Hello! My name is Charly Plaisir and I am a wildlife biologist specialized in eastern grey kangaroos. Eastern grey kangaroos are marsupials found all over eastern Australia. They are most famous for their unique way of moving about, hopping! This method allows them to travel extremely long distances using little energy, something we should try to learn how to do, if you ask me!
Speaking of long distances, I have the incredible chance to travel from Montreal, Canada to Australia once a year for three months in order to observe them. Everything about kangaroos fascinates me, but I am slightly more interested in how well young kangaroos can survive and grow. Especially when it does not rain a lot, like in the summertime, or when it rains too much, like in the winter. Heavy rainfall sometimes causes floods, covering up their entire food supply. What do they eat? Well, they are herbivores! They eat grass and that is pretty much what they do all day. Yet, if they cannot find enough grass to feed on that can lead to larger problems, and that’s where I come in.
My work involves getting quite close to live kangaroos. We are lucky enough to measure and weigh them, and look inside mothers’ pouches to see how old their joey is.
