434 



POUCHED ANIMALS 



jecting incisors of the lower jaw, the absence of canine 

 teeth, and the peculiarly ridged surface of the molars. 



The tail of the Kangaroo thick, strong, and tapering is 

 over three feet in length and a foot in circumference at its 

 base. It acts as a supplemental limb when the animal 

 assumes an erect or sitting posture, with the hind legs 

 forming an excellent tripod. It is also of use as a balance 

 in leaping, and as a weapon it can deal a blow capable of 

 breaking a man's leg. When feeding, or walking short dis- 

 tances on all fours, the Kangaroo is exceedingly clumsy ; 

 but when alarmed it travels at a great speed in a series of 

 leaps, of as much as twenty feet, and clearing with ease 

 obstacles nine and ten feet in height. 



The woolly fur is usually brown in colour, lightening to 

 grey, especially on the under side ; the tail is tipped with 



black. The skin when 

 tanned forms a soft and 

 / x durable shoe leather. 



No mammal in any of 

 the orders previously 

 described is produced at 

 birth in such an unde- 

 veloped state as the 

 TEETH OF THE GREAT KANGAROO. young Kangaroo. Pro- 



fessor Owen, from close 



observation in the Zoological Gardens, described the 

 young marsupial as resembling more than anything else an 

 earthworm in the colour and transparency of its integu- 

 ment. Yet though little more than an inch in length, it 

 breathed slowly but strongly, while it adhered to one of the 

 four nipples to which the mother applies her young with 

 her mouth. The newly born little animal is too weak to 

 obtain milk by sucking. This difficulty is met by the 

 parent contracting a muscle of the mammary gland to 

 inject the liquid into the mouth of her progeny until it 

 gains sufficient strength to feed itself. 



There is only one young one at a birth. Before it leaves 

 the pouch it may be seen poking out its head to nibble the 

 herbage among which the mother is moving. Even after it 

 is able to make fair progression it will fly to the pouch when 



