Part of me hasn't returned from Australia. Marsupials are still on my mind. I look out the window and see "my" herd of five white tail deer and wonder what it would be like if I had a mob of kangaroos out there instead. What if, at sunset, a mob of kangaroos came into the yard to browse? Would I feel as safe being out in the back yard? There are parts of Australia that are as overcrowded with kangaroos as we are with white tailed deer. At Canberra, for example, kangaroos are being culled. How odd to think that in Canberra, the capitol city, the nation's iconic animal are so numerous that shooters are hired. Kangaroos are such odd animals. They way they hop around is amazing. Sometimes from the corner of my eye I caught a bouncing shape going "Boing" "Boing" "Boing" and I would get a little freaked out. Such a huge bouncy thing! Kangaroos use their tails as a third leg in balancing when erect and also in walking slowly. The kangaroo will rest it's weight on it's tail, step with both feet forward, move the tail ahead and repeat. Kangaroos can store sperm until the situation is right. When the older joey is starting to graze and only needs supplemental nursing, conception will occur with sperm that is stored in the female. When birth occurs, the female will lick a trail so the baby joey can more easily climb into her pouch. Once in the pouch the joey will clamp onto a nipple. The nipple swells and fills the mouth. With that nipple the mother kangaroo feeds the joey the thick colostrum milk. And with the other nipple she feeds the semi-independent joey skim milk. The same mother produces two kinds of milk for the two joeys. That is the fact I can't get over. Two kinds of milk produced by the same female-isn't that simple amazing? Have kangaroos evolved beyond all other creatures on this planet for efficient rearing of the young?
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