Why are kangaroos found only in Australia? Why didn’t they become an invasive species on different continents?
In: Earth Science
Because Australia is an island and they’re a bit big to be stowaways on vessels leading off of the island or get lost once off the island.
Because they haven’t been released into the wild on other continents. The only time they’re getting to other continents is in captivity. And once they’re in there, it’s quite unlikely that they’re going to sneak off without anyone noticing.
Winds and currents meant that much of the “traffic” was north to south only. This includes exploring humans or floating wildlife. New Zealand, for example, has vegetation so untouched by outside influence it is (was?) almost prehistoric.
Australia has been a separate continent for 100 million years give or take, they evolved here in that time. People migrated to Australia bringing the species they knew to the new lands, before we knew about invasive species and such. Most invasive species here were introduced for farming or are escaped/released pets, some were introduced to control pests, and some were unintended stowaways.
There hasn’t been a desire or need to take kangaroos overseas for similar reasons i supose and probably less likely now than before. Perhaps in another timeline ppl migrated from australia instead of to, back in the day, and kangaroos roam free overseas 🙂
It’s worth a Google if you’re really interested, and I’m heavily simplifying it, but the Australian continent broke apart and separated from the other land masses and drifted far away, isolating it’s species from the rest of the world, allowing diversion on a scale not seen elsewhere.
Most of the unique species on Australia like Kangaroos are unique to Australia for exactly that reason.
Although if I recall right, there’s been identifcation of marsupials on other Australasian islands. And I think a small species was identified in Sri Lanka. Citation needed.
Larger animals that become invasive on other continents are generally speaking escaped domesticated animals. If kangaroos were suitable for domestication then perhaps they might have been introduced and become established elsewhere.
Pigs and goats are good examples. Feral Pigs are everywhere. Camels and water buffalo are examples of large animals that were introduced to Australia and now live in the wild. They are considered feral. The ecological damage of introduced species in Australia is beyond.
They have not migrated on their own to other locations because Australia is an island. Kangaroos neither swim nor fly so are incapable of crossing water.
1) Kangaroos are also native to New Guinea.
2) You would need a breeding pair to escape captivity or be introduced into the wild. In an area which kangaroos can survive.
3). This has happened. They *are* an invasive species on New Zealand. Kalihi Valley on Oahu, Hawaii also has a small population of wallabies.
Latest Answers