Kangaroos are genetically close to humans: Experts

CANBERRA: Australia's kangaroos are genetically similar to humans and may have first evolved in China, Australian researchers said yesterday.

Scientists said they had for the first time mapped the genetic code of the Australian marsupials and found much of it was similar to the genome for humans, the government-backed Centre of Excellence for Kangaroo Genomics said.

"There are a few differences, we have a few more of this, a few less of that, but they are the same genes and a lot of them are in the same order," centre director Jenny Graves told reporters in Melbourne.