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Description:
The red kangaroo is one of the largest species of kangaroos.
Males can be 4 or 5 feet tall, with a tail up to 4 feet long.
Females are smaller, with a height of 2 ½ - 3 ½ feet and a tail
2-3 feet long. Only the males
are red, while females are a bluish gray color. They
have very powerful rear legs and tail, small arms, and a small rabbit-like
head with large ears. Females
have a pouch for carrying young.
Range:
Central Australia
Habitat:
Grasslands
Diet:
Wild kangaroos eat grass. In
the zoo, our kangaroos eat ADF 16 herbivore ration, apples, carrots, and
other produce.
Life
Cycle:
Kangaroos can breed year round.
Gestation is 33 days, and the young are born at a very undeveloped
stage. At birth, a baby
kangaroo cannot see or hear, and it does not have fur or even back legs.
It uses its front legs to pull itself through the mother’s fur
into the pouch, where it grasps on to a mammae (nipple).
It stays attached to the mammae, drinking the mother’s milk, for
70 days. After that, the baby
kangaroo stays in the pouch until it is about 6 months old.
As it gets older, it begins to leave the pouch for longer periods
of time. The baby will still
stick its head back inside the pouch to nurse until it is one year old.
Females have two mammae inside the pouch, and they can produce a
different kind of milk from each, to meet the different nutritional needs
of a newborn and an older baby. Kangaroos
can live 17-19 years in captivity.
Did
You Know?
·
Red kangaroos can travel at 30 miles per hour for short
distances.
·
They can jump 6 feet high, and when in flight, they can
travel 45 feet in one jump. Their
strong tail serves as a support and helps with balance and steering.
·
Red kangaroos have very powerful hind legs and sharp claws.
Male kangaroos fight by holding on to each other with their arms,
and kicking out with their hind feet.
·
Kangaroos are grazing animals.
In
Australia
, they occupy the niche of the antelope, deer, zebra and bison in other
countries.
·
Agriculture has provided more habitat for this species.
Red kangaroos are able to digest grasses that sheep do not eat.
So as sheep farms increase, so do the numbers of red kangaroos,
which graze alongside the sheep.
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