Kangaroos in Beechworth

Kangaroo in Beechworth The hills and farms around Beechworth are home to a number of large mobs of Eastern Grey Kangaroos. Eastern Grey Kangaroo’s (Macropus giganteus) are found in south and eastern Australia and are also known as the Great Grey Kangaroo and the Forester Kangaroo. A big Eastern Grey male Kangaroo will generally weigh around 66 kg and stand almost 2 metres tall.

Without a doubt the kangaroo is Australia’s most iconic and features on the Australian coat of arms and on some of the national currency. The kangaroo is important to both Australian culture and the national image and consequently there are numerous references in business and culture.

The word kangaroo originates from the indigenous Guugu Yimidhirr word gangurru which refers to a grey kangaroo. The name was first recorded as "Kangooroo or Kanguru" on 4 August 1770, by the then Lieutenant James Cook on the banks of the Endeavour River at the site of modern Cooktown when his ship the HM Bark Endeavour was beached for almost seven weeks for repairs.

Male kangaroos are known as bucks, boomers, jacks, or old men; females are does, flyers, or jills, and the young ones are joeys. The collective noun for kangaroos is a mob, troop, or court. Kangaroos are often colloquially referred to as roos

The Eastern Grey Kangaroo is predominantly a grazer eating a wide variety of grasses and many species are nocturnal and crepuscular usually spending the days resting in shade and the cool evenings, nights and mornings moving about and feeding. Because of its grazing, kangaroos have developed specialized teeth. Its incisors are able to crop grass close to the ground, and its molars chop and grind the grass. Since the two sides of the lower jaw are not joined together, the lower incisors are farther apart, giving the kangaroo a wider bite. The silica in grass is abrasive, so kangaroo molars move forward as they are ground down, and eventually fall out, replaced by new teeth that grow in the back.

Kangaroos in Beechworth