Kangaroos and Wallabies

Smaller kangaroos are usually called wallabies. The name is especially used for any kangaroo with a hind foot less than 10 in (25 cm) long. Several species of Macropus are regarded as wallabies as well as other genera. The two smallest are the tammar wallaby (M. eugenii) of southwestern Australia and adjacent islands and the parma wallaby (M. parma) of New South Wales. Their head and body are about 20 in (50 cm) long with tail slightly longer. The tammar wallaby has been known to drink saltwater. The whiptail wallaby (M. parryi) is the most social of all marsupials. It lives in mobs of up to 50 individuals, and several mobs may occupy the same territory, making up an even bigger population.

Rock wallabies (Petrogale species) have soft fur that is usually colored to blend in with the dry, rocky surroundings in which they live. However, the yellow-footed rock wallaby (P. xanthopus) is a colorful gray with a white strip on its face, yellow on its ears, dark down its back, yellow legs, and a ringed yellow-and-brown tail. Rock wallabies have thinner tails than other wallabies and use them only for balance, not for propping themselves up. They are very agile when moving among the rocks. Some have been known to leap straight up a rock face 13 ft (4 m) or more. Rock wallabies have sometimes been kept in zoos, where they live and breed in communal groups.

The smaller hare wallabies are herbivores that feed mostly on grasses and can run fast and make agile jumps. Close study of the hare wallaby called the quokka (Setonix brachyurus) provided naturalists with their first solid information about marsupials. With a head-body length of about 20 in (50 cm), plus a 10-in (25-cm) tail, this rodent-like creature lives in swampy areas in southwestern Australia. Today it lives mainly on neighboring islands. Several other species are rapidly disappearing and one, the central hare wallaby (Lagorchestes asomatus), is known from only one specimen. However, its range of the Northern Territory has not been adequately explored, and it may not be extinct.

Several wallabies that were widespread in the past are probably extinct. Nail-tailed wallabies (Onychogalea species) had tough, horny tips to their tails. These 2 ft (61 cm) tall marsupials lost their habitat to grazing livestock and agricultural pursuits, and were also hunted. Nail-tails were also called organ grinders, because their forearms rotated while they were hopping.

Five species of wallabies (Dorcopsis species) live only in the rainforest of New Guinea. They do not hop as well as other kangaroos because their hind feet are not much larger than their front. Somewhat smaller kangaroos called pademelons (Thylogale species) live in New Guinea as well as on the Australian continent.