Besides a body full of ripped muscle, what other survival skills does the kangaroo have?

As the saying goes, if you don't lose weight in March, you'll be sad from April through August. Right now, for those who failed to lose weight in March, this is the saddest time of all. But if you're like the guy below, with a set of sculpted muscles, then April through August is the perfect season to show off that flesh!

Born with a grumpy face

Red kangarooScientific name Macropus rufus. The genus name Macropus comes from ancient Greek: the root makros means "long, large," and pous means foot; the species name rufus is Latin for "red." Red kangarooBig all over: It is not only the largest kangaroo, but also the largest extant marsupial, and the largest extant land mammal native to Australia.

Imagine the pressure of a red kangaroo staring straight at you like this. Photo: Mitsuaki Iwago / mindenpictures

An adult male red kangaroo typically has a body length of 1.3-1.6 m, can generally stand up to 1.8 m tall, with exceptional individuals reaching about 2 m; tail length 1-1.3 m; body weight 55-90 kg. Females are slightly smaller, with a body length generally around 1 m, tail length 0.65-0.85 m, and body weight 18-40 kg.

The "red" of the red kangaroo is mainly shown by the males, which grow a coat of short orange-red to reddish-brown fur, with lighter coloring on the belly and limbs. Female red kangaroos, by contrast, live up to the "big" in their name only, becausefemales are basically blue-gray or brownish-gray, with the belly and limbs also lighter in color; in drier regions, females' fur tends to be more reddish.

The difference between male and female is obvious at a glance. Photo: iltaw.com

The color of female red kangaroos is similar to that of gray kangaroos, so how do you tell the two apart? Look at the face. As one of the species with off-the-charts fighting power in the Australian wild, the red kangaroo, even the female, has a face that says "don't mess with me" at first glance. As for the eastern gray kangaroo and western gray kangaroo, (though you still shouldn't mess with them either, but) if you look only at the face, you can still detect a touch of cuteness.

Cute on the left, fierce on the right (the one on the right should be a male red kangaroo, but that doesn't affect kangaroo face identification, because both males and females wear this same grumpy face). Photo: animalfactsencyclopedia.com

If a gray kangaroo is in a bad mood one day and also wears a grumpy face, how do you tell them apart? Actually,red kangaroos have signature white "highlights" on both sides of their cheeks, and often black spots on the muzzle, and these two features make them look rather fierce (and in fact they really are rather fierce).

As forthe western gray kangaroo, its muzzle is covered with fine hair, which is the facial feature that distinguishes it from the eastern gray kangaroo; in addition, because of its food,the western gray kangaroo has a strong body odor, stinking unbearably, which is also one of their major characteristics.

Western gray kangaroo, with a furry muzzle. Photo: Simon Cherriman / arkive.org

Besides looking at the face, to distinguish red kangaroos from gray kangaroos, you can also look at the tail —the red kangaroo's tail is lighter in color, while the gray kangaroos' tails are darker at the tip。

The red kangaroo's tail "ran out of ink." Photo: hiveminer.com

Eastern gray kangaroo, with all its "ink" pooled at the tip of the tail. Photo: tecape.in

A biped that can only jump

Red kangaroos like to live in arid and semi-arid regions, such as deserts, grasslands, scrubland and open woodland. Apart from the wetter areas,they are distributed across almost the entire Australian continent。

Red kangaroo on open grassland. Photo: Owen Newman / naturepl.com

In Australia, a place where many creatures don't survive past two episodes, red kangaroos must have unique survival skills to get by — their staple food is grass, and they also eat a few leaves,they can go a long time without drinking water, getting moisture only from their food, and their kidneys can highly concentrate urine; in the dry season, they follow watercourses in search of food.

Red kangaroos are mostly active at night; when it's hot, they hide in the shade, reduce their movement, and constantlylick their little short arms. This is because the skin on their little short arms is very thin and rich in capillaries, so thatthe evaporating saliva can effectively carry away heat. In addition, they have a layer of insulating fur.

"It's so hot. With no ice cream to lick, I'll just have to lick my little hands." Photo: Jami Tarris / photoshelter.com

Although red kangaroos, like humans, are bipeds, they do not walk upright,they only jump. An adult male can leap more than 9 m in a single jump, nearly 2 m high, at speeds of up to 65 km per hour.

For a red kangaroo, jumping is a veryenergy-savingway of getting around — the faster they jump, the more efficient their energy use; at full speed, their energy recovery rate can reach about 70%.

A kangaroo in mid-jump. Photo: The World Safari / youtube

Although red kangaroos have such strong survival abilities, no kangaroo can outsmart fate: if food is scarce, their numbers will still be affected. But mother kangaroos also have theembryonic diapause"superpower," which lets the baby wait until the right time to be born.

Inside a mother kangaroo's pouch. Although a mother kangaroo gives birth to only one "peanut" at a time, the pouch has multiple teats, and each teat can independently secrete milk with a different nutritional composition — quite sophisticated indeed. A mother kangaroo will also stick her head into the pouch and lick it clean. Photo: Geoff Shaw / wikimedia

A newborn red kangaroo baby is only as big as a peanut, and needs to keep developing in the pouch for about 33 days; at 7 to 10 months old, they gradually leave the pouch and play on the ground; only at 12 to 17 months do they wean.

A mother red kangaroo and her baby. Photo: Juergen & Christine Sohns / mindenpictures

Like many marsupials,kangaroos have three vaginas: the two on either side are the passages for sperm to reach the uterus, and the middle one is the birth canal used to deliver the "peanut." Don't be fooled by a male kangaroo's muscles making him look like a straight-laced tough guy — hispenis is actually curved, which is how it enters the side vaginas and avoids going into the wrong place. Some other marsupials have a forked tip on the penis, allowing it to enter both side vaginas at once.

Curved... Photo: Vicki Sinclair / travelblog.org

Walking alongside humans

In Australia, the kangaroo population is basically twice the human population.According to a 2017 report, Australia had about 50 million kangaroos. Too many kangaroos compete with livestock for food and water, damage crops, and in some places even threaten people's safety. So some experts have suggested that people eat more kangaroo meat. Reading this, are foodies' hearts, eager to save the world, starting to stir again?

Of course, in rural Australia there are also frequent reports of kangaroos being injured or killed by passing vehicles. Photo: Gerard Lacz / FLPA / mindenpictures

According to the relevant Australian government regulations of 2008,only six speciesof kangaroo may be hunted for commercial purposes in different states or territories: the red kangaroo (Macropus rufus), eastern gray kangaroo (M. giganteus), western gray kangaroo (M. fuliginosus), common wallaroo (M. robustus), red-necked wallaby (M. rufogriseus rufogriseus) and red-bellied pademelon (Thylogale billardierii).

Swipe left and right to see, in order, the red kangaroo, eastern gray kangaroo, western gray kangaroo, common wallaroo and red-necked wallaby of the genus Macropus, as well as the red-bellied pademelon of the genus Thylogale. Photo: fir0002 & Sklmsta & Michael Barritt & Karen May & JJ Harrison / wikimedia; Eric Woods / gettyimages.com; Sebastian Kennerknecht / mindenpictures

Kangaroos are mostly muscular, and their meat is high in protein and low in fat, making it seem as if it's tasty and won't make you gain weight, but in fact kangaroo meat really doesn't taste good. (Otherwise, would the Australian government need to work so hard to promote it!) It's said that local Chinese restaurants usually use onions equal to half the weight of the kangaroo meat to remove the gamey smell — you can imagine the taste.

Besides the meat being edible, kangaroo testicles can also be made into handicrafts, such as bottle openers and coin purses; the claws can be made into back scratchers; the skin can be made into wallets, hats and so on, or kept as a whole piece for decoration.

Just looking at it makes you wince... Photo: souvenirsaustralia.com

When Australia is mentioned today, the kangaroo is probably better known than the capital, Canberra. The kangaroo image appears on Qantas, the Australian Made logo, currency, air force insignia, and even the national coat of arms.

The Australian coat of arms, with an emu [ér miáo] on the right. Photo: Sodacan / wikimedia

In addition, the Aboriginal rock art of Kakadu National Park features images of kangaroos. These rock paintings date back more than 20,000 years and are among the oldest records of human history.

Kangaroos bear witness to human civilization. Photo: Brooke

It can be seen that the value of kangaroos goes far beyond being eaten or dismembered into souvenirs; it is one of Australia's symbols and emblems. More importantly, the kangaroo is also a participant in and witness to human civilization.

This article is the 156th article of year 4 of Species Calendar, from Species Calendar author @Brooke.

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