Kangaroos are large marsupials that are found only in Australia. They are identified by their muscular tails, strong back legs, large feet, short fur and long, pointed ears. Like all marsupials, a sub-type of mammal, females have pouches that contain mammary glands, where their young live until they are old enough to emerge.
Kangaroos are in the Macropodidae family, which also includes tree-kangaroos, wallabies, wallaroos, quokkas and pademelons. When people think of kangaroos, the four species that typically come to mind are in the genus Macropus: the antilopine kangaroo, the red kangaroo, the western gray kangaroo and the eastern gray kangaroo. They are sometimes referred to as the “great kangaroos” because these species are much larger than other kangaroos.
Most kangaroos live on the continent of Australia, though each species has a different place it likes to call home. For example, the musky rat-kangaroo likes to nestle down in little nests on the floor of the rainforests in northeastern Queensland. Gray kangaroos like the forests of Australia and Tasmania, on the other hand. The antilopine kangaroo can be found in the monsoonal eucalyptus woodlands of extreme northern Australia. Tree-kangaroos live in the upper branches of trees in the rainforests of Queensland, as well as on the island of New Guinea.
Kangaroos are herbivores. They eat grasses, flowers, leaves, ferns, moss and even insects. Like cows, kangaroos regurgitate their food and re-chew it before it is ready to be totally digested.
According to the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species, 16 species of tree-kangaroos and rat-kangaroos are listed as either near threatened, threatened, vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. The desert rat-kangaroo and the Nullarbor dwarf bettong are considered extinct. Studies show that global warming could also kill off the world’s smallest kangaroo. The four species of great kangaroos are not endangered.
Credit : Live Science
Picture Credit : Google
