A new documentary makes some controversial claims about the health of kangaroo populations. But the real threat is not to Australia’s iconic kangaroos – it’s to dozens of other, obscure species.
Campaigners against commercial kangaroo harvesting say it’s unsustainable and have convinced California to extend a ban on kangaroo imports. But are Australia’s world-famous roos really at risk?
Over a million kangaroos were killed in 2012 for their meat.
John Schilling/Flickr
Each year rangers in the Australian Capital Territory cull kangaroos as part of the territory’s Kangaroo Management Plan. This year they killed a few over 1,500 kangaroos. Even though millions of kangaroos…
Modern day kangaroos exhibit a hopping form of locomotion.
Leo/Flickr
Extinct giant kangaroos may have been built more for walking, rather than hopping like today’s kangaroos, especially when moving slowly. These sthenurine kangaroos existed until around 30,000 years ago…
The discovery of a Portuguese manuscript purporting to include an illustration of a kangaroo has been used to question which European power was first to “discover” Australia. The drawing is included in…
Male kangaroos often adopt poses designed to show off their guns.
Terry Mercer
A male kangaroo’s forearm size could be a sexually selected trait and help them find a mate, a new study has found. In fact, male kangaroos frequently adopt poses to show off their muscly arms to females…
Australia’s commercial kangaroo industry is the world’s largest consumptive mammalian wildlife industry. Calculated on a ten-year period, an average of three million adult kangaroos are killed each year…
Being vegetarian saves cows’ lives, but threatens the future of other sentient creatures.
nunro
This article was published in 2011. A follow-up article refuted its claims. The ethics of eating red meat have been grilled recently by critics who question its consequences for environmental health and…
Rain is encouraging kangaroos to breed, and making farmers nervous.
Wombalano
Spokespeople for the Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia and some other pastoralist organisations, are warning that in the current land of “flooding rain”, landholders will be overwhelmed by burgeoning…
Indigenous people traditionally eat kangaroo, but they’re worried about the scale of the hunting.
AAP
Last month, an alliance of Aboriginal elders announced their intention to bring a constitutional law challenge against Australia’s kangaroo industry. The announcement follows efforts by the Federal Government…
Kangaroo populations are robust and abundant.
Wombalano/Flickr
The Scottish eat their deer and the South Africans their springbok. Australia’s national icon is gentle on the environment, doesn’t emit methane, is good to eat and could be a great source of income for…