In a wild reserve in Australia, the Pumpkin Garden Kangaroo Sanctuary, there are more than 20 kangaroos, including a kangaroo named Rufas, who came to the reserve at eight months of age. Unlike other wallabies since childhood, Rufas has a strong interest in humans, especially after discovering the sofa, it is like finding his own sacred place.
Rufas is now 4 years old, but his love of the couch has never wavered. It will play on the grassland of the reserve during the day, and at night it will run to the back of the person in charge's house and wait for someone to open the door, as long as it opens the door, it will run to lie on the sofa, rest there for a while, and occasionally watch TV, and do not treat itself as an outsider at all.
The person in charge, Haywood, also likes Rufas, specially spread a mattress on the sofa, and told them when the guests came - that is the exclusive seat of Rufas, Heywood also opened a social account for Rufas, shared its daily life, and attracted a lot of fan attention, and some people named it "sofa kangaroo".
If Rufas just likes to lie on the couch, then the kangaroo below is much more outrageous.
In 2010, a woman named Bradley had just experienced the loss of her son, and on the road near her home, she found a kangaroo lying on the side of the road, and she walked in to see that the kangaroo had lost its breath. Just as Bradley was about to leave, the mother kangaroo's nursery bag suddenly moved. Bradley opened the nursery bag and found a kangaroo cub still breathing! Bradley thought it was a gift from Heaven, so she took the wallaby home, named it Beammer, and raised it as a son.
It's not a metaphor, it's that she really did! Bradley would put a shirt on Beamer, watch TV for him, feed him toast bread at meals, take Beamer in a car, and even give him cider! Beamer's daily life is like that of an ordinary Australian teenager.
Beimer has always been friendly and will stay with the dogs and sheep on the farm, Bradley said, "Bimmer may not be able to tell whether he is a kangaroo, a human, or a cat or a dog." If One day Bimmer were to leave me, I would be heartbroken. ”
However, it must be mentioned that Australia is not allowed to keep it as a pet except for Victoria, and Victoria rarely gives permission. For example, Rufas is a protected area rather than a personal pet, and although the person in charge, Haywood, will let Rufas in the door, but he will always control his behavior and will not let it out of his own group.
Bimmer's story is much sadder, when it was 18 months old, it jumped out of the fence of the farm, because it had lived with people for a long time, and had also sat in a car, and it did not realize the danger of bouncing on the highway — and eventually, it died on the same road as its mother.
Sad, if Beamer hadn't died, the story might have gone in a different direction.
Why are kangaroos not allowed in Australia?
In 2015, a woman in Australia, Perry, was in a car accident on the side of the road, and a female kangaroo was hit and killed by a car, but Perry found a kangaroo cub in her nursery bag and brought it home. Perry has a wildlife rehabilitation permit and 50 acres of land, so she is allowed to care for the cub until it is healthy.
But instead of releasing the kangaroo, Perry named it "Rocky" and quietly left it at home to keep. Loki thus became part of the family, eating with them, watching TV, and even having a bed of his own. The story is much the same as Bradley's at this point, but the next development is completely different.
Fast forward 5 years and Loki has become an adult kangaroo, and in 2020 the Wildfire in Australia frightened Loki, who jumped out of the pen and fled to a residential area where he was eventually taken in by animal shelters.
Perry tried to get Back Rocky, but was refused by the staff, so Perry came up with a crazy plan: at one o'clock in the morning she broke into the rescue center alone and took Loki out and let him get in the car and drive all the way home! Of course, how could this little trick be hidden from the police, not to mention that the surveillance in the rescue center filmed the whole process of Perry's crime.
The police quickly approached the door, but Perry refused to hand over Loki. Even Perry had to admit that Loki had lived with humans for too long and never came into contact with other kangaroos, which made Loki completely lose her wild nature and unable to survive in the wild. But because of this, she was reluctant to let Loki go to the Wildlife Conservation Center, and she didn't believe that the staff would take good care of Loki, and would just throw Loki into the reserve and leave it alone.
Perry's insane behavior not only makes it possible for Loki to end up alone for the rest of her life, but also makes her license revoked and legally responsible. Her protection of Loki is not right or wrong.
Why is australia not allowing private kangaroos? In fact, it is because of their danger.
On May 24 of this year, a man in Australia, Des, clashed with a kangaroo of about 1.8 meters to protect his dog. In this 6-minute fight, Des smashed a stick and punched the kangaroo, knocking the kangaroo down at one point, but the kangaroo still tried to attack Des with its claws and bit his hand, and Des had to choose to escape. During the battle, Des was injured in the head, back, arms and calves.
A female fitness coach in 2017 was not so lucky. She was suddenly attacked by a kangaroo on a morning run, the kangaroo grabbed her hands and neck with its forelimbs and kicked her with her hind legs, the attack lasted more than a minute, and finally the woman escaped by pretending to be dead, and stitched 35 stitches in the hospital.
Just like some scenic monkeys, because of the feeding of tourists, kangaroos in Australian scenic spots have learned to take the initiative to ask for food, and there have been many attacks, and the attacked tourists are full of scratches. Therefore, in the Kangaroo distribution area in Australia, you can often see a warning sign, which reminds visitors with bold letters: Do not feed kangaroos!
Kangaroos are obviously Australia's national treasures, but more than 50 million numbers, coupled with their aggressiveness, have become the object of prevention and control, and the national treasures are mixed on this, and there is really no one.
How strong are kangaroos
There are many species of kangaroos, we usually refer to the eastern gray kangaroo, the western gray kangaroo, the red kangaroo, and the large red kangaroo. They can stand up to two meters tall, weigh between 60-90 kg, they can't run, they all rely on jumping forward, they can jump up to 4 meters, and a jump can reach up to 13 meters, which means that kangaroos can almost jump half a basketball court with one jump.
According to the data given by the British "Metropolis Newspaper", kangaroos can reach 345 kg of kicking force, and there are 125 kg of momentum, bite force and grizzly bear a grade, their front paws, although not as strong as the lower limbs, but also have sharp nails. Many of those attacked by kangaroos have left long scratches on their bodies.
Because kangaroos fight, people always like to call them boxers. That's right, kangaroos learn to fight since they were kids. In a group of kangaroos, there is a clear hierarchy, and kangaroos of equal size and age will fight. Their fighting behavior is not entirely instinctive, and young kangaroos will engage in playful fighting under the supervision and guidance of adult kangaroos, stretching out their front paws to try to grab each other's necks and flip each other over, while also turning their heads back to dodge each other's attacks.
The fight between young kangaroos is much more ferocious, in addition to using the upper limbs, they will also find the right time to use kicks to slam each other's abdomen, in the scientist's study, the most amazing battle is two red kangaroos, in about half an hour a total of 275 heavy blows to the opponent's abdomen. At the same time, this battle can also see the amazing ability of kangaroos to resist blows.
Kangaroo's tail is not only to maintain balance, this tail is called the "third leg" of the kangaroo Its tail has more than 20 vertebrae and strong muscles, when the kangaroo jumps, this tail provides them with thrust, in battle, it is also supported by its own tail, with two legs to make a kick, this tail is used in attack, almost can break a person's tail.
Resources
The Secret of Marsupial Fossils: The Origin and Evolution of Kangaroos, Feng Zhang, 2014
Australian Kangaroos Drink Beer and Watch TV, Richie, 2011
"Kangaroo Tail Is the Fifth Leg to Give Strength to Walk"