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Roaming kangaroo caught with badminton net, rackets -1/01/01-COPENHAGEN, Denmark
A zoo director and his playing mates stopped in the middle of a badminton set, grabbed the court net and their rackets and dashed out for another kind of game: kangaroo hunting.
They managed to corner a marsupial on the hop by using their sports gear and forced it into a garage where they could easily grab it, a news report said Wednesday.
In mid-October, the kangaroo escaped from the Safari Zoo Park in Linstrup, western Denmark, by jumping a two-meter (seven-feet) fence. Zoo staff have tried several times to capture the animal but it proved difficult on open land.
On Tuesday, director Eigil Thomsen and his friends finally caught the roaming kangaroo, which would have had little chance to survive a harsh Scandinavian winter outside the cozy zoo, according to the Jyllands-Posten daily.
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|  Kangaroo Animals with their own carry bag
If you always thought of the kangaroo as one of a kind, you would be surprised to know that it belongs to a large family with as many as 56 species! The six larger species are called kangaroos and wallaroos while the smaller ones are called rat kangaroos, potoroos, tree kangaroos, pademelons and wallabies.
How do you identify the different large kangaroos? By their noses! A wallaroo's nose has a large black bare patch around it. A red kangaroo has a smaller, boomerang-shaped black bare patch on its nose. The grey kangaroo's nose is covered with hair except for narrow bare bands around the nostrils.
Kangaroos are big-footed marsupials which evolved in Australia. The males of the species are known as boomers, the females as flyers and the young as joeys. The female has a pouch in front of her body in which she carries the young after birth.
Standing upright!
Kangaroos vary greatly in size. The smallest is the musky rat kangaroo which is about the size of a rabbit. The largest is the 1.6m tall red kangaroo which weighs about 60 kg.
Kangaroos often stand upright. They have a narrow head with a long nose and long oval ears. They are covered with dense fur and have furry tails. Only the rat kangaroo has a bare tail. Their teeth are long and strong, especially the upper incisors.
Leaps and bounds
The kangaroo's hind legs are Z-shaped like those of other jumping animals. The tail acts almost like an extra limb, balancing it as it hops. It jumps forward rather than upward. At rest, the weight of the body is carried by the tripod formed by the hind legs and the tail. Large kangaroos reach a running speed of 64 kph, with leaps as long as 8 m.
The forelegs of kangaroos are short. The smaller species use them to pick up food and carry it to the mouth. Large kangaroos use their forelimbs when fighting or playing among themselves, but their most powerful method of defence is to kick with their strong hind legs. They fight almost like humans, using the forefeet to hold the antagonist while rearing on the tail and giving powerful kicks with the hind feet.
The second and third toes of the kangaroo are fused and are shaped into a grooming claw with which the animal combs its fur and scratches behind its ears.
Class Mammalia (mammal)
Order Marsupialia (mammals with pouches)
Family Macropodidae (large footed mammals)
Kangaroo country
The kangaroo family is found in Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, the islands of Aru and Kei and parts of the Bismark Archipelago. These large-footed marsupials can be found in many types of habitat, from dry semi-desert to grasslands and rainforests.
For example, the western euro, a subspecies of wallaroo, is well-adapted to the desert conditions of Western Australia. The Agile wallaby is found in tall grasslands and open woodlands, while Tree Kangaroos are found in the rainforests of north-east Australia and New Guinea.
What do kangaroos eat?
Most kangaroos are exclusively plant-eaters, with grasses forming the bulk of their diet. They also feed on moisture-filled succulent plants. Only the musky rat kangaroo eats insects and worms as well.
Kangaroos can go without water for long periods. Some wallaroos do not drink water even when the temperature is very high. They conserve body water by hiding in hollows during the hottest part of the day.
Life down under
Red kangaroos prefer to live alone or in small groups but come together in larger groups when food is scarce. The early part of the day is spent grazing. Later, in the hottest hours, they rest in the shade of bushes.
Normally shy animals, they alert other kangaroos to danger by beating on the ground with their hind feet. This loud alarm signal carries over a long distance.
Kangaroos have short pregnancies. A red kangaroo joey is tiny when it is born - just 2.5 cm long! After it is born, the tiny baby crawls up the fur on the mother's belly and into her pouch. It immediately attaches itself to the teat and suckles for a long time. The mother cleans the inside of the pouch with her lips and often holds it open with her hands.
After three months, the joey begins to go out and look for food, returning to the pouch between expeditions. The baby's stay in the pouch may last five to nine months.
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