QI | How Many Legs Does A Kangaroo Have?

There will be klaxons.
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This clip is from QI Series M, Episode 11, 'Menagerie' with Stephen Fry, Alan Davies, Bill Bailey, Sue Perkins and Romesh Ranganathan.

[@redbaron2455]

"dont say any numbers!"

[@stevevasta]

🤣🤣🤣

[@charcolew]

So, four legs (since all four limbs are used for locomotion) and a prehensile tail (which by no meaningful interpretation could we call a leg).

[@tobytowbs2370]

But wouldn't that definition also mean that snakes have 1 leg?! Also, wouldn't that mean that animals which can suspend their bodies by their tales, makes them arms and not tails?!

[@matty101yttam]

And all people in wheelchairs have no legs below the waist but have instead 2 legs attached to their shoulders in place of arms.

[@tobytowbs2370]

@@matty101yttam - Their arms are still arms. Their wheels are their legs. Their real legs probably count as tails! And wheelchairs usually have 4 wheels. So, I guess that makes them Centaurs with 2 tails!

[@BardiaSaeedi]

It's a comedy show, not a university lecture.

[@philw6056]

@@BardiaSaeedi Most of the time they use real studies. But playing with definitions (what is a leg?, what is a moon?, what is a fish?, ...) and using unconventional definitions or perspectives is a vital part of the show.

[@James-kv6kb]

I can't believe we invented this technology for this, arguing over a kangaroo tail

[@CaptHayfever]

So, Alan's buzzer is the Monkees theme, & now I really wanna see this whole episode.

[@Wecoc1]

If we have to base that on strength I also have 5 legs

[@Wecoc1]

Don't blame me, noone made that joke so I had to. I'm the victim on this.

[@frednutz1604]

2 of your legs are called arms so you would only have 3.

[@shakesfirst2443]

They call me Tripod. Yeah, I know a very old joke, but I'm a dad I'm allowed.

[@magnificentfailure2390]

@Wecoc Has a doctor had a look at that? They can be easily and mostly painlessly removed.

[@barbaramason3145]

Damn funny!

[@GaslightingIsEvil]

Alan's the best. If he ever decided to leave, I strongly believe that would be the end of QI!

[@Ken.Howard]

From Australia: am surprised Stephen said "floor" instead of "ground" for outside!

[@rossw42]

Hey QI elves: since you like being correct, there is video footage of a kangaroo having its tail shot off by a hunter, and yet it still gets around perfectly fine! It's seen hopping and bouncing very fast, just as normal!

[@Nilguiri]

I'm surprised one of them didn't make the "human tripod" joke.

[@dielaughing73]

Jake the Peg

[@Zizzily]

Almost 5 legs above average? Does that mean 0 legs is the average?

[@hjt091]

Yeah, that was a question earlier in the episode.

[@Goalsplus]

If a kangaroo can "punch" with it's two lower/hind legs does that make them arms?

[@niclasb]

So their definition of a leg is something you use for walking. Then some old guy with a walker has 6 legs?

[@JameZayer]

According to the Riddle of the Sphinx, yes.

[@IndomitableT]

@Orion V . 😂😜

[@JaneDoe-ci3gj]

Are leg supposed to be attached to the person?

[@BardiaSaeedi]

It's a comedy show, not a university lecture.

[@niquel5831]

@@BardiaSaeedi You're just running around copy-pasting the same comment over and over, huh?

[@ORam...]

That's the most confidence I've ever seen in Alan.... *Buzz*... Five. 😐

[@RoderickEtheria]

Just because it is effectively a fifth leg, that doesn't mean it is a leg. It just can be used as a leg. It is still a tail, not a leg.

[@GaslightingIsEvil]

Exactly. Monkeys have a tail that they use as a limb but it isn't seen as a leg. Bill was right when he said limbs not legs. Also, if kangaroos can get around, still, without using their front legs, that would then mean they are arms instead - we could still walk without using our "front legs" because they are arms. So the answer to be 2, or 3 if including the tail (I don't know if a kangaroo could still get around with it)

[@BardiaSaeedi]

It's a comedy show, not a university lecture.

[@niquel5831]

@@BardiaSaeedi And it tries to be accurate about its trivia.

[@Oly1y]

@@BardiaSaeedi it's a trivia show with bad trivia

[@nbartlett6538]

Define "leg"

[@Alex-ur8kd]

In the beginning I thought "it must be an even number!".

[@JaneDoe-ci3gj]

I'm a nerd, who likes learning things! I love the logic reasoning in this comment section!😍👍

[@roderickfemm8799]

I found an apt quote from Abraham Lincoln about this bit: "How many legs does a dog have if you call a tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg." Typical QI humbuggery.

[@KrissFliss]

But the tail is used like a leg, you can even see it the clip they show.

[@limbolegs]

Shout outs SFU

[@danielwilson5102]

I don't care what the scientists say, if it doesn't have a foot attached to the end of it, it isn't a leg......

[@r0bw00d]

Stephen isn't a scientist.

[@Danners35]

Ah, so someone with an amputated foot must have only one leg then, right?

[@Zombie_Scholar]

@@Danners35 Got 'em.

[@1969Kismet]

Adam Hills will be chuffed to hear that ; )

[@brokenwave6125]

That isn't the definition of a leg.... For example...an octopus has 6 arms and 2 legs. But no feet.

[@EleanorPeterson]

Dear angry peeps and pedants: please don't forget that the programme's brief is to be Quite Interesting, not correct, fair, reasonable, anatomically correct or even logical. Shouting at it won't make things any better. If it provokes discussion, debate, and punch-ups, well, that's a bonus. :-)

[@kronk358]

Using a tail to walk doesnt make it a leg.

[@epsleon]

leg n. One of the limbs or appendages that an animal uses for locomotion or support. Using it to walk does seem to make it a leg. Which I guess begs the question, how many legs does a monkey have? You could probably argue its 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, depending on the type of monkey.

[@JaneDoe-ci3gj]

@@epsleon I'm with you on 2,3,4,5 but 0 or 1 I don't understand?

[@epsleon]

@@JaneDoe-ci3gj 1 leg would be just the tail, in species where they use it to hang in trees, the limbs being considered arms. 0 would have the tail count as an arm, as some monkey species use it to grab food, along with the 4 limbs.

[@eukaryotic366]

If 4 pieces of wood supporting a table are called legs, I don't see why a kangaroos' tail wouldn't be considered a leg

[@BardiaSaeedi]

It's a comedy show, not a university lecture.

[@GeeVanderplas]

It is irrelevant what they use their tails for. Biologically speaking they have four limbs. Just as every other tetrapod (what's in a name).

[@MrJamesyboi121]

"limb (plural limbs) A major appendage of human or animal, used for locomotion" it appears the definition is tied to its use.

[@Ngamotu83]

What's in a name? Humans have only two legs and yet we too are tetrapods. So what's in a name? A lot of vagueness, that's what.

[@StreakyBaconMan]

@@MrJamesyboi121 All limbs have joints - tails have vertebra and not joints and are their own separate thing formed through a totally different process to the formation of limbs. And that definition looks totally wrong to me, I don't use my arms for locomotion, I use them for tool manipulation and picking things up so that definition excludes my arms as limbs.

[@StreakyBaconMan]

@@Ngamotu83 Humans have four LIMBS. A tetrapod is just an animal with four limbs, so stuff like reptiles and mammals.

[@BardiaSaeedi]

It's a comedy show, not a university lecture.

[@anamkarajoy]

[1:27] Love me some Alan Davies. [1:53] From the Midwest US, and this photo made me (and friends) think of a really deformed deer running across the road right in front of a car. I thought I was just goofy, but apparently it’s regional to see it that way at first, because that’s what we’re used to happening. 🤷🏻‍♀

[@arempy5836]

"How many legs does a cat have if you call the leg a tail?" "Five" "No, four. It doesn't matter what you call it, it's still a tail"

[@Zombie-lx3sh]

Way to mess up the joke.

[@noneck8166]

Canadians telling Aussies how many legs a kangaroo has? Pick a fight with one and tell me how many legs kick and tear at ya guts....

[@andyzehner3347]

QI is wrong more often than it ought to be. This is one of those times.

[@3DMegadoodoo]

Yeah and what makes it suck all the more is, they could've phrased the question so that the answer would've been true but also would've allowed for the contestants to get klaxoned: "How many limbs does a kangaroo use to move about?" It's just lazy and/or incompetent writing.

[@peterclarke7240]

@@3DMegadoodoo not really, it's deliberately ambiguous language, to which, in this case, the correct response is to ask "how are you defining "leg?" The whole conceit of this show is using quite interesting and usually counter-intuitive facts that have been proven (which depends on how you define the variables, as in many science and academic papers) - if you watch the video again, Stephen clearly states that it was research done by a team at a university that concluded that kangaroos have 5 "legs" (depending on how you define "leg") - in a few months time there'll be another video where another research team has conclusively proved that Kangaroos don't have legs, but oars. Or something. The trick with QI is to listen to the question- the wording is usually very, very deliberate, as Alan demonstrated by immediately saying "nobody say any numbers," because he knew this was a suspiciously innocent-sounding question designed either to get people to say "four" or, if they were feeling clever, "two."

[@BardiaSaeedi]

It's a comedy show, not a university lecture.

[@Oscar-Green]

Is it only for Red Kangaroos or does it apply to other species also? and what about wallabies also?

[@trythinkingforachange4201]

It's still a tail, not a leg. Next question.

[@noatrope]

Try Thinking For a change What, has an octopus got eight tails then in your mind

[@r0bw00d]

Try thinking for a change, Noaqiyeum. What? If someone is able to write with their foot then it's automatically redesignated as a hand in your mind?

[@MegaDoubledot]

@@r0bw00d Try thinking for a change, r0bw00d. Can we keep this going 2 months apart?

[@eugkra33]

Almost all the answers on this show are objectively wrong.

[@BardiaSaeedi]

It's a comedy show, not a university lecture.

[@drewlovelyhell4892]

From what I'm told, an Elephant is the only animal with four actual legs, as it has four knees. Any other quadruped is actually walking on it's arms and legs. Of course, as QI has taught us, most of those factoids we hear are misconceptions. Anybody know the truth about it?

[@SpeckleKen]

No - all the quadrupeds have arms / front legs with an elbow and wrist, and legs / hind legs with a knee and an ankle. A knee connects a thighbone (femur) and a shinbone (tibia). What you are calling a "knee" in the elephant's front leg is actually a wrist.

[@SpeckleKen]

P.S. And people used to say that they were the only animal other than humans to have chins, but it is now generally accepted that elephants do not have chins in the human sense.

[@hadz8671]

A pantomime horse also has 4 knees.

[@Joraultechy]

Ayyy I go to Simon Fraser University (in Burnaby Canada) And I really don’t know why this is a research project the institution did

[@markmayonnaise1163]

Strikes me as odd too... one tends not to see kangaroos outside of zoos here in BC.

[@Delinae]

Lol, not joking, I got to this video AT SFU. And looked around incase there were any kangaroos.

[@DutchTDK]

Wait do we have kangaroos here?

[@James-ye7rp]

"....if you cut off it's four arms...." I thought he said there were five legs. Weird, that.

[@bcfblack]

forearms lol

[@thomaswillard6267]

2 Their forelimbs are arms, not legs. They have shoulders-elbows-wrists, not hips-knees-ankles Their tail has none of those requisite joints.

[@mrgoodwrench8181]

What a load of tripe. Two legs, two arms and one tail.

[@puirYorick]

I thought they had a bounding gait where only the two hind legs propelled them while the tail acted as a balancing keel and steering rudder. The gait shown in this clip seemed like a relaxed economical browsing one like a human on hands and knees with tiptoes helping with steering and balance. Surely zoologists don't classify numbers of legs based on irregular postures or atypical gaits of a species. I have to go with Bill and say they should have said "limbs" instead. Might as well count a penguin's flippers as legs too because they become locomotion prime movers in water.

[@JoshuaNairn]

I believe the definition of "legs" used here was a weight-bearing and locomotive structure. Kangaroos do spend far more time moving in that fashion than they would bounding on any given day, so it's not necessarily irregular either. However, the fact that Stephen later used the term "arms" would suggest that the "five-legged" interpretation is purely technical and shouldn't have any impact on casual classification of kangaroos as two-legged.

[@wordreet]

My grandmother had an atypical gait, but once it was painted the same colour as the rest of the street's, the problem was solved.

[@puirYorick]

@@wordreet ...an old stone stile was it?

[@wordreet]

Oi! I'm not that fucking old!

[@bridie6498]

So a kangaroo is a boat?? :)

[@qwertyTRiG]

QI picking the least intuitive option as the "correct" answer. I suppose we can't complain: that's what they always do.

[@porkchops-tube]

TRiG (Ireland) just a show man relax

[@SolarAbyss]

Kangaroos are the hot hatch of Australia.

[@TesserId]

So, what then does it mean that people can stand on their heads?

[@manwiththebeak]

I remember when banks used to have 5 legs. Now they've got 7. Utter madness.

[@sarcasmo57]

5

[@hammyjammies]

So using the same logic, if somebody was paralysed from the waist down, would that make their arms legs? What a ridiculous way to measure something...

[@brokenwave6125]

If they used their arms for locomotion, sure. They would have become legs. A leg is defined as a limb on which an animal stands or walks.

[@solo_dingo]

Kangaroos do use their front legs to walk. If they use the back legs only they hop.

[@solo_dingo]

Ya see if you are going to be pedantic about a question and the answer, then it would pay to be pedantic about the language you use in your response. For effective communication and all that :)

[@solo_dingo]

Buddy, you need to read your own statements for the sake of effective communication

[@solo_dingo]

It is easy to understand your posts. They aren't complicated, just factually inaccurate. So the point of my post was that if you open with "actually" and run with some definitions you should probably agree with those definitions. As kangaroos walk with 5 limbs and hop with 2. Kangaroos can not "walk" without the tail or without their front legs. When hopping the tail does not touch the ground it balances out the animal.

[@sed8me69]

So how many legs did that guy with no arms and no legs who swam accross the channel have . . ? 😉😜😂

[@raggededge82]

You mean Bob?

[@artistjoh]

Of course the tail is a fifth leg. Not only do they often stand tripod (rear legs plus tail, they are seen standing on the tail and lifting both rear legs to rake claws down the belly of an enemy when fighting. The tail is very different to the tails of other animals, strong and very active. Lots of meat on those tails.

[@RedmistAU]

the tail is the tastiest part.

[@geiojames8995]

i have three legs then 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@punkpanther6310]

In that case I have 3 legs 😂🤣

[@MCLooyverse]

What's that thing about "How many legs does a cow have, if you call the tail a leg?"?

[@mattkennedy9308]

I thought it was going to be 0 due to the limbs not having knees or something.

[@Bigal62]

But they taste SOOOOO good!

[@shmookins]

I tried kangaroo once. It had a gamey flavour I didn't care for. Although it might have been exaggerated by me not being excited to try it.

[@Dim4323]

2

[@Rob_Morrison_GB]

The tail grows from the rear of the backbone and extends out down the centre. It's a tail, not a leg!!

[@marthas8108]

So monkeys with prehensile tails actually have five arms? I don't THINK so.

[@KhanivoreQniba]

Based on this nonsensical silliness, I have three legs. The middle leg is rather small.....

[@doraemon402]

It's 3. The front ones are arms

[@BenjaminGoose]

Incorrect.

[@daddymuggle]

Kangaroos routinely walk on all fours. That's even in Stephen's video clip. (Although he claims that it's all fives).

[@theholygoat8826]

5 legs good , 2 legs bad .

[@rapturereadyyt]

A tail is simply not a leg. If a Kangaroo walked with is ears, they would still be ears.

[@leannabarnard737]

Spideroo

[@reevethomas1083]

For a question about “how many legs...” the video duration doesn’t really help

[@Zombie-lx3sh]

Did you mean that it gave away the answer? 2 front + 2 hind + 1 tail.

[@mlee6050]

@@Zombie-lx3sh if by that mine says 2 front, 2 hind and 2 tail, 2:22 is video time for me

[@Zombie-lx3sh]

@@mlee6050 Depends on what kind of device you watch it. On PC, it's 2:21 long.

[@davidbryce6970]

So, does that same logic translate to monkeys with prehensile tails?

[@abrakadabra6584]

The number of people in these comments that are mad over the way "leg" is used in this clip is too damn high. They must not have gotten the memo about what the format of this show is...

[@Peter-xs2mu]

You mean: "Take whatever answer is given and sound the siren?" For me "Interesting" means something else.

[@michaelsingleton5173]

So would that make them pentapeds?

[@cindersofcreation]

5 LEGS ABOVE AVERAGE? THE AVERAGE IS ZERO LEGSS?!?!

[@GramLikesBread]

Cinders Yeah, earlier in the episode they mention the most numerous animals on the planet are of the phylum Nematoda, a type of worm. Many are microscopic and so numerous that they bring the average number of legs to less than 0.5, which can be rounded down.

[@GramLikesBread]

“ In total, 4.4 × 10^20 nematodes inhabit the Earth's topsoil, or approximately 60 billion for each human, with the highest densities observed in tundra and boreal forests.[17] Their numerical dominance, often exceeding a million individuals per square meter and accounting for about 80% of all individual animals on earth, their diversity of lifecycles, and their presence at various trophic levels point to an important role in many ecosystems” - Wikipedia article on Nematodes

[@kilroy987]

So monkeys with prehensile tails used for climbing have 3 arms? Splitting hairs on the definitions here. Then again, earth has 1, 2, no or many moons.

[@NamYagami]

some men have 3 legs.

[@limyohwan]

If you can bench as much as you can squat your arms are actually legs

[@dickyt1318]

A TAIL IS A TAIL OR LIMB NOT A LEG !

[@kamanama3671]

how many legs did my ex-boyfriend have?

[@christopherbartko6042]

It's an appendage used as a leg, but it isn't a leg. A kangaroo cannot stand on its tail like they do in the cartoons. They can rock back on it, but it's very doubtful that one could balance on it as most animals could if they have one leg. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jXTGfYCEmLyNhcU In all respects, Bill Bailey shouldn't have had a klaxon at all since the physiological and structural differences between a kangaroo's front and back appendages are enough to consider them to have two legs. Deer and similar ruminants, absolutely-- four legs. Kangaroos, raccoons, and simians-- up for debate. As much as I love QI, if I was on as a panelist and Stephen or Sandy asked a question like, "how many *blank*?" I'd have to say, "define *blank*" every time. :P Sneaky buggers.

[@SmashGhost]

So... four.

[@susanw2750]

This show persuaded me that they were on a downslide. Repeating the claim in a program hosted by Sandi confirmed it. I am not worried if I do not see any more episodes. I'd rather watch WILTY.

[@VincentGonzalezVeg]

but how does it taste?

[@rossg7244]

Like beef.

[@maccamac9965]

Nope, not like beef. Almost identical to venison.

[@jaybestnz]

This is a bad question. How many legs vs how many limbs.

[@BardiaSaeedi]

It's a comedy show, not a university lecture.

[@jaybestnz]

@@BardiaSaeedi Its QI, it allowed to be smart and nerdy and correct. It's our one show that is.

[@anotheraccount7637]

106 views in 2 minutes. Amazing

[@daddymuggle]

You might as well say that monkeys have five arms. And I have three hands, because I hold things in my mouth. Plus I sometimes use my nose as a finger...

[@EvertfromNederland]

unfair QI very unfair

[@davidfalconer8913]

Rolf Harris ... (N)once a hugely famous Aussie ) had an ( extra ? ) leg ... diddlle - liddlle - liddlle.. unfortunately .... this was his downfall .. ( ? ) ... ( OMG ) .... Heh - Heh ..( ? ) ..... DAVE 🛑

[@CrusinVK]

why on earth was the stdy conducted in Canada?? hahaha.... is it because us Aussies are far too lazy and uninterested in Roo's to study them?? :) :)

[@religionispoison6838]

Na horseshit i shot 112 last night and all of them had 2 legs only .

[@rockysquirrel4776]

Sorry, that's just dumb. It doesn't matter if you call a kangaroo tail a leg, it's still a tail, albeit a very useful one.

[@BardiaSaeedi]

It's a comedy show, not a university lecture.

[@rockysquirrel4776]

@@BardiaSaeedi - and? Don't be pedantic.

[@maple2524]

This is preposterous. A tail’s got some muscle in it = it’s a leg? QI blokes are really running out of ideas

[@Rockblue01]

Functional definitions. Why not.

[@jcthefluteman]

1:58 Kangaroos have almost five legs above average? If the average number of legs for an animal is four, doesn’t that mean that kangaroos have almost nine legs?

[@noatrope]

JCTheFluteMan This is QI so I’m going to go the extra pedantic route: the vast, vast majority of animals on the planet are limbless invertebrates, so the average number of legs per animal is probably a fraction above 0.

[@titmusspaultpaul5]

Its 4 legs.... 5 limbs so their answer was technically wrong, not 5 legs.

[@JohnSmith-rr3jt]

It's 2 lol... This is one of those dumb moments in the show. Downward force is irrelevant to whether a limb is physiologically a leg. It has two arms, two legs, and a tail.

[@karlulvestad7155]

A little bit; no a lot of bullshit- pes and manus!!!: quite disappointing

[@Nemo7The7Pirate7]

bullshit.

[@Johnny-Joseph]

Moments like these make me so glad he was replaced

[@JK-vp2ux]

Bull Shit

[@hajorodyk1470]

That’s utter bullshit, it has 4 legs and a tail. According to that theory, a monkey that uses its tail to traverse through the trees also now has 5 legs, instead of 4 legs and a tail. In my opinion this scientist has put out a theory just to make a name for himself.

[@BardiaSaeedi]

It's a comedy show, not a university lecture.