The Red Kangaroo is the largest living marsupial in Australia. It evolved adaptations like different types of milk production and hopping to survive in arid environments as Australia's climate changed. The introduction of livestock and agriculture by Europeans further increased the Red Kangaroo's habitat and food sources, causing its population to grow. Its red fur color also provides camouflage in the red Australian soil, demonstrating natural selection pressures. Overall, the environmental changes led to macroevolutionary changes in the Red Kangaroo over a long period of time.

2. IDENTIFY THE PLANT ANIMAL OR SPECIES
RED KANGAROO

3. DESCRIBE THE CHANGE THAT OCCURRED WITHIN SPECIES
The Red Kangaroo is the largest living Marsupial in the World
• And are found throughout the arid regions of mainland Australia
• Part of the macropod family à
• The Macropod family is alleged to have evolved from either Phalangeridae
(possums) or Burramyidae (pygmy-possums)
• Due to the harsh environments they have evolved some breeding strategies
• E.g à reproduction ceases during drought but begins within days of rain. They
produce two different kinds of milk at the same time
• Other studies have suggests hopping evolved even earlier in forested
environments (30 million years ago)
• Red kangaroos are the most recently evolved kangaroos (Dawson 1995)
• “ The first preference of Red Kangaroos is green grass, followed by green
forbs and mature grass. Grass can provide plentiful energy, but it is tough to
digest. So structural and physiological adaptations have evolved to exploit
this abundant food source

4. http://www.flickr.com/groups/kangaro http://animals.nationalgeographic.co
os/ m/animals/mammals/gray-
kangaroo/

5. DESCRIBE THE CHANGE IN ENVIRONMENT THAT OCCURRED
• Ranges throughout southern Australia because these are
arid or semi-arid areas
Increased because:
• Australia moved further north (45 mya) which changed the
climate, became more arid
• Aboriginals scavenged their predators such as dingos
• European settlement (1788) - due to the clearing of land for
their crops , development of grassland and introduction of
livestock which provided additional food
• National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 – protect the
conservation of kangaroos

6. IDENTIFY WHETHER THE ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
WAS A PHYSICAL CHANGE OR CHEMICAL CHANGE
The environmental change is considered a physical
change during the arrival of Aboriginal and
colonisation of Europeans.

7. IDENTIFY AND DESCRIBE THE SELECTIVE PRESSURE ACTING ON
ORGANISM AS A RESULT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
The selective pressure in the environment is that the
humans don’t hunt for them for food or leather hides.
Another selective pressure is the change in Australian soil
which is now more red (due to oxidation) and one of the
organism’s characteristics is its red fur which
camouflage with the send sands . This is supported by
the theory of natural selection which states that
organisms that is better adapted to the environment will
survive and therefore produce more offspring.
Therefore, red kangaroos are now more abundant.

8. EXPLAIN HOW (4) LED TO (2)
Agriculture has helped increase the habitat of the larger
species of kangaroos as well as providing them more
food. So as sheep farms increase, and available
unsuitable (for sheep) forage increases, so does the
population of Red Kangaroos. This is because the Red
Kangaroo is able to digest grasses that sheep do not eat.

9. DISCUSS WHETHER YOU CONSIDER THE EXAMPLE TO BE A FORM
OF MACRO-EVOLUTION OR MICRO-EVOLUTION
Macro-evolution
• Definition: major evolutionary change over a long period
of time
• Therefore, red kangaroo may have undergone macro
evolution:
As it evolved from ancestors with different genetic
make up than it has now such as possums and wallabies
but shares some DNA sequences which proves that these
different species came from the same ancestors.