<P> A DNA sequencing project of the genome of a member of the kangaroo family, the tammar wallaby, was started in 2004 . It was a collaboration between Australia (mainly funded by the state of Victoria) and the National Institutes of Health in the US . The tammar's genome was fully sequenced in 2011 . The genome of a marsupial such as the kangaroo is of great interest to scientists studying comparative genomics, because marsupials are at an ideal degree of evolutionary divergence from humans: mice are too close and have not developed many different functions, while birds are genetically too remote . The dairy industry has also expressed some interest in this project . </P> <P> Eye disease is rare but not new among kangaroos . The first official report of kangaroo blindness took place in 1994, in central New South Wales . The following year, reports of blind kangaroos appeared in Victoria and South Australia . By 1996, the disease had spread "across the desert to Western Australia". Australian authorities were concerned the disease could spread to other livestock and possibly humans . Researchers at the Australian Animal Health Laboratories in Geelong detected a virus called the Wallal virus in two species of midges, believed to have been the carriers . Veterinarians also discovered fewer than 3% of kangaroos exposed to the virus developed blindness . </P> <P> Kangaroo reproduction is similar to that of opossums . The egg (still contained in the evolutionary remnant of a shell, a few micrometres thick, and with only a small quantity of yolk within it) descends from the ovary into the uterus . There it is fertilised and quickly develops into a neonate . Even in the largest kangaroo (the red kangaroo) the neonate emerges after only 33 days . Usually, only one young is born at a time . It is blind, hairless, and only a few centimetres long; its hindlegs are mere stumps; it instead uses its more developed forelegs to climb its way through the thick fur on its mother's abdomen into the pouch, which takes about three to five minutes . Once in the pouch, it fastens onto one of the four teats and starts to feed . Almost immediately, the mother's sexual cycle starts again . Another egg descends into the uterus and she becomes sexually receptive . Then, if she mates and a second egg is fertilised, its development is temporarily halted . Meanwhile, the neonate in the pouch grows rapidly . After about 190 days, the baby (joey) is sufficiently large and developed to make its full emergence out of the pouch, after sticking its head out for a few weeks until it eventually feels safe enough to fully emerge . From then on, it spends increasing time in the outside world and eventually, after about 235 days, it leaves the pouch for the last time . The lifespan of kangaroos averages at six years in the wild to in excess of 20 years in captivity, varying by species . Most individuals, however, do not reach maturity in the wild . </P> <P> The kangaroo has always been a very important animal for Australian Aborigines, for its meat, hide, bone, and tendon . Kangaroo hides were also sometimes used for recreation; in particular there are accounts of some tribes (Kurnai) using stuffed kangaroo scrotum as a ball for the traditional football game of marngrook . In addition, there were important Dreaming stories and ceremonies involving the kangaroo . Aherrenge is a current kangaroo dreaming site in the Northern Territory . </P>

How long does a red kangaroo live for