This might be a really weird question, but why do Kangaroos jump instead of walk?
As a human jumping takes a lot more energy than jumping, so it must be something biological, but they are like the only animal family that does that (I’m sure there are more kangaroo-like animals I don’t know about)?
Edit – After seeing a few comments, this post isn’t about why the evolved to do so (even though it is an interesting question), I was asking what is the anatomical reasoning for it.
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Kangaroos give birth to tiny, tiny joeys. As big as a 20 cent piece.
All mammals, apart from echidnas and platypus, give birth to live babies that pass through the middle of the pelvis. This hole doesn’t need to be big if you give birth to small babies the size of a 20 cent piece.
A narrow hole in the pelvis makes it stronger and can lead to a more efficient hopping motion, as energy from one boing can bounce to the next boing, like a plastic ruler vibrating.
Kangaroos need to travel long distances to eat and drink and meet other kangaroos. Kangaroos that can travel long distances more efficiently will have more energy for other kangaroos activities, like eating and drinking and meeting other kangaroos for kangaroos games.
And these kangaroos will make more, tiny 20 cent piece sized joeys than kangaroos that aren’t as efficient when they travel long distances.
And these joeys will be a bit like their parents, having more efficient boing boings, and the cycle will continue.
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