And Skippy The Killer Kangaroo… 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5172292.stm
More at the link above.
A demon duck of doom… ooer!
“There were meat-eating kangaroos with long fangs, and galloping kangaroos with long forearms, which could not hop,”
I wonder why it would have been evolutionarily more successful to hop than gallop? That seems odd.
Fleeing prey has a tendency to spontaneously ‘lighten the load’ so they can run faster… hopping may have evolved after countless generations of galloping kangaroos gave up the chase exclaiming “Ah jeeze Bruce, would ya look at what I just stepped in?”
From Encarta:
“The only member of the kangaroo family that does not hop is the musky rat-kangaroo. Scientists have tried to learn why hopping is so widespread among kangaroos but is so rare in other mammals. Studies have shown that hopping is energy efficient for kangaroos, partly because of springlike tendons in their legs. The energy required to start hopping is quite high, but very little extra energy is needed to hop faster and faster. In contrast, mammals that run on all fours require increasing amounts of energy as speed increases.”
Hmm, well, that sounds pretty convincing Nano.
My latest theory was that since there are so many ultrapoisonous snakes and spiders in Australia, maybe if you can jump up all of a sudden and get a distance away that is safer. I bet that in several million years or so the humans that live there will be hopping too.
Do they hop because of the tendons or did they get the tendons because they hop???
I think we’re missing a bigger question of why does Australia have the world oddest assortment of animals.
The magic of isolation. I understand the Galapagos Islands are pretty weird, too.
Australia does seem to have more than its fair share of marsupials…
And we’re still around. 
Its no wonder really.
They do have the Drop Bear and all. Naaasty creatures.
A > drop bear > (or dropbear) is a fictitious Australian marsupial supposedly related to the koala.
Drop bears are commonly said to be unusually large, vicious, carnivorous koalas that inhabit treetops and attack their prey by dropping onto their heads from above. They are an example of local lore intended to frighten and confuse outsiders, and amuse locals, similar to the jackalope, hoop snake or haggis hunting.
Some suggest that the drop bear myth is designed to discourage children from straying needlessly below eucalyptus trees, protecting them from the very real danger of getting hit by a falling branch. > Arbitrary detachment of old branches is common with certain species of the eucalyptus, which are known as ‘widow-makers’ for this very reason.
Forget the drop bear. I didn’t realize eucalyptus branches were so dangerous! I can’t believe people survive there!