CatersIf the sight of this little joey taking its first tentative hops doesn’t melt your heart all over the floor I don’t know what will.
Filmed at The Kangaroo Sanctuary in Alice Springs, in Australia’s Northern Territory, the touching footage shows orphaned six-month-old joey Bradley bouncing timidly towards Chris ‘Brolga’ Barns, the carer he has imprinted on at the sanctuary.
Kangaroo expert Chris, 44, saves joeys whose mothers have been killed, and has spent the last four weeks carrying Bradley around in a fabric pouch after the plucky marsupial’s mother was hit by a car.
You can watch Bradley hop along here:
Chris’ wife Tahnee Passmore-Barns, who helps run the sanctuary, said Bradley is allowed out of his pouch to jump around the couple’s home for a few minutes each day to build his strength.
As the video shows, Chris and the workers at the sanctuary replicate the security of a female kangaroo’s pouch with a pillowcase, enabling the orphaned joeys to feel more at home.
As is to be expected, little Bradley won’t stay Little Bradley for long. He’ll eventually become Big Bradley, and kangaroos can get scarily big.
And when I say big, I mean jacked, ripped, buff, hench, whatever you want to call it. Using the world as their gym, kangaroos can often look like they’ve just got back from a Mr Olympia competition but, y’know, for ‘roos.
Like these two, who were filmed knocking seven bells out of each other in a quiet suburban street in Australia.
Using their tails to stand on while they deliver vicious double-footed kicks to their opponent, the kangaroos seem pretty evenly matched.
In what can only be described as a violent dance between two ‘roos vying for dominance, as if one had wandered onto the others turf and they had to put back in their place, the fighting animals were caught on camera by an innocent bystander, who was undoubtedly thankful the kangaroos were keeping it within the family.
And, as National Geographic tells us, you wouldn’t want to mess with boxing ‘roos:
Things can get downright deadly when male kangaroos fight over mating rights. With their gigantic feet, these “boomers” deliver kicks that can crush bone… and even kill their opponents.
One person who got on the wrong end of a kangaroo was 19-year-old Joshua Hayden, who was out hunting with his brother in Western Australia when he was attacked by an angry marsupial.
Joshua Hayden/ABCJoshua and his brother had spotted three kangaroos in the area before one ‘disappeared from view’ just as he leaned out of his car to take a shot.
As he did so, the kangaroo reappeared and charged at the brothers’ moving car, according to ABC News.
He said:
It actually collided with the side of the car and smashed the front window. Then it bounced back onto me and headbutted me straight in the jaw.
Weird, almost as if the kangaroo didn’t want to be hunted or something?
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.