KANGAROOS TRY TO COMMUNICATE WITH HUMANS

A new research study from the University of Sydney reports that kangaroos can learn to communicate with humans similar to how domesticated dogs do, by using their gaze to “point” and ask for help. The study involved 11 kangaroos that lived in captivity but had not been domesticated. Ten of the 11 marsupials would intently gaze at researchers when they were unable to open a box with food. (* Yes, those Harry & David fruit boxes can be murder to open.) They would alternately look at the human and at the container, as a way of pointing or gesturing toward the object, asking for help. The findings challenge the notion that only domesticated animals such as dogs, horses or goats communicate with humans, and suggests many more animals could grasp how to convey meaning to humans.
* Does this mean kangaroos could give us directions if we’re trying to find the nearest Outback restaurant?
* Wait – humans have been on Australia for 65,000 years and they’re just noticing this now?
* Some of the researchers were mean. When they opened the box for the kangaroo, inside was a fruitcake.
* Ten out of eleven. What did that one last kangaroo do when it couldn’t open the food? Slug the researcher?
* Later, the kangaroos all got together and stole the researchers’ lunchbags from the fridge.