Red Kangaroo

Macropus rufus

Very Easy (Polygynous)

The **Red Kangaroo** (*Macropus rufus*) is a large Australian marsupial featured in the Australia Pack DLC for *Planet Zoo*.

## Zoopedia Description

### General

**Population in the wild:** 5.8 million (before 2019 fire season)

The red kangaroo (or *Macropus rufus*) is a large species of marsupial mammal that lives throughout Australia, found everywhere except coastal regions and rainforests.

Red kangaroos have large L-shaped back legs and small arms, large rabbit-like ears and a long face with a blunt snout. They are a sexually dimorphic species, meaning the males and females look different; the former being significantly larger, standing between 1.3 and 1.6m tall, with a 1.3m long tail, and weighing between 55 and 90kg; the latter are smaller, standing 0.85 - 1.05m tall and weighing 18 to 40kg. Males have red fur and a pale underside, as well as well-muscled legs, chest and arms, while females have grey fur and do not have large muscles.

The red kangaroo is prolific in Australia so it is not necessary to have efforts in place to preserve the species. Sometimes kangaroos are culled to control the population, and they are often killed for meat and leather. However, hunting and killing of kangaroos is strictly controlled; those who want to shoot kangaroos must have a license and there is a limit to how many kangaroos can be killed each year to make sure a healthy population size is maintained.

### Social

Red kangaroos are social animals and often live in small mixed groups. Males may be solitary.

### Reproduction

Female kangaroos are polyoestrous, meaning they have multiple oestrus cycles and can get pregnant at any time throughout the year. Males detect receptivity by scenting a female’s urine and, when there is a receptive female nearby, may box and kick other males to determine dominance. There will usually be an alpha male in a group who gets to mate with the females until he is ousted by another male who can beat him in these dominance displays. If a female is receptive, the male will firstly grasp her tail and stay close to her for several hours to several days, until she ovulates. They will likely only mate once during this time.

A pregnant mother will give birth to a single joey 33 days after mating, but the young kangaroo is extremely underdeveloped and is born in the embryonic stage. After birth, it climbs from its mother’s reproductive tract up her belly fur to her pouch, where it settles and feeds from the four teats within the pouch, remaining there for 6-7 months before beginning to to leave intermittently. It will leave permanently at 8 months old and is fully weaned at 12 months. Around 18 months old, the young kangaroos become sexually mature and may leave their small group to join an unrelated group.

## Animal Care

 FEEDING STATIONS
 FOOD ENRICHMENT
Grazing Ball Feeder · Hanging Barrel Feeder · Suspended Forager · Hanging Grazer Feeder
Herb scent marker · Large ball · Large Snow Ball · Sprinkler · Small ball · Small Ice Ball Enrichment · Small Ball Colourful · Rubber Duck

## Trivia

### Zoopedia Fun Facts

* Red kangaroos often live in the desert areas of Australia and as such can withstand temperatures up to 44°C
* Red kangaroos are the largest living species of marsupial
* Female kangaroos may be pregnant, have a new-born joey in their pouch and have an older joey still milk-feeding from them all at the same time
* Red kangaroos go through four sets of molars in their lifetime
* Female kangaroos can store a fertilised egg and delay getting pregnant until their previous joey has left the pouch; this is called ‘embryonic diapause’

### Other Trivia

* In the 1.7 Update, the **Red Kangaroo** became a walkabout species.
* The **Red Kangaroo** was the first animal to have a unique birthing animation, with the joey coming out of the mother's pouch.
	+ The only other animal to have a unique birthing animation is the Red-Necked Wallaby, having a similar interaction.