Did you know that kangaroos don�t need much water to survive? They can go for months without having a drink. Kangaroos also can�t walk or move backwards very easily. Those are just some of the many interesting facts that make kangaroos amazing and unique.
Kangaroos belong to the family Macropodidae, and are a type of mammal. They are macropods, which mean �large feet.� There are over 50 different kinds of kangaroos. Some are the red kangaroos, scientifically known as Macropus Rufus, eastern gray kangaroos, known as Macropus Giganteus, and the western gray kangaroos, known as Macropus Fuliginosis. Kangaroos are also marsupials, which means they give birth to extremely underdeveloped offspring.
They are native to Australia. Different species, however, live in different parts of the continent. Red kangaroos live in the deserts and dry grasslands of central Australia, while gray kangaroos live in the forest and grasslands of southern and eastern Australia. Since these creatures are only found there, Australia made them their national animal.
You can tell the difference between different types of kangaroos by their noses. For instance, a red kangaroo has a small, boomerang-shaped black bare patch on its nose, and the gray kangaroo�s nose is covered with hair except for narrow bare bands around the nostrils. Kangaroos all have similar characteristics though. They have small deer like shaped heads and pointed snouts. Most have short brown or gray fur that covers the whole body. Using their powerful hind legs, Kangaroos can leap over 6 feet and can hop at an average of 30 mph for short distances. Other characteristics include their large, upright ears, small front legs, and long tails. They lack thumbs, and female kangaroos have marsupial pouches to carry their young.
Kangaroos have adapted well to their environment. Structurally, they use their long muscular tail to help balance during fast hopping, and it can function as a fifth leg during the animal�s slow-speed gait, helping to stabilize the back end of the body while back limbs are in the air. They also have a powerful and long clawed fourth toe, which does much of the work in completing the push of a hop. Female kangaroos have an ability to be constantly pregnant and lactating from first pregnancy until death. In red kangaroos, the females have a special system of reproduction that helps populations to quickly return to normal after a drought. Behaviorally, kangaroos have a vegetarian diet. They do not rely on perspiration alone to carry away most of their excess body heat. Instead, they stop sweating as soon as they stop hopping and start panting a lot. Kangaroos are the only mammals to switch from sweating to panting as soon as exercise stops. They are also are the only animals with a dense network of fine blood vessels very close to the surface of the skin of their forearms, which they lick for cooling. The moisture allows the wind to blow heat away from the warm blood. Lastly, a hopping kangaroo is able to keep moving while hardly expending any additional energy. In fact, kangaroos actually burn less energy the faster they hop.
Kangaroos are not in any way endangered or threatened. Actually, limited hunting is permitted to keep their populations under control. Under this, more than one million kangaroos are killed each year, they get sold for meat, and their skin is made into leather. Their main enemies are dingoes and humans.
Kangaroos are wonderful animals. They got their names from the aborigines when European explorers asked the natives what kind of animals they were. The aborigine answered �kangaroo,� meaning �I don�t understand.� They are truly very peculiar creatures.