How come kangaroos are only native to Australia?

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Texas Cowboy

Limited hopping capability.

anthony the almighty

when the single continent, Pangea, split, the animals living in different environments evolved in different ways. kangaroos evolved in a way to suit their environment. Australia, which was completely seperate from other landmasses. meaning, that a kangaroo is specifically adapted to Australia, and in the same way the bald eagle is specifically adapted to survive in north america. because the conditions on Australia differ from every other place on earth, and it was not connected to the rest of the continents to physically spread the animal, kangaroos evolved to live on australia only, and so are not capable of evolving anywhere else, where the conditions would be different and cause a differing path of evolution

Jeff P

Kangaroos are marsupials as are other animals in Australia. Many believe that becuase Australia is an Isolated Island that it alowed some animals to evolve along a difrent path over time in response to the enviorment their. This is much the same way that you see animals that have same characteristics but are difrent animals. Since Austrailia is Islolated they were unable to migrate else where in the world like other animals can.

spike

because they just are

underwater

That is actually not true. Kangaroos are native to the Australian continent and to parts of Papua New Guinea.

junoo

Animals evolve in different ways accordingly to their habitat. Perhaps Australia was the best suited Continent where they could live safely without serious predators! Like Dinasaurs and similar creatures that lived in prehistoric times. They do not have long claws and very sharp teeth to be able to fight the carnivors and defend themselves. Australia was the safest place for them. They developed a strong, long and powerful tail to be able to deal with predators by giving them a big wack with it to stun them even kill them, like the native Dingos etc. and thier forelegs are very stunted which I guess made them unable to swim if they needed to defend themselves and migarate to some other continent neaby like Papua New Guinea ! if they could swim I bet their best choice would be PNG! as it is close to Australia. Since they are only found in Australia its obvious the poor creatures can not swim to be able to inhabit other parts of the World. hence they are only native to Australia. I hope this anwers your question.

Shaggy

Because Australia moved away earlier than the rest of the continents and therefore, life was separated longer from outside influences letting the species found there evolve differently and more strangely than anywhere else.

clueless

they're not very good t swimming so they decided to stay put

Wise ol' owl

I don't know? Good question. I guess that is where they migrated when the lands divided by the flood.