Fun Facts About Kangaroos关于袋鼠的趣闻

Kangaroos are a symbol of Australia！ These cute animals make up a largenumber of Australia’s animal population1. There’s a lot that people don’t knowabout kangaroos， so we put together some fun facts about kangaroos.

袋鼠是澳大利亚的象征！这些可爱的动物在澳大利亚动物数量中占比很大。人们对袋鼠有很多不了解的地方，所以我们收集了一些关于袋鼠的趣闻。

Kangaroos jump because they have to.袋鼠跳是因为它们不得不跳遥

You always see kangaroos jumping around because they can’t move one oftheir legs without moving another. That is to say， they can’t use legs to walk.Luckily， it seems they really wouldn’t need to， because they can jump as fast asover 35 miles per hour！

你总是看到袋鼠跳来跳去，因为它们不能在移动一条腿的时候不动另一条腿。也就是说，它们不能用腿走路。好在它们看起来也并不需要会走路，因为它们能以每小时超过35 英里的速度跳跃！

If someone runs after the kangaroos to catch them， they run to water.如果有人追着袋鼠去抓它们袁它们会跑向水边遥

Although kangaroos don’t have many enemies2， they can sometimes beattacked by humans or dingoes3. To save themselves， kangaroos often go to water.Once there， the kangaroo will try to drown4 the enemy. Otherwise， the kangaroowill back against a tree and kick—this has enough force to kill a human.

虽然袋鼠天敌较少，但它们有时会受到人类或野狗的攻击。为了自救，袋鼠经常去水边。一旦到了那里，袋鼠就会试图淹死敌人。否则，袋鼠会背靠着树踢人——这一脚的力量足以杀死一个人。

Most kangaroos are left-handed.大多数袋鼠都是左撇子。

While it’s often thought that humans are the only kind of animals that have adominant5 hand， kangaroos do as well！ Wild kangaroos are used to using their lefthand for tasks like cleaning and feeding.

虽然人们通常认为人类是唯一拥有惯用手的动物，但袋鼠也是！野生袋鼠习惯用左手来做梳洗和进食等工作。

Australia has more kangaroos than humans.澳大利亚的袋鼠比人多。

With 24 million people living in Australia， there are 44 million kangaroos asof 2015. But in 2009， there were only 27 million kangaroos！ The number hasgrown very fast. Too many kangaroos cause some new problems.

澳大利亚有2400 万人口，截至2015 年有4400 万只袋鼠。但是在2009 年，只有2700 万只袋鼠！它们增长速度非常快，而过多的袋鼠会引发一些新问题。

Kangaroo meat is common to Australians.袋鼠肉在澳大利亚很常见。

It’s not unusual to find a“kangaroo burger”on a menu in Australia！ In fact，it is healthier as it is high in protein6 and low in fat. It is also a good choice asmeat. Because the kangaroo population is so high， it does not do much bad fortheir existence7.

在澳大利亚的菜单上发现“袋鼠汉堡”并不稀奇！事实上，它更健康，因为含有高蛋白、低脂肪。作为肉类也是不错的选择。因为袋鼠的数量如此之多，这对它们的生存并没有太大的危害。

Kangaroos are hit by cars all the time.袋鼠总是被汽车撞。

In fact， 80% of animals hit by cars in Australia are kangaroos. If you drive inthe Outback and it’s dark， the chances of hitting a kangaroo are so high. Manypeople who live in the country have metal bars8 to deal with hitting a kangaroo.

事实上，澳大利亚80%出车祸的动物都是袋鼠。如果你在内陆天黑的时候开车，撞到袋鼠的几率非常高。许多住在这个国家的人用金属横杠来应对撞到袋鼠的情况。

The tails of kangaroos act like a third leg.袋鼠的尾巴就像第三条腿。

Not only do kangaroos use their tail for balance9， but it’s also like a thirdleg. They have a special “walk”in which they push off the ground with their tail，and then jump with their legs.

袋鼠不仅用尾巴来保持平衡，而且把它当作第三条腿。它们有一种特殊的“行走”方式，用尾巴一推地面，然后用腿跳跃。

There爷s one kind of kangaroos that live in trees.有一种袋鼠生活在树上。

If you saw these kangaroos， you wouldn’t think they were kangaroos！ Unlikethe kangaroos we think of， tree kangaroos walk on all fours and don’t jump. Notonly that， but they’re native10 to New Guinea and only far northeasternQueensland， while most kangaroos are native to Australia. Sadly， this kind ofkangaroos is becoming less quickly because of less forests and more hunting.

如果你看到这种袋鼠，你不会认为它们是袋鼠！与我们想象中的袋鼠不同，树袋鼠四肢着地行走，不会跳跃。不仅如此，它们原产于新几内亚岛，仅分布在昆士兰州东北部，而大多数袋鼠都来自澳大利亚。可悲的是，由于森林变得越来越少，狩猎行为越来越多，这种袋鼠的数量正在快速下降。

Kangaroos can’t move backwards.袋鼠不会后退。

Because of how big and strong their tail is， kangaroos can’t jump backwards.Australia took a kangaroo and an emu as symbol of the country. Both are animalsthat can’t move backward， which is a symbol that the nation only moves forwards.

因为它们的尾巴又大又强壮，袋鼠不能向后跳。澳大利亚把袋鼠和鸸鹋作为国家的象征。两者都是不会后退的动物，这象征着这个民族只进不退。

（英语原文选自：thefactsite.com）