How "Kangaroo" Became an Animal's Name Early in the 18th century, Captain Cook, a famous explorer of Australia, unexpectedly saw an unusual animal during his first visit to Australia. The animal had a large mouth-like head and jumped along on its large legs. To his surprise, the unusual animal carried its baby in a special pocket of flesh. Captain Cook pointed to the animal which was eating grass in the distance and asked his local guide what that animal was. The guide seemed not to know what he was pointing at and finally said Kang-a-roo. Cook carefully wrote down Kang-a-roo as the animal's name in his word book. The Europeans who later got to Australia were anxious to see the unusual animal "Kang-a-roo", but their requests met with puzzled looks of the local people. Before long they got to discover that the local guide who made the answer to Cook's question really meant, "I don't know what you are pointing at." Funny enough, the name "Kang-a-roo" stuck and it is still in use today. How did the local people feel towards the Europeans' requests to see a Kangaroo?
They thought the Europeans are funny. They felt puzzled. They felt happy. They thought the Europeans must never see Kangaroo before.