A kangaroo is any of several large macropods (the marsupial family that also includes the wallabies,tree-kangaroos,wallaroos,pademelons and the Quokka:65 species in all).The term kangaroo is sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to all members of the macropod family.Kangaroos are native to the continent of Australia,while tree-kangaroos are also found in New Guinea.
The word kangaroo is said to derive from the Guugu Yimidhirr (an Australian Aboriginal language) word gangurru,referring to the Grey Kangaroo.The name was first recorded as kangaru in 1770 by Joseph Banks on James Cook's first voyage of exploration,when they were beached at the mouth of the Endeavour River in the harbour of modern Cooktown for almost 7 weeks repairing their ship which had been damaged on the Great Barrier Reef.
Kangaroo soon became adopted into standard English where it has come to mean any member of the family of kangaroos and wallabies.The belief that it means "I don't understand" or "I don't know" is a popular myth that is also applied to any number of other Aboriginal-sounding Australian words.Male kangaroos are called bucks,boomers or jacks; females are does,flyers,or jills and the young are joeys.The collective noun for kangaroos is a mob.Kangaroos are sometimes coloquially referred to as 'roos.