Red Kangaroo
Australia's biggest native land mammal and the largest marsupial alive today.
The red kangaroo, Osphranter rufus, is the biggest kangaroo, the largest land mammal native to Australia and the largest living marsupial. It occupies most of mainland Australia, avoiding only the wetter, more fertile regions such as southern Western Australia, the eastern and southeastern coasts and the northern rainforests. Built for dry country, it lives on scrubland, grassland and desert, cools itself by panting, sweating and licking its forearms, and can go long stretches without drinking by pulling moisture from its food and recycling water in its kidneys. Adult males, known to Australians as Big Reds, are a familiar sight of the outback.
Quick Facts
- Scientific name
- Osphranter rufus
- Male weight
- 55 to 90 kg / 198 lb
- Top speed
- Around 60 km/h / 37.3 mph
- Primary habitat
- Scrubland, grassland and desert of western and central Australia
- Body temperature
- About 36 C
Facts from the source article.
Background
A.G. Desmarest first described the species in 1822, placing it in the genus Kangurus and giving its type locality only as somewhere west of the Blue Mountains. Gould moved it to Osphranter in 1842, but that name was later reduced to a subgenus of Macropus. A 2015 revision by Jackson and Groves in Taxonomy of Australian Mammals raised Osphranter back to full genus rank, and genetic analysis in 2019 backed the change. The sexes look quite different: males wear short red-brown fur that pales underneath, while the smaller females are blue-grey with a brown tinge, though females in arid zones tend to be coloured like males.
Did You Know?
- The eyes give a field of vision of about 300°.
- Where food is plentiful, red kangaroos can gather in groups of up to 1,500.
- A newborn arrives after only 33 days and crawls into the pouch in about three to five minutes.
- A cornered kangaroo in water may hold a predator under with its forepaws.
Frequently Asked Questions
How big is a red kangaroo?
The average animal stands about 1.5 m tall upright; big males can exceed 1.8 m and weigh up to 90 kg.
What does a red kangaroo eat?
Mainly green grasses and forbs, with some chenopods and shrubs when favoured food is scarce.
What preys on red kangaroos?
Adults have few predators, though dingo packs, wedge-tailed eagles and saltwater crocodiles can occasionally kill them; joeys are more vulnerable.
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