Legend has it that in about 1770, Captain Cook and his party captured a very unusual animal. It was like nothing they’d ever seen. They asked an Aboriginal Australian what this odd creature was called. Kangaroo,  was the answer. This became the name by which these animals were known. Later it was discovered that it was more likely that the Aboriginal Australian was saying ‘I don’t understand’, or possibly even giving the name of the area. One Aboriginal name for the eastern grey kangaroo is Patagarang.

A rat-kangaroo is a kangaroo but not a rat. A kangaroo rat is neither a kangaroo nor a rat! Rat-kangaroos are small kangaroos found in Australia. They live in a variety of habitats with dense ground cover. Rat-kangaroos eat grasses, roots and small insects. Like all kangaroos, they have pouches and mostly produce just one offspring at a time. They make nests from plant materials.

 

Kangaroo rats live mainly in dry open areas in the southern US and Mexico. They have small pouches in their cheeks that they use to carry seeds—their main food. They live in burrows and can survive with very little water. They even bath in dust to stay clean. They have up to three young per litter.