550-pound Ice Age kangaroos could still hop

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Kangaroos have likely been hopping across the planet for much longer than experts previously believed. Not only that, but the ancestors of today's marsupials landed their leaps while growing larger than their descendents. For thousands of years, the planet's largest hopping animal has remained Australia's red kangaroo (). A male "Big Red" easily reaches over five feet tall, weighs 200 pounds, and travels around 37 mph at a pace of up to six feet per leap.