AnAge entry for Macropus rufus
Classification (HAGRID: 02962)
- Taxonomy
-
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: Macropodidae
Genus: Macropus
- Species
- Macropus rufus
- Common name
- Red kangaroo
Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits
- Maximum longevity
- 25 years (captivity)
- Source
- ref. 671
- Sample size
- Large
- Data quality
- High
- Observations
In the wild, these animals have been estimated to live up to 27 years [0434], which is plausible but unverified. There are also anecdotal reports of animals living more than 30 years. These animals are common in zoos, however, and record longevity in captivity is only 25 years [0671].
Life history traits (averages)
- Female sexual maturity
- 517 days
- Male sexual maturity
- 806 days
- Gestation
- 33 days
- Weaning
- 360 days
- Litter size
- 1 (viviparous)
- Litters per year
- Inter-litter interval
- 241 days
- Weight at birth
- 0.784 g
- Weight at weaning
- 5,000 g
- Adult weight
- 55,000 g
- Postnatal growth rate
- 0.0075 days-1 (from Gompertz function)
- Maximum longevity residual
- 96%
Metabolism
- Typical body temperature
- 309ºK or 35.9ºC or 96.6ºF
- Basal metabolic rate
- 31.3530 W
- Body mass
- 28500.0 g
- Metabolic rate per body mass
- 0.001100 W/g
References
- [0671] Richard Weigl (2005), Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; from the Living Collections of the World
- [0036] Savage et al. (2004), The predominance of quarter-power scaling in biology
- [0420] White and Seymour (2003), Mammalian basal metabolic rate is proportional to body mass2/3, PubMed
- [0522] Fisher et al. (2001), The ecological basis of life history variation in marsupials
- [0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
- [0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
- [0731] Zullinger et al. (1984), Fitting sigmoid equations to mammalian growth curves
External Resources
- Integrated Taxonomic Information System
- ITIS 552740
- Animal Diversity Web
- ADW account
- Encyclopaedia of Life
- Search EOL
- Genome Project
- Search NCBI
- Entrez
- Search all databases or Entrez Taxonomy search
- Ageing Literature
- Search Google Scholar or Search PubMed or Search Scirus
- Images
- Google Image search
- Internet
- Search Google

