Habitat: Inhabit deserts and open, arid grassland in Australia

Diet: Primarily grazers, they primarily eat grasses; in harsh climates, they receive water from the plants they feed on.

Reproduction: Male red kangaroos compete for mating opportunities with several females. Males will try to monopolize access to several females and will actively drive away other males. This competition sometimes leads to "boxing" matches, where males hit at each other with their forepaws and kick with their feet. There is no permanent association of males and females. They have a short gestation period. The young are born 33 days after mating.

Young kangaroos are known as joeys. Red kangaroo joeys are tiny when born, averaging only 2.5 centimeters long and 0.75 grams. After the joey is born, it crawls up the mother's fur, into her pouch and immediately attaches itself to a nipple. During this period, the sucking stimulus prevents the re-occurrence of fertility cycles. Given favorable conditions, a mother red kangaroo produces and raises an average of three young every two years.

Sexual maturity is reached at 15 to 20 months in females and 20 to 24 months in males, but maturity may be delayed in unfavorable conditions.
Behavior: They gather in large groups called mobs. Mobs vary, but they usually consist of a dominant male, several females, and their young. Such group behavior helps them to find scarce food supplies in desert habitats, as well as providing more eyes to watch for predators like dingoes.

Physical Description: The red kangaroo is the largest living marsupial. Males range in total body length from 1,300 to 1,600 mm and females from 850 to 1,050 mm. Tail length is from 1,000 to 1,200 mm for males and 650 to 850 mm for females. They may weigh as much as 90 kg and may reach 1.8 meters in height when standing. Coat color is usually reddish brown in males and bluish gray in females. Red kangaroos are robustly built, with large, well-muscled tails and powerful hindquarters. The tail is strong enough to support the kangaroo's body weight, acts as a balance when jumping, and is used, with the two legs, to form a tripod for resting.

Conservation Status: Near Threatened

Fun Facts:

	Like most mammals, red kangaroos are likely to make extensive use of chemical modes of perception and communication. They also have excellent vision and hearing, suggesting these are important sensory modes.
	Red kangaroo is important in shaping vegetation communities in the ecosystems in which they live through their action as grazers.
	There are few predators of the red kangaroo due their size. Dingos, humans, and sometimes large raptors are their predators.