Originally posted by Bob Harris great focus on the baby, that is really something they come/live that close to the city. Do people feed them, normally wild animals would stay away.
Thanks Bob! Kangaroos are the "cows" of Australia. They'll go anywhere that there's grass to eat. Canberra has quite a few reserves all through the populated areas, and from what I've seen, each of them has a mob of Grey Kangaroos. There's a few Swamp Wallabies and Red Necked Wallabies too, but they're generally further away from suburbia. The freshly cut grass along the edges of major roads attract the kangaroos and sadly leads to quite a lot of accidents. Since they eat grass, Kangaroos aren't usually interested in human food. Of course, the well tended lawns around the edges of suburbia also attract the kangaroos at night, depending on the season. If it's dry in the countryside and natural grass is scarce, they'll come into the suburbs more. Kangaroos are also protected species, so you need a license and quota to cull them, especially in the ACT. The combination of protected woodland and protected kangaroos means that there's a pretty large population. I don't know of any other capital sity in Australia which has so many. There's few avan around the outer edges of Sydney. I don't think there's many to be found around Melbourne. I've seen some kangaroos and wallabies around the forested areas in the outer areas of Brisbane however. I also don't remember seeing any kangaroos or wallabies close to Adelaide or Darwin, and I haven't been to Perth, so I can't say. Hobart may get some wallabies around the outskirts.
Female kangaroos have an amazing adaptation to Australia's variable climate - they can have a young joey out of the pouch, a much smaller one in the pouch, and an embryo in development, waiting for suitable conditions. As soon as the grass grows, they can have another baby without having to chase a male. So, when there's rain, the population can grow very quickly. Other than humans, there's not much in the way of predators for Grey Kangaroos - some small joeys may be taken by feral foxes and cats, even fewer by eagles, and some by dingoes or wild dogs. Personally I think we should be farming kangaroos rather than cattle - the meat is healthier and the kangaroos are better for the environment!