KANGAROOS

There are many stories about the names of birds and animals. Here is one such story.
Captain James Cook was a British sailor. He lived in the eighteenth century. He and his men once reached Australia. Australia is an island. There, Captain Cook saw a group of strange animals. He pointer to one of them and asked an islander, “What’s its name?” Captain Cook asked the man in English. But the islander did not know English. He did not understand the Englishman’s question. He replied in his language, ‘Kangaroo’. In his language ‘Kangaroo’ meant: ‘I don’t know’. The Englishman took it for the name of the animal, and he and his friends called the animal: ‘kangaroo’.
Please remember this is just a story.
Kangaroos are strange animals. They are different from other animals. We see them mainly in Australia. They live in hills and valleys. There are different kinds of kangaroos of different sizes. Some of them are small as rabbits. Some of them are very big—about to meters and a half tall, and they weigh about 90 kilograms.
The mother kangaroo carries her baby in a pouch-a skin-bag in the lower part of her belly. The baby kangaroo is only about 2.5c.m.long. It lives in the pouch for about eight or nine months. Then it gets out. Sometimes the baby comes back to its mother’s pouch for a nice sleep.
The hind legs of kangaroos are very long and strong. They help the kangaroo to hop very far and moves fast. Usually, a kangaroo hopes about three meters. But in a hurry or in danger, it can hop about six meters! Its tail is strong, too. The tail also helps the kangaroo in its long jump.
Their main foods are vegetables. They usually live and move in groups. Generally, kangaroos live for about fifteen years.