Kangaroo

The kangaroo is an iconic Australian animal that is recognised all over the world as an unofficial symbol of Australia and appears as on the Australian Coat of Arms. The Kangaroo and the Emu were selected as symbols on the coat of arms to represent Australia’s progress in regards to our society as both of these animals do not take a backward step and are continuously moving forward. The Kangaroo is a tremendously important symbol that is also reflected in our Australian culture and national image. Australian kangaroos can be found on currency and are used as corporate symbols with well – known organisations such as our national airline carrier Qantas who have referred to themselves as the flying Kangaroo!

Kangaroos are marsupial animals which are officially called macropod which means “big foot”. There are approximately 40 different types of Kangaroos and the smaller ones are called wallabies. The largest is the Red Kangaroo which stands taller than the average size of a man and can weigh over 80 kg’s and is the largest marsupial in the world! Kangaroos move around by hopping on their powerful legs and they use their tail to balance their tail reaching speeds up to 60kmh leaping obstacles on the way up to 10ft high. Kangaroos generally only have one baby per year which is called a Joey. Immediately after birth the Joey crawls up the mothers body and enters the pouch and after several weeks the Joey then begins to spend more and more time out of the mums pouch and will eventually leave after approximately seven months. The female Kangaroo is called a flyer and the male is known as a boomer and a group of Kangaroos is known as a mob and quite often male alpha males can be seen fighting for the honour of being the leader of the mob which will have many benefits with the female kangaroos.