The Kangaroo,
is a name which usually refers to the fifty species of the family of
big-footed marsupials. The red kangaroo, and the grey kangaroo, may
reach a weight of 90 kg (200 pounds) and a height of 1.8m (6 feet)
or more.
The large, heavily built, muscular
hindquarters and tail balance the small, lightly built, mobile
forequarters. The fore-limbs are held clear of the ground during
bipedal locomotion, and while collecting and eating food.
For such large animals they move easily, with leaps of 8 m (26 feet)
in length.
The teeth and digestive system are
adapted for a herbivorous diet. It does not chew the cud, as cattle
and true ruminants do, but the food is regurgitated and swallowed
again.
Like all marsupials, the kangaroo
has a pouch into which the minute young, or joey, crawls immediately
after it is born. The joey remains in the pouch for some 190 days
before it leaves for short periods. A second offspring may be born
while the larger young is still suckling; and the mother produces
two milks vastly different in composition to satisfy their different
needs.
