RED KANGAROO

The Red Kangaroo is the largest marsupial, or pouched animal, and is found only in Australia. It sustains itself on a diet of nothing but grass and shrubs.

HABITS

The red kangaroo is a grazing animal which inhabits Australia's arid interior region. The kangaroos are widespread and live together in groups, called mobs, of more than one hundred animals. The home range of the kangaroo is approximately 115 square miles. Each group of kangaroos contains at least one adult male. If there are several males in the group, the dominant male will lead the mob.

BREEDING

The dominant male in a mob has access to all females for mating. A female is fertile throughout the year, but she can time her breeding to coincide with the availability of food and water. Gestation is little more than a month. The young kangaroo is still quite undeveloped when born, but its forearms are strong enough for it to crawl into its mother's pouch.

Because she can breed continuously, a female kangaroo produces different kinds of milk to meet the nutritional needs of more than one offspring at a time. A joey that has left the pouch requires fat-rich milk for energy; its pouch-bound younger sibling gets more carbohydrates. In its mother's pouch the naked new-born joey takes hold of a nipple and remains attached to it for 70 days. By the time it leaves the pouch, it weighs about 7 pounds. A young kangaroo continues to feed from its mother until it is about a year old.

FOOD & FEEDING

The red kangaroo feeds on grass and the foliage of low-growing shrubs. Kangaroos are usually found near water-courses--both natural and man-made-- where plant growth is more plentiful. Red kangaroos wander extensively over their home range. When rain falls on the desert areas, they gather to feed on plant seedlings that suddenly germinate. The red kangaroo can go for long periods without water if necessary.

RED KANGAROO & MAN

The red kangaroo has long been hunted by man for its meat and skin, first by the aborigines and then the settlers. Today, the red kangaroo is considered a pest by farmers, whose sheep and cattle must compete with it for the available grass. Where man has created water holes for grazing livestock, the kangaroos also take advantage of the supply. Because they can leap such great distances, farmers find it almost impossible to fence kangaroos out of their livestock grazing areas.

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