32 interesting Facts About Kangaroo

Kangaroos possess powerful hind legs, a long, strong tail, and small front legs. Kangaroos belong to the animal family Macropus, literally "big foot." Thanks to their large feet, kangaroos can leap some 30 feet (9 meters) in a single bound, and travel more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) per hour.

• Kangaroos are mainly found in Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania. Recently some Kangaroos have been introduced in Hawaii and New Zealand.

• While the number of every animal in the world is continuously decreasing, the number of kangaroos in Australia is increasing continuously.

• Kangaroos are herbivorous animals that eat grass, flowers and sometimes insects. Like cows, kangaroos also and chew their food again after bringing their food back from stomach to the mouth.

• Most of the animals release a lot of methane gas while digesting their food, whereas kangaroos do not release at all. Scientists have discovered that a kangaroo has a special type of bacteria in its stomach that digests its food without producing methane. In this way, there is minimized damage to the environment and the food of kangaroo is also easily digested. Scientists are hoping that if these special bacteria from stomach of kangaroos are implanted in the stomachs of other animals, they will also release methane in very small amounts.

• Male kangaroos show off their biceps to attract the female, and the female often chooses the male with the largest biceps.
  
  Red Kangaroo showing biceps

• Although kangaroos do not have many predators, they are often attacked by humans and dingoes. Kangaroos often run towards the water to protect themselves and try to kill their attackers by drowning them. In other methods of self-defense, kangaroos hide behind trees and try to hurt the attacker with their feet. One of his kicks can also kill a large predator like a human also.

• You must have noticed that kangaroos often jump, in fact they cannot move their both their legs freely back and forth like humans. Due to the structure of their feet, it is difficult for them to walk, so they jump and move with the help of their feet and tail. With this jumping skill, they can run at an unexpected speed of 50 kilometers per hour.

• Like humans, animals too are left-handed or right-handed. Talking about kangaroos, most kangaroos are left-handed.

• Kangaroos have very good vision, but when the object is passing or moving. They are not able to differentiate when the object is stationary. Their hearing power is also amazing, and to hear better, they can move their ears in all four directions and can guess the direction of the sound without moving.

• Sometimes the males start boxing among themselves to attract the attention of the female kangaroo.

• The front two legs of a kangaroo are shorter than the hind and are not as dangerous, but the hind legs are relatively larger and powerful. They often use long nails on the hind legs as a weapon.

• The female kangaroo has three vaginas. Its two external vaginas are for taking sperm and both lead to the two uterus. While the third vagina is for giving birth to a child. Male kangaroos have a pronged penis which is below the testicle. Whereas the penis of most male animals resides above the testicles like that of humans. Source

• In Australia, more people die each year from kangaroo attacks than from shark attacks. Source

• A female kangaroo can produce two types of milk at the same time in her body, one to feed the newborn baby and the other to feed her younger one. Different types of milk are needed at different ages for the good development of the kangaroo child. Source

• Kangaroo meat is eaten with great interest in Australia. Protein is found in high amount in its meat while the amount of fat is very less. Due to the high population of kangaroos, its meat is easily available in every hotel in Australia.

• Kangaroos are among 80% of the animals that crash into vehicles in Australia. Most insurance companies do not cover kangaroo collision claims in their policies as the chances of colliding with a kangaroo are highest while driving a car outside the city in the dark.

• The tail of a kangaroo acts as their third leg. They use their tail not only to maintain their balance but also to walk with the help of it. They jump forward to walk, for which they force their tail and hind legs to leave the ground and jump forward.

• Kangaroos do not have sweat glands in their body, so they rest in the shade of trees during the summer season. When they start feeling very hot, they keep on licking their front feet and paws and wetting them to get cool. If enough water is available, the heat of the body comes out after taking a bath and when water availability is less, they get the job done by rubbing water on their chest.

• The tail of a kangaroo is so strong and big that kangaroo cannot jump backward. They can only jump forward.

• The gestation period of a kangaroo is very short, only 33 days. This is the reason that when kangaroos are born, they are very small in size.

• Until the joeys (kangaroo child) are 4 months old, they stay in the bag attached in their mother's stomach, after that they start coming out and by the time of 10 months they leave their mother's bag completely.

• Kangaroos make low clucking noises to talk to each other and cough whenever they feel threatened or angry. Grey kangaroos slam their hind legs on the ground at time of danger so that other kangaroos in the herd can also feel the vibration and hear its warning sound.

• In kangaroo species, there is a practice in which a male can mate with many different females but a female mates with only one male.

• Kangaroo is a nocturnal animal that feeds during the night and moves from place to place while during the day they rest under the tree shadow.

• A female gives birth to one child every year and takes care of about 3 children at a time.

• The female kangaroo can determine the sex of her child, that is, if she wants to make the child to be male or female. Moreover, if the female feels that the environment and weather are not favorable for the joey to be born or the joey will not be able to survive in these conditions, then she can postpone her pregnancy by her own will.

• If the female already has a baby in her pouch, she can delay the process of giving birth and increase the gestation period. Only a few animals have such a unique ability.

• The population of kangaroos has been increasing continuously since last few years. In 2010, their population was about 27 million, which increased to 42 million in 2016.

• Kangaroos are also considered to be very good swimmers who can swim even 20 feet under water. In the summer season, they keep their body cool by playing in water.