National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: Kangaroo Meat Could Help Australia Cut Gas Emissions


Email to a Friend	<< Back to Full Story

Grazing red kangaroos watch warily on an open plain at the Werribee Zoo in Victoria, Australia.

Unique gut microbes help kangaroos emit much less methane than sheep and cattle, says a researcher who is urging Australia's meat industry to focus on the native marsupial.

If Australia phases out most of its beef and veal and replaces it with kangaroo meat, the continent could cut its greenhouse gas emissions and save its native terrain, according to a July 2008 study.

Photograph by Jason Edwards/NGS