National Geographic: Kangaroo Comeback Page #3

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Drifting smoke

Again, the action of one kangaroo

triggers the flight of others

This time they've been frightened

by fire

and they're racing to get away

But this is no wildfire.

It's a weapon

The Aborigines have been using fire

to hunt for thousands of years

They are after a favorite delicacy

a lizard called a goanna

Some seek refuge from the flame

in trees

others go underground

Here, women use sticks to locate

escape tunnels

then unearth the lizards using

tin cans

A goanna for the barbie is reason

for celebration

but these old ways are disappearing

Today fewer Aborigines use fire

to hunt and

ironically, some kangaroos are

paying the price

The little rufus-hair wallaby depends

on spinifex bushes

that the Aborigines burn

It needs their fires to thrive

They use the old bushes for shelter

But fire promotes the new growth

that feeds the wallaby

and these little spinifex mice

The wallaby eats the bushes'

young leaves

The mice take the seeds

The wallaby burrows into older bushes

which bristle with spiky defenses

But these thorny refuges have

been no match

against the upheaval of the last

two centuries

Since Europeans arrived in 1788

almost half of Australia's kangaroo

species have been declared extinct

endangered, or vulnerable

The whites brought foreign animals

by the boatload

They converted vast areas of land

to grazing

changing the landscape forever

Unlike the soft-footed kangaroos

hard-hooved sheep and cattle wore

away the desert scrub and soil

Livestock paths quickly eroded

into ravines

pastures became wastelands

Rabbits, introduced for the benefit

of hunters

bred out of control

Miles of fences went up in a vain

attempt to contain them

Today, those same fences bewilder

migrating herds of

native animals like the emu

Inevitably, rats and mice accompanied

the Europeans

as did the domestic cat

...which quickly developed a taste

for small kangaroos

So did the fox

They continue to take a dreadful

toll on the kangaroo

Now many of the smaller species

face uncertain futures

But for some kangaroos, the Europeans

provided a bonanza

They dug water bores throughout the

desert to supply their livestock

and the red kangaroo has benefited

ever since

One 19th century naturalist spotted

so few red kangaroos

that he predicted their

ultimate demise

But thanks to the permanent

water supply

the population boomed

When water is readily available

to red kangaroos

they breed like there's no tomorrow

Joey's only been out of the pouch

for two days

but his mother is about to give

birth again

A pink embryo, the size of a bean

makes its first appearance

Blind and deaf

it must somehow find its way to

the mother's pouch or perish

Its hind limbs, destined for

enormity someday

are now just useless buds

It must use its tiny forelimbs

to drag itself

through the tangled forest of

its mother's fur

Instinct keeps it moving up

against the pull of gravity

The epic, six-inch journey

takes over three minutes

Once inside the pouch

it searches out the nipples

Joey's brother was actually

conceived many months ago

but remained in suspended animation

while Mother tended to Joey himself

It is a miraculous process

the key to reproductive success

While a mother raises one joey

out of the pouch

a tiny one grows inside it

and a third waits on hold in the womb

It's time for her to put yet another

embryo in reserve

Just two days after the birth

the big reds start sniffing around

again a sign she's already in heat

Mother won't let Joey into

the pouch anymore

but she still nurses him

occasionally

Amazingly, she now produces two kinds

of milk one for the embryo

another for Joey

Her condition sets some of the

males to jousting

A big newcomer

collared by scientists to track

his wanderings

has thrown his hat into the ring

He's over six feet tall and

clearly dominates the contest

By kangaroo Queensberry rules

only the subdominant male kicks

giving away his inferior position

Mother, now eating for three and

ready to make it four

grazes continuously

But fortunately, Joey increasingly

fends for himself

The very biggest of the males now

finds Mother irresistible

He's huge

She appears to ignore his

persistent attentions

Then, her scent attracts

another suitor

But the dominant old male scoffs

at competition

From a distance

Joey watches the proceedings

The result of this mating will

grow for a few days

then become dormant until Joey's

brother is out of the pouch

With such an ingenious breeding scheme

it is no wonder red kangaroo

numbers exploded

once humans supplied a permanent

source of water

Every year, survey teams take to

the air to count the reds

Their reports will determine the

number of 'roos

that can be hunted legally

the following year

Strewn over the vast harsh desert

at the center of Australia

red kangaroos now number close

to ten million

Out in the open

Mother and Joey quickly recover

from their fright at the plane

Others inevitably encounter the

thousands of miles of fencing

that crisscross the desert...

and sometimes

these encounters are deadly

Australia's kangaroo population

is booming

and several million are culled

each year

Mother and Joey freeze

caught in the hunter's lights

But they're not the quarry

he seeks

The hunter has his sights

on huge red males

Culling kangaroos strikes

many people as cruel

Others argue it's no crueler

than slaughtering livestock

Given Australia's delicate

desert ecology

the kangaroo harvest may prove

more sustainable

than raising sheep and cattle

Aside from hunters' bullets

kangaroos face another

nighttime hazard

thousands are killed each year

on desert highways

Mother and Joey are safe

the next day

but picking up dangerous habits

Strips of green growth parallel

Australia's roads places

where the runoff from occasional

rain nurtures fresh grasses

Feeding along roadsides at night

kangaroos often blunder into

oncoming vehicles

The sheer numbers of red kangaroos

makes this an all too common sight

But in a very different part

of Australia

there are still rare kangaroos

that few people have ever seen

Here, in one of the remaining slices

of primeval forest

the kangaroo story comes full circle

This is Mount Finnigan a place of

reverence for Aborigines

and one of the last strongholds

of one of Joey's most

extraordinary relatives

It takes patience to catch a glimpse

of this elusive creature

and a healthy measure of luck

An experienced woodsman recognizes

telltale claw

marks leading up into the canopy

There it is... Bennett's tree kangaroo

Millions of years after kangaroos

came down out of trees

the Bennetts went back up

In evolutionary terms, they haven't

been up there very long

And those big hind feet seem ill

suited to life among the leaves

While a mother forages

her joey clings uncertainly to

a nearby vine

They look awkward and out of

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