kangaroos

the Outback every year red kangaroos have two goals staying alive and raising babies and every year they face a set of problems unique to this land it's one of the driest places on earth so there's not a lot to eat even worse the weather is totally unpredictable and the soil is the most infertile on the planet here the odds against staying alive let alone rearing young really mount up about 10 million red Roos live in Central Australia but it's only by getting to know individuals that you can really see just how challenging their lives can be red Roos look as if they're designed to hop all over Australia but when an adult settled their home range is quite small still they can easily travel 50 kilometres or so in search of fresh green shoots this mob lives in the far northwest corner of New South Wales big adult males have a body built to impress they live a free bachelor existence most males have red coats while many of the females are blue gray mothers have sole responsibility for their youngsters this female Ruby and her baby Elvis live among the mob the bonds between them are closed and they need to be it's July midwinter Down Under Elvis is just over seven months old and his life is not quite as carefree as it seems for a start his mum is young and relatively inexperienced this spells trouble and even if Ruby had all the experience in the world the odds are against them on average a youngster like Elvis has only a 40% chance of surviving the next six months and the fact that dingoes live nearby doesn't help at all Elvis scrambles into Ruby's pouch for safety because he hasn't yet got the stamina for a long chase given half a chance dingos kill Roos mothers and babies are top of their list as the dingo isn't too close Ruby doesn't waste energy on flight both she and Elvis wait to see what will happen next the dingo without the element of surprise on his side doesn't even bother to hunt caution pays but Elvis's heavy and Ruby's keen to get him back out of the pouch