Kangaroos are large Australian marsupials with big back feet, long tails and pouches for their young. They hop to get around, reaching up to 64 km/h, and eat mostly grass. A newborn joey is the size of a jellybean and grows in its mother’s pouch for months. The red kangaroo is the largest marsupial alive.
kangaroos quick facts
- There are 45 species of kangaroos and wallabies.
- A male red kangaroo can weigh up to 92 kg, more than twice as much as a female.
- The fastest recorded kangaroo, a female eastern grey, reached 64 km/h.
- A newborn joey weighs less than a gram and climbs into the pouch by itself.
- Red kangaroos can get the water they need from the plants they eat.
Wildlife safety: watch wild kangaroos from a respectful distance. Never feed, touch or corner one.
What is a kangaroo?
A kangaroo is a large marsupial that lives in Australia. Marsupials are mammals whose babies are born tiny and not fully formed. The babies then keep growing, usually in a pouch on their mother’s body.
Kangaroos belong to a family called the macropods. The word macropod means “big foot”, and it suits them. Most macropods have back legs much bigger than their front legs, large back feet and long, muscular tails that help them balance.
There are 45 species of kangaroos and wallabies. When people say kangaroo, they usually mean one of the four largest: the red kangaroo, the eastern grey kangaroo, the western grey kangaroo or the antilopine kangaroo.
The kangaroo is a symbol of Australia. It appears on the country’s coat of arms, alongside the emu.
The red kangaroo
The red kangaroo is the largest kangaroo, and the largest marsupial alive today.
A big male can have a body up to 1.4 m long, with a tail up to 1 m more, and weigh up to 92 kg. Females are much smaller. Their bodies grow up to 1.1 m long, and they weigh up to 39 kg. So a male can be more than twice as heavy as a female.
Males are usually orange-red, while females are often blue-grey. Both are paler underneath, with black and white patches on their cheeks and a broad white stripe from the corner of the mouth to the ear.
Red kangaroos live in the dry and semi-dry parts of mainland Australia. They like open country: plains, grassland, shrubland, desert and open woodland.
Red Kangaroo by Numbers
- Up to 1.4 m — How long a big male's body can be
- Up to 1 m — How long its tail can be
- Up to 92 kg — What a big male can weigh
- Up to 39 kg — What a female can weigh
- 45 — How many species of kangaroos and wallabies there are
The eastern grey kangaroo
The eastern grey kangaroo lives in eastern Australia, anywhere that gets more than 250 mm of rain a year. It prefers thicker scrub and forest than the red kangaroo does, and it is often seen on farmland near patches of bush.
Males have bodies up to 1.3 m long, with tails up to 1 m. Females are smaller, with bodies up to 1 m and tails up to 84 cm. Their fur is light grey and woolly, with a darker face and a dark tip on the tail.
Eastern greys live in groups, called mobs, of 10 or more. A mob’s home range can stretch up to 5 km. The kangaroos keep in touch with a series of clucking sounds.
How kangaroos hop
Kangaroos do not walk the way we do. When they want to move fast, they hop on their big back legs, with their long tail held out behind for balance.
The fastest kangaroo speed on record was set by a female eastern grey kangaroo, at 64 km/h. That is about as fast as a car on a country road.
Hopping is a very efficient way to travel. The long tendons in a kangaroo’s legs stretch and spring back with each bounce, a little like a pogo stick, so the kangaroo saves energy as it goes.
When a kangaroo moves slowly, while it grazes, it leans on its tail and front paws and swings both back legs forward together. Then the tail works almost like a fifth leg.
What do kangaroos eat?
Kangaroos are herbivores, which means they eat only plants. They mostly graze on grass, but they also eat other small plants and the leaves of shrubs. Eastern greys sometimes even eat fungi.
They like young green shoots best, because these are full of protein. Kangaroos are not as good as sheep at digesting dry grass and tough plant fibres.
Water can be hard to find in the outback. Red kangaroos can get the water they need from the plants they eat. Even so, most kangaroos do not stray more than 10 to 15 km from water.
Farm water holes and tanks have helped kangaroos live in places that were once too dry for them.
A kangaroo’s day
Kangaroos are most active at night, and at dusk and dawn. In the heat of the day, they usually rest in the shade of trees or bushes.
Eastern grey kangaroos come out to feed from late afternoon until early morning. So if you want to see wild kangaroos, the best time to look is early in the morning or around sunset.
Kangaroo Words
- Marsupial — A mammal whose babies are born tiny and keep growing, usually in a pouch
- Joey — A baby kangaroo
- Mob — A group of kangaroos
- Herbivore — An animal that eats only plants
- Clucking — Sounds eastern greys use to keep in touch
How a joey grows
A baby kangaroo is called a joey. It is born very early, after only about 33 to 36 days inside its mother.
A newborn joey is about the size of a jellybean and weighs less than a gram. It is hairless and blind. Its back legs are barely formed, but its front legs have sharp, curved claws.
It uses those claws to climb through its mother’s fur and into her pouch, all by itself. There it fixes onto a teat and drinks her milk.
The joey stays in the pouch for months. An eastern grey joey starts to come out at about 9 months old, and it is independent at about 18 months.
A red kangaroo joey stays in the pouch until it is about 235 days old. It keeps drinking its mother’s milk until it is about a year old.
Kangaroo pouches open towards the front, near the mother’s chest. Wallabies and possums have forward-opening pouches too, but koalas and wombats do not.
A Red Kangaroo Joey Grows Up
- After about a month A tiny joey is born, about the size of a jellybean.
- The first months It drinks its mother's milk in the pouch and keeps growing.
- About 235 days old It leaves the pouch for good.
- About 12 months old It stops drinking its mother's milk.
A baby on hold
Female red kangaroos have an amazing trick: they can put a new baby on hold.
A female can mate again soon after giving birth, but the new embryo does not grow straight away. It waits until the joey in her pouch is ready to leave. Only then does it start to develop. Scientists call this embryonic diapause.
That means a mother can have one young joey at her feet, another in her pouch and a tiny embryo waiting to grow, all at the same time.
Red kangaroos breed all year round, although most joeys are born in spring and summer.
Boxing kangaroos
Male kangaroos sometimes fight. They rise up tall on their tails and back legs, grab at each other with their front paws and kick. It can look a lot like boxing.
Most fights are about which male gets to mate. They usually end without serious harm, but a kangaroo’s kick is very powerful. That is one more reason to keep your distance from wild kangaroos, especially from a big male.
Kangaroos and people
People have lived alongside kangaroos in Australia for many thousands of years, and kangaroos still live across much of the country.
Some of their smaller relatives are in trouble, though. In New South Wales, there were 21 kinds of macropod two centuries ago. Now there are only 15.
The main threats are competition with farm animals, predators brought from other countries such as foxes, cats and dogs, changes in how bushfires burn, and the loss of their habitat.
Kangaroos share their country with many other unusual animals. Meet some of them in our guides to koalas, Tasmanian devils and animals in Australia.
Three things people get wrong
Kangaroos are not the only animals with pouches. There are more than 330 kinds of marsupial. About a third of them live outside Australia, mostly in South America.
A joey is not born in the pouch. It is born outside, then climbs into the pouch on its own, using the claws on its front legs.
Not every kangaroo is red. Only male red kangaroos are orange-red. Females are often blue-grey, and grey kangaroos are, of course, grey.
Did you know? A female red kangaroo can keep a tiny embryo on hold until the joey in her pouch is ready to leave. This is called embryonic diapause.
Kangaroos: Fact or Myth?
- Kangaroos are the only animals with pouches.
- A kangaroo's long tail helps it balance.
- Kangaroos eat meat.
- The red kangaroo is the largest marsupial alive today.
- All kangaroos are red.
- Red kangaroos can get the water they need from the plants they eat.
- Kangaroos are most active in the middle of the day.
- The fastest kangaroo on record reached 64 km/h.
Try it
Measure 1.4 metres on the floor with a tape measure. That is how long a big male red kangaroo’s body can be, before you add a tail up to 1 metre long.
Knowledge check
What does the word macropod mean?
Show answer
Big foot.
How does a newborn joey get into the pouch?
Show answer
It climbs through its mother’s fur by itself, using the sharp claws on its front legs.
Frequently asked questions
What is a baby kangaroo called?
A baby kangaroo is called a joey. It is born about the size of a jellybean, climbs into its mother’s pouch and stays there for months, drinking her milk.
How fast can a kangaroo hop?
The fastest recorded kangaroo, a female eastern grey kangaroo, reached 64 km/h. Hopping is efficient because the tendons in a kangaroo’s legs spring back with each bounce.
What do kangaroos eat?
Kangaroos are herbivores. They mostly graze on grass and also eat other small plants and shrub leaves. They prefer young green shoots, which are high in protein.
How big is a red kangaroo?
A male red kangaroo can have a body up to 1.4 metres long, a tail up to 1 metre long and weigh up to 92 kg. Females weigh up to 39 kg.
What is a group of kangaroos called?
A group of kangaroos is called a mob. Eastern grey kangaroos live in mobs of 10 or more, with a home range of up to 5 km.
How long does a joey stay in the pouch?
A red kangaroo joey stays in the pouch until it is about 235 days old. An eastern grey joey starts leaving at about 9 months and is independent at about 18 months.
Sources
- Australian Museum: red kangaroo — size, colour, habitat, diet and water, joey development and embryonic diapause
- Australian Museum: eastern grey kangaroo — size, colour, habitat, diet, behaviour, speed, joeys and mobs
- Australian Museum: what is a marsupial? — how marsupial babies are born and reach the pouch, and how many marsupials there are
- NSW Environment and Heritage: kangaroos and wallabies — the number of species, the meaning of macropod, diet, pouches, water and threats
Kangaroo Final Challenge
- What do kangaroos like to eat best?
- How far do most kangaroos stray from water?
- Where do eastern grey kangaroos live?
- What can a female red kangaroo put on hold?
- When are most red kangaroo joeys born?
- Where do most of the marsupials that live outside Australia live?
- New South Wales had 21 kinds of macropod two centuries ago. How many are there now?
