Being the only large animal with the ability to hop, kangaroos are among the most recognized creatures on the planet.
They are the biggest marsupials in the globe and can be found in Australia. Animals like Kangaroos are distinguished by their large, muscular tails, short fur, powerful rear legs, long, pointed ears, and massive feet.
The red kangaroo can reach a height of more than 6 feet and a weight of 200 pounds. Kangaroos can jump up to 30 miles per hour and can cover 15 feet in a single hop.
As gregarious creatures, kangaroos live in herds, mobs, or troops. A kangaroo will stomp its foot to alert other members of the group if it perceives danger.
The young of female kangaroos reside in their pouches until they are big enough to come out. The Macropodidae family of marsupials includes animals like kangaroos.
Wallabies, tree-kangaroos, wallaroos, pademelons, quokkas, and a number of other species are also members of this family.
These are several Animals Like Kangaroos.
1. Wallaby
Scientific name: Notamacropus
Quick summary: it is closest related of the kangaroo, but shorter.
For the most aspect, wallabies and kangaroos look alike. Both have long tails and long rear legs that let them to jump around more easily.
Generally speaking, wallabies are smaller than kangaroos, measuring between 18 and 41 inches in length from head to body.
The marsupial order, family, and subfamily includes animals like kangaroos and wallabies. They transport their young in a pouch.
They will use their strong rear legs to kick any predators and alert other wallabies to possible threats, just like kangaroos do.
Animals like kangaroos, larger wallabie species are gregarious and live in groups of up to 50. Smaller animals tend to be lonely.
The diet of wallabies, which are herbivores, includes grasses, vegetables, leaves, and other plants. Due to habitat degradation, a large number of wallabies now graze in both rural and urban areas.
2. Wallaroo
Scientific name: Macropus robustus
Quick summary: An Australian herbivore that resembles a kangaroo.
A wallaroo belongs to the marsupial family Macropodidae. Generally speaking, they are bigger than wallabies but smaller than kangaroos.
The average wallaroo can reach a height of more than five feet and weighs about 120 pounds. Like kangaroos, wallaroos raise their young in a hairy pouch on their stomach.
Similar to kangaroos, wallaroos are renowned for their big feet and ability to hop. Like their kangaroo cousins, they are herbivores and primarily graze on grass.
These amazing creatures can survive on the water in the plants they consume for up to three months without drinking any water.
In order to assist them hop around on the rough hillsides, wallaroos, who live in the mountains, have shorter limbs than the animals like kangaroos.
3. Tree Kangaroo
Scientific name: Dendrolagus
Quick summary: A near relative of the tree-dwelling kangaroo.
The rainforests and lowlands of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the northern Australian state of Queensland are home to tree kangaroos. Their appearance resembles a hybrid of a kangaroo and a lemur.
A dark stripe runs the length of the back of tree kangaroos, which have thick, dense red fur. Their faces are white, and they have yellow limbs, feet, and ear tips.
Compared to kangaroos, they have shorter legs and stronger forelimbs because they have adapted to live in trees.
Tree kangaroos share their strong hind legs with animals like kangaroos. These amazing creatures can jump up to 59 feet without suffering any injuries, making them the only macropods that live in trees.
They can move through the trees with balance thanks to their thick tails.
4. Quokka
Scientific name: Setonix brachyurus
Quick summary: A beautiful little member of the family Macropodidae.
Animals like kangaroos, quokkas belong to the Macropodidae family, however they belong to a separate genus.The only animals in the Setonix genus are these adorable, cheerful creatures.
They weigh from 5.5 and 11 pounds and are significantly smaller than many other macropods.
They have a lot in common with their kangaroo cousins, although being much smaller. Quokkas like consuming a wide range of vegetation and follow kangaroos’ eating routines. Quokka reproduction is comparable to that of animals like kangaroos. The juvenile joey of both marsupials is raised in the mother’s pouch.
Quokkas are frequently referred to as the happiest animals in the planet, and they frequently approach people to take selfies.
5. Musky Rat-Kangaroo
Scientific name: Hypsiprymnodon moschatus
Quick summary: Only the rainforests in northeastern Australia are home to this little mammal.
In the kangaroo family, the smallest animal is the musky rat-kangaroo. These small marsupials can weigh up to 1.5 pounds and are about the size of a guinea pig.
They are the closest extant relatives of the earliest possum species from which all kangaroos descended. It is estimated that musky rat-kangaroos have lived in Australia’s rainforests for about 20 million years.
Despite their kangaroo-like appearance, musky rat-kangaroos are ground-based and do not hop. Animals like kangaroos, they raise their young in their pouch, but they typically give birth to twins.
Only a little patch of rainforest in northeastern Queensland, Australia, is home to the musky rat-kangaroo.
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6. Pademelon
Scientific name: Thylogale
Quick summary: A marsupial that resembles a kangaroo.
Pademelons’ triangular faces, black snout, and powerful hind legs give them a kangaroo-like appearance. They weigh about 14 pounds on average, making them smaller than wallabies and kangaroos.
They jump to move about and carry their young in a pouch, just like kangaroos do. Animals like kangaroos, they have big ears to help them hear potential threats.
Similar to their larger kangaroo relatives, pademelons are herbivores that eat berries, grass, leaves, and plants.
In contrast to the animals like kangaroos, they live alone, but they congregate to procreate all year round. Both Papua New Guinea and Australia’s coastal regions and forests are home to them.
7. Spring Hare
Scientific name: Pedetes capensis
Quick summary: A kangaroo-like rodent from Africa with long legs.
A springhare is an African rodent that resembles a tiny kangaroo. Adults weigh about 6-7 pounds and reach a length of about 31 inches.
Similar to the animals like kangaroos, spring hares rely on their long tail for balance and have well-developed rear legs.
Spring hares can leap more than six feet and seven inches and are quite good at hopping and jumping. They also prefer to graze on plant material, such as stems, roots, and leaves, making them herbivores.
These adorable critters are homebodies who don’t venture far from their burrows, where they find food close by.
The social behavior of spring hares is little understood, however huge groups of 30 or 40 individuals can frequently coexist in one location. Typically, they reside in burrows that are occasionally connected.
About three times a year, spring hares give birth to a single young. In contrast to kangaroos, their offspring are born with lots of fur and are well-developed. On the second day after birth, they are able to run and sit on their hind legs.
Our earth is losing springhare habitat at a rapid pace. These adorable animals have lost vital habitat due to ranching, land fencing, and human settlement.
8. Potoroo
Scientific name: Potorous
Quick summary: A marsupial that resembles a rat and moves like a kangaroo.
Despite having a rat-like appearance, potoroos hop on their backs like kangaroos. In many parts of Australia and Tasmania, these tiny marsupials, which are distant relatives with animals like kangaroos, live on the forest floor.
They haven’t altered much in ten million years, making them one of the oldest kangaroos.
Among potoroos, the long-footed potoroo is the largest species. Males can grow as much as sixteen inches in length and weigh about 5 pounds.
Their head and back are covered in gray or dark brown fur, and their belly are covered with white hair. Like kangaroo, they can carry objects with their long tails.
9. Patagonian Mara
Scientific name: Dolichotis patagonum
Quick summary: One of those animals like kangaroos are rodents from South America.
Argentina is home to the rodent known as the Petagonian mara. They are the world’s fourth largest rodent, weighing 16 to 20 pounds.
The elongated heads of these unique animals resemble the head of a kangaroo, with slightly rounded throats. They have coarse, kangaroo-like fur that is brownish-grey in color.
Similar to kangaroos, Patagonian Maras are herbivores that graze for almost one-third of the day.
When frightened or threatened, their strong rear limbs may propel them to speeds of up to 35 miles per hour. Their front limbs are shorter than those of kangaroos.
A male of these cute rodents will aggressively defend his girlfriend, and they mate for life. Maras share big burrows and raise their young communally with other partners.
10. Common Wombat
Scientific name: Vombaus ursinus
Quick summary: a marsupial with short legs that is indigenous to Tasmania and Australia.
The short-legged, stocky wombats are found in Tasmania and Australia. They seem different from a kangaroo, although they are both marsupials and carry their young in a pouch. A wombat’s pouch opening faces backwards, whereas a kangaroo’s is on the front.
Compared to kangaroos, wombats have significantly shorter, stumpier tails, typically measuring one to two inches in length. Common wombat adults can weigh between 44 and 77 pounds and grow to a length of about 45 inches.
Animals like kangaroos, wombats consume local grasses since they are herbivores. Their peak activity occurs between nightfall and dawn, and they typically graze for three to eight hours each night.
Kangaroos only survive eight years in the wild, whereas wombats can live up to fifteen. It has been estimated that captive wombbats can survive for up to 30 years.
11. Tasmanian Devil
Scientific name: Sarcophilus harrisii
Quick summary: Tasmania is home to this strange mammal.
Only the Australian island of Tasmania is home to the intriguing Tasmanian devil.
These amazing animals like kangaroos in several ways, like having black noses and smaller eyes. They both carry their young in a pouch and are marsupials.
Mature Tasmanian devils can weigh up to 26 pounds and grow to a length of 20 to 31 inches. Tasmanian devils are carnivorous, in contrast to kangaroos. Although they occasionally consume poultry, their primary food source is beetles.
With the extinction of the thylacine, they emerged as the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world. After being extinct, Tasmanian devils have been brought back to the Australian continent. Although they gather in groups to eat on carcasses, these animals are solitary in contrast to the animals like kangaroos.
12. Tiger Quoll
Scientific name: Dasyurus maculatus
Quick summary: A cat-like carnivorous marsupial.
The largest carnivorous marsupial in mainland Australia is the spotted-tailed quoll, sometimes known as the tiger quoll. They resemble kangaroos in color, but they also have distinct white spots on their coats.
A male spotted-tailed quoll can weigh up to 7.7 pounds, however they are not as big as a kangaroo.
The Dasyuridae family includes the tiger quoll. The majority of Australian native carnivorous marsupial animals belong to this group.
Mammals that carry their offspring in a pouch include tiger quolls, kangaroos, and others. Unlike kangaroos and other marsupials, the mother tiger quoll only takes a few minutes to construct a pouch before giving birth to her young.
Tiger quolls are less social than the animals like kangaroos and usually only talk to other people to mate. Once widespread across Tasmania and Australia, these remarkable animals are now extremely rare.
Conclusion:
Several kangaroo-like creatures can also be found in Tasmania and Australia. Animals like kangaroos in appearance or behavior do exist on other continents, but they are not marsupials.
Wombats and Tasmanian devils are two examples of marsupials that, despite their striking differences in appearance, behave similarly to kangaroos. Similar to kangaroos, these marsupials conceal their young in a pouch.
Animals like kangaroos closest relatives of wallaroos and wallabies, and they all have a similar appearance. Additionally, they behave similarly and eat similarly.
Given that kangaroos are typically the largest of these species, identifying them from their closest relatives may be as simple as looking at their size.