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Wallabies
Wallabies are smaller members of the kangaroo family, distinct species in their own right, and grouped according to their habitat. Three main groups make up the wallaby family: rock wallabies, scrub wallabies and swamp wallabies.
402 Questions
Are Wallabies Australian animals?
Wallabies are native to Australia, but have been introduced to other countries such as New Zealand and even parts of North America.
How do wallabies protect themselves?
Wallabies are agile marsupials which are capable of hopping quickly through bushland, and up and down slopes, keeping up a steady pace for considerable time. Their strong hind limbs enable them to continue bounding for long periods of time, outrunning the endurance of their predators. Their sure-footedness on rocky slopes also helps them evade predators.
The colour of wallabies also gives them defence by way of camouflage.
A blanket with a flat light emitting fiber optic band in it to help a baby battle jaundice.
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Why is the bridled nailtail wallaby endangered?
The main reasons for the bridled nailtail wallaby being endangered are:
1. Habitat loss due to land clearing for agriculture, and also introduction of non-native grasses. Drought and bushfire also play a part.
2. Introduction of non-native predators - foxes, feral cats and wild dogs are the greatest threat to the bridled nailtail wallaby.
3. Introduction of European stock animals which eat the wallaby's food. Its favoured foods are non-woody broad-leafed plants, chenopods (low-growing succulents such as pigweed), flowering plants and grasses, all of which are eaten by grazing stock animals such as sheep and cattle, and even rabbits (also introduced).
Kangaroos and wallabies are not members of the rat family. They bear very little relation to rats apart from the fact that they are mammals. Kangaroos and wallabies are marsupials or pouched mammals, whilst rats and other rodents are placental mammals. Other members of the rodent family include beavers, muskrats, porcupines, woodchucks, chipmunks, squirrels, prairie dogs, marmots, chinchillas, voles, lemmings, hamsters, gerbils, coypu, pacas, capybara and tuco-tucos.
What adaptations help the wallaby to survive?
Wallabies are uniquely adapted to life in Australia, a country that has a wide variety of habitats.
- The mother wallaby spends most of her adult life pregnant, but in drought times, she has the ability to indefinitely "freeze" the development of the young embryo until food sources are replenished.
- The mother can also produce two different types of milk to suit the needs of two different aged joeys. She might have a more mature joey that spends less time in the pouch, while a very young embryo has attached itself to a teat. Each joey has different milk requirements - which the mother is able to supply.
- Wallabies are particularly agile, more able to hop up and down slopes than their larger relatives, the Red and Grey kangaroos. Wallabies have large, strong tendons in their hind legs which act as "springs", and they hide in bushland where they can quickly and easily escape from potential predators, dodging back and forth between trees and up and down slopes.
- Wallabies' hind legs cannot move independently of each other (except when they swim), and they have long, strong tails for balancing.
- Wallabies have the ability to hear very well: they can twitch their ears independently around to determine the direction of specific sounds, much as a cat does.
What is the biggest threat to the survival of the wallaby?
Habitat loss is almost always the biggest threat to any native species, including the wallaby. Man encroaches upon nature and tears down natural habitats to mine the land, form housing developments, build industrial centres or clear the land for agriculture.
Yes. Wallabies give birth to undeveloped young, which then complete their development in the mother's pouch. Female wallabies, like all marsupials, have two vaginas, or what are called paired lateral vaginae. These are for the purpose of transporting the sperm to the womb, but there is a midline pseudovaginal canal for actually giving birth. As well as two vaginas and two uteruses, female marsupials have two fallopian tubes and two cervixes. Male marsupials (with the exception of the largest species, the Red Kangaroo, Eastern Grey and Western Grey Kangaroos) have a "bifurcated" or two-pronged penis to accommodate the females' two vaginas.
These characteristics make wallabies marsupials.
Why do most wallabies live in Australia?
Wallabies are Australian animals, like kangaroos, platypuses and echidnas.
The main reason wallabies thrive in Australia is that the country has few natural predators of wallabies. these animals are quite defenceless, so the biggest threat to wallabies comes from introduced species such as foxes and wild dogs. Wallabies have proliferated where they have been introduced to New Zealand for the same reason - lack of predators. Wallabies do not dig or burrow, or fight in defence: if there were ever wallabies on other continents, their population would have been quickly decimated by the larger carnivores which are found there.
Can you see a picture of a wallaby?
There are many species of wallaby, but a picture of a "typical" wallaby may be viewed at the related link below.
How are kangaroos and wallabies related?
Kangaroos and wallabies are both marsupials and belong to the same family, Macropodidae. Wallabies are smaller in size compared to kangaroos, with different species adapted to different habitats. Kangaroos are known for their hopping locomotion, while wallabies exhibit a more diverse range of movements.
What are the wallabies enemies?
Enemies of the wallaby include birds of prey such as the wedgetail eagle, which can often be observed swooping down on colonies of various kinds of rock wallabies when they are exposed on the bare rock surfaces. Other predators of young wallabies include carpet pythons, whilst injured wallabies fall prey to dingoes and foxes. Wild dogs are always a major threat.
Where do Wallabies live in Australia?
Wallabies are native throughout Australia except for the desert areas. They are found in all of the states, including the island state of Tasmania. Many species live in bushland, but there are also numerous varieties especially suited to rocky hillsides.
The dingo and foxes are the main predators which eat the wallaby. Feral cats can pose a threat to younger animals as well.
Wedge-tailed eagles and other birds of prey also eat various rock-wallaby species, as these types of wallabies are more likely to be out on exposed rock faces.
What is the recipe for the Wallaby Darned at Outback Steakhouse?
Ingredients * 1 cup frozen peaches * 2 oz champagne * 1 oz peach schnapps * 1 oz vodka * 1/2 cup peach nectar * 2-3 ice cubes (varies)
Directions * Combine in blender. * Blend on high until ice is crushed and drink is smooth.
What is a cross between a Kangaroo and a Wallaby?
There is no animal that is a cross between the kangaroo and the wallaby. Although both members of the kangaroo family, each is an entirely separate species, and they cannot interbreed.
The wallaroo, another member of the kangaroo family, is a separate species again, even though its name seems to be a cross between 'wallaby' and 'kangaroo'. In size, it is smaller and much stockier than a kangaroo, but considerably larger and heavier than any species of wallaby.
You cannot purchase a wallaby in Australia as they are protected animals.
You do not wish to purchase one overseas, as it is illegal for wallabies to be sold as pets, and these animals have been taken from Australia or bred without permission. Australia does not grant breeding licences to private seller overseas or in Australia.
Who is the Australian wallabies coach for 2008?
New Zealander and Canterbury Crusader's coach, Robbie Deans.
