Growing up, I learnt the story of how the kangaroo got his name. When Captain Cook first arrived in Australia and saw the kangaroos hopping around, they asked the Aboriginals what the animals were called. The local people answered, "Kanguru", meaning that they didn't understand what was being said to them. Captain Cook and his men thought that it was the name of the animal and it has then evolved into Kangaroo.
However, this story is actually untrue, although many Australians today believe it to be the truth. The word kangaroo actually derives from the word gangurru from the local people of the area where Captain Cook had stopped, the Guugu Yimithirr, and it is the word for the Grey Kangaroo in their language. Captain Cook recorded the name of these unsual animals as either "kangooroo or kanguru".
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