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Kangaroo
A Kangaroo is a common name for the mammals marsupials members of the macropodidae family.
Strictly speaking, "kangaroo" refers to the largest species of the macropodidae subfamily, which also includes the structurally similar but smaller wallabies. Kangaroos and wallabies live in Australia and nearby islands; they are predominantly herbivorous land animals, competing for food with grazing animals such as sheep. They have a peaceful nature, which leads them to attack potential aggressors only when truly threatened. Prized for their skin and meat, they are heavily hunted.
Physical Characteristics and Development
Kangaroos have large, mobile ears, a slender chest, and a bulkier hindquarters. They have short forelimbs with five toes each, and long, robust hind legs with four toes each; the fourth toe of the latter has a sharp claw, used for defense. The tail is muscular, up to 1.2 m long; it is used for support when sitting or walking and as a counterweight when jumping. The fur, soft and woolly, varies in color from gray to reddish, depending on the species. Larger kangaroos can travel at speeds of 30-50 km/h, covering a distance of about 9 m in a single leap; it is estimated that when running, the time spent suspended in the air accounts for 70% of the total.
As with all marsupials, the young are born at a very early stage of development; At birth, they are no more than 2 cm long and have particularly robust front legs—stronger than their hind legs—with which they climb up their mother's body to reach her nipples. The nipples are located inside the pouch, the abdominal pouch characteristic of all female marsupials, where the young complete their development. The young kangaroo emerges from the pouch at an age between 6 and 10 months, but remains with its mother and continues to suckle until 12 to 18 months.
Representative Species
The best-known kangaroo species are three, all belonging to the genus Macropus: the grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus), the red kangaroo (Macropus rufus), and the robust wallaroo (Macropus robustus). They are all approximately as tall as a human, although the wallaroo is generally more heavily built. More than by coat color, the three species are distinguished from each other by the characteristics of their faces: the grey kangaroo's is completely covered in fur, the wallaroo's is completely hairless, and the red kangaroo's is partly hairy and partly hairless. There are numerous other varieties of kangaroos with controversial taxonomic classification classification, which are sometimes considered subspecies of those mentioned, sometimes even actual species.
Scientific classification: Kangaroos belong to the family Macropodidae of the order Marsupials, class Mammals, subphylum Vertebrates, phylum Chordates.
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