Red-Necked Wallaby

Macropus rufogriseus banksianus

• Distribution:
  South-eastern Australia
• Habitat:
  Coastal woodlands, open forests
• Diet:
  Grasses, roots and leaves
• Gestation:
  30 days, with one offspring. In the pouch for 280 days
• Longetivity:
  10-12 years
• Predators:
  Humans, foxes, feral dogs, dingoes
• Conservation status:
   
  Common, protected
• General:

  Wallabies are terrestrial and mainly move by hopping, which is very efficient. They can also crawl slowly, using all four legs and the tail. They may use their forepaws to scratch for roots. They can swim. Excellent hearing, sense of smell and sight make wallabies very alert. Individuals identify each other by smell.

  These wallabies are largely solitary, although larger mobs will form in good grazing areas. They may be nocturnal or crepuscular, spending most of the daytime resting, then foraging in the cool of the darkness.

  Wallabies are marsupials (meaning ‘pouched’). They have several interesting features, particularly to do with breeding. It is usual for a female (doe) to have three young of different ages at one time; an undeveloped embryo, a developing joey in the pouch and a joey outside the pouch still drinking from her.

  Bennett’s wallaby, a subspecies of the red-necked wallaby, was introduced to the South Island last century, and five other species were introduced to Kawau Island, Northland around 1870. Further releases and escapes have spread wallabies across several regions of New Zealand.

  Wallabies in New Zealand are ‘feral’. They browse on low-growing native plants, in places stopping the forests from regenerating because the seedlings are eaten. Humans are causing the spread of feral wallabies by moving them to establish new groups for hunting.

  Feral animals in New Zealand are a real threat to the survival of many native species of plants and animals.