Meet the Roos
The Roo Ranch is home to 8 species of kangaroo with over 60 adults and 10 joeys.
Click on the links to the left and find out more about each species; like their size, weight, habitat and lifestyle. Then visit The Roo Ranch to see them up close and discover how each animal has it's own personality.
Red Kangaroo
The red kangaroo, also known as macropus rufus, is the largest living marsupial. Males range in total body length from six to seven feet tall and weigh 150 to 200 pounds as adults. Females range in total body length from five feet tall and weigh 90 pounds.
Coat color is usually reddish brown in males and bluish gray in females, although these colors are reversed in some areas, with females being reddish and males blue-gray. 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. The second and third toes of red kangaroos are fused and shaped into a grooming claw. Their foreshortened upper limbs terminate in clawed paws used with great dexterity in eating, grooming, and self-defense. Females have a forward facing pouch and 4 mammae.
Red kangaroos live over most of the central part of Australia in areas where rainfall averages less than 500 millimeters. They prefer to forage in open plains habitats with neither trees nor bushes, but are seldom found in regions without shade and shelter from scattered trees. They are exclusively plant-eaters, with a preferred diet of green herbage including grasses and dicotyledonous flowering plants. These herbivores can go without water for long periods of time by consuming moisture-filled succulent plants.
Return to TopEastern Grey Kangaroo
Scientifically named macropus giganteus, the eastern grey kangaroos are often confused with the western grey kangaroos, which were initially considered a subspecies of the eastern grey. While a stark contrast in fur color can be seen in the throat and other areas of the western grey, eastern grey kangaroos have a more even distribution in fur color. The faces of the two species differ in that the western grey has a darker complexion as opposed to the almost white face of the eastern grey. Eastern greys also lacks the white patch on the upper thigh which is characteristic of a western grey. One other identifying characteristic is the black tip on the tails of this species.
There is great sexual dimorphism in size, with the males ranging from twice to three times the mass of an average female. Females usually weigh up to about 70 pounds, while males can weigh over twice as much, up to 150 pounds or more. The males can also reach six feet tall while the females average in at four feet tall.
Eastern grey kangaroos inhabit a wide variety of habitats ranging from open woodlands to grasslands. They can also be found in mountains with extensive forest cover. The habitats of this species are usually areas of high rainfall, but this can also range to semi-arid areas. Eastern grey kangaroos are grazers and eat a wide variety of foliage ranging from grasses to forbs (broad-leaved herbs besides grass that grow on plains and meadows). The main choice of food, however, is grass, which grows on the plains that these kangaroos usually inhabit. In captivity, eastern greys may also feed upon fruits, although this is not part of the usual diet in the wild.
Return to TopWestern Grey Kangaroo
This species, macropus fuliginosus, also exhibits sexual dimorphism, whereby males are larger than females. These male kangaroos can grow to be as large as seven feet tall and weigh 200 pounds and the females will be quite a bit smaller with a height of four feet tall and a weight of only 60 pounds. The tail is used as a balance in locomotion and muscle mass makes up approximately 80% of the body weight for this species.
Western grey kangaroos vary in color from light brown to reddish shades of dark brown. They have a pale throat, chest and abdomen. The muzzle is distinctly different from other kangaroo species in that it is covered with much finer hair.
Western grey kangaroos are capable of using several different types of habitats. They can be found in woodlands, open forests, coastal heathland, and open grassland areas. They have also been found near city areas and on golf courses. These kangaroos prefer areas with heterogeneous habitats, because these areas are the most likely to meet their requirements for food and cover. Western grey kangaroos eat grasses, forbs, leaves, tree bark, and shrubby browse. They use microorganisms in an organ called the cecum to digest the cellulose of plants. This kangaroo requires very little water and is able to survive on plants high in fiber. Western grey kangaroos spend between 6 and 10 hours grazing per day, mostly at dawn and dusk. In captivity, these kangaroos are often fed a pelleted grain or hay.
Return to TopWallaroo
The wallaroo, or macropus rotundus was one of the largest and heaviest of the macropodid family, with mature males attaining twice the weight of mature females. They are stout and heavy with a height of five feet tall and a weight of 120 pounds for males and a heights of four feet tall and a weight of 50 to 70 pounds for females.
The wallaroo fur is less dense than that of red and grey kangaroos and includes thin and sparse underfur. The color of the fur is dark grey on the dorsal side and pale to nearly white on the ventral side. The muzzle of the euro has a bare black rhinarium and a slight lateral inflation. The nasal region and the back of the ears are black, while the lips, the inside and base of the ears are white or pale. The legs and tail have a very dark brown color that bleeds into a black tint near the tips of both extremities.
Wallaroos are found in many regions of Australia. They can survive where the temperatures rises to 120 F and where the average rainfall is less than 380 mm/year. They prefer rocky places for shade and can inhabit regions of sparse vegetation. Wallaroos are herbivores that do not require much water or highly nutritious foods. They drink less frequently than most species in the family and eat foods that have lower nutritional value. They mainly feed on spinifex, soft grasses, shrubs, herbs and low protein/ low fiber grasses. In the spring they graze on grass inflorescence and forbs.
Return to TopBennetts Wallaby
The bennets wallaby, also known as the red-necked wallaby or macropus rufogriseus have a head and body length of three feet for both males and females with the males weighing slightly more at 50 to 60 pounds and the females at 25 to 40 pounds. Their hind feet measure 8 to 9 inches, and their ear length measures about 3 inches. The males are notably larger than the females.
Red-necked wallabies are named for the reddish fur on their napes and shoulders. The rest of the body is fawny gray with a white chest and belly. The tail is gray above and white below. Hands and feet are gray, becoming black at the ends of the digits. The muzzle is dark brown, and the ears of red-necked wallabies are longer in proportion to other macropods.
Red-necked wallabies inhabit the eucalypt forests with moderate shrub cover and open areas nearby, and also populate the tall coastal heath communities. They are essentially grazers, consuming largely grasses and herbs. Juicy roots during dry spells supply red-necked wallabies with water.
Return to TopSwamp Wallaby
The swamp wallaby or wallabia bicolor is on average two to three feet tall with males weighing 30 pounds and females weighing 18 to 25 pounds. The swamp wallaby has long, coarse fur that is generally dark brown in color with darker or black limbs and tails. Many also have a light yellowish cheek stripe that begins at the lip and continues towards the upper ear.
Swamp wallabies generally live in, but are not restricted to, dense forests, woodlands, and swampy areas. They are known to venture into more open areas, but only if there are nearby areas of thick brush. Swamp wallabies are strictly herbivorous. Their diet consists of soft plants such as buds, ferns, leaves, shrubs, and grasses. They have been known to eat bark, shoots from needle-leaf trees, and plants that can be poisonous to domesticated animals. Wallabia bicolor are browsers and use their reduced forelimbs to manipulate their food.
Dama Wallaby
There are many different species of wallabies, but the dama wallaby, macropus euginii, are just a little different from the rest. They are mostly nocturnal animals in the wild, but they do forage and catch some sun during the day. They have small front legs having five digits with a sharp claw. Their hind legs are very powerful and much larger. Their hind legs have four toes with the end ones being much smaller than the middle ones. The smaller toes have double claws which they use as a comb. They have long tails which they use for balance when leaping and as a third leg when sitting. The head and body length is about 26 inches, with a tail about 15 to 17 inches long. They sit about 18 inches tall and weigh between 9 and 22 pounds. They are usually dark brown or gray looking, with short rough fur. Males are usually larger than females because they grow a little faster when maturing.
Dama wallabies, in the wild are usually solitary or in pairs. When I visited the wallabies at the zoo they didn't want to seem to interact with one another. They are mostly very solitary animals. The only social groupings are between the females and their young.
Return to TopSugar Glider
Scientifically known as the petaurus brevicepssugar, the sugar glider is a relatively small marsupial; its head and body are approximately 4 to 12 inches long. Sugar gliders are generally blue-greyish dorsally while their ventral surfaces are somewhat paler. A dark stripe runs down the back from the posterior end to the nose, while similar stripes are located on each side of the face running from the eye to the ear. Much like flying squirrels, sugar gliders have a gliding membrane which extends from the outer side of the fore foot to the ankle of the rear foot and may be opened by spreading out the limbs. The female sugar glider also has a well developed pouch.
Sugar gliders can live in forests of all types, given that there is an adequate food supply. They build their nests in the branches of eucalyptus trees inside their territory. Since they have also been found to live in Southern Australia, they must be able to deal with the cold effectively.
Sugar gliders are omnivorous and are especially found of the sweet sap which can be found in the eucalyptus tree. Their diet also includes pollen, nectar, insects and their larvae, arachnids, and small vertebrates. During the spring and summer months sugar gliders predominately feed upon insects, mainly moths and beetles, and during the fall and winter months they feed on plant products, such as eucalyptus sap and pollen.
Our Wish List
In the next couple of years we wish to own...
a tree kangaroo, a rock kangaroo, a koala, a wombat, a camel, a opposum, and/or bettongs.
If you or anyone you know are selling these amazing animals, please contact us right away. We are very interested in adding them to our family and providing them a wonderful home here at The Roo Ranch.
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