The life of ... a kangaroo

Welcome back to Green World,

Today we're talking about a rather amazing animal that we've all heard of: the kangaroo.

Kangaroos are marsupials. They have powerful back legs, short front legs and a strong tail for balance. Kangaroos can weigh up to 90kg and stand over 1.80m tall. They are probably best known for leaping about on their hind legs. And for good reason, grey kangaroos can cover 9 meters in a single bound and travel at more than 55km/h. Interestingly, red kangaroos use less energy when traveling at 10km/h than when traveling at 6.5km/h.

All Kangaroos live in Australia, but different species inhabit different areas. Eastern grey kangaroos are found in eastern Australia and Tasmania. Western grey kangaroos are located on the southern coast and in the southwest of western Australia. Red kangaroos dwelll in the interior grasslands and desert while antilope kangaroos can be found on the plains of the tropical north.

They live in groups of 50 or more individuals, known as troops, herds or mobs. The individuals move at liberty, but will groom and protect each other. Their diet is herbivorous, consisting of grass, small shrubs, flowers, leaves, ferns and moss.

Kangaroos are known for having a pouch (marsupium), that the joeys live in for the first few months of their lives, but that's not the only interesting part. For a start, the gestation period is very short. In the largest species, it's still only 33 days. This means that the babies are born completely pink, helpless, blind, hairless and only 2-2.5cm long. They have to climb up their mother's short fur to reach her pouch. They do not leave the pouch for 2-4 months. Then they will come out to feed and walk around, but will always return to the safety of the pouch. After 8-10 months, they leave the pouch for the last time. Females are fully mature after 14-20 months but males take 2-4 years. Red kangaroos live for up to 23 years. Another amzing thing, is that if the mother gets pregnant again, before the first joey has fully left the pouch, she can 'freeze' the forming embryo and continue pregnancy once the first joey has left.

We hoped you enjoyed learning a bit more about these symbolic creatures.

Your Green World Blog Team💚

Sources:

https://www.bbcearth.com/news/the-strangest-life-cycles-in-nature

https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/kangaroo

https://www.britannica.com/animal/kangaroo

https://www.livescience.com/27400-kangaroos.html

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/red-kangaroo

Images:

1: This image, owned by S J Bennett (on flickr.com) is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

2: This image, owned by Pranav Bhatt (on flickr.com) is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

3: This image, owned by Tatters (on flickr.com) is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

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