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One animal defines Australia's amazing wildlife more than any other the kangaroo.
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Red Kangaroos, known as Big Reds, are the largest of the four kangaroo species and Australia's biggest land mammals.
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Standing over 6 feet tall with a three foot tail, their powerful spring loaded legs propel them at speeds of more than 35 miles an hour, covering up to 30 feet in a single bound.
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The kangaroo's giant feet give them their scientific name, macropods.
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Macro means large and pod means foot.
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There are more than 50 species of macropod in Australia.
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Kangaroos are the largest.
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The next size down are wallabies like these agile wallabies who have given their name to a unique nonprofit near Cairns in Queensland.
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The Agile Project, founded in 2017 by ecologist Shay Ager, has just opened a brand new rescue center.
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This is absolutely beautiful here.
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This is your rescue center for wallabies, right?
1:12
It sure is.
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Our new wildlife rehabilitation center.
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We've only been here 2 days, two days.
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Our timing is perfect.
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The Agile Project rescues, raises, and then releases orphan macropods back to the wild.
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This is great.
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You've got all ages here.
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We sure do.
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Macropods not only include kangaroos and wallabies, but also wallaroos and pademelon.
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Wow, look at them all of this.
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How many do you have at this location?
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We have 27. 27 mm Hmm.
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And that one right up the back is a swamp wallaby.
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Mm hmm, common wallaboo.
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Nobody really knows how many wallaroos are left in Australia.
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That can be said for a lot of macropods and a lot of Australian species.
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Macropods are also marsupials, a group of animals that are born premature and complete their development inside a special pouch on their mother's abdomen.
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Young marsupials are called joeys, and it's time for all these joeys to get their morning bottles.
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So this is a whipped tail wallaby.
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They call them the pretty face wallaby because they've got this beautiful definition down the side of their face.
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And these are wallaroos.
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How old are these two?
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They're around 1 1/2 years old.
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You are?
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A 2 fisted feeder.
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I see.
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I think I've held 8 bottles at once before.
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Really.
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You know, I reckon we'll feed the tiny little putties now.
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OK, we'll head over here.
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This is Porsche and Ferrari.
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These are Paddy melons.
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These are rainforest macropod species.
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Although they are so much smaller than the wallaroos, they're actually a lot older in terms of development.
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At what point will you decide and where will you decide these will be released?
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We have some incredible pre release and release site.
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Once they are ready, weaned off bottles, the gates open and they get to choose when they come and go back into the enclosure.
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Yeah, so it's like a soft release.
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How many would you say you've rescued over the years?
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Hundreds and hundreds.
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Hundreds.
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Probably over 1000.
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You've become attached to them.
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Yeah.
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What's it like when you have to say goodbye?
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It's a definitely bittersweet moment.
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Unfortunately, as towns in North Queensland expand into previously wild habitat, rescuers like Shay have become all too important.
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Can you tell me a little bit about their history, how they ended up here?
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Every single joy that you see is actually an orphan.
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95% of them do come in when we rescue them from their mother's power after she's been hit by.
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95% are car strikes.
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Yeah.
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And the other 5 or so percent are dog attacks.
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So this is Ayla.
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She is an Eastern grey kangaroo.
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She's very young, but she was one of those unfortunate car strike victims.
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She lost her mum to car strike.
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Let's see if she grabs grabs it.
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There we go.
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Look at her.
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Go.
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There we go.
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Oh, yeah, she's hungry.
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So you actually are removing them from a pouch, from a mother that's deceased and then try to get them going on the ball.
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Yeah, we have carers all across far North Queensland that do this work.
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Yeah, well, this has all been so interesting.
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I hope you have success here.
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I'm very blessed and very lucky to be able to provide these guys with a safe space.
