Bennett’s wallaby

Bennett’s wallaby is found in the wild in the eastern territories of Australia (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria), Tasmania, as well as a small part in the south of South Australia and the surrounding islands.

They are polygamous and territorial animals, and the territory of females overlaps with that of males, which the latter have conquered during fights. They are also excellent swimmers, who in some cases, can easily cross streams thanks to their hind legs. Their ears are constantly moving, and can turn 180 degrees to hear everything happening around them.

One of the characteristics of marsupials is their mode of reproduction. The placenta, which is an organ that develops during gestation, and which allows for the exchange of gases and nutrients between the mother and the fetus, is absent or very little developed in marsupials. These animals therefore have a very short gestation period, to avoid a lack of oxygen and nutrients. The young are therefore born at the embryonic stage, weighing less than a gram, measuring only 2 cm, and are born naked and blind. The little one climbs with its front legs onto the mother’s belly, who helps by licking the fur of her belly up to her pouch. Once arrived in the pouch, called the marsupium, the little one clings to one of the 4 teats, and will continue its development there for the next 10 months. The marsupial pouch is a real living incubator, allowing the young to stay at the right temperature (around 35 degrees), throughout its development phase.

Little by little, the young wallaby starts to gradually stick its head out of the pouch, to look at the world around it. From 5 months on, it finally starts leaving the pouch more and more often while still coming to nurse, until it becomes too big to go back inside. A Bennett’s wallaby female can both nurse one baby in her pouch and already be pregnant with a second one. The latter’s development is put “on hold” during the lactation of the first. The marsupial pouch is a real living incubator, and allows the young to stay at the right temperature (around 35 degrees), throughout its development phase.

Little by little, the young wallaby starts to gradually stick its head out of the pouch, to look at the world around it. From 5 months on, it finally starts leaving the pouch more and more often while still coming to nurse, until it becomes too big to go back inside. A Bennett’s wallaby female can both nurse a young in her pouch and already be pregnant with a second one. The latter’s development is put “on hold” during the lactation of the first young. Once the first is weaned, the second completes its development, and finally is born. It then takes its place in the pouch and completes its growth attached to a teat.

When moving slowly, they use their four legs and support themselves with their tail. They can move at this pace at a speed of up to 6 km/h. However, when necessary, they can move by hopping, using only their hind legs, at a speed of up to 60 km/h, and then use their tail as a counterbalance. Their forelimbs, on the other hand, are mainly used for grooming and bringing food to their mouth.

The diet of Bennett’s wallabies is strictly herbivorous. They therefore feed mainly on grass, but can occasionally eat fruit or roots. They digest cellulose like ruminant animals, and can survive solely on the water contained in their food. They only hydrate at water holes during very hot weather.

The main dangers facing these animals come from the proximity of predators introduced to the Australian continent (foxes, dogs, etc.) as well as hunting by humans, who try to keep wallabies away from their pastures, since they compete for food with sheep, and also hunting for fur and meat.

Fortunately, this is a prolific and resilient species, which adapts very easily to its habitat, and is currently not threatened in its natural environment.

Bennett’s wallaby has a black nose and black legs, a strip of white fur on the lower lip, and a thick coat that allows it to withstand the cold. The coat is mainly gray, with some reddish highlights, especially around the neck, which is why it is called the red-necked wallaby. Females are less brightly colored, and there are also albino individuals, in which color pigments are absent, giving them a white wallaby with red eyes. The difference between wallabies and kangaroos is mainly in size and weight. The wallaby weighs no more than about twenty kilos and is 1 m tall, while the kangaroo can reach 90 kg and 1.80 m. The macropodids, a word that comes from the Greek “macros” meaning “large”, and “pode” meaning “feet”, are marsupials with elongated hind limbs. There are about fifty species.

Discover other species from Oceania: emu, sugar glider, kea.