KANGAROO: A marsupial animal found in Australia.

Typically large kangaroos have sheeplike heads, large, movable ears, slender chests and heavy hind parts.

They have short front legs with five unequal digits and long, powerful hind legs with tendons that act like springs for energy-efficient hopping.

A large kangaroo can cover a distance of 9m in a single leap. A large kangaroo, although ordinarily timid, is dangerous when at bay, pummeling its attacker with its forepaws and slashing with its powerful hind legs.

The long, muscular tail is used as a support when the animal sits or walks and for balance when it leaps.

The female kangaroo, have special abdominal pouches. the newly born young, known as a joey, finds its way into the pouch unassisted by the mother. The pouch, in which the joey is kept until it is 5-9 months old contains four mammary glands, of which two at a time are functional.

The joey emerges permanently from -10 months and then stays with its mother, continuing to suckle by placing its head in her pouch, usually until it is 12-18 months old.

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