Kangaroos and wallaroos are the most famous group of Australian animals. You find them on Australian money and postal stamps, passports and even Qantas airplanes, and fair enough – seeing a kangaroo is like hearing a kookaburra – it is so "Hey-I-am-in-Australia!". Here are some kangaroo images, and some facts about kangaroos like what do kangaroos eat, where is kangaroo habitat, the tiny newborn kangaroo, and joey - baby kangaroo. Further down the page are also species descriptions of Eastern Gray Kangaroo, Big Red Kangaroo and other Australian kangaroo species.
Kangaroo Habitat And the great thing is – Australia is full of kangaroos and wallaroos. While the agriculture and land development for grazing industry destroys the habitat of many Australian animals, it creates the open plains, which is the perfect habitat of kangaroos and wallaroos. In Australia, 20 million people share their land with 40,000 kangaroos and wallaroos, they can be pests to crops and pastures, but they are protected by legislation and may be culled only under a special permit.
Kangaroo Jumping With their small forelegs, massive hind legs and muscular tail, kangaroos are so distinctly different from all the other creatures in the world. Their head is similar to animals that fill their niche in elsewhere in the world – large herbivores. But their way of moving has totally changed their body. In fact, hopping is an energy efficient way to move if you want to quickly move across large open areas like Australian outback. Hopping animals use less oxygen than the animals that run or gallop, and they save the energy it takes to breathe, because air is pushed in and out of their lungs as they hop.
Boxing Kangaroos Kangaroos and wallaroos often live in mobs with a large dominant male, many females and their young. Adult males fight to establish their rank by kicking each other with the hind legs and raking each other’s chest with their sharp claws. The higher rank they have the more female will mate with them.
Joey - Baby Kangaroo Female kangaroos (and wallaroos) take the full advantage of being marsupials and having a pouch. While placental mammals have a long gestation period and give birth to a young that is developed enough to live outside, the young of marsupials is tiny and undeveloped when it is born. The tiny newborn makes its way to the pouch where it stays, sucking milk until it’s ready to live outside. What’s good about that? The breeding is much more efficient. Female kangaroo is a constant baby boomer: soon after giving birth to that tiny rice-corn-sized young that goes to her pouch, the female is pregnant again. She can pause the embryo’s development until the baby in the pouch is half-developed and from then on she’s gestating one baby while developing the other in the pouch, and having the third, older one still besides her, learning the tricks of life before it’s ready to take off.
Species of Australian Kangaroos Kangaroos and wallaroos are the largest grazing macropods. What separates them is that wallaroos live in hilly country, are generally a bit smaller than kangaroos and have a different, upright body with raised wrists and thrown-back shoulders. Here are the descriptions of Australia's three species of kangaroos and three species of wallaroos. The photos are not to match the species in wallaroos (but are similar).
Australian Kangaroos - Big Red Kangaroo The Red Kangaroo (Macropus rufus) is found everywhere in the Australia's outback where it rains less than 500mm. In Western Australia, both male and female are red, in the eastern regions the male is red and female blue-grey. A male Red Kangaroo weighs up to 85kg and is the world’s largest marsupial. The habitat of red kangaroo is open woodland, grassland and desert. Red kangaroos are semi-nomadic and eat grass and broad-leaved plants. They can live in large mobs consisting of many hundreds of individuals. Red kangaroo breeds all year around, its gestation takes 33 days and the young stay in pouch for 34 weeks. Red kangaroos can live up to 20 years.
Australian Kangaroos - Eastern Gray Kangaroo Eastern Gray Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) is found in eastern Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, and in north-eastern Tasmania. It lives on coastal plains, forests and woodland where it rains less than 250mm. It has got a light to grey fur, a furred snout and female has white chest. Males can weigh up to 66kg. Eastern Gray Kangaroo eats grass and broad-leaved plants and sometimes scrubs. It breeds all year around, has a gestation of 36 days and its young lives in pouch for 44 weeks. Its species status is secure.
Australian Kangaroos - Western Grey Kangaroo Western Grey Kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus) is found in western New South Wales and Victoria, and in southern South Australia and Western Australia. It lives in semi-arid woodland and scrubland where it eats grass, broad-leaved plants and sometimes scrubs. Western Grey kangaroo has a light brown to grey fur and weighs up to 53kg. It breeds all year around, its gestation takes 30 days, and its young stay in pouch for 42 weeks.
Australian Kangaroos and Wallaroos - Common Wallaroo Common Wallaroo (Macropus robustus) has got a stocky body and can weigh up to 46kg. It’s found everywhere in Australia except parts of Cape York peninsula, southern New South Wales and Victoria, Tasmania and south-western WA. West of Great Dividing Range it is known as Euro. In eastern parts of Australia it is dark grey while in Western Australia it is reddish. Common Wallaroo lives in eucalypt forests, woodland, scrubland, grassland and on rocky slopes where it eats grass, scrubs and ground plants. It breeds all year around, has a gestation of 34 days and a pouch-life of 244 days in west and 261 in east.
Australian Kangaroos and Wallaroos - Antilopine Wallaroo Antilopine Wallaroo (Macropus antilopinus) likes warm and wet weather and is found on Cape York peninsula, in the Top End in Northern Territory, and in eastern Kimberleys in northern Western Australia. Its fur is reddish but females can be grey. Its paws are black and it can weigh up to 49kg. Antilopine Wallaroo lives in tropical woodland where it eats grass, scrubs and ground plants. It prefers flat country and lives in mob of up to eight individuals. It breeds all year, has a gestation of about 34 days and the young leave pouch after nine months.
Australian Kangaroos and Wallaroos - Black Wallaroo Black Wallaroo (Macropus bernardus) is the smallest and shyest of the wallaroos. It can weigh up to 22kg, and has dark feet and tail-tip. Females are pale grey or brown, males dark brown or black. Black Wallaroo is found in a small area on the Arnhem Land in Northern Territory and its breeding is not very well known. Black Wallaroo lives in monsoon forests or woodlands and eats grass, scrubs and ground plants. It is mostly solitary and nocturnal.
Where to See Australian Kangaroos and Wallaroos Kangaroos and wallaroos are fairly common to see in the wild, particularly in the early mornings and late afternoons, when they are most active, and this is also when they are a danger on the roads. If you want to get close to them, visit some of Australia’s many zoo parks and animal sanctuaries like Melbourne Zoo in Melbourne, Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Lone Pine Sanctuary in Brisbane, Australia Zoo on the Sunshine Coast, Billabong Sanctuary south of Townsville and Kuranda Wildlife Noctarium north of Cairns to name a few. In most of these parks you can buy a bag of kangaroo food and feed them, it's fun!
NOTE: This website is written in British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all correct in the language used in Australia.
