When kangaroo fighting starts, it is no holds barred.
The kangaroo is easily the most iconic of all wild animals in Australia. We would argue even more so than the koala. These large marsupials have become famous because of their huge hind legs that allow them to jump great distances. They are also famous for their legendary pouches. The mother's pouch is used to carry around baby kangaroos until they reach maturity.
These animals have something of a cute and cuddly reputation in popular culture. The truth is that a wild kangaroo is quite mean and has nasty claws that have scratched up more than one unsuspecting human.
Against their own species, male kangaroos are even meaner. When a male decides to challenge the social hierarchy of the group, things can get ugly fast, as this short video of a kangaroo fight from BBC Earth demonstrates.
We may never look at the Aussie legend the same way again after seeing how brutal these fights are. Imagine being on the receiving end of one of those kicks. The males go all-out in their attempts to win over female kangaroos. There are four different species of kangaroo roaming around the outback, each with their own distinct features and ranges. Red kangaroos are the largest of the bunch and are usually found in North South Wales.
Eastern grey kangaroos are much smaller and as the name implies, are more common to Eastern Australia while the western grey kangaroo is found mostly in Western Australia. The antilopine kangaroo is confined mostly to the Northern part of the country. Regardless of the species, when two males decide to square up like in a "Mortal Kombat" video game, things can get ugly fast. Seeing the way these creatures fight, it becomes obvious why some people have tried to challenge these animals in kangaroo boxing fights.
In most instances the Australian legend comes out on top of those fights because the "roos" do not care about playing fair and will mess a human up badly if they get the chance. No thanks, we think we will just give these animals a wide berth and observe and photograph them from afar!
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
NEXT: THE AXIS DEER AND HOW THEY'RE IMPACTING PARTS OF THE UNITED STATES
WATCH
