The
swamp wallaby (
Wallabia bicolor) is a small
macropodMacropods are marsupials belonging to the family Macropodidae, which includes kangaroos, wallabies, tree-kangaroos, pademelons, and several others. Before European settlement, there were about 53 species of Macropods. Six species have since become extinct. Another 11 species have been greatly...
marsupialMarsupials are an infraclass of mammals, characterized by a distinctive pouch , in which females carry their young through early infancy.- History :...
of eastern
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
. This
wallabyA wallaby is any of about thirty species of macropod . It is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo that has not been given some other name....
is also commonly known as the
black wallaby, with other names including
black-tailed wallaby,
fern wallaby,
black pademelonA pademelon is any of seven species of small marsupials of the genus Thylogale. They are usually found in forests. Pademelons are the smallest of the macropods...
,
stinker (in
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia that occupies the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
), and
black stinker (in
New South WalesNew South Wales is Australia's most populous state, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria, south of Queensland and east of South Australia...
). The swamp wallaby is currently the only living member of the genus
Wallabia.
The swamp wallaby is found from the northernmost areas of
Cape YorkCape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. This remote peninsula contains some of the last remaining wilderness areas on Earth, though about half of the land area is used for grazing cattle and much has been damaged by feral pigs, weeds, and other...
in
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia that occupies the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, down the entire east coast and around to south-western
VictoriaVictoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to the north, South Australia to the west, and Tasmania to the south, across the Bass Strait. Victoria is the most densely populated state, with over 70% of...
.
The
swamp wallaby (
Wallabia bicolor) is a small
macropodMacropods are marsupials belonging to the family Macropodidae, which includes kangaroos, wallabies, tree-kangaroos, pademelons, and several others. Before European settlement, there were about 53 species of Macropods. Six species have since become extinct. Another 11 species have been greatly...
marsupialMarsupials are an infraclass of mammals, characterized by a distinctive pouch , in which females carry their young through early infancy.- History :...
of eastern
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
. This
wallabyA wallaby is any of about thirty species of macropod . It is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo that has not been given some other name....
is also commonly known as the
black wallaby, with other names including
black-tailed wallaby,
fern wallaby,
black pademelonA pademelon is any of seven species of small marsupials of the genus Thylogale. They are usually found in forests. Pademelons are the smallest of the macropods...
,
stinker (in
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia that occupies the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
), and
black stinker (in
New South WalesNew South Wales is Australia's most populous state, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria, south of Queensland and east of South Australia...
). The swamp wallaby is currently the only living member of the genus
Wallabia.
Habitat and distribution
The swamp wallaby is found from the northernmost areas of
Cape YorkCape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. This remote peninsula contains some of the last remaining wilderness areas on Earth, though about half of the land area is used for grazing cattle and much has been damaged by feral pigs, weeds, and other...
in
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia that occupies the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, down the entire east coast and around to south-western
VictoriaVictoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to the north, South Australia to the west, and Tasmania to the south, across the Bass Strait. Victoria is the most densely populated state, with over 70% of...
. It was formerly found through to south-eastern
South AustraliaSouth Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories....
, but is now rare or absent from that region.
It inhabits thick undergrowth in
forestA forest is an area with a high density of trees. There are many definitions of a forest, based on the various criteria. These plant communities presently cover approximately 9.4% of the Earth's surface in many different regions and function as habitats for organisms, hydrologic flow modulators,...
s and
woodlandEcologically, a woodland is an area covered in trees, usually at low density, forming an open habitat, allowing sunlight to penetrate between the trees, and limiting shade. Woodland may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to...
s, or shelter during the day in thick
grassGrasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns...
or
fernA fern is any one of a group of about 20,000 species of plants classified in the phylum or division Pteridophyta, also known as Filicophyta. The group is also referred to as Polypodiophyta, or Polypodiopsida when treated as a subdivision of tracheophyta...
s, emerging at night to feed.
Brigalow scrubAcacia harpophylla, commonly known as the Brigalow , Brigalow Spearwood or Orkor is an endemic tree of Australia. It is found in central and coastal Queensland to northern New South Wales. It can reach up to 25 meters tall and forms extensive open-forest communities on clay soils.Two species,...
in Queensland is a particularly favoured
habitatThe term habitat has a number of meanings:* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows** Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
.
Identification
The species name
bicolor comes from the distinct colouring variation, with the typical grey coat of the macropods varied with a dark brown to black region on the back, and light yellow to rufous orange on the chest. A light coloured cheek stripe is usually present, and extremities of the body generally show a darker colouring, except for the tip of the tail, which is often white.
The gait of differs from other wallabies, with the swamp wallaby carrying its head low and tail out straight.
The average length is 76 cm (30 in) for males, and 70 cm (27.5 in) for females (excluding the tail). The tail in both sexes is approximately equal in length to the rest of the body. Average weight for males is 17 kg (37 lb), females averaging 13 kg (29 lb).
Reproduction
The swamp wallaby Wallaby becomes reproductively viable from 15-18 months of age, and can breed throughout the year.
GestationGestation is the carrying of an embryo or fetus inside a female viviparous animal. Mammals duringpregnancy can have one or more gestations at the same time ....
is from 33-38 days, leading to a single young. The young is carried in the
pouchThe pouch is a distinguishing feature of female marsupials ; the name marsupial is derived from the Latin marsupium, meaning pouch. Marsupials give birth to a live but relatively undeveloped fetus called a joey. When the joey is born it crawls from inside the mother to the pouch...
from 8-9 months, but will continue to
suckleBreastfeeding is the feeding of an infant or young child with breast milk directly from human breasts rather than from a baby bottle or other container. Babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk...
until about 15 months. The swamp wallaby exhibits an unusual form of
embryonic diapauseEmbryonic diapause or Delayed implantation is a reproductive strategy used by close to 100 different mammals in seven different orders. In embryonic diapause, the embryo does not immediately implant in the uterus, but is maintained in a state of dormancy. No development takes place as long as...
, differing from other marsupials in having its gestation period longer than its
oestrous cycleThe estrous cycle comprises the recurring physiologic changes that are induced by reproductive hormones in most mammalian placental females. Humans undergo a menstrual cycle instead...
.
Nutrition
The swamp wallaby is typically a
solitaryWiktionary is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 151 languages...
animal, but often aggregates into groups when feeding. It will eat a wide range of
foodFood is any substance, usually composed of carbohydrates, fats, proteins and water, that can be eaten or drunk by an animal, including humans, for nutrition or pleasure. Items considered food may be sourced from plants, animals or other categories such as fungus or fermented products like alcohol...
plantPlants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. They include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The scientific study of plants, known as botany, has identified about 350,000 extant species of plants, defined as seed plants,...
s, depending on availability, including
shrubA shrub or bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall. A large number of plants can be either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
s,
pasturePasture is land with low-growing vegetation cover used for grazing of livestock as part of a farm, or in ranching or other unenclosed pastoral systems. Prior to the advent of factory farming, pasture was the primary source of food for grazing animals such as cattle and horses...
,
agriculturalAgriculture is the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of human civilization, with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and...
cropA crop is the annual or season's yield of any plant that is grown in significant quantities to be harvested as food, as livestock fodder, fuel, or for any other economic purpose. This category includes crop species as well as agricultural techniques related to cropping.There are many types of crops...
s, and
nativeIn biogeography, a species is defined as indigenous or native to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only natural resources, with no human intervention. Every natural organism has its own natural range of distribution in which it is regarded as native...
and
exoticAn introduced, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its native distributional range, which has arrived there by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
vegetationVegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader...
. It appears to be able to tolerate a variety of plants poisonous to many other animals, including
brackenBrackens are a genus comprising several species of large, coarse ferns. Ferns are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produce sex cells . Brackens are in the family Dennstaedtiaceae, which are noted for their large, highly...
s and
hemlockConium is a genus of two species of highly poisonous perennial herbaceous flowering plants in the family Apiaceae, native to Europe and the Mediterranean region , and to southern Africa ....
.
The preferred diet appears to involve
browsingBrowsing is a type of predation in which a herbivore feeds on leaves, soft shoots, or fruits of high growing, generally woody, plants such as shrubs. This is contrasted with grazing predation, usually associated with animals feeding on grass or other low vegetation...
shrubA shrub or bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall. A large number of plants can be either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
s and bushes, rather than
grazingGrazing generally describes a type of predation in which an herbivore feeds on plants , and also on other multicellular autotrophs...
grasses. This is unusual in wallabies and other macropods, which typically prefer grazing.
ToothTeeth are small, calcified, whitish structures found in the jaws of many vertebrates that are used to tear, scrape, and chew food. Some animals, particularly carnivores, also use teeth for hunting or defense. The roots of teeth are covered by gums...
structure reflects this preference for browsing, with the shape of the
molarMolars are the rearmost and most complicated kind of tooth in most mammals. In many mammals they grind food; hence the Latin name mola, "millstone"....
s differing from other wallabies. The fourth
premolarThe premolar teeth or bicuspids are transitional teeth located between the canine and molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per quadrant, making eight premolars total in the mouth. They have at least two cusps. Premolars can be considered as a 'transitional tooth' during chewing, or...
is retained through life, and is shaped for cutting through coarse plant material.
According to
Aboriginal peopleIndigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands, and these peoples' descendants. Indigenous Australians are distinguished as either Aboriginal people or Torres Strait Islanders, who currently together make up about 2.6% of Australia's...
of the Bundjalung Nation, the swamp wallaby was considered inedible, due to its smell and taste after cooking. Commercial
shooterShooting is the act or process of firing rifles, shotguns or other projectile weapons such as bows or crossbows. Even the firing of artillery, rockets and missiles can be called shooting. A person who specializes in shooting is a marksman...
s also find it undesirable due to its small size and coarse fur.
Taxonomic debate
Several physical and behavioral characteristics make the swamp wallaby different enough from other wallabies that many authors place it apart in its own genus,
Wallabia. Others however point out swamp wallabies can hybridize with
Macropus agilis (the
agile wallabyThe Agile Wallaby , also known as the Sandy Wallaby, is a species of wallaby found in northern Australia and New Guinea. It is the most common wallaby in Australia's north....
), so perhaps should be placed in the genus
MacropusMacropus is a marsupial genus that belongs to the family Macropodidae, it has 14 species which are further divided into 3 subgenera. The genus includes all terrestrial kangaroos, wallaroos and several species of wallaby.-Taxonomy:* Genus Macropus...
.
External links