The Black-tailed Wallaby is the Catchment Critter of the Month as part of the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority’s Our Catchments Our Communities Taking Care of Country project, funded by the Victorian Government.
The Black-tailed Wallaby (Wallabia bicolor) belongs to the macropod group – meaning large footed.
Goulburn Broken CMA Project Officer, Janice Mentiplay-Smith, said “Australia has approximately 30 species of wallaby of which the Goulburn Broken catchment is home to one – the shy little Black-tailed Wallaby”.
“It is sometimes referred to as a ‘Swamp Wallaby’, however this is not because it lives in swamps but has more to do with its apparently quite characteristically strong odour”, Ms Mentiplay-Smith said.
The solitary Black-tailed Wallaby is often heard before being seen. The fat thump of the Wallaby’s bounce as it manoeuvers amongst the low shrubbery compared to the spring of the Eastern Grey Kangaroo as it hops across open ground, is an audible indicator that this shy little marsupial is not far away, albeit keeping a low profile amongst the understory.
Ms Mentiplay-Smith said “This little wallaby possesses specific genetic, reproductive, dental, and behavioural characteristics that make it different to other wallabies and is the only living member of the genus Wallabia. In contrast to kangaroos and other wallabies that graze on grass, the Black-tailed Wallaby is a ‘generalist browser’. It eats shrubs, small plants, fungi, sedges, bark and algae. Accordingly, its teeth are shaped differently to those of other wallabies”.
The female Swamp Wallaby is polyoestrous, meaning she can overlap two pregnancies by gestating both an embryo and a foetus at the same time. She will ovulate, mate, and conceive a new embryo one to two days before the birth of her full-term joey. This means she can be continuously pregnant throughout her reproductive life.
A Black-tailed Wallaby joey weighs just one gram at birth after a 33–38-day gestation and spends the next eight or nine months in its mother’s pouch.
Read more about the Black-tailed Wallaby and other mammal species in the Goulburn Broken catchment in The Mammal Book a 58-page booklet featuring beautiful photos and informative text. To view a copy, visit the website The Mammal Book - GB CMA - Goulburn Broken CMA
