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Today on Animal Fact Files we’re talking about kangaroos. Kangaroos are classified within the same family as wallabies and wallaroos, but generally speaking kangaroos are considered the largest members of this family. In fact, kangaroos are the largest living marsupials.

Marsupials are mammals whose young are born prematurely and develop outside of the womb usually in a pouch found on the mother’s body. Many of the marsupials alive today are found in Australia, just like today’s subject. Kangaroos range across all of Australia and sometimes even have overlapping territories. In the hot Australian wilderness, kangaroos may cover themselves in salvia to keep cool. They may also dig to find colder soil then lounge about in it to cool off. Kangaroos are also able to sweat, but to conserve water they’ll pant instead to lower their body temperatures.

These big footed mammals reach up to 8 feet (2.4 meters) tall and weigh 200 pounds (90 kilograms). Male kangaroos are larger than females and often sport strong muscles to show off their beefiness. Male kangaroos need to be beefy in order to take on other males for breeding rights. Depending on the species, kangaroos live in herds, sometimes numbering more than 100 members. These herds are headed by a dominant male kangaroo who has breeding access to the females within the group. In order to hold the position as dominant male, the boys fight one another in an anything goes style combat. Even groin kicks are allowed, though male kangaroos are able to retract their testicles to keep them protected while fighting. Once a victor emerges, he’ll inspect the females to see if they’re ready to mate. To do this, he’ll smell their urine.

Female kangaroos have impressive reproductive systems. Unless hazardous conditions arise, like extreme drought, a female kangaroo is perpetually pregnant. While nourishing a joey outside of her body, the female will also retain an embryo that is in a state of suspended development, called a diapause. When her pouch has freed up space, the embryo continues development and is born.

The kangaroo baby comes out about the size of a jellybean and must climb up into its mother’s pouch. It will attach to one of her nipples and stay inside the safety of the pouch for a few months before venturing out into the world. After leaving, the joey will still come back to the pouch to nurse, but will gradually outgrow it. Eventually, the mother kangaroo doesn’t allow the joey back into the pouch because she’s nursing another offspring.

Kangaroos have four nipples and are able to produce different types of milk at the same time for their young. So while the joey on the outside drinks milk higher in fat content, the joey still in the pouch is suckling another kind of milk altogether. And don’t forget, while both of these babies are enjoying mom’s milk, there’s another embryo ready to be born if anything goes wrong in the outside world. Kangaroos are at risk of predation by wedge tailed eagles, dingoes, foxes, cats, tasmanian devils, and even large reptiles. Joeys are especially susceptible to predation, however, mother kangaroos are able to cinch their pouches closed like drawstring bags if joeys are under threat.

When no longer dependent on mom’s milk, kangaroos eat grass, leaves, flowers, moss, and more. These animals chew their food, swallow it, then regurgitate it to chew it again - just like a giraffe! Female kangaroos tend to stay within the same group they were born into. Mothers often give birth to females earlier in life and then males later. The males will leave the group to find new groups of their own, hopefully in which they can become dominant males. A kangaroo can travel more than 25 miles per hour (40 kilometers per hour) and cover 25 feet (7.6 meters) in a single leap. They’re the largest mammals to get around via hopping and some of the only animals to do so. In the wild, a kangaroo may live more than a decade.

For more facts on kangaroos check out the links in the description. Thank you to Colin, Thunderhunter, and Gregory. for today’s request! Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files.