Kangaroos
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Kangaroos
Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern grey kangaroo, and western grey kangaroo. Kangaroos are indigenous to Australia and New Guinea. The Australian government estimates that 42.8 million kangaroos lived within the commercial harvest areas of Australia in 2019, down from 53.2 million in 2013. As with the terms " wallaroo" and "wallaby", "kangaroo" refers to a paraphyletic grouping of species. All three terms refer to members of the same taxonomic family, Macropodidae, and are distinguished according to size. The largest species in the family are called "kangaroos" and the smallest are generally called "wallabies". The term "wallaroos" refers to species of an intermediate size. There are also the tree-kangaroos, another type of macropod, which inhabit the tropic ...
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Red Kangaroo
The red kangaroo (''Osphranter rufus'') is the largest of all kangaroos, the largest terrestrial mammal native to Australia, and the largest extant marsupial. It is found across mainland Australia, except for the more fertile areas, such as southern Western Australia, the eastern and southeastern coasts, and the rainforests along the northern coast. Taxonomy The initial description of the species by A.G. Desmarest was published in 1822. The type location was given as an unknown location west of the Blue Mountains. The author assigned the new species to the genus ''Kangurus''. In 1842, Gould reassigned the species to the genus '' Osphranter'', a taxon later submerged as a subgenus of '' Macropus''. A taxonomic restructure in 2015 in ''Taxonomy of Australian Mammals'' by Jackson and Groves promoted ''Osphranter'' back to genus level, redefining the red kangaroo, among others, as species within the genus ''Osphranter''. This was further supported by genetic analysis in 2019 ...
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Osphranter Rufus
The red kangaroo (''Osphranter rufus'') is the largest of all kangaroos, the largest terrestrial mammal native to Australia, and the largest extant marsupial. It is found across mainland Australia, except for the more fertile areas, such as southern Western Australia, the eastern and southeastern coasts, and the rainforests along the northern coast. Taxonomy The initial description of the species by A.G. Desmarest was published in 1822. The type location was given as an unknown location west of the Blue Mountains. The author assigned the new species to the genus ''Kangurus''. In 1842, Gould reassigned the species to the genus '' Osphranter'', a taxon later submerged as a subgenus of ''Macropus''. A taxonomic restructure in 2015 in ''Taxonomy of Australian Mammals'' by Jackson and Groves promoted ''Osphranter'' back to genus level, redefining the red kangaroo, among others, as species within the genus ''Osphranter''. This was further supported by genetic analysis in 2019. ...
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Marsupial
Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a pouch. Marsupials include opossums, Tasmanian devils, kangaroos, koalas, wombats, wallabies, bandicoots, and the extinct thylacine. Marsupials represent the clade originating from the last common ancestor of extant metatherians, the group containing all mammals more closely related to marsupials than to placentals. They give birth to relatively undeveloped young that often reside in a pouch located on their mothers' abdomen for a certain amount of time. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur on the Australian continent (the mainland, Tasmania, New Guinea and nearby islands). The remaining 30% are found in the Americas—primarily in South America, thirteen in Central America, and one species, the Virginia opossum, in Nort ...
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Joey (marsupial)
Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a pouch. Marsupials include opossums, Tasmanian devils, kangaroos, koalas, wombats, wallabies, bandicoots, and the extinct thylacine. Marsupials represent the clade originating from the last common ancestor of extant metatherians, the group containing all mammals more closely related to marsupials than to placentals. They give birth to relatively undeveloped young that often reside in a pouch located on their mothers' abdomen for a certain amount of time. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur on the Australian continent (the mainland, Tasmania, New Guinea and nearby islands). The remaining 30% are found in the Americas—primarily in South America, thirteen in Central America, and one species, the Virginia opossum, in North Ame ...
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Tree-kangaroo
Tree-kangaroos are marsupials of the genus ''Dendrolagus'', adapted for arboreal locomotion. They inhabit the tropical rainforests of New Guinea and far northeastern Queensland, along with some of the islands in the region. All tree-kangaroos are considered threatened due to hunting and habitat destruction. They are the only true arboreal macropods. Evolutionary history The evolutionary history of tree-kangaroos possibly begins with a rainforest floor-dwelling pademelon-like ancestor. This ancestor possibly evolved from an arboreal possum-like ancestor as is suspected of all macropodid marsupials in Australia and New Guinea. During the late Eocene, the Australian/New Guinean continent began a period of drying that caused a retreat in the area of rainforest, which forced the ancestral pademelons to begin living in a dryer, rockier environment. After some generations of adaptation to the new environment, the pademelons may have evolved into rock-wallabies (''Petrogale'' spp.), ...
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Western Grey Kangaroo
The western grey kangaroo (''Macropus fuliginosus''), also referred to as a western grey giant kangaroo, black-faced kangaroo, mallee kangaroo, sooty kangaroo and (when referring to the Kangaroo Island subspecies) Kangaroo Island grey kangaroo, is a large and very common kangaroo found across almost the entire southern part of Australia, from just south of Shark Bay through coastal Western Australia and South Australia, into western Victoria, and in the entire Murray–Darling basin in New South Wales and Queensland. Taxonomy Long known to the Aboriginal Australians, for Europeans, the western grey kangaroo was the centre of a great deal of sometimes comical taxonomic confusion for almost 200 years. It was first noted by European explorers when Matthew Flinders landed on Kangaroo Island in 1802. Flinders shot several for food, but assumed that they were eastern grey kangaroos. In 1803, French explorers captured several Kangaroo Island western grey kangaroos and shipped them to ...
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Lumholtz's Tree-kangaroo
Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo (''Dendrolagus lumholtzi'') is a rare, long-tailed bear-like mammal found in rainforests in northeastern Australia. Like most tree-kangaroos (genus ''Dendrolagus''), it lives alone in trees and feeds on plant matter. It belongs to the macropod family (Macropodidae) with kangaroos, and carries its young in a pouch like other marsupials. It is threatened by climate change and diseases, and is found in the hilly, fertile Atherton Tableland in Queensland. Name The species name ''lumholtzi'' is after the Norwegian explorer Carl Sofus Lumholtz (1851–1922), who was the first European to record a specimen in 1883. The local indigenous Dyirbal and Yidiny language Yidiny (also spelled Yidiɲ, Yidiñ, Jidinj, Jidinʲ, Yidinʸ, Yidiń ) is a nearly extinct Australian Aboriginal language, spoken by the Yidinji people of north-east Queensland. Its traditional language region is within the local government are ... name may have been either "mabi" or "mapi". ...
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Wallaroo
Wallaroo is a common name for several species of moderately large macropods, intermediate in size between the kangaroos and the wallabies. The word "wallaroo" is from the Dharug ''walaru'', and not a portmanteau of the words "kangaroo" and "wallaby", as is commonly assumed. Description Wallaroos are typically distinct species from kangaroos and wallabies. An exception is the antilopine wallaroo, which is commonly known as an antilopine kangaroo when large, an antilopine wallaby (when small), or an antilopine wallaroo when of intermediate size. Species Wallaroo may refer to one of several species in the genus '' Osphranter'': * The common wallaroo or wallaroo (''Osphranter robustus'') is the best-known species. There are four subspecies of the common wallaroo: the eastern wallaroo (''O. r. robustus'') and the euro (''O. r. erubescens''), which are both widespread, and two of more restricted range, one from Barrow Island (the Barrow Island wallaroo (''O. r. isabellinus ...
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Pouch (marsupial)
The pouch is a distinguishing feature of female marsupials, monotremes and possibly most extinct non- placental mammals including eutherians like '' Zalambdalestes'' (and rarely in the males as in the water opossumNogueira, José Carlos, et al.Morphology of the male genital system of Chironectes minimus and comparison to other didelphid marsupials. Journal of mammalogy 85.5 (2004): 834-841. and the extinct thylacine); the name marsupial is derived from the Latin ''marsupium'', meaning "pouch". Marsupials give birth to a live but relatively undeveloped fetus called a joey. When the joey is born it crawls from inside the mother to the pouch. The pouch is a fold of skin with a single opening that covers the teats. Inside the pouch, the blind offspring attaches itself to one of the mother’s teats and remains attached for as long as it takes to grow and develop to a juvenile stage. Variations Pouches are different amongst different marsupials, two kinds distinguishable (on th ...
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Antilopine Kangaroo
The antilopine kangaroo (''Osphranter antilopinus''), also known as the antilopine wallaroo or the antilopine wallaby, is a species of macropod found in northern Australia: in Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, the Top End of the Northern Territory, and the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is a locally common, gregarious grazer. Taxonomy The description of the species by John Gould was published in 1842, one of four new species of 'kangaroos' presented before the Zoological Society of London in 1841. The type location was given as Port Essington. The author assigned the new species to the genus '' Osphranter'', a taxon later submerged as a subgenus of ''Macropus'', and recognised an affinity with his earlier description of '' Macropus robustus'' (known as the common wallaroo or euro). A taxonomic restructuring in 2019, based on genetic analysis, promoted ''Osphranter'' back to genus level, redefining the antilopine kangaroo and the red kangaroo, among others, as spec ...
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Osphranter Antilopinus
The antilopine kangaroo (''Osphranter antilopinus''), also known as the antilopine wallaroo or the antilopine wallaby, is a species of macropod found in northern Australia: in Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, the Top End of the Northern Territory, and the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is a locally common, gregarious grazer. Taxonomy The description of the species by John Gould was published in 1842, one of four new species of 'kangaroos' presented before the Zoological Society of London in 1841. The type location was given as Port Essington. The author assigned the new species to the genus '' Osphranter'', a taxon later submerged as a subgenus of ''Macropus'', and recognised an affinity with his earlier description of '' Macropus robustus'' (known as the common wallaroo or euro). A taxonomic restructuring in 2019, based on genetic analysis, promoted ''Osphranter'' back to genus level, redefining the antilopine kangaroo and the red kangaroo, among others, as spe ...
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Wallaby
A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and sometimes the same genus, but kangaroos are specifically categorised into the four largest species of the family. The term "wallaby" is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or a wallaroo that has not been designated otherwise. There are nine species (eight extant and one extinct) of the brush wallaby (genus ''Notamacropus''). Their head and body length is and the tail is long. The 19 known species of rock-wallabies (genus ''Petrogale'') live among rocks, usually near water; two species in this genus are endangered. The two living species of hare-wallabies (genus ''Lagorchestes''; two other species in this genus are extinct) are small animals that have the movements and some of the habits ...
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