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The whiptail wallaby (Macropus parryi) also known as a pretty face wallaby is a macropod only found in Australia on the eastern coast of Queensland and northern New South Wales. Whiptail wallaby's prefer to live on slopes at higher altitudes and they feed on grasses, ferns, and herbal plants. They are distinguished physically from other wallabies by their white cheeks and long thin tail with a dark tip. They have an average lifespan of 10 years in the wild. Females give birth to a single joey, which is nursed in her pouch for roughly 37 weeks, or until the joey is ready to leave. The first whiptail wallaby to be identified was found by Sir Edward Parry in 1834 and then was kept as his house pet. The whiptail wallaby is the most social marsupial and can live in groups (known as mobs) of 50 to 80 wallabies, which separate into subgroups of roughly ten individuals. Previously whiptail wallabies were commercially harvested for their skins, but they have been removed from Australia's commercial harvesting list and after a campaign led by Wildlife Queensland. They are still currently classified as 'Least Concern' on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's 'List of Threatened Species' due to a number of factors including a lack of major threats, wide distribution, and relatively stable population.

Description

The whiptail wallaby has a distinct white stripe on its face.

Whiptail wallabies are mostly grey, with a white underbelly and tail. They have a distinct white streak on their faces with a dark brown muzzle, and have patches of white, brown, and grey on their ears. Their head and body average 90cm long, and their tails average 94cm long. The total length of males has been found to be able to exceed 7 feet (or ~213cm). Their weights can range from 7 to 26kg. Whiptail wallabies have an average lifespan of 10 years in the wild.

History

The whiptail wallaby was first discovered by Sir Edward W. Parryi in 1834. Sir Edward W. Parryi took in a wallaby that was abandoned by its mother near Port Stephens (New South Wales) and was in his possession for more than two years. Parryi kept the wallaby in his house in Austrailia for roughly two years before returning to England with it. The wallaby was let out at night, and spent his days inside the house. The wallaby was taken back to England with Sir Edward W. Parryi, but unfortunately suffered a broken leg soon after arriving there. It died shortly after. An in depth description of the wallaby was written by Edward Turner Bennett, a english zoologist, in 1835 in the Transactions of the Zoological Society of London Journal. Upon the wallaby's death, Bennett had a friend referred to as 'Mr. Owen' examine the wallaby and give a detailed description of his findings on this new species.

Taxonomy

• Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Chordata
    • Class: Mammalia
      • Order: Diprotodontia
        • Family: Macropodidae
          • Genus: Macropus
            • Species: Parryi

Diet

Whiptail wallabies are herbivores, and feed mostly on grasses, ferns, and herbaceous plants. During hot months they feed at cooler times during the day such as around dawn and dusk. They are grazers and rarely drink.

Behavior

The whiptail wallaby is the most social macropod. They are found in mobs of 50 to 80 wallabies that contain all ages and sexes. The mob is not usually all together at once, and is split into subgroups of roughly 10 animals. Mobs have ranges of about 100 hectors, which sometimes overlap with other mob ranges. Whiptails are social, but do not generally engage in social grooming other than between mothers and joeys. When grazing, the whiptail wallaby coexists with other macropods. They are alert and have good vision and hearing. They alarm other wallabies of danger through a heavier hop as they flee, which creates a loud thumping sound. Otherwise, whiptails communicate visually, and use smell to determine sex and to differentiate between other wallabies.

Males generally occupy a large area, contrasting to females who are more inactive. Mother wallabies will occupy an even smaller area when they have offspring, also known as a joey, outside of their pouch. Joeys will play with their mothers, but not generally with other joeys.

Reproduction

The female whiptail wallaby oestrous cycle lasts roughly 41.8 days, and gestation lasts roughly 38 days. Whiptail wallabies breed year round. Adult males fight to determine dominancy, and the more dominate males are the ones who breed with the females. Whiptails have one offspring per pregnancy. The joey spends 256-267 days in the mother's pouch, and is weaned roughly 104-215 days after leaving her pouch. Unlike other marsupials, Whiptail wallaby mothers do not kick their young out of their pouch, but rather let them leave when they are ready. Mother whiptail wallabies are not espeically protective of their young.

Habitat

Whiptail wallabies can be found in northern New South Wales, and on the eastern coast of Queensland. They prefer higher altitude locations with moderate tree density.. Sloped areas are also preferred over flatter terrain. During the day whiptails stay on higher slopes, and have been found to move down to lower slopes at night.

Conservation Status

The geographical range of the whiptail wallaby.

Whiptail wallabies were commercially harvested for their skins until 2007. Harvest quotas are used in Australia to control wildlife populations. Kangaroo and wallaby species are only commercially harvested if they are common and not endangered in any way. It is unclear when a harvest quota was originally instated, but whiptails were removed from the commercial harvest list in 2002. The Australian Government allowed for 5 more years of harvesting before stopping it altogether in 2007. Wildlife Queensland advocated for the removal of whiptail wallabies from the commercial harvest list, due to their belief that it was affecting the whiptail's population. A decline in harvesting was seen between 1975 and 1997, but no data is available on whether that was due to a population decline.

The whiptail wallaby is listed as 'Least concern' for conservation from the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. This is cited as due to its wide distribution, presumed large population, occurrence in protected areas, lack of major threats, and because its population is thought to be stable.