NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

Eastern Grey Kangaroo

Macropus giganteus Shaw, 1790

Source-backed taxonomic record

Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Eastern Grey Kangaroo mother and joey, Brunkerville, New South Wales, Australia
JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image source
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Open encyclopedia reference

The eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus: gigantic large-foot; also great grey kangaroo or forester kangaroo) is a marsupial found in the eastern third of Australia, with a population of several million. A large M. giganteus kangaroo male can typically weigh up to 69 kg (152 lb) and have a length of well over 2 m (6 ft 7 in).

Wikipedia contributors, Eastern grey kangaroo; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:09:53.785352+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name: Macropus giganteus Shaw, 1790
Name authority: Shaw, 1790
Common name: Eastern Grey Kangaroo
Rank: species
Accepted status: accepted
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: Macropodidae
Genus: Macropus
Extinction status: Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
kingdomAnimalia
phylumChordata
subphylumVertebrata
infraphylumGnathostomata
parvphylumOsteichthyes
megaclassTetrapoda
classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
infraclassMetatheria Huxley, 1880
orderDiprotodontia Owen, 1866
suborderMacropodiformes Ameghino, 1889
familyMacropodidae Gray, 1821
subfamilyMacropodinae Gray, 1821
genusMacropus Shaw, 1790
speciesMacropus giganteus Shaw, 1790

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Macropus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Species	Classification	Source status
Western Grey KangarooMacropus fuliginosus (Desmarest, 1817)	MacropodidaeChordata	Accepted speciesRecorded extant

Browse 46 records assigned to Macropodidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Recorded name	Source status
Macropus giganteus giganteus Shaw, 1790 Shaw, 1790	synonym
Macropus giganteus tasmaniensis Le Souef, 1923 Le Souef, 1923	synonym

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Australia

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=552733 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:7VR59. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.