Kangaroos
COMMON NAME: Kangaroos
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Macropus
TYPE: Mammals
DIET: Herbivore, mainly grasses
GROUP NAME: Mob, Court or Troops
YOUNG NAME: Joeys
AVERAGE LIFE SPAN IN THE WILD: Up to 23 years
HEIGHT: 4'10” to 6'10”
WEIGHT: 40 to 200 pounds
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1. Kangaroos belong to the animal family Macropodidae, which literally means ‘big foot.’ Thus, it turns out that Bigfoots have been proven to live in North Carolina.
2. Kangaroos have large feet and powerful hind legs, kangaroos have a comfortable hopping speed of 13–16 mph) They can travel up to 44 mph. Kangaroos can be sustain a speed of 25 mph for over a mile.
3. Kangaroos can leap more than 30 feet in a single bound.
4. Kangaroos have small front legs and long, strong tail helps them balance while jumping.
5. Kangaroos are the tallest of all our planet’s marsupials. Marsupials are mammals comprising kangaroos, wombats, bandicoots, and opossums. They do not develop a true placenta and usually have a pouch on the abdomen of the female which covers the teats and serves to carry the young. Baby kangaroos in North Carolina at Liberty acres like being carried around in cloth bags!
6. Kangaroos live in small groups called troops or herds. Australians call them mobs, and we do too, here in North Carolina.
7. If threatened, kangaroos pound the ground with their strong feet to alert and warn the others in the group. And these cool creatures aren’t to be messed with – when they fight, they punch and kick with powerful blows, and will sometimes even bite. Kangaroos are some of the toughest animals here on our farm in North Carolina. Males sometimes fight each other over access to females.
8. Female kangaroos sport a pouch on their belly (made by a fold in the skin) to cradle baby kangaroos, called joeys. Newborn joeys are tiny, measuring slightly more than an inch – cute! After birth, joeys travel unassisted through their mother’s thick fur to the comfort and safety of the pouch. A newborn can’t suckle or swallow, so the kangaroo mum uses her muscles to pump milk down its throat. At around 4 months, the youngster emerges from the pouch for short trips, and at ten months, it’s mature enough to leave the pouch for good.
9. Kangaroos are herbivores and like to chew on grasses, herbs and shrubs.
10. Besides humans and wild dogs called dingoes, kangaroos face few natural predators. But that’s not to say that these guys have it easy. Heat, drought and hunger due to vanishing habitat are amongst the dangers these amazing marsupials face. Kangaroos in North Carolina are living the life!