Original photo by Mathias Berlin/ Shutterstock
Kangaroos are one of several biologically unique creatures endemic to Australia. One of their most unusual traits is that their long hind feet and muscular tails prevent them from being able to walk backward except with great difficulty. In fact, kangaroos can’t even really walk forward like other animals. Instead, they ambulate using a hopping motion called saltation in which their hind feet touch the ground synchronously instead of alternating one at a time. They also use their long tails to balance and propel themselves forward, almost like a third hind leg. This physiological composition makes it effectively impossible for kangaroos to walk or hop backward, as their tails are far too heavy and cumbersome to allow for easy reverse navigation. When they do want to move “backward,” they do so by turning around and facing that direction.
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It's a factBaby kangaroos (joeys) are roughly an inch long when born. Immediately after birth, the baby crawls unassisted into the mother’s pouch, where it spends its first four months. After that the joey emerges for short periods of time to graze before leaving the pouch for good after about 10 months.
Much like their marsupial mates, emus, another endemic Australian creature, also struggle to walk backward. While these large, flightless birds are capable of sprinting at speeds of up to 31 mph, they can only do so facing forward. When they do move backward, they’re forced to do so very slowly. It’s believed that their knee joints, in addition to their long legs and unusual body shape, prevent them from moving quickly in reverse. Given this shared difficulty in backing up, it’s worth noting that both the kangaroo and the emu also share the distinction of appearing on Australia’s Commonwealth Coat of Arms. According to the country’s Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the animals were chosen to symbolize a country that’s always moving forward rather than backward.
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More than half the residents of Coober Pedy, Australia, live underground.
Coober Pedy is a South Australian mining town known for producing 70% of the world’s opals, and for serving as the filming location for the 1985 dystopian action movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Today, however, it’s arguably most famous for the fact that more than half its residents live underground. When opal was first discovered in the area in 1915, miners flocked to the region en masse, only to find that summer temperatures could reach a scorching 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius) in summer. Rather than bail on this gold mine (so to speak), prospectors dug houses into the hillsides, where the average temperature remained a balmy 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 degrees Celsius) year-round. The network of underground buildings continued to expand over time, with additions including the Desert Cave Hotel and several churches. Nowadays, about 60% of Coober Pedy’s 2,500 residents live underground, where the temperature remains consistent year after year while outside temps continue to climb.
Bennett Kleinman is a New York City-based staff writer for Optimism Media, and previously contributed to television programs such as "Late Show With David Letterman" and "Impractical Jokers." Bennett is also a devoted New York Yankees and New Jersey Devils fan, and thinks plain seltzer is the best drink ever invented.
