Our Animals - Red Kangaroo

Our Animals > Red Kangaroo

Red Kangaroo jumping





The Red Kangaroo's legs work much like a rubber band. The males can leap over 9 metres (30 ft) in one leap.

Males grow up to a body length of 1.4 metres (4 ft 7 in) long and weigh up to 85 kilograms (190 lb). Females reach a body length of up to 1.1 metres (3 ft 7 in) long and weigh up to 35 kilograms (77 lb). Tails can be from 0.9 to 1 metre (3.0–3.3 ft) long. The average Red Kangaroo stands approximately 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) tall.[4] Accounts of sizes greater than this are not uncommon, with some large males reportedly reaching approximately 2 metres (6 ft 7 in).

The Red Kangaroo maintains its internal temperature at a point of homeostasis about 36 °C (97 °F) using a variety of physical, physiological, and behavioral adaptations. These include having an insulating layer of fur, being less active and staying in the shade when temperatures are high, panting, sweating, and licking its forelimbs.

The Red Kangaroo's range of vision is approximately 300°, due to the position of its eyes.[citation needed]


Red Kangaroo mama with joeyEcology

The Red Kangaroo ranges throughout central Australia. Its range encompasses scrubland, grassland, and desert habitats. It prefers open grassland and normally avoids areas with many trees and shade. The Red Kangaroo prefers to eat grasses. It also includes significant amounts of shrubs in its diet. It can go long periods of time without water, as long as it has access to green plants, since it has have the ability to take moisture out of plants.

At times, red kangaroos congregate in large numbers; in areas with much forage, these groups can number as much as 1,500 individuals. Red kangaroos are mostly crepuscular and nocturnal, resting in the shade during the day. However, they sometimes move about during the day. Most of their active period is spent in grazing. Like most kangaroo species, they are mostly sedentary, staying within a relatively well-defined home range. However, great environmental changes can cause them to travel far. The Red Kangaroo is too big to be subject to significant non-human predation. They can use their robust legs and clawed feet to defend themselves from attackers with kicks and blows. However, dingoes and eagles will kill and eat joeys. Joeys are thus protected in their mother's pouch. The Red Kangaroo did have major predators that are now extinct. The Thylacine, considered by palaeontologists to have once been a major natural predator of the kangaroo, is now extinct. Other extinct predators included the Marsupial Lion, Megalania, and the Wonambi.



A male Red Kangaroo seen at Taronga Western Plains Zoo. The Red Kangaroo lives alone or in small groups called 'mobs' (although food shortages can cause them to congregate into larger groups). Each mob is usually made up of 2 to 10 kangaroos, but sometimes a mob can have up to several hundred kangaroos. Membership of these groups is very flexible, and males (boomers) are not territorial, fighting only over females (flyers) that come into heat. The largest males are dominant, and control most of the matings.[5] When male kangaroos fight, they may appear to be "boxing". They usually stand up on their hind limbs and attempt to push their opponent off balance by jabbing him or locking forearms. If the fight escalates, they will begin to kick each other. Using their tail to support their weight, they deliver kicks with their powerful hind legs.



Red Kangaroo mama eating with joey in pouchReproduction

The Red Kangaroo breeds all year round. The females have the unique ability to delay birth of their baby until their previous Joey has left the pouch. This is called embryonic diapause. The Red Kangaroo has the typical reproductive system of a kangaroo. The neonate emerges after only 33 days. Usually only one young is born at a time. It is blind, hairless, and only a few centimetres long. Its hind legs are mere stumps; it instead uses its more developed forelegs to climb its way through the thick fur on its mother's abdomen into the pouch, which takes about three to five minutes. Once in the pouch, it fastens onto one of the two teats and starts to feed. Almost immediately, the mother's sexual cycle starts again. Another egg descends into the uterus and she becomes sexually receptive. Then, if she mates and a second egg is fertilized, its development is temporarily halted. Meanwhile, the neonate in the pouch grows rapidly. After ca. 190 days, the baby (called a joey) is sufficiently large and developed to make its full emergence out of the pouch, after sticking its head out for a few weeks until it eventually feels safe enough to fully emerge. From then on, it spends increasing time in the outside world and eventually, after ca. 235 days, it leaves the pouch for the last time.[7] The young Joey will permanently leave the pouch at around 235 days old, but will continue to suckle until it reaches 12 months of age. A doe may reproduce as early as 18 months of age and as late as five years during drought, but normally she is two and a half before she begins to breed.[8]



Relationship with humans

The Red Kangaroo is still an abundant species and is protected in many national parks. It has even benefited from the spread of agriculture and creation of man-made waterholes. However competition with livestock and rabbits poses a threat. It is also often shot by farmers as a pest. The Kangaroo is so numerous that there is regulated harvest of its hide and meat. Hunting permits and commercial harvesting are controlled under nationally approved management plans, which aim to maintain red kangaroo populations and manage them as a renewable resource. Harvesting of kangaroos is controversial, particularly to due to the animal's popularity. The meat is used by the pet food industry.[8]



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