Kangaroo rats do not live in Australia at all. Australia has rat-kangaroos, which are very different creatures, and marsupials, unlike kangaroo rats.Kangaroo rats may be named for kangaroos, but they are not members of the kangaroo family nor even distantly related. They are native to North America, and they are rodents, not marsupials. They can be found in the arid and semi-arid areas of North America, specifically, Canada, the United States and Mexico, as long as there is some grass or other vegetation. They dig burrows to shelter themselves from the heat of their environment.