The wallaby and the kangaroo are Australian marsupials: after a short gestation period inside the uterus, their young finish their development in the their mother's abdominal pouch, attached to mammary glands for about 9 months until they can venture out of the pouch, then the little ones only return to the pouch to nurse.
Both the wallaby and the kangaroo belong to the macropodidae family: they have oversized feet that allow them to jump, their only way of moving. Since they live on the same continent and belong to the same infraclass of marsupials and the same family of macropodids, they are very similar, but still there are important differences between them
In this article on our site we are going to explain the differences between the wallaby and the kangaroo.
The size
Kangaroos are much larger than wallabies: The red kangaroo is the largest species of marsupial in the world, the largest They are always male and can measure more than 250 cm from the tip of the tail to the head and weigh about 90 kilos, while the largest wallabies measure about 180 cm and weigh about 20 kilos. To get an idea, it is considered that a typical female wallaby weighs about 11 kilos while a typical female kangaroo weighs about 20 kilos.
Paws and Habitat
Kangaroo's legs are longer in relation to the rest of its body, especially the segment from ankle to knee is longer which makes them look disproportionate.
The kangaroo's long legs allow it to jump quickly in the open where it usually moves at about 20 km/hour and can even exceed 50km/hour, while the more compact body of the wallabies allows them to move with agility in the forest.
Teeth and nutrition
The wallaby lives in forests and feeds mainly on leaves: That's why it has flattened premolars for crushing and crushing leaves, and its incisor is more pronounced for occasional cuts.
While the kangaroo loses its premolars in adulthood and the row of its molars forms a curve, its teeth are striated and the crowns of his molars are more pronounced: this set of teeth allows him to cut tall grass stems.
Color
The wallaby generally has a more vivid and intense color, with spots of different colors, for example the agile wallaby has colored stripes on its cheeks and hips, and the red-necked wallaby has a greyish but with white stripes on the upper lip, black legs, and a red band on males.
On the other hand the kangaroo fur is usually much more monochromewith evenly distributed color patterns on its body: the gray kangaroo has fur that fades from its darker back to its lighter belly and face.
Playback and behavior
Both species have a single calf per gestation and the mother carries her young in her pouch not only until he is weaned but until she is completely independent:
- A young wallaby is weaned at 7-8 months and usually stays for another month in its mother's pouch. He reaches sexual maturity at 12-14 months
- The little kangaroo is weaned at 9 months and stays in its mother's pouch until 11 months, only able to reproduce when she reaches the age of 20 months
Both the kangaroo and the wallaby live in small groups of families, made up of a dominant male, his group of females, their young and sometimes some submissive immature male. It is much more common to see wallabies boxing than kangaroos, they generally box with their partner.
Life expectancy
Kangaroos live much longer than wallabies Wild kangaroos live about 20-25 years and in captivity they live 16-20 years, while wild wallabies live about 11-15 years and about 10-14 years in captivity. Both species are preyed upon by man, who hunts the kangaroos for their meat, and kills the wallabies for their fur.
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