Ida Lipschutz, age 14, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for her question:

Is there really a flying kangaroo?

Mrs. Kangaroo is called The Flyer    no doubt because, she can travel in 15 foot leaps as fast as 25 miles an hour. Certainly she seems to be flying over the ground. But the large lady may stand five feet tall and weigh about 150 pounds. On this planet, the limit for flying birds seems to be about 40 pounds    and certainly Mrs. Kangaroo is much too heavy to take to the air in flight. Hence, there are no true flying kangaroos.

However, the great kangaroos have a flock of squirrel sized relatives called phalangers. They are not very close relatives, but they belong to the large group of marsupial animals that carry their infants in kangaroo type pouches. The flying phalanger, also known as the sugar glider, launches himself through the air like a flying carpet. Actually, he glides in great swoops down from the tree tops, just as though he had taken lessons from our flying squirrels.