Phantom species are creatures reported to exist far out of their home ranges. Everybody knows kangaroos, those hippity-hopping things that carry their kids around in their pockets. They’re supposed to live in Australia, so why have people spotted them in North America?

They’ve been dubbed Phantom or Errant Kangaroos, and these elusive marsupials have been documented around the United States for over a hundred years. What’s going on with these out-of-place animals, and can the sightings really be believed?

With sprawling fields and farms it appears that rural America would be a great habitat for the kangaroo, especially the southwestern states that may more closely mimic their outback habitat in the wild.

Large, non-indigenous animals have certainly gained a foothold in Australia, from camels to pigs and even possibly big cats. Is it possible the Land Down Under may be exporting some critters of their own?

But some believe these cryptid kangaroos aren't Aussies at all, but instead a rare species yet to be classified by science.

It seems like a stretch, but it’s not as bonkers as it might sound. Kangaroos and other marsupials all evolved from a common ancestor. And, in fact, there are still marsupials in the Americas today.

Is it then unreasonable to think a species of kangaroo may have evolved in the Americas? And could these creatures maintain a small, obscure population out of sight of humans?

Wherever they came from, people have claimed sightings of cryptid kangaroos in America for decades.