Editing Red kangaroo (section)

== Behaviour ==
[[File:Mob of Red Kangaroos (Macropus rufus).jpg|thumb|A mob of red kangaroos at the [[Wagga Wagga Botanic Gardens]]]]
Red kangaroos live in groups of 2–4 members. The most common groups are females and their young.<ref name="Tyndale 2005"/> Larger groups can be found in densely populated areas and females are usually with a male.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Johnson, C. N. |year=1983|title=Variations in Group Size and Composition in Red and Western Grey Kangaroos, ''Macropus rufus'' (Desmarest) and ''M. fulignosus'' (Desmarest)|journal=Australian Wildlife Research|volume=10|pages= 25–31|doi=10.1071/WR9830025 }}</ref> Membership of these groups is very flexible, and males (boomers) are not territorial, fighting only over females (flyers) that come into heat. Males develop proportionately much larger shoulders and arms than females.<ref>{{cite journal|author= Jarman, P. |year= 1983|title=Mating system and sexual dimorphism in large, terrestrial, mammalian herbivores|journal=Biological Reviews|volume=58|pages=485–520|doi=10.1111/j.1469-185X.1983.tb00398.x|issue= 4|s2cid= 84584222}}</ref> Most agonistic interactions occur between young males, which engage in ritualised fighting known as ''boxing''. They usually stand up on their hind limbs and attempt to push their opponent off balance by jabbing him or locking forearms. If the fight escalates, they will begin to kick each other. Using their tail to support their weight, they deliver kicks with their powerful hind legs. Compared to other kangaroo species, fights between red kangaroo males tend to involve more wrestling.<ref name = "McCullough 2000"/> Fights establish dominance relationships among males, and determine who gets access to estrous females.<ref name="Tyndale 2005"/> Dominant males make agonistic behaviours and more sexual behaviours until they are overthrown. Displaced males live alone and avoid close contact with others.<ref name="Tyndale 2005"/>
[[File:Fighting red kangaroos 1.jpg|thumb|right|Two fighting male red kangaroos]]

=== Reproduction ===
{{see also|Kangaroo#Reproduction and life cycle}}
The red kangaroo breeds all year round. The females have the unusual ability to delay the birth of their baby until their previous [[Marsupial#Early development|joey]] has left the pouch. This is known as [[embryonic diapause]]. Copulation may last 25 minutes.<ref name = "McCullough 2000"/> The red kangaroo has the typical reproductive system of a kangaroo. The neonate emerges after only 33 days. Usually only one young is born at a time. It is blind, hairless, and only a few centimetres long. Its hind legs are mere stumps; it instead uses its more developed forelegs to climb its way through the thick fur on its mother's [[abdomen]] into the pouch, which takes about three to five minutes. Once in the pouch, it fastens onto one of the two teats and starts to feed. Almost immediately, the mother's sexual cycle starts again. Another egg descends into the uterus and she becomes sexually receptive. Then, if she mates and a second egg is fertilised, its development is temporarily halted. Meanwhile, the neonate in the pouch grows rapidly. After approximately 190&nbsp;days, the baby (called a [[Marsupial#Early development|joey]]) is sufficiently large and developed to make its full emergence out of the pouch, after sticking its head out for a few weeks until it eventually feels safe enough to fully emerge. From then on, it spends increasing time in the outside world and eventually, after around 235&nbsp;days, it leaves the pouch for the last time.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Russell |first1=Eleanor M |date=March 1974 |title= The biology of kangaroos (Marsupialia-Macropodidae) |url= |journal=Mammal Review |volume=4 |issue= 1‐2 |pages=1–59 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2907.1974.tb00347.x |access-date=}}</ref> While the young joey will permanently leave the pouch at around 235&nbsp;days old, it will continue to suckle until it reaches about 12&nbsp;months of age. A doe may first reproduce as early as 18 months of age and as late as five years during drought, but normally she is two and a half years old before she begins to breed.<ref name="auswild">{{cite book |title=Wildlife of Australia |last=Serventy |first=Vincent |year=1985 |publisher=Sun Books |location=South Melbourne |isbn=0-7251-0480-5 |pages=38–39 }}</ref>

[[File:Rotes Riesenkänguru (Zoo Dresden) (12).jpg|thumb|233px|A joey in a pouch at the [[Dresden Zoo]] in [[Dresden]], Germany]]
The female red kangaroo is usually permanently [[Pregnancy|pregnant]] except on the day she gives birth; she has the ability to freeze the development of an embryo until the previous joey is able to leave the pouch. This is known as [[embryonic diapause]], and will occur in times of drought and in areas with poor food sources. The composition of the milk produced by the mother varies according to the needs of the joey. In addition, red kangaroo mothers may "have up to three generations of offspring simultaneously; a young-at-foot suckling from an elongated teat, a young in the pouch attached to a second teat and a blastula in arrested development in the uterus".<ref name = "McCullough 2000">McCullough, Dale R. and McCullough, Yvette (2000) ''Kangaroos in Outback Australia'', Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|0-231-11916-X}}.</ref>

The red kangaroo has also been observed to engage in [[Alloparenting|alloparental care]], a behaviour in which a female may adopt another female's joey. This is a common parenting behaviour seen in many other animal species like wolves, elephants and [[fathead minnow]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Riedman, Marianne L. |year=1982|title=The Evolution of Alloparental Care in Mammals and Birds|journal= The Quarterly Review of Biology |volume=57 |issue=4|pages=405–435|jstor=2826887 |doi=10.1086/412936|s2cid=85378202}}</ref>