Jeff Hollis, age 9, of Meridian, Miss., for his question:

HOW FAR CAN A KANGAROO LEAP?

Kangaroo is the common name for any of 52 separate marsupial animals found in zoos, and living in the wild in Australia and neighboring islands. A large kangaroo can cover a distance of 25 feet in a single leap.

Typical large kangaroos have sheeplike heads and large, movable ears. They have slender chests and heavy hind parts. They have short front legs with five unequal digits and long, powerful hind legs, with tendons that act like springs for energy efficient hopping.

The best known and largest species of kangaroo are the giant or great gray kangaroo. It can reach a body length of slightly more than five feet, exclusive of the tail which measures between four and four and a half feet in length.

Large kangaroos are terrestial grazing animals that subsist chiefly on vegetation. Sheep ranchers have claimed that the animals damage grazing lands, but such overgrazing can sometimes be attributed to the sheep themselves.

A newly born young kangaroo is called a Joey.