kangaroo (袋鼠)急要 10!!!

Kangaroos are a strange looking animal with large pointed ears capable of rotating 180 degrees helping them to hear danger from any direction , they have small front legs , huge hind legs with great big feet and a long powerful tail . The tail is used for balance and as a rudder when leaping . When standing the tail of a Kangaroo is used like an extra leg helping them to stand . Sometimes male Kangaroos will fight , when they do they can be seen to stand on their tails only , using both hind (back) legs for kicking and front legs are used for punching , they are very strong animals . Kangaroos have 4 toes on their hind feet 2 of these are very small . Wallabies use their front legs to hold food while Kangaroos bend down and use them for balancing while eating . These animals cannot 'walk' they can only hop with both feet moving together , however when they swim they move their legs one at a time . They have great difficulty moving backwards .

The larger breeds of Kangaroo can live to be as old as 25 years in captivity however the average lifespan is between 12 and 20 years of age .

2007-05-17 22:58:32 補充：
Kangaroos usually live in family groups called Mobs . These Mobs can be as large as 100 , many of the smaller Wallabies and Kangaroo Rats live alone .

A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae. In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the Red Kangaroo, the Antilopine Kangaroo, and the Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroo of the Macropus genus. The family also includes many smaller species which include the wallabies, tree-kangaroos, wallaroos, pademelons and the Quokka, some 63 living species in all.[1] Kangaroos are endemic to the continent of Australia, while the smaller macropods are found in Australia and New Guinea.
In general, larger kangaroos have adapted much better to changes wrought to the Australian landscape by humans, as many of their smaller cousins are endangered. However there is considerable controversy over farming of kangaroos for meat.
The kangaroo is an Australian icon: it is featured on the Australian Coat of Arms,[2] on some currency,[3] and is used by many Australian organizations, including Qantas.[4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo

A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae. In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the Red Kangaroo, the Antilopine Kangaroo, and the Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroo of the Macropus genus. The family also includes many smaller species which include the wallabies, tree-kangaroos, wallaroos, pademelons and the Quokka, some 63 living species in all.[1] Kangaroos are endemic to the continent of Australia, while the smaller macropods are found in Australia and New Guinea.

In general, larger kangaroos have adapted much better to changes wrought to the Australian landscape by humans, as many of their smaller cousins are endangered. However there is considerable controversy over farming of kangaroos for meat.

The kangaroo is an Australian icon: it is featured on the Australian Coat of Arms,[2] on some currency,[3] and is used by many Australian organizations, including Qantas.[4]

The word kangaroo derives from the Guugu Yimidhirr word gangurru, referring to a grey kangaroo.[5] The name was first recorded as "Kangooroo or Kanguru" on 4 August 1770, by Lieutenant (later Captain) James Cook on the banks of the Endeavour River at the site of modern Cooktown, when HM Bark Endeavour was beached for almost seven weeks to repair damage sustained on the Great Barrier Reef.[6]

A common legend about the kangaroo's English name is that it came from the Aboriginal words for "I don't understand you." According to this legend, Captain James Cook and naturalist Sir Joseph Banks were exploring Australia when they happened upon the animal. They asked a nearby local what the creatures were called. The local responded "Kangaroo", meaning "I don't understand you", which Cook took to be the name of the creature.

Kangaroo soon became adopted into standard English where it has come to mean any member of the family of kangaroos and wallabies. Male kangaroos are called bucks, boomers, jacks, or old men; females are does, flyers, or jills, and the young ones are joeys.[7] The collective noun for kangaroos is a mob, troop, or court. Kangaroos are sometimes colloquially referred to as roos.[8]

There are four species that are commonly referred to as kangaroos:

The Red Kangaroo (Macropus rufus) is the largest surviving marsupial anywhere in the world. Fewer in numbers, the Red Kangaroo occupies the arid and semi-arid centre of the continent. A large male can be 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) tall and weigh 90 kg (200 lb).[9]
The Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) is less well-known than the red (outside of Australia), but the most often seen, as its range covers the fertile eastern part of the continent.
The Western Grey Kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus) is slightly smaller again at about 54 kg (119 lb) for a large male. It is found in the southern part of Western Australia, South Australia near the coast, and the Darling River basin.
The Antilopine Kangaroo (Macropus antilopinus) is, essentially, the far-northern equivalent of the Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroos. Like them, it is a creature of the grassy plains and woodlands, and gregarious.
In addition, there are about 50 smaller macropods closely related to the kangaroo in the family Macropodidae