Eastern grey kangaroo
Macropus giganteus Shaw, 1790
The eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) is a marsupial mammal in the family Macropodidae, order Diprotodontia. It is a large, terrestrial, nocturnal herbivore with a representative adult body mass of 25.88 kg and reported values up to 41.45 kg.
Quick facts about the eastern grey kangaroo
Checklists record it in Australia, and the IUCN Red List classifies it as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 25.9 kg – 41.5 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 24 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 25 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 34.8 days – 38 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 22.1 months – 3.53 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Photos of the eastern grey kangaroo
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1 more photo exists under a licence we cannot display: view at source.
Where does the eastern grey kangaroo live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The eastern grey kangaroo is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the eastern grey kangaroo?
The eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus: gigantic large-foot; also great grey kangaroo or forester kangaroo) is a marsupial found in the eastern third of Australia, with a population of several million. A large M. giganteus kangaroo male can typically weigh up to 69 kg (152 lb) and have a length of well over 2 m (6 ft 7 in).
From the Wikipedia article “Eastern grey kangaroo” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eastern_grey_kangaroo&oldid=1374994549), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the eastern grey kangaroo endangered?
The eastern grey kangaroo is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the eastern grey kangaroo classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderDiprotodontia
- familyMacropodidae
- genusMacropus
- SpeciesMacropus giganteus Shaw, 1790
Synonyms Macropus giganteus giganteus, Macropus giganteus tasmaniensis
Other names and names in other languages (47)
- Eastern gray kangarooEnglish
- Eastern gray kangarooEnglish
- ForesterEnglish
- Forester kangarooEnglish
- Gray kangarooEnglish
- Great grey kangarooEnglish
- Grey kangarooEnglish
- Tasmanian forester kangarooEnglish
- كنغر رمادي شرقيArabic
- klokan obrovský tasmanskýCzech
- klokan obrovskýCzech
- klokan obrovský severovýchodníCzech
- Grå kæmpekænguruDanish
- Tasmanisches RiesenkänguruGerman
- Östliches Graues RiesenkänguruGerman
- Ανατολικό Γκρίζο ΚαγκουρόGreek
- Canguro Gris OrientalSpanish
- Ida hallkänguruEstonian
- IsojättikenguruFinnish
- HarmaaisokenguruFinnish
- Kangourou géantFrench
- Kangourou géant de l'EstFrench
- Kangourou gris de l'EstFrench
- קנגורו אפור מזרחיHebrew
- keleti szürke óriáskenguruHungarian
- Canguro giganteItalian
- Canguro grigio orientaleItalian
- オオカンガルーJapanese
- 큰캥거루Korean
- Austrumu pelēkais ķengursLatvian
- Grå KjempekenguruNorwegian Bokmål
- Oostelijke Grijze ReuzenkangoeroeDutch
- ପରମOdia
- ਪੂਰਬੀ ਸਲੇਟੀ ਕੰਗਾਰੂPunjabi
- Kangur olbrzymiPolish
- Canguru-gigantePortuguese
- Canguru-cinzentoPortuguese
- Canguru-cinzento-da-TasmâniaPortuguese
- Гигантский кенгуруRussian
- grå jättekänguruSwedish
- จิงโจ้เทาตะวันออกThai
- Doğu Boz KangurusuTurkish
- Кенгуру велетенськийUkrainian
- badagarangxdk
- 東部灰袋鼠Chinese
- 東部灰袋鼠（承名亞種）Chinese
- 東部灰袋鼠（指名亞種）Chinese
Relatives of the eastern grey kangaroo
Other species in the same genus Macropus.
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CompareEastern grey kangaroo vs Western grey kangarooEastern grey kangaroo vs Halmaturus crassipesEastern grey kangaroo vs Halmaturus damaEastern grey kangaroo vs Halmaturus gazella
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the eastern grey kangaroo?
The eastern grey kangaroo is a marsupial mammal in the family Macropodidae and the order Diprotodontia.
How heavy is an eastern grey kangaroo?
Its representative adult body mass is 25.88 kg, and our sources report values up to 41.45 kg.
What does the eastern grey kangaroo eat?
The eastern grey kangaroo is a herbivore.
Which countries is the eastern grey kangaroo recorded in?
Checklists record the eastern grey kangaroo in Australia.
How long does the eastern grey kangaroo live?
Its lifespan is given as 24 years, with values up to 25 years reported by our sources.
How many young does the eastern grey kangaroo have?
It has 1 young per litter and 1 litter per year, after a gestation period of 36.28 days.
Who named the eastern grey kangaroo?
The scientific name Macropus giganteus was given by Shaw, 1790.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/eastern-grey-kangaroo
“Eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/eastern-grey-kangaroo.
@misc{eastern_grey_kangaroo_2026,
title = {Eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/eastern-grey-kangaroo},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}