Boxing Kangaroos by Julian Robinson

Tuesday, 26th December 2006

Boxing Kangaroos

by Julian Robinson

This was of a ferocious fight between two male kangaroos that I happened to stumble on while doing something else. These are big roos, standing over 7 feet or 2m when on their toes trying to gain the height advantage. They attempt to rip the ears, eyes and nose of the opposition with the big and sharp claws you can see. More dramatically, they stand on their tails while holding on to the opposition for support, then plunge their powerful hind feet (also equipped with claws) into the belly of the victim, actually attempting (I think, watching as closely as I could) to do permanent damage to the reproductive organs.
You can see that one of these roos has a torn ear, but since it is not bleeding I assume it was another fight, another time.
I witnessed maybe five minutes of this fight, then ran out of storage. By the time I went back to the car to get a new card and encouraged my comrades to come and have a look (they had kindly stayed put so to allow me to take the photos), the roos took one look at us and hopped away, one behind the other. Whether there was an acknowledged winner and loser I will never know.

Julian Robinson

A long time enthusiast recently changed to digital after the Nikon FE (what a great camera) was stolen. Now a Canon owner: first a 300D then upgraded to a 20D and some mid-range lenses (Canon 17-40, 24-105, 400/5.6, 70-300 IS, 100/2.8 macro and Tokina 12-24).

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4 Comments

Anurag Says:
June 26th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
I too grew up on the NIKON FE,
this looks more like waltz!
Sheila Prost Says:
July 2nd, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Yeah, a waltz with claws….

I love it! Very nice work!
Pieter -sAner- van der Horst Says:
July 30th, 2007 at 11:07 am
This is a great actionshot. I love the monochrome colors. Very nice!
Ann Says:
December 25th, 2007 at 9:26 am
I wonder if this kind of scene was the inspiration for Banjo Pattersn to write Waltzing Matilda. It does look so but your fantastic description of this action would denote otherwise. Thank you so much for including the details it makes it so much more interesting.