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Kangaroo Assignment

Kangaroos are large marsupials endemic to Australia. They range in size from small wallabies to large red kangaroos that can be over 2 meters tall and weigh 90 kg. Kangaroos have large hind legs adapted for hopping, muscular tails for balance, and small heads. Female kangaroos have pouches in which their joeys complete development after birth. Larger kangaroo species have adapted better than smaller macropods to habitat changes caused by humans, and kangaroo populations are relatively plentiful compared to endangered smaller species. The kangaroo is an unofficial symbol of Australia appearing on currency and used in logos, and wild kangaroos are

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218 views2 pages

Kangaroo Assignment

Kangaroos are large marsupials endemic to Australia. They range in size from small wallabies to large red kangaroos that can be over 2 meters tall and weigh 90 kg. Kangaroos have large hind legs adapted for hopping, muscular tails for balance, and small heads. Female kangaroos have pouches in which their joeys complete development after birth. Larger kangaroo species have adapted better than smaller macropods to habitat changes caused by humans, and kangaroo populations are relatively plentiful compared to endangered smaller species. The kangaroo is an unofficial symbol of Australia appearing on currency and used in logos, and wild kangaroos are

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The kangaroo /kru/ 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 kangaroo, antilopine kangaroo,eastern grey
kangaroo, and western grey kangaroo.[1] Kangaroos are endemic to Australia. The Australian
government estimates that 34.3 million kangaroos lived within the commercial harvest areas of
Australia in 2011, up from 25.1 million one year earlier.[2]
As with the terms "wallaroo" and "wallaby", "kangaroo" refers to a polyphyletic grouping of species.
All three refer to members of the same taxonomic family, Macropodidae, and are distinguished
according to size. The largest species in the family are called "kangaroos" and the smallest are
generally called "wallabies". The term "wallaroos", a portmanteau, refers to species of an
intermediate size.[3] There is also the tree-kangaroo, another genus of macropod, which inhabits
the tropical rainforests of New Guinea, far northeastern Queensland and some of the islands in the
region. A general idea of the relative size of these informal terms could be:

wallabies: head and body length of 45105 cm and tail length of 3375 cm; The dwarf
wallaby (the smallest member) length is 46 cm and weigh of 1.6 kg;

tree-kangaroos: from Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo body and head length of 4865 cm, tail of
6074 cm, weigh of 7.2 kg (16 lb) for males and 5.9 kg (13 lb) for females; to the grizzled treekangaroo length of 7590 cm (30 to 35 in) and weight of 815 kg (1833 lb);

wallaroos: the black wallaroo, the smallest by far, with a tail length of 6070 cm and weight
of 1922 kg for males and 13 kg for females;

kangaroos: a large male can be 2 m (6 ft 7 in) tall and weigh 90 kg (200 lb).

Kangaroos have large, powerful hind legs, large feet adapted for leaping, a long muscular tail for
balance, and a small head. Like mostmarsupials, female kangaroos have a pouch called a
marsupium in which joeys complete postnatal development.
The large kangaroos have adapted much better than the smaller macropods to land clearing for
pastoral agriculture and habitat changes brought to the Australian landscape by humans. Many of
the smaller species are rare and endangered, while kangaroos are relatively plentiful.
The kangaroo is an unofficial symbol of Australia and appears as an emblem on the Australian coat
of arms[4] and on some of itscurrency[5] and is used by some of Australia's well known organisations,
including Qantas[6] and the Royal Australian Air Force.[7] The kangaroo is important to both Australian
culture and the national image, and consequently there are numerous popular culture references.
Wild kangaroos are shot for meat, leather hides, and to protect grazing land.[8] Although
controversial, harvesting kangaroo meat has some environmental advantages to limit over-grazing

and the meat has perceived health benefits for human consumption compared with traditional meats
due to the low level of fat on kangaroos.[9]

Source: Wikipedia

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