Marsupial Spotlight: Kangaroo

Kangaroos are likely the most common animal we think of when the country of Australia comes up in conversation. There is a reason for that. They are entirely endemic to to that country. You will not find them anywhere else unless they are visiting as tourists generally accompanied by Jack Hannah. Just because they are only in one spot on the earth does not mean they are endangered. Quite the opposite. If you go to Australia, that place is infested with them!

They are not small either. Many kangaroos can go as high as seven feet. That is taller than most human beings! Pretty scary when you consider they stand upright like a person. Although, it is quite illegal, boxing matches were often arranged between a human and a kangaroo. The marsupial would nearly always win and sometimes kill the poor fellow who thought he could best the animal.

Kangaroos fight mainly by kickboxing. This is even worse when they get a running start. Kangaroos have extremely powerful legs which allow them to hop very fast--sometimes up to 25MPH! I once saw a video of a golfer who was trying to scoop a golf ball out of a water trap. A kangaroo came out of nowhere and kicked the man so hard that he flew into the water head first. It was hilarious, plus I don't think the kangaroo had a good reason to do it other than it was Wednesday.

Another aspect of the kangaroo that I am sure everyone knows is that they have a pouch on their belly--well, at least the females do. Kangaroos are apart of a family known as macropodidae, or you can just call them macropods. This means a number of things; however, the real focus of it is they have large pouches that have an opening which is horizontal to the body. It is a very useful tool for a mother.

The female's pouch is not simply for carrying their young. When the young kangaroo is born, they are placed in the pouch where the female's nipples are located. They latch onto them and the nipple swells up essentially trapping them there where they are fed milk whenever they need it. Unfortunately, if they break free of the nipple early, they die. When they grow up, this pouch serves as a wonderful pocket to ride in. Sound's fun, doesn't it?!

There are so many other things I want to mention about the kangaroo, but I just don't have time. Believe me, I will tell you about them in later spotlights, but for now, I have a very arduous fiction segment to contend with. Kangaroos are everywhere in fiction. I am sure everyone has a famous kangaroo that they love. For me, I grew up with the characters Kanga and Roo in the Disney "Winnie the Pooh" series of movies and shows. Kanga is the mother, and she exemplifies everything a mother should be perfectly. Roo is the perfect child, and I would have loved to have grown up with him. I have yet to read the books, but it is VERY high up on my list right now. I am likely to read them in a month or so.

"Skippy: Adventures in Bushtown" is a very cute Australian cartoon series from 1998 which features two kangaroos and a number of other Australian creatures. Skippy is actually a park ranger and his friend Matilda is remarkably cute. The only problem with the show that I had was the opening intro sequence is way too long. It was so long that by the time the actual episode began, I nearly expected to see credits rolling. Still, this is a fun little show for children.

In 1936, Terrytoons brought up Kiko the Kangaroo--a lovable marsupial who really knew how to throw a punch. I have seen a number of these cartoons and am very sad that he did not really last very long--only 10 short films! I always thought his momentary confusion about how things worked was cute. He had some very funny facial expressions which he really needed since he never ever spoke a word.

Here is a personal favorite of mine. In no less than two "Legend of Zelda" games, a lovable kangaroo by the name of Ricky appeared. He was both a supreme hopper and fighter and was rather proud of his abilities. He even allowed Link to ride about in his pouch while he dished out justice to all the monsters.

In the Johnny Bravo episode called, "Pouch Potato," Johnny is actually adopted by a mother kangaroo which is almost just too sweet to express in words. There are some images that are hard to get out of your head, and seeing a mommy kangaroo dote over someone like Johnny is one of them.

I have personally written a number of kangaroos into my literature. My unpublished story "Sugarfangs" has a very eager, overprotective kangaroo mother who doted much to harshly over the protagonist boy. It was all about how too much mommy can be a bad thing. In my published book "Wild," I had a short story called "Motherhood." In it, a mother kangaroo had a 30-year-old son still in her pouch which was to all a disgrace.

I also have a personal character I like to draw named Tooie Kangaroo. She is an anthropomorphic, large-breasted kangaroo who loves going on adventures. She is also a barbarian and very strong; although, she fails in the intelligence area. Often times, I have made her very stupid. She is currently appearing in a web comic called "The Questionable Quest," which I will link at the bottom of this blog. Tooie has been so popular that no less than 20 people have asked me permission so they can draw a picture of her themselves. Now, that's just awesome.

Kangaroos are big, bad, and awesome! They represent so many things--power, speed, motherhood. They are extremely inspiring; however, they're are many types of kangaroos that I will be spotlighting later. Stay tuned for more or else you might go hopping mad!

Thank you for reading my blog! If you enjoyed it, you can comment below, or you can email me at tooie@tooiekangaroo.com. Also, if you want to see Tooie Kangaroo's web comic, you can access it by clicking on the following link: http://tooiekoie.tooiekangaroo.com/ G'day!