The Desire To Belong Is Universal
Eastern Grey Kangaroos like to be with others. We actually have more than one mob flowing through our property. Zeus is the alpha of one of the mobs, and Leo is the alpha of the other. Both of these alpha appear to give the other a wide berth and the roos amongst them come and go as they please. Some mornings I’ll see primarily female kangaroos with young bubs, other mornings I’ll see lots of big boys and groups of juveniles, other days I’ll see an even mix. So they don’t stick together all of the time. I find this interesting because it’s not what the nature documentaries indicate.
Maxie Roo from a young age was interested in meeting various members of the mobs. Below is the first time he did this. I was fascinated with how brave he was and thrilled that the big kangaroos basically told him to go back to mumma, as he wasn’t big enough to join them yet.
He wanted to know everybody on the property. Here he is wondering if the red-necked wallabies might want to be friends. Like in the video above he is only about 10 months old, so very young and should be sticking closer mum but because his mum is human he gets to be a bit more independent.
This does happen some in the wild, here is a prime example of a young red-necked wallaby who like Maxie wants to play with another joey his size. But this mother won’t have it and sends him on his way to go back to his mother who was grazing out of sight of the camera.
At 16 months old, Maxie decided he should try to introduce himself to one of the big boys again. Note that Indie stayed on the patio with me, Indie is a very cautious girl, but she was happy watching Maxie be bold.
At 17 months old, Maxie started doing “the blend” as I liked to call it. He would hop out near the mob and just eat in their vicinity. Blending in the best he could. But then after a bit the extrovert in him would take over and he would try to shine. In the video below you see him grabbing the long grass and rubbing his chest in it. That’s what the big, big boys do. They like marking their territory and showing their dominance by doing that. Max has been watching as studying. I have never seen a wild kangaroo so young and still small do that, other than Mr. Maxie Roo.
Maxie really wanted to make friends. Indie had disappeared (don’t even get me started on how stressed that made me feel even though I knew she was old enough). Look how he reaches out to the little one trying to play. But no, that little one is too young, mumma says no.
I love how kangaroos sniff each other nose to nose to say hello. Yes, that’s Maxie again, out amongst the mob trying to introduce himself to everybody.
