleeps in the shade of trees and bushes during the day but comes out to graze grass at night.
9. Are kangaroos friendly?
Kangaroos are mostly calm grazing animals but kangaroos are not completely calm. If provoked, they are more powerful. Apart from this, kangaroos can punch well with their agile front arms.
10. What is the speed of a kangaroo?
The red kangaroo jumps about 5 feet in an average jump and it can go up to 29 feet. Sometimes it has also been observed that red kangaroos can jump up to 6 feet high, so they can jump more than their standing height.