Kangaroo are the largest mammal marsupials and they belong to the Marcropodidae family. Marsupials are animals that carry their young up to a certain age in a pouch. Examples of marsupials besides kangaroos are koalas, wombats, and opossums. Some marsupials have their pouch on their back; whereas kangaroos have their pouches in the front. The name of the family to which they belong comes from macropods, which means large or big foot. Kangaroos are to be found mainly in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea.
There are around 63 species of kangaroos and they vary in size as well as in the type of habitat in which they live. Depending on the specie, kangaroos can live in forests, woodlands, grasslands, plains, rocky hills, and even deserts. When people talk about kangaroos, they are usually referring to one of four types. There is the Red Kangaroo, which is the largest of the species and usually the male kangaroo could weigh up to 200 pounds and his height can reach over 7 feet. The other three species are the Eastern Grey Kangaroo, the Western Grey Kangaroo, and the Antilopine Kangaroo. There are other much small species that live in tress and can hop from branch to branch. The ones that are of smaller size are as small as a rabbit. Some examples of smaller kangaroos are tree and rat kangaroos. Kangaroos are herbivores and each species eats based on the habitat in which they live. Some eat shrubs, others graze, and others eat roots and fungi.
Kangaroos have often been described as strange animals as they have heads like deer but without the antlers, can stand up straight like humans, and are able to hop like frogs. Kangaroos move only but hopping and they are the only animal of that size that travel and move in such a way. They, like emus, are unable to move backwards or go in reverse. Kangaroos have very strong and powerful hind legs, which they use to hop or defend themselves by kicking their enemies and predators. They also have long tails, which they use for balance when they are hopping. Kangaroos can hop at a speed of 40 miles per hour. They also have very good hearing and can move their ears all around to make sure that they are able to hear sounds from all directions.
Kangaroo are social animals that travel in groups called ‘mobs’ that may range from 3 kangaroos up to 100. The male kangaroo is called a buck, boomer, or an old man. The female kangaroo is called a doe or a flyer. A baby kangaroo is called a joey.
Female kangaroo give birth to one baby at a time. The gestation time, which means the time that a female kangaroo is pregnant is around 30 days. Newborns usually weigh around 0.03 ounces, and as soon as they are born crawl up into the mother’s pouch in which they stay for around 9 months or longer. A female kangaroo can have up to three children at a time. They can have one that just got out of the pouch, one that is in the pouch, and one that is in the womb. However, since female kangaroos do not carry their babies for very long in the womb, female kangaroos have the ability to pause the pregnancy to make sure that the newborn kangaroo does not come out before the one in the pouch has grown and developed. In the female pouch, there are 4 teats. Each teat provides different milk for the different stage of growth.
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