Red Kangaroo

• Range: Red kangaroos live over most of the dry, inland, central part of Australia.
  
• Habitat: Areas where rainfall averages less than 500 millimeters. They prefer open plains habitats with neither trees nor bushes, but are seldom found in regions without shade.
  
• Description: The largest living and most prolific marsupial, red kangaroos are about 6 feet tall and can weigh as much as 175 pounds. The females are a little shorter than the males. Also, while the males have a reddish coat, the females are often more blue-gray in color
  
• Diet: These animals feed mostly on grass and other vegetation. They can do without water for a long period of time, feeding only on vegetation. Eating takes place mostly at night, but may begin in the late evening and extend into early morning.
  
• Behavior: Red kangaroos prefer to live alone or in small groups but come together in larger groups when food is scarce. During the hottest hours of the day kangaroos rest in the shade of bushes. Of all marsupials, only kangaroos are bipeds, moving more naturally on two legs than four. Their foreshortened upper limbs terminate in clawed paws used with great dexterity in eating, grooming and self-defense. Their most powerful method of defense is to kick with their strong hind legs. They fight using the forefeet to hold the antagonist while rearing on the tail and giving powerful kicks with the hind feet.
  
• Breeding: The gestation period is short. The young are born 33 days after mating and mating can occur again a day or two after parturition. Young kangaroos are known as joeys. Joeys are tiny when born, averaging only 2.5 centimeters long. After the joey is born, it crawls up the mother's fur, into her pouch and immediately attaches itself to a nipple. During this period, the sucking stimulus prevents the reoccurence of fertility cycles. Given favorable conditions, a mother red kangaroo produces and raises an average of three young every two years.