Kangaroo: 12 Incredible Facts

The kangaroo's tail helps to support the animal
as he or she sits and leaps.

       The kangaroo is one of the most strangely-formed animals in the world, found in a wild state only in Australia and nearby islands.

12 Incredible Kangaroo Facts:

1. The most noticeable feature about the kangaroo is the disproportion between the upper and lower parts of the body. The head is small and deer-like in shape, with large ears; the fore legs are small, and the hind legs are relatively large and powerful.
2. The tail is long and thick at the base and helps to support the animal when it sits erect, and to assist it in its long leaps.
3. When moving at an ordinary rate, the kangaroo jumps about its own length, but when frightened it can leap from three to four times that far.
4. Kangaroos are among the most ludicrous of all animals, and are objects of great interest in a "zoo."
5. The young are born very immature, being in most instances less than an inch long, and are protected and nourished for about eight months in a pouch on the mother's abdomen.
6. Kangaroos live entirely upon vegetable growths, and where still plentiful, they are a serious pest to farmers.
7. They are very timid, but are alert in time of danger.
8. The kangaroos include many species, varying in size from that of a hare to that of a large sheep, and remains of still larger extinct species have been found in Australia.
9. The larger and more common kinds belong to a genus including the giant kangaroo, the gray kangaroo and the brush kangaroo.
10. The kangaroos can kill a dog with a blow of the hind foot.
11. The animals were hunted for their hides, which make excellent leather, and also for their flesh.
12.  Smaller species include the tree kangaroos and the wallabies.

More About Kangaroos From The Web:

• Family Macropodidae, Genus Macropus from Bush Heritage Australia
• Kangaroo Life In The Wild
• Inside a Kangaroo Pouch by SmarterEveryDay
• Baby Kangaroo Rescue!

Superclass Tetradoda Class IV Mammalia.