kangaroo

(kang-ga-ré’), n. [Orig. kanguroo, > F. kanguroo: a native Australian name.] 1, A large marsupial mammal of Australia, Macropus giganteus; by extension, any herbivorous te pte and saltatorial marsupial of the family Macropod ide (which see for technical characters). The great kangaroo, the first Australian species of this large family to become known to Europe ans, was discovered by Cook in 1770, The male stands 6 or 7 feet high; the fernale is a third smaller. The hinder parts of the animal enormously preponderate over the fore parts; the thighs and tail are very muscular, the lower leg and the tail very long. The second and third digits are much reduced, the weight of the body falling chief on the fourth and fifth. The fore limbs are very small, used chiefly for prehension, and not in locomotion; during the flying leaps the animal makes, said to be from 10 to 20 and even 30 feet in extent, they are closely clasped to the breast. The head and neck are slender, the ears high. The general color is yellowish brown, darker above and paler below. ‘The front teeth are fitted for nipping herbage; the stomach is long and sacculated; and there is a large cecum. In their whole structure and economy the kangaroos represent ruminants in the Australian, Austro- Malayan, and Papuan regions. They are gregarious, inoffensive, and timid, but when brought to bay prove formidable antagonists, using the claws of the hind feet with great effect. They are killed by being closed in upon and 607 ngaroo knocked down with clubs, or driven into ambush and shot like deer, There are many species, 23 of the genus Macropus, 6 of Petrogale, and 3 of the genus Onychogalea, in which the tail ends in a kind of nail, They inhabit not only Australia and Tasmania, but New Guinea, New Treland, the Aru Islands, and other islands. A large num- Giant Kangaroo (Macropus major). ber of smaller species with naked muzzle, called brush kangaroos, pademelons, whallabees, etc., constitute the subgenus Halm at urus. The rock-kangaroos form the genus Petrogale. Hare-kangaroos or kangaroo-hares belong to the genus Lagorchestes. (See cut under hare-kangaroo.) A peculiar type of kangaroo, inhabiting New Guinea and Misol, is the genus Dorcopsis. (See cut under Dorcopsis.) Kangaroo-rats, potoroos, or bettongs are small animals constituting the subfamily Hypsiprymnine, This animal is called by the natives kanguroo. Cook's Voyages, quoted in N. and Q., 6th ser., VI. 58. She might have said that it was not convenient to come in and find a tame kangaroo, as big as a small donkey, lying on his side on the hearth-rug. H, Kingsley, Hillyars and Burtons, xxi. 2+. A kind of chair. Davies. It was neither a lounger, nor a dormeuse, nor a Cooper, nor a Nelson, nor a kangaroo: a chair without a name would never do; in all things fashionable the name is more than half. Such a happy name as kangaroo Lady Cecilia despaired of finding. Mi Edge worth, Helen (1834 7), xvi.