Kangaroo
by Mrs. Placke
Physical Description
- Largest living marsupial
- Males - 110 pounds (50 kilograms)
- Height - 5 feet (1.5 meters)
- Small head with a pointed snout
- Large ears sit up and can turn from front to back
- Hind legs are powerful
- Use their tail for balance
- Life span - 6-8 years
Their Young
- Grows inside mother's body for 4-5 weeks
- Called a joey
- Baby only as big as a baked bean
- Baby has no eyes, only smudges where eyes will be
- Hind legs are bumps
- Skin is very thin
- Baby climbs into mother's pouch (trip takes three minutes)
- Snuggles into pouch and drinks milk for a few months
- A few months later, baby pokes its head out of the pouch
- Can hop in-and-out of pouch like a jack-in-the-box
- One day the mother will not let it return to the pouch (She kicks it out!)
Interesting Facts
- Mothers can't pick up anything with front paws, so if baby falls it will probably die
- Marsupial - pouched animal
- Macropod - large-footed