# Would wild kangaroos do well in Africa? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 2, 2013, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-wild-kangaroos-do-well-in-africa/657352 "2013-05-02T20:40:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-wild-kangaroos-do-well-in-africa/657352/41 "2013-05-06T17:45:18Z")
I can’t imagine that wild cats would make an appreciable dent in a wild kangaroo population. I think more mudane problems like disease (mentioned extensively upthread), habitat adoption, food sources and water access would be much greater factors. Is Australian and African scrub/grassland essentially identical? Is the terrain similar enough that they would be comfortable? A gut feeling is that they’d have a pretty good chance if you had a sufficiently large initial herd and the first year didn’t have extreme weather while they found out ways to survive. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-wild-kangaroos-do-well-in-africa/657352/42 "2013-05-06T17:47:53Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Lions and other felines are instinctive predators, though. They have evolved to hunt (mostly) very specific prey types by clamping their jaws around the windpipe. A lion could never reach a kangaroo’s windpipe, so they’d only hunt kangaroos if driven to do so by starvation. I agree with this, but I have this… compulsion to try to limit the use of ‘always’ and ‘never’. I have to imagine that a lion could reach a kangaroo’s windpipe under some circumstances. I apologize for being pedantic. I can’t help myself. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-wild-kangaroos-do-well-in-africa/657352/43 "2013-05-06T18:07:22Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Lions and other felines are instinctive predators, though. They have evolved to hunt (mostly) very specific prey types by clamping their jaws around the windpipe. A lion could never reach a kangaroo’s windpipe, so they’d only hunt kangaroos if driven to do so by starvation. Lions have been known to take down elephants, so I think a kangaroo would be no problem. And assuming you are talking about red kangaroos (the largest species), why do you think a lion couldn’t reach its windpipe, especially with two other lions clamped onto its backside? ---
**Author:** ![thicksantorum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@thicksantorum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thicksantorum)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-wild-kangaroos-do-well-in-africa/657352/44 "2013-05-07T00:43:12Z")
A lion wouldn’t even need to reach its windpipe… it could probably kill a kangaroo _accidentally_ just from the impact of the initial attack, without piercing anything. I think some posters are mistaken on the scales involved, here. Kangaroos are _tiny_ compared to normal lion prey. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-wild-kangaroos-do-well-in-africa/657352/45 "2013-05-07T04:15:13Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > A lion could never reach a kangaroo’s windpipe, so they’d only hunt kangaroos if driven to do so by starvation. Why? ---
**Author:** ![Glazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e57/32.png) [@Glazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glazer)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-wild-kangaroos-do-well-in-africa/657352/46 "2013-05-07T05:34:11Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Yet “some rednecks” ran one down. Cross-country. While carrying large rocks. > [@Mr.Slant](#): > > Based on my viewing of various hunting shows, I believe these claims credible. > The Redneck is an ambush predator… Running down game may have been the killer app that made walking upright the next must have tech. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-wild-kangaroos-do-well-in-africa/657352/47 "2013-05-07T06:10:37Z")
> [@bluezooky](#): > > Roos are quite territorial and will stare down a predators if they can , camping in Kosciusko National Park I had them graze three foot from my night because I’m their land but hey can swim if they want and have been sighted miles offshore. > > I recently watched some rednecks run down and stone a kangaroo to death, doesn’t really argue well to living with real predators such as lions. It must have been a semi tame on for the rednecks to get close enough to it. I’ve hunted Roos on foot up in the bush when I was young. If a mob of Roo’s twigged you sneaking up on them they’d bolt and are bloody quick. Once they took off you had zero chance of catching them on foot. On the other hand, in areas where they aren’t hunted and are used to human presence as being non-threatening (like a national park) they can be almost tame, allowing humans to get very close to them. I have a small section of enclosed “forest” near my house maintained by a local uni that has walking tracks through it. The Roos will lay there and watch you walk past at a distance of a couple of metres. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-wild-kangaroos-do-well-in-africa/657352/48 "2013-05-07T13:13:47Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Lions have been known to take down elephants, so I think a kangaroo would be no problem. And assuming you are talking about red kangaroos (the largest species), why do you think a lion couldn’t reach its windpipe, especially with two other lions clamped onto its backside? That’s what I’m basing it on: lions only attack elephants when forced to do so. ---
**Author:** ![thicksantorum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@thicksantorum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thicksantorum)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-wild-kangaroos-do-well-in-africa/657352/49 "2013-05-07T13:51:17Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > That’s what I’m basing it on: lions only attack elephants when forced to do so. …because attacking an elephant is extremely dangerous. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-wild-kangaroos-do-well-in-africa/657352.md?page=2)