Kangaroo Facts to Leave You Surprised

This post is a part of A-Z Challenge for bloggers, that takes place every year in the month of April. Bloggers take part in this challenge for self improvement and to overcome the “writer’s block”. Each one of us writes one article everyday, starting from the alphabet ‘A’, right up to ‘Z’. My theme for this year’s challenge is – mind-blowing facts and theories.

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With muscular tails, strong back legs, large feet, short fur and long, pointed ears, this national animal of Australia is simply fantastic.

• Female kangaroos are capable of determining the sex of their offspring. They can even delay gestation when environmental factors don’t seem likely for the survival of their young ones.

• Kangaroos out number humans in Australia! Being the national symbol of Australia, they also appear on postage stamps, coins, and airplanes.
• If pursued, kangaroos mostly retreat towards water bodies, so they can hold their pursuer under and drown them. Intelligent hard work isn’t it?

• A red kangaroo can reach speeds of over 56 kilometers/ hour. Their bounding gait allows them to cover 8 meters in a single leap and to jump 1.8 meters (6 feet) high.
• They can’t move their legs independently, and so, have no other option but to hop.
• Kangaroos can’t jump backwards because of their huge and muscular tail.

• Kangaroos don’t sweat, so in order to keep cool they lick their paws and then rub them on their chest.
• The odds of hitting a kangaroo with your vehicle in Australia are so high that most people living in the country have fitted metal ‘roo bars’ to reduce kangaroo impacts. In Australia, more people are killed by kangaroos than sharks!

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