Roger, the ripped kangaroo who rose to internet fame, dies

A muscular kangaroo named Roger who went viral for his ripped physique has died. He was 12 years old.

“Farewell our darling Roger,” Chris Barnes, owner of the Kangaroo Sanctuary in Australia, wrote on Facebook on Saturday. Barnes confirmed the muscular marsupial passed away of “old age.”

Barnes also posted a video tribute to the burly marsupial, calling him the sanctuary’s “beautiful boy” and “our alpha male for many years.”

The kangaroo was known for his brawny figure, once being compared to "an American football player" by the sanctuary. In his prime, Roger weighed nearly 200 pounds and stood at about 6 feet 7 inches tall.

Barnes began caring for Roger in 2006, when he found him after his mother had just been killed by a car, according to The Guardian. He started the sanctuary to house him and his wives, Ella and Abigail.

“He grew up to be a kangaroo that people from all over the world have grown to love,” Barnes said in the video tribute to Roger.

Thousands of comments poured in through social media, with many offering condolences and remembering the famed animal.

“Many tears will be shed in Australia tonight and indeed around the world as the news gets passed around. Roger was a beautiful boy,” one comment on Facebook read.

Australia’s official tourism account honored Roger with a tweet, writing that he was “the world’s most buff kangaroo, and a true icon.”

Roger became an internet sensation after a photo of him crushing a metal bucket became a meme in 2015. His fan base continued to grow from there, making him a beloved figure.

Red kangaroos, the largest marsupial, generally live up to 23 years in the wild, according to National Geographic. Yet in the last few years of Roger’s life, he suffered from loss of vision and arthritis.

In a 2016 video of the kangaroo lying on his back, Barnes said Roger was “taking it easy, not chasing anyone anymore, not mating the girls. Just enjoying his time lying around like this."