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Showing posts with label macropods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label macropods. Show all posts

Kangaroo population stands around 45 million




Is that food in that bag?

Kangaroos are indigenous to AustraliaCurrent populations stand around 45 million.

Kangaroos are capable of conserving enough water and selecting enough fresh vegetation to survive in an arid environment. The kangaroo’s kidneys efficiently concentrate urine, particularly during summer.

The kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus: the red kangarooantilopine kangarooeastern grey kangaroo, and western grey kangaroo. 




Fights between red kangaroo males tend to involve more wrestling. Fights establish dominance relationships among males, and determine who gets access to the females.



Kangaroos are the only large animals to use hopping as a means of locomotion. The comfortable hopping speed for a red kangaroo is about 20–25 km/h (12–16 mph), but speeds of up to 70 km/h (43 mph) can be attained over short distances, while it can sustain a speed of 40 km/h (25 mph) for nearly 2 km (1.2 mi). 



The kangaroos fast and energy-efficient method of travel has evolved because of the need to regularly cover large distances in search of food and water, rather than the need to escape predators. At slow speeds, it employs pentapedal locomotion, using its tail to form a tripod with its two forelimbs while bringing its hind feet forward. Kangaroos are adept swimmer, and often flee into waterways if threatened by a predator. If pursued into the water, a kangaroo may use its fore paws to hold the predator underwater so as to drown it.


Young red necked wallaby.

Macropods are marsupials belonging to the family Macropodidae, the kangaroo family, which includes kangarooswallabiestree-kangarooswallaroospademelonsquokkas, and several others. Macropods are native to the Australian continent.


Kangaroo meat is consumed in Australia and available in some Australian supermarkets. It is also exported to over 55 countries. Kangaroo leather is recognised as the strongest lightweight leather throughout the world and extensively used in first class sporting shoes and gloves.

Quokka Rottnest Island




The name 'quokka' comes from the name the Aboriginal people of that part of the southwest called it. Naturalist, John Gilbert in 1840,noted the Aboriginal name 'quokka' when he witnessed a 'quokka hunt` being carried out by traditional owners of the region, the Bibbulmum people.

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