THE RED KANGAROO 



(Macroptis rufus) 



LITTLE wonder that when Captain Cook and his companions first beheld 

 kangaroos bounding over the plains of Australia they were overwhelmed 

 with astonishment, and regarded them as the most extraordinary animals 

 in the world. They are, indeed, unlike any other creatures, and form the supreme 

 development of the terrestrial and herbivorous section of the marsupial type, being 

 admirably adapted to their environment, and occupying in Australia the place held in 

 other countries by cattle, sheep, antelopes, deer, and hares. For there are kangaroos 

 of all sizes, ranging from the gigantic species, with its 6 foot stature, forming the 

 subject of the present notice, down to the diminutive kangaroo-rats, no larger than 

 rabbits. 



That kangaroos, like all marsupials, bring forth their young in an exceedingly 

 imperfect and helpless condition, it is almost unnecessary to mention ; as is the fact 

 that the females carry them in the pouch not only till they are able to take care of 

 themselves, but, on occasion, till a much later period. Not that it is to be assumed 

 from this that the young of all marsupials are carried in the maternal pouch ; this 

 being in some cases undeveloped, and the offspring in such instances merely 

 clinging for a time to their mothers' nipples. 



For a long time it was generally considered that marsupials were survivors 

 of the ancestral stock which gave rise to the ordinary, and so-called placental, 

 mammals ; but this is now known to be a mistaken view, and marsupials and 

 placentals are evidently divergent branches from a common ancestral stock. In 

 Australia marsupials have developed almost as many different modifications as have 

 the placentals in other parts of the world ; and at first sight there seem few external 

 characters in common to such diverse types as the leaping, bipedal, herbivorous 

 kangaroo, and the cursorial and carnivorous Tasmanian wolf. When, however, the 

 two animals are observed more closely, we may note a curious resemblance in the 

 form of their heads, and, above all, by the great, thick tail, passing almost 

 imperceptibly into the body ; both these features proclaiming their comparatively 

 near relationship and descent from a common ancestor. 



Among the external characteristics of the kangaroo tribe may be noted the 

 somewhat deer-like head, the short fore-limbs, each armed with five toes, and used 

 in progression only when the animal is grazing, and the enormous length and 

 strength of the hind-legs, in which one toe is greatly developed at the expense of 

 the rest, and serves not only to aid in progression, but forms an offensive weapon 

 of great power and effectiveness. In the sitting posture, as represented in the 



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