Quote:
Originally Posted by Didums
They are smaller animals though, you would have to kill more to get the same amount of meat. Also, the Joeys need to stay in their mother's pouch until they are ready to come out on their own, so it might be ineffecient to farm them.
Note: Australia's population is about the same as California's so the effect on Greenhouse Gases won't be that significant :P
Double note: I'm half Aussie.
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Well, honestly, I'm not too educated on 'roos... but I do know that they don't tend to live past six years of age, whereas cows have lifespans of a bit over ten years. Thus, gestation and maturation periods for 'roos are shorter and more could be harvested to make up for their lesser biomass.
As for the effect of harvesting roo meat, if kangaroo consumption replaced consumption of cattle outside of Australia, the effect on greenhouse gas emissions would be tremendous. My feeling is this is what the fellow in the newstory was hinting at.
But, anyway... I'm not arguing that we start harvesting kangaroos... an Australian scientist is... frankly, I'd prefer not to see kangaroos added to the list of meat-supply animals, because I don't think people will readily give up beef for 'roo-flesh.