Red kangaroo
Osphranter rufus
- Size
- Up to 1.8m tall: the biggest marsupial
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Dry plains across the middle of Australia
A tall, rusty-red kangaroo with long ears, huge hind feet and a heavy tail.
The red kangaroo that follows you
This page is the Australian outback. Move your pointer across the red sand and your animal will bound, stride, trot or scuttle after you. Choose a different animal at the bottom, and tap the notes to open them.
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01 · JumpA nine-metre leap
A red kangaroo can cover nine metres in a single bound and clear a fence nearly two metres high.
02 · JoeyA baby the size of a bean
A newborn joey is about two centimetres long. It crawls into the pouch and stays for months.
03 · TailA fifth leg
When it walks slowly, the kangaroo props itself on its tail and swings its back legs forward.
04 · HopCheap travel
Hopping uses less energy the faster it goes, because the legs work like springs.
05 · BackNo reverse
Kangaroos cannot easily walk backwards: the big feet and tail get in the way.
06 · GroupA mob
A group of kangaroos is called a mob. A big male is a boomer and a female is a flyer.
Meet them all
Who's who in the outback
Emu
Dromaius novaehollandiae
- Size
- Up to 1.9m tall: the second biggest bird
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Open country over most of Australia
A tall, shaggy, brown bird that cannot fly, with a bare blue neck and long strong legs.
Dingo
Canis dingo
- Size
- About 60cm at the shoulder
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Deserts, grassland and forest edges across Australia
A lean, sandy-yellow wild dog with pricked ears, white feet and a bushy tail.
Frilled lizard
Chlamydosaurus kingii
- Size
- About 80cm long, mostly tail
- Look for it
- September to December, then January to April
- Where
- Dry woodland across northern Australia
A grey-brown lizard with a big frill of skin round its neck, which it can open like an umbrella.
Wedge-tailed eagle
Aquila audax
- Size
- Wingspan up to 2.8m
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Open country all over Australia
Australia's biggest bird of prey: dark brown, with long wings and a long, wedge-shaped tail.
Thorny devil
Moloch horridus
- Size
- About 15 to 20cm long
- Look for it
- August to December, then January to April
- Where
- Sandy deserts of central and western Australia
A small, slow lizard covered all over in sharp spines, patterned in gold, brown and rust.
Through the year
When to look for them
Outback animals are about all year. The lizards are easiest to see in the warmer months, from September to April. The animal following you is shown in red.
Red kangaroo
Emu
Dingo
Frilled lizard
Wedge-tailed eagle
Thorny devil
Good to know
Six things about the outback
Most of a continent
The outback covers about three-quarters of Australia, but very few people live there.
Why it is red
The sand and rock are full of iron, which has rusted over millions of years.
Boom and bust
Years of drought are broken by sudden floods. Plants and animals breed fast while the good times last.
Shade seekers
In summer the ground can be too hot to stand on. Most animals rest by day and come out at dusk.
Pouched mammals
Most of Australia's mammals are marsupials: their tiny babies finish growing in a pouch.
An island of its own
Australia has been cut off by sea for millions of years, so its animals are unlike any others.
Photo gallery
Real photos of the animals on this page. Tap one to see it bigger.
Red kangaroo
Emu
Dingo
Frilled lizard
Wedge-tailed eagle
Thorny devil
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons and are used under free licences. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews. Open a photo to see who took it.
The red heart
Most of Australia is outback: dry, flat, red and very big. It can go years without proper rain, and its animals are built to wait.
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