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Kangaroos and Wallabies

Updated: Nov 3, 2021

by Jason 7B




Did you know that there is an animal, whose ability and appearance seems like a kangaroo? That animal is called a wallaby, if you have not heard or have heard, let us commence this topic, the differences and similarities between kangaroos and wallabies. So, these two animals, they look identical. The wide big ears like a rabbit, similar faces of cute and cuddly creatures, whole body surrounded by their colour like chocolate furs, and their legs and feet applied to have the ability to hop and jump. Nevertheless, in spite of their very unique similarity in these two animals, kangaroos and wallabies are not really the same as we know. In this topic, we will investigate and explore their differences and similarities through their taxonomy, physical features and their behaviour.


Kangaroos and wallabies come from the same kingdom, which is Animalia. Followed by their same phylum (relation among their family, according to their taxonomic categories), which is Chordata (vertebrates). Then their same class, Mammalia, and they also share the same order, which is Diprotondontia (‘two first teeth’ animals). The most important questions of the taxonomy clarifications in the identity on what is the same and what is not, that is“do they share the same family and genus?”, the answer is yes. These two animals share the same family and genus, both come from the Macropodidae family (mammals like kangaroos and wallabies), and their same genus is Macropus (In Ancient Greek μάκρος, makros "long" and πους, pous "foot"). What makes the kangaroos and wallabies ‘quite’ different is that they have different variants of species. Identifying their species requires the same first name based on their genus, Macropus. Examples of their species is Macropus dorsalis “Black-striped Wallaby” and Macropus fuliginosus “Western grey Kangaroo”. There are many sorts of species in these two interesting animals, but they have one in common, their same genus as the important proof to these clarifications.


Even though kangaroos and wallabies share some unique similarities in their taxonomy, it doesn’t stop there. One important question in this essay is, “do they share the same physical features in these both animals?”. Kangaroos are 3 - 8 feet high (1 - 3 meters) and 2 meters long (that includes its tail). They can weigh about 18 - 100 kg. For Wallabies, they are sometimes called ‘small kangaroos’ but they are not kangaroos, so just not to get confused with this animal. Wallabies have the height and length at least 6 feet (1 meters) for small medium wallabies and can weigh 2 - 24 kg. When we see these cute animals, we can spot the obvious similarities in them, their speciality is mostly their legs and feet. They are used for the ability to hop. But the difference for their legs is that kangaroos have large, long legs while wallabies have shorter legs and denser in shape. Other complicated differences in these animals, kangaroo’s teeth/jaws are more curved while wallabies have flat teeth/jaws.


Finally, their behaviours, do they share similarities or differences in them? Both kangaroos and wallabies have similar behaviours. For example, if a kangaroo or wallaby are raised in captivity and released into the wild, it may approach us demanding food by scratching and biting. Other behaviours, both animals may even see us as another animal and start to kick and scratch as a form of “play fighting” (if we are approaching the animal, yes it will occur). Kangaroos and wallabies, in some fact, are socially aware and know about human habits in the wildlife and in captivity. During mating/breeding season, for kangaroos, according to the ADW (Animal Diversity Web), “Kangaroos can breed continuously, but a peak in reproductive activity exists in the seasons of spring and summer. Sexual maturity is reached at approximately 20 months for males and 17 months for females. Females have an oestrous cycle of approximately 35 days.” But for wallabies according to the AWR (Australian Wildlife Research), “Breeding was continuous throughout the year and birth and oestrous were recorded in every month. The mean length of the female cycle was 32.4 days, and the mean gestation period 29.4 days. Females exhibited post-partum oestrus, usually mating within 1 day of birth." It is very complicated to know such habits these animals had, but that is how nature interacts with life.


In conclusion, despite kangaroos and wallabies being described as a similar animal at first, we proved it by the taxonomy, physical features, and behaviour for they are not the same. While kangaroos and wallabies share the same taxonomy on their kingdom, phylum, class, order, family and genus, they also share some differences on their physical features and behaviour. Kangaroos are larger than wallabies, and wallabies are smaller than kangaroos. What makes them look the same is just their appearance. The wide big ears like a rabbit, similar faces of cute and cuddly creatures, whole body surrounded by their colour like chocolate furs, and their legs and feet applied to have the ability to hop and jump. Those that I mention, is the reason why these animals look the same. Other than that, their behaviour depends on what their species are, since there are variants of species in these two animals, but mostly according to my research, kangaroos and wallabies can act differently depending on their habits in wildlife and in captivity with humans. It depends. We all know that kangaroos (and even wallabies) are mostly found in Australia also, what makes them special in that country is what they mean. Have we ever seen a kangaroo, or a wallaby hop and jump backwards? Actually, in reality, no. These animals (cannot) hop backwards, they one hop forward. Now, there's one question for this interesting fact, “Why is kangaroo the symbol of Australia? Why should this animal”. In fact, kangaroos are the only animal that can be found in Australia. And, what I just mentioned before about kangaroos that can't hop backwards but just forward, what is interesting is that the symbol of Australia is known as the ‘Commonwealth Coat of Arms”. There the symbol states a shield, and on both sides of the shield lies a kangaroo and an emu. The meaning of the Australian Coat of Arm symbolizes a nation moving forward. This is also the reason I chose this animal. To conclude this, from all of what I mentioned and told, it is in fact that kangaroos and wallabies are different.



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