# Eastern grey kangaroo (*Macropus giganteus*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/eastern-grey-kangaroo  
Data as of: 2026-11-11

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. Checklists record it in Australia, and the IUCN Red List classifies it as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 25.9 kg – 41.5 kg |
| Length | Not recorded |
| Lifespan | 24 years |
| Diet | Herbivore |
| Longest recorded lifespan | 25 years |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | Not recorded |
| Gestation | 34.8 days – 38 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 1 |
| Age at maturity | 22.1 months – 3.53 years |
| Litters or clutches a year | 1 |
| Active | At night (nocturnal) |
| Lifestyle | Terrestrial |
| Conservation status | Least Concern (IUCN) |
| Countries on record | 1 country |

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Mammalia
- order: Diprotodontia
- family: Macropodidae
- genus: Macropus
- species: *Macropus giganteus* Shaw, 1790

Synonyms: *Macropus giganteus giganteus*, *Macropus giganteus tasmaniensis*

## Countries on record

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.

Australia

## Common questions

### 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

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), 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](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), 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](https://commons.wikimedia.org), 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](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1), 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](https://www.wikidata.org), CC0 1.0, 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
- [Wikipedia (English)](https://en.wikipedia.org), 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).

Cite as: Eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/eastern-grey-kangaroo