Energy requirements of the red kangaroo (Macropus rufus): impacts of age, growth and body size in a large desert-dwelling herbivore.

Abstract

Generally, young growing mammals have resting metabolic rates (RMRs) that are proportionally greater than those of adult animals. This is seen in the red kangaroo ( Macropus rufus), a large (>20 kg) herbivorous marsupial common to arid and semi-arid inland Australia. Juvenile red kangaroos have RMRs 1.5-1.6 times those expected for adult marsupials of an equivalent body mass. When fed high-quality chopped lucerne hay, young-at-foot (YAF) kangaroos, which have permanently left the mother's pouch but are still sucking, and recently weaned red kangaroos had digestible energy intakes of 641+/-27 kJ kg(-0.75) day(-1) and 677+/-26 kJ kg(-0.75) day(-1), respectively, significantly higher than the 385+/-37 kJ kg(-0.75) day(-1) ingested by mature, non-lactating females. However, YAF and weaned red kangaroos had maintenance energy requirements (MERs) that were not significantly higher than those of mature, non-lactating females, the values ranging between 384 kJ kg(-0.75) day(-1) and 390 kJ kg(-0.75) day(-1) digestible energy. Importantly, the MER of mature female red kangaroos was 84% of that previously reported for similarly sized, but still growing, male red kangaroos. Growth was the main factor affecting the proportionally higher energy requirements of the juvenile red kangaroos relative to non-reproductive mature females. On a good quality diet, juvenile red kangaroos from permanent pouch exit until shortly after weaning (ca. 220-400 days) had average growth rates of 55 g body mass day(-1). At this level of growth, juveniles had total daily digestible energy requirements (i.e. MER plus growth energy requirements) that were 1.7-1.8 times the MER of mature, non-reproductive females. Our data suggest that the proportionally higher RMR of juvenile red kangaroos is largely explained by the additional energy needed for growth. Energy contents of the tissue gained by the YAF and weaned red kangaroos during growth were estimated to be 5.3 kJ g(-1), within the range found for most young growing mammals.