Red kangaroo Facts for Kids
Osphranter rufus · oss-FRAN-ter ROO-fus
The biggest animal that hops, carrying its baby in a pouch.
- 🏃 speed: not yet checked
- ⚖️ weight: not yet checked
- 📏 5.9 ft1.8 m1 tall
- 🎂 lifespan: not yet checked
- 🍽️ plants
- Doing fine (Least Concern)
Red kangaroos hop on their big back legs. A baby kangaroo is called a joey. It lives in its mother's pouch.
A red kangaroo uses its long tail like a fifth leg when it moves slowly, and for balance when it hops fast. A newborn joey is tiny, no bigger than a jellybean, and crawls into its mother's pouch to grow.
Red kangaroos are the largest marsupials, mammals whose babies finish growing in a pouch. Hopping is a very efficient way to travel: their tendons stretch and spring back like a pogo stick. In the hot outback they rest in the shade by day and feed in the cool of evening and night, and they can go a long time without drinking.
How big is a red kangaroo?
Red kangaroo in numbers
| Length | no checked number yet |
|---|---|
| Height | 5.9 ft1.8 m1Use only if the lead accepts a genus-level statement |
| Weight | no checked number yet |
| Top speed | no checked number yet |
| How long it lives | no checked number yet |
| What it eats | grasses and other plants |
| Where it lives | the dry middle of Australia |
| What kind | Mammals |
| Is it in danger? | Doing fine (Least Concern)2 |
A number we couldn’t find on a page we trust says so, instead of guessing.
Wow!
- A newborn joey is no bigger than a jellybean.
- Its tail is like a fifth leg when it moves slowly.
- Hopping works like a pogo stick: its legs spring.
Compare the red kangaroo
Friends and neighbours
Koala
Emperor penguin
GiraffeThree questions
Books about the red kangaroo, free at the library
Ask a grown-up to tap the button: it shows where to borrow a book about the red kangaroo for free.
Where these numbers come from
- Smithsonian's National Zoo, How to Care for Wallabies, checked 30 October 2026.
- Wikidata, from the IUCN Red List, checked 30 October 2026.
- Wikidata, Red kangaroo (Q104831614), checked 30 October 2026.