Red+Kangaroo

Red Kangaroo


 * Reproduction**
 * The red kangaroo breeds all year round.
 * Females can delay birth until the first joey has left the pouch. This is termed embryonic diapause.
 * During pregnancy the neonate emerges after only 33 days.
 * When the kangaroo is born it is blind, hairless and only a few centimetres long.
 * Its hind legs are stumps and it uses its forelegs to climb out through the thick fur of the mothers abdomen into the pouch.
 * During fertilisation the egg descends from the ovary into the uterus.
 * It is then fertilised and develops into a neonate (first 28 days of life).
 * Once in the pouch it starts feeding of one teat. This then triggers the mother’s sexual cycle again.
 * Another egg descends and she becomes sexually receptive. If she mates now the development with be halted.
 * After 190 of the joey being in the pouch it is extremely large and makes it full emergence out of the pouch.
 * It sticks its head out of the pouch for several weeks until it feels safe enough to fully emerge.
 * After 235 days it leaves the pouch for the last time.
 * The female kangaroo is always pregnant expect when she gives birth.
 * The composition of the milk produced by the mother varies due to the need of the joey.
 * She is able to produce 2 different types of milk: one for the newborn and another for the older joey still in the pouch.

Video Of baby kangaroo: []

 © Red kangaroo carries out internal fertilisation and internal development of the young after birth  © In good conditions the red kangaroo can have three offspring at different stages of their development  © For example; the female may have an older young out of the pouch but still being suckled, a newborn in the pouch and an embryo in diapause in the in the uterus  © Diapause is a reproductive strategy, in which the embryo does not immediately implant in the uterus but stays in a state of dormancy  © As a result no development takes place as long as the embryo remains unattached from the uterine lining; therefore the normal gestation period is increases  © In times of drought the mother may be unable to produce enough milk to sustain a growing young in the pouch  © If the young dies, a new young will enter the pouch a month later  © Because the newborn is so small it only needs a small amount of milk for its first few weeks in the pouch  © Therefore this ensures that there is a young ready for when the drought ends  © This reproduction allows a rapid population growth to occur when conditions are good  © But during a long-lasting drought the breeding stops and only begins again when it rains, which triggers a hormonal response within the female  © This effective mechanism controls the rate of reproduction depending on the favourability of the environmental conditions at the time 