Editing Kangaroo (section)

== Taxonomy and description ==
[[File:Sthenurus.jpg|thumb|upright=1|The [[Palate|palatal]] view of a ''[[Sthenurus]]'' sp. skull]]
[[File:The Kongouro from New Holland (Kangaroo) NMM ZBA5754 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1|''[[The Kongouro from New Holland]]'', a 1772 painting of a kangaroo by [[George Stubbs]]]]
There are four extant species that are commonly referred to as kangaroos:
* The [[red kangaroo]] (''Osphranter rufus'')<ref name="afd2020">{{cite web|title=Names List for MACROPODIDAE, Australian Faunal Directory|url=https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/MACROPODIDAE/names|publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study, Australian Department of the Environment and Energy|access-date=1 March 2020|date=13 February 2020|archive-date=2 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200402181724/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/MACROPODIDAE/names|url-status=live}}</ref> is the largest surviving [[marsupial]] anywhere in the world. It occupies the arid and semi-arid centre of the country. The highest population densities of the red kangaroo occur in the rangelands of western New South Wales. Red kangaroos are commonly mistaken as the most abundant species of kangaroo, but eastern greys actually have a larger population.<ref name=dawson2012>{{cite book|last=Dawson|first=Terence|title=Kangaroos|edition=2nd|year=2012|publisher=CSIRO Publishing|location=Collingwood, VIC}}</ref> A large male can be {{convert|2|m|ftin|abbr=off}} tall and weigh {{convert|90|kg|lb|abbr=on}}.<ref name="reds">{{cite web|title=Red Kangaroo|url=http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/red-kangaroo/|work=NAT GEO Wild|publisher=National Geographic Society|access-date=2 October 2011|date=11 November 2010|archive-date=16 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150916000231/http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/red-kangaroo/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* The [[eastern grey kangaroo]] (''Macropus giganteus'')<ref name="afd2020" /> is less well-known than the red (outside Australia), but the most often seen, as its range covers the fertile eastern part of the country. The range of the eastern grey kangaroo extends from the top of the [[Cape York Peninsula]] in northern Queensland down to Victoria, as well as areas of southeastern Australia and Tasmania. Population densities of eastern grey kangaroos usually peak near 100 per km<sup>2</sup> in suitable habitats of open woodlands. Populations are more limited in areas of land clearance, such as farmland, where forest and woodland habitats are limited in size or abundance.<ref name=dawson2012 />
* The [[western grey kangaroo]] (''Macropus fuliginosus'')<ref name="afd2020" /> is slightly smaller again at about {{convert|54|kg|lb|abbr=on}} for a large male. It is found in the southern part of Western Australia, South Australia near the coast, and the [[Murray–Darling basin]]. The highest population densities occur in the western Riverina district of New South Wales and in the western areas of the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia. Populations may have declined, particularly in agricultural areas. The species has a high tolerance to the plant toxin [[sodium fluoroacetate]], which indicates a possible origin from the southwest region of Australia.<ref name=dawson2012 />
* The [[antilopine kangaroo]] (''Osphranter antilopinus'')<ref name="afd2020" /> is, essentially, the far northern equivalent of the eastern grey and western grey kangaroos. It is sometimes referred to as the antilopine wallaroo, but in behaviour and habitat it is more similar to the red, eastern grey and western grey kangaroos. Like them, it is a creature of the grassy plains and woodlands, and gregarious. Its name comes from its fur, which is similar in colour and texture to that of antelopes. Characteristically, the noses of males swell behind the nostrils. This enlarges nasal passages and allows them to release more heat in hot and humid climates.<ref name=dawson2012 />

In addition, there are about 50 smaller macropods closely related to the kangaroos in the family [[Macropodidae]]. Kangaroos and other macropods share a common ancestor with the [[Phalangeridae]] from the Middle [[Miocene]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Rice, W.D.L. |title=Historical introduction to studies on the evolution and phylogeny of the Macropodidae |journal=Australian Mammalogy |volume=2 |pages=1–14 |year=1978 |doi=10.1071/AM78001 |s2cid=254709571 }}</ref> This ancestor was likely arboreal and lived in the canopies of the extensive forests that covered most of Australia at that time, when the climate was much wetter, and fed on leaves and stems.<ref name = "McCullough 2000"/> From the Late Miocene through the Pliocene and into the [[Pleistocene]] the climate got drier, which led to a decline of forests and expansion of grasslands. At this time, there was a radiation of macropodids characterised by enlarged body size and adaptation to the low quality grass diet with the development of [[foregut fermentation]].<ref name = "McCullough 2000"/> The most numerous early macropods, the [[Balbaridae]] and the [[Bulungamayinae]], became extinct in the Late Miocene around 5–10 mya.<ref name=Tyndale2005>{{cite book |author=Tyndale-Biscoe, H |title=Life of Marsupials |publisher=CSIRO Publishing |year=2005 |page=302 |isbn=978-0-643-06257-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KqtlPZJ9y8EC&pg=PA302 |access-date=9 November 2015 |archive-date=1 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101053114/https://books.google.com/books?id=KqtlPZJ9y8EC&pg=PA302 |url-status=live }}</ref> There is dispute over the relationships of the two groups to modern kangaroos and [[Potoroidae|rat-kangaroo]]s. Some argue that the balbarines were the ancestors of rat-kangaroos and the bulungamayines were the ancestors of kangaroos.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Cooke B, Kear B |title=Evolution and diversity of kangaroos (Macropodoidea, Marsupialia) |journal=Australian Mammalogy |volume=21 |pages=27–29 |year=1999 }}</ref> while others hold the contrary view.<ref>{{cite book |author=Flannery, T.F. |chapter=Phylogeny of the Macropodoidea; a study in convergence |editor1=Grigg G. |editor2=Jarman P. |editor3=Hume I.D. |title=Kangaroos, Wallabies and Rat-kangaroos |publisher=Surrey Beatty |location=Sydney |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-949324-22-1 |pages=1–46 }}</ref>

The middle to late bulungamayines, ''[[Ganguroo]]'' and ''Wanburoo'' lacked digit 1 of the hind foot and digits 2 and 3 were reduced and partly under the large digit 4, much like the modern kangaroo foot. This would indicate that they were bipedal. In addition, their ankle bones had an articulation that would have prohibited much lateral movements, an adaptation for bipedal hopping.<ref name=Tyndale2005/> Species related to the modern grey kangaroos and [[wallaroo]]s begin to appear in the Pliocene. The red kangaroo appears to be the most recently evolved kangaroo, with its fossil record not going back beyond the Pleistocene era, 1–2 mya.<ref name = "Dawson 1995"/>

The first kangaroo to be exhibited in the Western world was an example shot by [[John Gore (seaman)|John Gore]], an officer on Captain Cook's ship, [[HMS Endeavour|HMS ''Endeavour'']], in 1770.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Captain John Gore |url=http://www.nma.gov.au/shared/libraries/attachments/friends/archive/in_the_national_museum_captain_john_gore/files/17814/Captain_John_Gore_rf.pdf |journal=FRiENDS |volume=17 |issue=2 |issn=1323-5826 |date=June 2006 |access-date=2 October 2011 |page=18 |first=Johanna |last=Parker |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121210124/http://www.nma.gov.au/shared/libraries/attachments/friends/archive/in_the_national_museum_captain_john_gore/files/17814/Captain_John_Gore_rf.pdf |archive-date=21 January 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Cowley|first1=Des|last2=Hubber|first2=Brian|title=Kangaroo|journal=The La Trobe Journal|year=2000|issue=66|pages=4–[https://web.archive.org/web/20190628083125/http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-66/t1-g-t2.html 5]|url=http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-66/t1-g-t2.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190628083125/http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-66/t1-g-t2.html|archive-date=28 June 2019|access-date=2 October 2011|editor1-first=John|editor1-last=Barnes|editor2-first=Sandra|editor2-last=Burt|issn=1441-3760}}</ref> The animal was shot and its skin and skull transported back to England whereupon it was stuffed (by [[Taxidermy|taxidermists]] who had never seen the animal before) and displayed to the general public as a curiosity. The first glimpse of a kangaroo for many 18th-century Britons was a painting by [[George Stubbs]].<ref>The "i" newspaper, 21 June 2013. page 2</ref>

=== Comparison with wallabies ===
Kangaroos and [[Wallaby|wallabies]] belong to the same taxonomic family ([[Macropodidae]]) and often the same genera, but kangaroos are specifically categorised into the four largest species of the family. The term wallaby is an informal designation generally used for any [[Macropodidae|macropod]] that is smaller than a kangaroo or a [[wallaroo]] that has not been designated otherwise.<ref name="Australian Wildlife">{{cite web|title=The Kangaroo |url=http://www.australianwildlife.com.au/kangaroo.htm |access-date=6 November 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140125064953/http://australianwildlife.com.au/kangaroo.htm |archive-date=25 January 2014 }}</ref>