Steve Parish

There is something quite magical about Australia's kangaroos and wallabies. Given permission, the spirit of these extraordinary creatures will find a special place in your consciousness; they certainly have mine. This male red kangaroo is the most widely distributed and the physically largest of our fifty species, growing up to 1.8 metres tall when standing. It also needs to be the toughest; it lives in some of the harshest environments on the planet. Usually quick to take flight, this large adult male merely rose on its elbow and, with characteristic twitching ears, surveyed me as a potential threat with a sense of dignified presence unrivalled in the Australian terrestrial mammalian world. I lowered my profile and lay on the ground. Within minutes, the big red returned to napping beneath a lovely red river gum.