Kangaroo

A sidelined mammal

Kangaroos belong to the order of the marsupials, mammals that were found all around the globe some 135 million years ago. They competed with other mammal species that were better adapted to the same ecosystem, and gradually disappeared from the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa. Although a number of marsupials still exist in South America, only Australia, isolated by oceans from other continents, offered the ideal conditions for the evolution of an extensive marsupial fauna, with little competition from other placental mammals. Today, it is thought that the 60 species of kangaroo descend from the wynyardia, a marsupial that first appeared 25 million years ago in Tasmania.

While kangaroos were prized for their hides and flesh long before the arrival of colonists, the progressive settlement of the southern and eastern coasts of Australia and Tasmania led to serious deforestation, responsible for the extinction of a number of smaller species of kangaroo.

Kangaroo farming and hunting

Although several smaller species of kangaroo have disappeared, the number of large kangaroos has increased over the years, to the point that in Australia there are now more kangaroos than sheep. The kangaroo farming industry is in its infancy, but many people hunt the animals. Hunting is limited to four species, but is strongly encouraged and supplies an important meat export trade. Kangaroo meat is eaten by humans (especially during festive periods) and also processed into cat and dog food.

Kangaroos are not only farmed and hunted for their meat, but also for their hide, for use in the fur and leather industry.

Kangaroo species

Kangaroo is a general term that encompasses over sixty species of macropods, animals with large feet and strong hind limbs and that move by leaps and bounds. Very often, the term kangaroo is used to describe the four most impressive representatives of the family, namely, the Eastern grey kangaroo, Western grey kangaroo, antelope kangaroo and red kangaroo.

Kangaroos can reach the height of a human being (1.80 m to 2 m) and weigh up to 90 kg. The female kangaroo gives birth to just one baby at a time, and the gestation period lasts only a few weeks. About a month after mating, the female gives birth, and the baby, still in the foetal stage and measuring just 1 to 2 cm, climbs into its mother’s stomach pouch (marsupial pouch) to find the four teats that will allow it to feed and complete its development over a further 8 to 9 months.

Kangaroos live in arid and semi-arid regions characterised by sparse vegetation and strong heat. They assemble in small groups to graze only after dusk or nightfall, feeding mainly on grasses, herbaceous plants and leaves.

The largest kangaroo species have few predators other than humans, although dingoes, foxes and some raptors prey especially on the weakest individuals.