Red-necked Wallaby

Taxobox
name = Red-necked WallabyMSW3 Groves|pages=65]
status = LC
status_system = iucn3.1
status_ref = IUCN2006|assessors=Australasian Marsupial & Monotreme Specialist Group|year=1996|id=40566|title=Macropus rufogriseus|downloaded=12 May 2006]

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regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
infraclassis = Marsupialia
ordo = Diprotodontia
familia = Macropodidae
genus = "Macropus"
species = "M. rufogriseus"
binomial = "Macropus rufogriseus"
binomial_authority = Desmarest, 1817The Red-necked Wallaby ("Macropus rufogriseus") is a medium-sized macropod, common in the more temperate and fertile parts of eastern Australia. As one of the largest wallabies, it can easily be mistaken for a kangaroo. Males can weigh more than 20 kg and attain a head-body length of 90 cm.

Red-necked Wallabies are distinguished by their black nose and paws, white stripe on the upper lip, and grizzled medium grey coat with a reddish wash across the shoulders.

Red-necked Wallabies are found in coastal scrub and sclerophyll forest throughout coastal and highland eastern Australia, from Rockhampton, Queensland to the South Australian border; in Tasmania and on many of the Bass Strait islands (although it is unclear which of the islands have native populations as opposed to introduced ones).

In Tasmania, north-east New South Wales and coastal Queensland, their numbers have expanded over the past 30 years because of a reduction in hunting pressure and the partial clearing of forest to result in a mosaic of pastures where wallabies can feed at night, alongside bushland where they can shelter by day. For reasons not altogether clear, it is less common in Victoria.

Like most macropods, the Red-necked Wallaby is largely solitary, although loose groups, known as mobs, often share common feeding areas. They feed at night and, particularly on dull days, in the late afternoon, generally grazing on grass and herbs close to forest shelter.

There are two subspecies. The Tasmanian form, "Macropus rufogriseus rufogriseus", also known as Bennett's Wallaby is smaller (as island species nearly always are), has longer, shaggier fur, and breeds in the late summer, mostly between February and April. They have adapted to living in proximity to humans and can be found grazing on lawns in the fringes of Hobart and other urban areas.

The mainland form, "Macropus rufogriseus banksianus", breeds all year round. Interestingly, captive animals maintain their breeding schedules; Tasmanian females that become pregnant out of their normal season delaying birth until summer, which can be anything up to eight months later.

External introductions

There is a small colony of red-necked Wallabies on the island of Inchconnachan, Loch Lomond in Argyll and Bute, United Kingdom. This was founded in 1975 with two pairs taken from Whipsnade Zoo, and had risen to 26 individuals by 1993. There were at one time small colonies elsewhere in the UK: in the Peak District, in Cumbria, and in the Ashdown Forest, in East Sussex. These were established c.1900, and are now believed to be locally extinct, although unconfirmed sightings are still reported from time to time.

In 1870, several wallabies were transported from Tasmania to Christchurch, New Zealand. Two females and one male from this stock were later released about Te Waimate, the property of Waimate's first European settler. The year 1874 saw them freed in the Hunters Hills, where over the years their population has dramatically increased. Wallabies are now resident on approximately 350,000 Ha of terrain centered upon the Hunters Hills, including the Two Thumb Ranges, the Kirkliston Range and The Grampians. Given their numbers, some now consider them pests. [ [http://www.waimatedc.govt.nz/waimate/attractions/wallabies.htm Waimate District Council] ]

References