| Eastern Grey Kangaroo |
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| Tuesday, 03 June 2008 | |
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Scientific Name: Macropus giganteus The first European settlers were very surprised when they first saw large, grey animals hopping along on two legs rather than running on four. Hopping at high speed on spring-loaded legs is a lot easier than running, and a much better way to save energy. Eastern grey kangaroos hold the marsupial speed record at 64 kilometres an hour! WHAT DO THEY LOOK LIKE? Males are strong and muscular with light to dark grey fur. Females have white furry chests and pouch areas. The ends of the feet, paws and tail may be black. Eastern grey kangaroos have long back feet and powerful back legs that work together as they hop or move. The tail is long, stiff and very muscular. SIZE: These are Australia’s second-largest kangaroo. Males stand about 1.6 metres tall and weigh up to 70 kilograms. Females are about 1.2 metres tall and weigh 35 kilograms. WHAT DO THEY EAT? Kangaroos are known as crepuscular feeders — most of their feeding is done in the early morning and late afternoon when it is much cooler. Large groups of eastern greys, called mobs, graze on different grasses and ground plants with large leaves. They spend the rest of the day lying down. WHERE DO THEY LIVE? Eastern greys need well-watered grasses where rainfall is more than 25 centimetres per year. They are found on coastal and open inland plains, along the Great Dividing Range and in the north-east corner of Tasmania. BREEDING & CARING FOR YOUNG: A newborn joey is tiny. It is fur-less and blind, and does not have proper ears or a tail. It has only tiny stumps for back legs, but has well-developed, strong arms. It pulls itself up into the pouch and attaches itself to one of its mother’s four teats. Straight away the teat swells in the joey’s mouth so that it cannot fall off and the joey can continue drinking milk. After about nine months, the joey is covered in fur and ready to leave the pouch for short periods. At eleven months it still continues to come back to the pouch to drink from the same teat. It does this until it is about eighteen months old. By this time, there is already another joey in the pouch that is about eight months old.
New born baby joey. Once it is covered in fur, it begins to poke its head out of its mother's pouch. PREDATORS & THREATS: Dingoes and domestic dogs may kill and injure young kangaroos. Large birds of prey also hunt them. In the early days of farming, kangaroo numbers increased as more water became available for stock and they began to graze on crops. Hunters were paid money to hunt kangaroos to stop them becoming a pest, and sold the skins and meat. WHAT IS THEIR STATUS? These kangaroos are secure on the mainland, but vulnerable in Tasmania.
Young male kangaroos often "box" and playfight with one another as they grow.
Extracted from Fact File: Australian Mammals
© Steve Parish Publishing  |
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 04 June 2008 ) |
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