Western gray giant kangaroo
| Western gray giant kangaroo | ||||||||||||
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Two western gray kangaroos ( Macropus fuliginosus ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Macropus fuliginosus | ||||||||||||
| ( Desmarest , 1817) |
The western gray giant kangaroo ( Macropus fuliginosus ) is a species of marsupial from the kangaroo family (Macropodidae). It is the smallest and rarest species of the three giant kangaroos .
description
The western gray giant kangaroo reaches a length of 1.1 to 1.3 meters and an average weight of 28 kilograms without the approximately one meter long tail. Its fur is gray-brown to chocolate-brown in color; it differs from the similar eastern gray giant kangaroo by a white spot on the throat and the white-colored belly. As with most kangaroos, their physique is characterized by their long, powerful tail, muscular hind legs, short front legs and elongated head with large ears.
distribution and habitat
This kangaroo is native to all of southern Australia. Their distribution area extends from southern Western Australia via South Australia to New South Wales and southern Queensland . They also live on Kangaroo Island (which has its own subspecies), but not in Tasmania . They inhabit a number of habitats, including open forests, as well as heather and grasslands. It is important to have a diversely structured habitat that offers trees as shade and open space for foraging. Sometimes they can also be found near human settlements, for example on golf courses.
behavior
These animals are predominantly crepuscular or nocturnal. During the day, they sleep in the shade of trees to go foraging at night. You know two ways of getting around. When foraging for food, they move on all fours, rely on their short front legs and graze the ground. At high speed they only hop with their hind legs in the familiar way, the tail is used for balance.
Western giant kangaroos live together in loose groups, which, however, have no permanent structures. Females often stay close to their mother even after they have given birth. During the mating season, a male seeks contact with the females in order to reproduce with them, later it leaves the group again. Other males form bachelor groups, by fighting they try to displace the dominant male of a group in order to procreate. These fights consist of biting and kicking with the front paws. An animal can inhabit a territory of up to 500 hectares, but they do not show any territorial behavior.
food
The food of the western giant kangaroos is purely vegetable, it consists of grass, leaves and bark. A multi-chambered stomach and special microorganisms in the digestive tract help digest food. The animals have to drink very little and get most of the fluids they need from food.
Reproduction
Mating can take place all year round, but is dependent on food availability and the number of births peaks in spring and early summer. After a gestation period of around 30 days, usually one, rarely two young animals are born. This climbs into the bag on its own, where it clings to one of the four teats and spends the first ten months of its life. Delayed birth, as is the case with other kangaroos, is not observed.
The young animal comes out of the bag for the first time after around 300 days, and at just under a year old it no longer fits. It is still suckled up to the age of 18 months, a record among marsupials. Sexual maturity occurs at around two years of age.
These kangaroos can live up to 20 years in captivity, but in the wild they hardly get older than ten years.
Systematics
This species belongs to the genus Macropus , which also includes the wallabies and the mountain kangaroos . Its closest relative is the similar, but somewhat larger, Eastern Gray Giant Kangaroo , but it is more distantly related to the Red Giant Kangaroo .
There are two subspecies, Macropus fuliginosus fuliginosus on the kangaroo island and M. f. melanops on the mainland.
threat
Adult animals have few natural enemies, young and sick animals sometimes fall prey to dingoes . Their only serious threat is humans, but like all large species of kangaroo they have been less affected by the arrival of Europeans than smaller species. They used to be hunted for their meat and fur and sometimes because they devastate plantations. Hunting is strictly limited today and the western gray giant kangaroo is not an endangered species.
The species is no longer kept in Europe, former owners are Berlin, Nuremberg, Frankfurt, Antwerp and Rotterdam.
supporting documents
literature
- Udo Gansloßer (Ed.): The kangaroos . Filander, Fürth 1999, ISBN 3-930831-30-9 .
- Ronald Strahan: Mammals of Australia. Smithsonian Books, Washington DC 1996, ISBN 1-56098-673-5 .
- Ronald M. Nowak: Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
Web links
- Macropus fuliginosus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Australasian Marsupial & Monotreme Specialist Group, 1996. Retrieved on 12 May, 2006.