Kangaroo’s

CONTENTS

• SAY HELLO TO KANGAROO’S• The Kangaroo’s body• Pouch• FOOD• PREDITORS• LIVING• LIFESTYLE

SAY HELLO TO THE KANGAROO’S

• At Australia the Kangaroos are selected as symbols of Australia to represent the country’s progress because they are always moving forward and never move backwards.

• Kangaroos are the largest marsupial mammals.

• A male kangaroo is called a buck. It is also commonly called a "boomer" or an "old man". A female kangaroo is called a doe, or a flyer. A baby kangaroo is called a Joey.

• Europeans have long regarded kangaroos as strange animals. Early explorers described them as creatures that had heads like deer (without antlers), stood upright like men, and hopped like frogs!

• At Australia the Kangaroos are selected as symbols of Australia to represent the country’s progress because they are always moving forward and never move backwards.

• Kangaroos are found in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea.

The Kangaroo’s body• A kangaroo moves by hopping on its strong hind legs. To balance its

body while hopping, kangaroo uses its thick long tail. If you lift its tail off the ground, a kangaroo can’t hop.

• A kangaroo can hop at up to 60kmh. It can also jump over obstacles up to 3m (10ft) high. 

• A kangaroo can’t walk or move backwards easily because of its bulky tail and unusual shape of its legs

• Only female kangaroo's have pouches • Each long, narrow hind foot of a kangaroo has four toes.• Kangaroos have soft, wooly fur. Some of them even have stripes on

the head, back, or upper limbs.• Kangaroos require very little water to survive; they are capable of

going for months without drinking water at all. Whenever they need water, they dig ‘wells’ (normally 3-4 feet deep) for themselves because of Australia's hot weather

• Hopping in this way is an energy-efficient way of travelling long distances.

POUCH

• A baby kangaroo, or Joey, as it is called, grows inside its mother for only one month. When born, it is the size of a peanut. Joeys are not born in the pouch, but must crawl there. Inside this amazing pouch is everything the Joey needs, milk, shelter, and even oil to keep it moist. The Joey spends its first five months in the pouch full-time. At the end of this time, the Joey pokes its head out, but does not venture out. Finally at eight months, the Joey leaves the pouch for good, returning to its mother only to drink her milk.

FOOD• Different species of kangaroos have different diets,

although all are strict herbivores. The Eastern Grey Kangaroo is predominantly a grazer eating a wide variety of grasses whereas some other species (e.g. the Red Kangaroo) include significant amounts of shrubs in the diet.

• They are grazing animals that eat grass, young• shoots and leaves of heath plants and grass.

Kangaroos need very little water to survive and are capable of going for months without drinking at all.

• All kangaroos have a chambered stomach similar to cattle and sheep. They regurgitate the vegetation they have eaten, chew it as cud, and then swallow it again for final digestion.

• most of the moisture they need is gained from their food

PREDITORS

• Kangaroos have few natural predators but mostly all of them are extinct.

• Such as the Marsupial Lion, Megalania and the Wonambi.

• other carnivorous reptiles also pose a danger to smaller kangaroo species

• introduced species like foxes and feral cats also pose a threat to kangaroo populations

• If being chased by a fox kangaroo’s will run into because their predator probably can’t swim

LIVING

• Kangaroos are social animals that live in groups or "mobs" of at least two or three individuals and up to 100 kangaroos.

• Some species of kangaroos live in trees!• Living in a group means there is

protection for the weaker members. There are always some of the mob looking up so danger can be spotted quickly.

LIFESTYLE

Kangaroo’s eat very early in the morning and spend most of the day shading in the trees that’s what they do mostly in summer

In winter or spring the boomers (male) fight for their mate, the doe’s (female) get ready for their Joey's (the baby) arrival in the pouch.

By Chetana Damaraju