Kangaroo Rats

Kangaroo mice and desert hopping mice can survive in their harsh, arid desert habitat because they do not need much water. They get the moisture they need from their food, such as insects, seeds and roots, and they look for food at night when it is cool.

They dig deep, 1-2 metre long sloping tunnels down to where the desert sand is damp. Then they dig new entrances vertically, filling in the old sloping entrance, to protect themselves from predators.

Kangaroo rats are preyed upon by wild cats, foxes, coyotes, wolves, and Birds of Prey, such as hawks and falcons.

No. Tree kangaroos do not hibernate. There is no species of kangaroo which hibernates.

• owls
• snakes
• bobcats
• foxes
• cat
• dog
• ringtail
• coyotes
• badgers

Koalas breed between August and February. 35 days after conception, the tiny, blind, hairless embryo emerges and moves into its mother's pouch, purely by instinct. At this stage it weighs about half a gram. Once in the mother's pouch, it then latches onto a teat, which swells in its mouth, securing it firmly so it does not fall out of the pouch. The koala baby, called a joey, feeds only on mothers' milk for 6-7 months.

To make the transition from mothers' milk to eucalyptus leaves, at about 6-7 months the joey begins to feed on "pap", which is actually a special form of the mother's droppings through which she can pass onto her joey the micro organisms which allow for digestion of eucalyptus leaves. No other animal lives solely on gum leaves, and special proteins are needed to digest them. One of the reasons the koala has a backward-opening pouch is so that the joey can stick its head out and feed on this pap which comes from the mother's own digestive system.

When the joey grows too large to fit in its mother's pouch, it still feeds a bit on mother's milk, lying on her stomach to feed, and spending the rest of its time firmly attached to her back. It only leaves "home" when the next breeding season starts.

For a diagram of the koala's life cycle, see the related link below.

A primary adaptation of kangaroo rats is that they seldom drink water. They obtain most of their water needs from seeds and plants that they eat.

In order to survive the heat and dryness of their environment, kangaroo rats burrow into the dirt, in order to take away the top layer, which is heated by the Sun, to get to the cool dirt underneath. They also obtain most of their moisture needs from the food they eat, and do not need to take in extra water.

Kangaroo rats have well developed hind legs. The animal uses its legs to escape from predators, and they are able to leap very high, despite their small size.

The kangaroo rat's fur matches the colour of the sand and rocks where it lives in the deserts of the Southwestern US and this helps it to camouflage from predators.

Kangaroo rats primarily eat seeds. They get these by foraging in the desert. Whenever they find a surplus, they store it for a time when there is no available food.

their are many prey of the kangaroo rat

Like many Death Valley residents, the kangaroo rat lives for the nightlife. It spends most of its day napping underground, only venturing out after sunset. Of course, taking advantage of the cool nighttime temps is a common trick among desert mammals. What's not common is how the kangaroo rat has adapted to deal with the scarcity of water: It never drinks the stuff! Special organs inside its nose allow it to absorb moisture directly from the air, and highly efficient kidneys keep its body hydrated. In fact, the kangaroo rat is so well adapted to the dry climate that even after living in captivity for years, it will still refuse water.

Kangaroo rats cannot live without moisture, but they can live without drinking water. Kangaroo rats are specially adapted for the desert conditions in which they live, and they can therefore obtain all their moisture needs from the food they eat.

the dig a hole in the ground and stay in the hole.

There is no such creature as the Australian kangaroo rat. The kangaroo rat is a rodent found in North America. Australia has rat kangaroos, which are marsupials belonging to the kangaroo family.

Kanagroo Rats eat seeds and sometimes eat the vegetative parts of plants.

There are around a dozen different species of tree kangaroos in Australia and New Guinea, and figures vary according to the species.

Scott's Tree Kangaroo (also known as the Tenkile) of New Guinea is one of the most endangered species, and in 2001 there were believed to be only around 100 of these animals left. The population seems to be recovering slowly. The Wondiwoi tree kangaroo is critically endangered, possibly even already extinct, with an estimated population of no more than 50.

The population of Lumholtz's Tree kangaroo, on the other hand, is listed on the IUCN Red list of threatened Species as "least concern", with a population trend of 'stable', but figures are not available regarding how many are left.

so they become less hot and can adapt to the desert

Kangaroo rats are native to North America, and they are rodents, not marsupials. They can be found in the arid and semi-arid areas of North America, as long as there is some grass or other vegetation.

Kangaroo rats dig burrows to shelter themselves from the heat of their environment. In order to survive the heat and dryness of their environment, kangaroo rats burrow into the dirt, in order to take away the top layer, which is heated by the Sun, to get to the cool dirt underneath. They also obtain most of their moisture needs from the food they eat, and do not need to take in extra water.

Baby joeys are born about 2cm long. They have to get to the mother's pouch, so the mother licks a path from the birth canal to the pouch. Once there, the young joey attaches to a nipple, which swells in its mouth, securing it in place while it continues its development in the mother's pouch.

The joey spends about 6-8 months in the mother's pouch being nursed. In the initial stages, the joey stays attached to the teat until it is ready to begin being independent. A mother kangaroo is capable of having more than one joey of different ages in the pouch at the same time, feeding on different types of milk.

The exact number of giant kangaroo rats left is unknown but they are listed as endangered by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is estimated that there are fewer than 250 mature individuals left in the wild with the majority of them living in California.

• In California they are found in the San Joaquin Valley the Coachella Valley and the Imperial Valley.
• They are also found in the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California.
• In the United States they are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
• In Mexico they are listed as critically endangered.

The giant kangaroo rat is threatened by habitat loss due to agricultural and urban development as well as predation by cats dogs and other animals.

Kangaroo rats are rodents. They are rat-like mammals with long tails and large feet like a miniature kangaroo. However, they are very much smaller than kangaroos, with Giant kangaroo rats having a body length of only 15cm (6 inches). Kangaroo rats are not even remotely related to kangaroos, or rat-kangaroos of Australia.

No. kangaroo rats are native to the drier parts of North America. They can be found in the arid and semi-arid areas of North America, specifically, Canada, the United States and Mexico, as long as there is some grass or other vegetation.

'cause they only have 2% of there natraul habitat left.