Kangaroo is one of the most famous and interesting mammals in the world. These animals live exclusively in one place - in Australia, therefore, until the 18th century, people did not know about these creatures.
Legend has it that in 1770, when James Cook first landed on the shores of Australia, he saw a large animal that moves by jumping, and asked the natives what it was. The indigenous people answered him in their own language, which sounded vaguely similar to the word "kangaroo". So this name was fixed for marsupials. Today zoologists know 50 species of kangaroos, they all differ in size, color, habitat, but their common feature is the presence of a bag.
Kangaroo species
The largest kangaroos weigh about 80 kg, they have powerful hind legs, narrow shoulders and small front legs that look like humans. Due to the fact that the kangaroo knows how to transfer the weight of its body to its tail, it can inflict terrible paws on the enemy in one movement and move by jumping up to 3 meters in height and 12 in length. The speed they can reach varies from 30 to 50 km per hour.
The most famous species of kangaroos are the gigantic ones. They live in Australia.
Does male kangaroos have a pouch?
Initially, all kangaroo representatives had a bag. But over time, it atrophied in males for uselessness, and the current representatives have only special femur bones, on which it used to stay. And for females everything remained as before: a bag fixed at the bottom of the body serves as a real refuge for little kangaroos.
A huge number of myths are associated with these animals. Previously, it was believed that kangaroos reproduce exclusively vegetatively, that is, from the mother's nipples. And in the 19th century, zoologists believed that at birth, the mother takes the baby in her mouth, and then puts it in a bag next to one of the nipples. More recently, scientists have found that a month after conception, a small kangaroo, weighing about 750 g, independently gets to the mother's bag, and she does not help him with this.
Interestingly, the mother of the kangaroo can release the baby from the bag only when she herself wants it. This is due to the strong muscles in the female's abdomen.
There, the baby begins to feed on mother's milk through one of 4 nipples, and its composition depends on the gender and age of the baby. If several kangaroos are born, then they also receive milk of different composition. Why this happens is still a mystery.
Sheltered from temperature extremes and predatory animals, the cub begins to grow very quickly, and by the end of 6 months he can crawl out of the bag, and after 8 months he moves on his own.
