How is a kangaroo adapted?

Answer 1

Kangaroos are uniquely adapted to life in Australia, a country that suffers frequent droughts.

• The mother kangaroo spends most of her adult life pregnant, but in drought times, she has the ability to indefinitely "freeze" the development of the young embryo until food sources are replenished.
• The mother can also produce two different types of milk to suit the needs of two different aged joeys. She might have a more mature joey that spends less time in the pouch, while a very young embryo has attached itself to a teat. Each joey has different milk requirements - which the mother is able to supply.
• Kangaroos are able to travel long distances at a high speed, expending very little energy. They are very energy-efficient, and this is linked directly to the physical action of bringing their hind legs up with each hop. Every hop literally refills the lungs.
• Kangaroos have large, strong tendons in their hind legs which act as "springs". The springing motion requires less energy than running does, so kangaroos are able to bound for longer distances than other mammals with the standard four legs can run. They have strong back legs and elongated hind feet for bounding.
• Kangaroos are strong swimmers. Many parts of Australia are subject to seasonal flooding rains, but the kangaroo's body shape does not prohibit it from swimming. In fact, kangaroos have been observed swimming to offshore islands off the southern coast. This is the only time the kangaroo's hind legs move independently of each other.
• Kangaroos are more active in the cooler hours of the early morning and the late afternoon. During the heat of the day they are more sedentary, lying around quietly and chewing their cud.
• The teeth of the kangaroo are continuously being worn down by the tough grasses they eat. Instead of continuously growing, once a kangaroo's front teeth are worn down completely, they fall out, and the back teeth move forwards to take the place of the worn front teeth. Kangaroos have four such pairs of chewing teeth.
• Kangaroos have the ability to hear very well: kangaroos can twitch their ears independently around to determine the direction of specific sounds, much as a cat does
• They have long, strong tails for balancing.
• In hot weather, kangaroos use saliva to cool down, licking their forearms where there is little muscle tissue and blood veins run close to the surface. When the saliva evaporates from the fur, it cools down the kangaroo.

These adaptations are the same for most species of kangaroos, including Red Kangaroos, Grey Kangaroos, wallaroos and wallabies.

Answer 2

A tree kangaroo is an arboreal-dwelling marsupial, spending much of its time feeding and resting in trees. To that end, it has numerous adaptations quite different from those of its terrestrial cousins, and which give it more agility for its arboreal habitat.

• The tree kangaroo has a long, cylindrical non-prehensile tail, which is used as a rudder as it jumps from branch to branch in the trees.
• It is a marsupial, giving birth to undeveloped young which must continue their development in the mother's pouch.
• Its body size averages 66cm in length, excluding the tail, which is about as long as the body.
• It has larger forelegs and smaller hindlegs than kangaroos and wallabies.
• Its ears are short and rounded.
• The tree kangaroo has darker extremities, such as a black face and black paws, and is lighter on its underbelly. Its back is dark, ranging from a vivid dusky orange or rusty red to brown to dark grey, depending on the species.

Answer 3

• A Tree kangaroo has a long, cylindrical non-prehensile tail, which is used as a rudder as it jumps from branch to branch in the trees - this helps it to keep its balance.
• It has larger forelegs and smaller hindlegs than kangaroos and wallabies - these features help it to climb and leap from branch to branch.
• It has shorter, rounded ears compared to its ground-dwelling counterparts.
• It feeds on fruits and leaves of the trees in which it lives, rather than ground-dwelling grasses.
• It has a red or mahogany-brown back with a yellow face, belly and feet. The long cylindrical tail is mostly yellow. Its colour enables it to camouflage effectively within rainforest trees.

Answer 4

• A Tree kangaroo has a long, cylindrical non-prehensile tail, which is used as a rudder as it jumps from branch to branch in the trees - this helps it to keep its balance in its tree habitat. It has larger forelegs and smaller hindlegs than kangaroos and wallabies - these features help it to climb and leap from branch to branch.
• It feeds on fruits and leaves of the trees in which it lives, rather than ground-dwelling grasses, so it can stay in the trees, away from predators.
• It has a red or mahogany-brown back with a yellow face, belly and feet. The long cylindrical tail is mostly yellow. Its colour enables it to camouflage effectively within rainforest trees.

Answer 5

Kangaroos are uniquely adapted to life in Australia. They do not live in the sandy desert, but they tend to inhabit drier, semi-arid areas. Because of this, they have a number of key adaptations to improve their chances of survival.

• The mother kangaroo spends most of her adult life pregnant, but in drought times, she has the ability to indefinitely "freeze" the development of the young embryo until food sources are replenished.
• The mother can also produce two different types of milk to suit the needs of two different aged joeys. She might have a more mature joey that spends less time in the pouch, while a very young embryo has attached itself to a teat. Each joey has different milk requirements - which the mother is able to supply.
• Kangaroos are able to travel long distances at a high speed, expending very little energy. They are very energy-efficient, and this is linked directly to the physical action of bringing their hind legs up with each hop. Every hop literally refills the lungs.
• Kangaroos have large, strong tendons in their hind legs which act as "springs". The springing motion requires less energy than running does, so kangaroos are able to bound for longer distances than other mammals with the standard four legs can run. They have strong back legs and elongated hind feet for bounding.
• Kangaroos are strong swimmers. Many parts of Australia are subject to seasonal flooding rains, but the kangaroo's body shape does not prohibit it from swimming. In fact, kangaroos have been observed swimming to offshore islands off the southern coast. This is the only time the kangaroo's hind legs move independently of each other.
• Kangaroos are more active in the cooler hours of the early morning and the late afternoon. During the heat of the day they are more sedentary, lying around quietly and chewing their cud.
• The teeth of the kangaroo are continuously being worn down by the tough grasses they eat. Instead of continuously growing, once a kangaroo's front teeth are worn down completely, they fall out, and the back teeth move forwards to take the place of the worn front teeth. Kangaroos have four such pairs of chewing teeth.
• Kangaroos have the ability to hear very well: kangaroos can twitch their ears independently around to determine the direction of specific sounds, much as a cat does.
• They have long, strong tails for balancing.

Answer 6

There is no species called the Red Tree Kangaroo. The animal which many people believe is a red tree kangaroo is actually a Golden-mantled tree Kangaroo. Adaptations of this creature include:

• A long, cylindrical non-prehensile tail, which is used as a rudder as it jumps from branch to branch in the trees
• Its body size averages 66cm in length, excluding the tail, which is about as long as the body
• It has larger forelegs and smaller hindlegs than kangaroos and wallabies
• It has shorter, rounded ears compared to its ground-dwelling counterparts
• It feeds on fruits and leaves, rather than grasses