Parma Wallaby

Parma Wallaby

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1. Found in rainforests or wet forests with a dense understory in the Great Dividing Range of Southern New Wales in Australia. There is also a surviving feral population (due to introduction) in Kauwau Island near Auckland, New Zealand.

2. By the end of the 1800s the Parma wallaby was believed to be extinct, it was not until 1965 that a small surviving population was found on Kawau Island (near  Auckland in New zealand). Another wild population was found in Gosford, New South Wales in 1967. It is from these few animals that the entire current population of Parma wallabies descends.

3. Body is 1 1/2 -2 feet long. Tail is about equal to body length. They weigh about 11 pounds.

4. Browse on low vegetation and graze on grasses. 

5. The predators are foxes and ferral cats.

6. Life Span is 9 years in the wild.

7. Like all macropods, they are bipeds and move with a hopping gait, using their tail as a counterbalance.  At rest they often sit “tripod style,” balanced on their two hind legs and tail.  

8. They have four digits on each forelimb but lack opposable thumbs. They have limited grasping ability, but enough to allow them to handle food. 

9. Parma wallabies prefer to live in wet sclerophyll forests, which have thick undergrowth and lots of grass, which they feed on. They are most active during dawn and dusk. In the wild, these wallabies usually live alone or in small groups.

10. The tail is curved upward in a U shape when hopping.

11. Males are larger than females with more robust chest and arms 

12. When hopping they remain close to the ground with arms tucked in to body 

13. Communicate visually, by quivering, tail wagging, and foot stomping as signs of aggression.   

14. Communicate with mates acoustically by clucking, coughing, and hissing.

15. These wallabies are sexually mature 11½ -16 months of age.  After only a month long gestation period, the mother gives birth to a tiny helpless joey that crawls into her pouch. This is where the young will grow and develop for 8 months. The joey will slowly emerge and spend more and more time outside the pouch.

16. By that time, the joey is furred and alert and begins to exit the pouch to graze alongside its mother, often returning to the pouch for security and to suckle. 

17. Parma wallabies are shy and cryptic creatures that are active at night. They shelter in thick scrub during the day and emerge at dusk to feed. These wallabies are mostly solitary, however 2-3 animals may eat near each other in favorable conditions. Males spend more time actively foraging than do the females. 

18. They have specialized teeth that help in the grinding up of the fibrous plants that they eat. They are able to travel very long distances at quick speeds due to their specialized hind legs.   

19. Generally, wallabies are smaller and stockier than kangaroos, but there is no specific dividing line. 

20. Males are slightly larger and more muscular than females.

21. The parma wallaby is the smallest member of the genus Macropus.  

22. They have rather large hind legs and a powerful muscled tail.  Their front legs are small feet having 5 separate digits.

23. They are able to store “strain energy” in their tendons, which enable them to bounce up with minimal muscular effort.