Eastern Grey Kangaroo

About the Eastern Grey Kangaroo

The eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus: gigantic large-foot; also great grey kangaroo or forester kangaroo) is a marsupial found in the eastern third of Australia, with a population of several million. A large M. giganteus kangaroo male can typically weigh up to 69 kg (152 lb) and have a length of well over 2 m (6 ft 7 in).

The eastern grey kangaroo was described by George Shaw in 1790 as Macropus giganteus. While two subspecies were recognised by Mammal Species of the World (MSW), there is some dispute as to the validity of this division, and the subspecies are not recognised by the Australian Mammal Society, the IUCN, or the American Society of Mammalogists, which produces the successor of the MSW. Albert Sherbourne Le Souef created the Tasmanian subspecies in 1923, based on coat colour. In 1972 Kirsch and Poole published a paper supporting the concept of separate species for the eastern and western greys, but casting doubt on the subspecies M. g. tasmaniensis, as...these subspecies, or species as Le Souef (1923) would have it in the case of the Tasmanian forester, are based on so little study of so little material that we do not believe that... Wikipedia →