The Eastern grey kangaroo represents the most renowned group in all of Australia – marsupials. Marsupials are common to Australia, but not many people know that alongside 200 Australian species, there are also 70 species which live in Asia and North and South America and are known as possums.

The kangaroo’s jump can reach a distance of nine meters, and its speed can reach up to 50 kilometers per hour. The gestation period lasts 36 days, while ovulation is longer. In this species, pregnancy is delayed through a special process, in which fetal development happens after birth. The baby, also called the joey, is born, climbs into the mother’s pouch, and remains there for eleven months, while gradually spending more and more time out of the pouch. After emerging from the pouch, the joey nurses for an additional nine months and is protected by its mother. The composition of the mother’s milk changes in accordance with the growth of the baby.

The males display aggressive behavior when vying for the females’ heart. This behavior includes boxing and kicking, as well as making threatening gargling noises.

Marsupials differ from other mammal species in many ways, but the most apparent among them is the method of breeding. Most marsupials (although not all) are characterized by the formation of a pouch, a kind of external uterus, on the female’s body.  Most do not have a placenta, and most important of all, is that in relation to other mammals, the babies are born after an especially brief pregnancy (8 – 43 days), and they are extremely under-developed when born. One could say that at birth, their level of development is just enough to enable them to crawl into the pouch and nurse.

Today, there are two million kangaroos of this species in Australia and hunting them for food and fur is permitted in accordance with prescribed amounts.

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