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Wallaby
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Often mistaken as kangaroos at first glance, Wallaby are the marsupials found in the lands of Australia. They are found in all states of Australia and in Papua New Guinea. Wallabies are well suited to the bushy highlands of Tasmania, and are very common in some areas. As Tasmania does not have the flat, open spaces of mainland Australia, the kangaroos are nowhere near as plentiful as wallabies. Wallabies range in size from the size of a rabbit to almost 6 ft long. The soft, woolly fur can be gray, brown, red or almost black. The belly is lighter. Females (called fliers) have a pouch in which the young live and drink milk. Males (called boomers) are larger than females. Babies are called joeys. They have short arms with clawed fingers, strong legs, and long, four-toed feet with claws. They can hop and jump with their powerful legs.
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Wallabies are herbivores creatures that eat grass, leaves, and roots. They swallow their food without chewing it and later reiterate a cud and chew it. They need very little water; they can go for months without drinking, and they dig their own water wells. A wallaby is any of about 30 species of macroped (family macropodidae). Essentially, a wallaby is any macropod that isn't considered large enough to be a kangaroo and has not been given some other name. There is no fixed dividing line. The different types of wallabies live in many types of habitats, including rocky areas, grasslands, forests and swamps. | |
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