Wallaby facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Wallabies |
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| Red-necked Wallaby | |
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Wallabies are marsupials from the islands of Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand and New Guinea. They are small- to medium-sized kangaroos. There are 30 different types of wallabies that live in many types of habitats, including rocky areas, grasslands, forests and swamps.
Description
Wallabies range in size from the size of a rabbit to almost 6 ft (1.8 m) 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.
Diet
These herbivores (plant-eaters) eat grass, leaves, and roots. They swallow their food without chewing it and later regurgitate a cud and chew it. They need very little water; they can go for months without drinking, and they dig their own water wells.
List of wallabies
This is a list of about 30 wallaby species:
- Banded hare-wallaby, Lagostrophus fasciatus
- Brown dorcopsis, Dorcopsis muelleri
- White-striped dorcopsis, Dorcopsis hageni
- Black dorcopsis, Dorcopsis atrata
- Gray dorcopsis, Dorcopsis luctuosa
- Small dorcopsis, Dorcopsulus vanheurni
- Macleay's dorcopsis, Dorcopsulus macleayi
- Lake Mackay hare-wallaby, Lagorchestes asomatus
- Spectacled hare-wallaby, Lagorchestes conspicillatus
- Rufous hare-wallaby, Lagorchestes hirsutus
- Eastern hare-wallaby, Lagorchestes leporides
- Agile wallaby, Macropus agilis
- Black-striped wallaby, Macropus dorsalis
- Tammar wallaby, Macropus eugenii
- Toolache wallaby, Macropus greyii (extinct)
- Western brush wallaby, Macropus irma
- Parma wallaby: Macropus parma (rediscovered, thought extinct for 100 years)
- Pretty-faced wallaby: Macropus parryi
- Red-necked wallaby: Macropus rufogriseus
- Bridled nail-tail wallaby, Onychogalea fraenata
- Crescent nail-tail wallaby, Onychogalea lunata (extinct)
- Northern nail-tail wallaby, Onychogalea unguifera
- Short-eared Rock-wallaby, Petrogale brachyotis
- Monjon, Petrogale burbidgei
- Nabarlek, Petrogale concinna
- Proserpine rock-wallaby, Petrogale persephone
- Rothschild's rock-wallaby, Petrogale rothschildi
- Yellow-footed rock-wallaby, Petrogale xanthopus
- Allied rock-wallaby, Petrogale assimilis
- Cape York rock-wallaby, Petrogale coenensis
- Godman's rock-wallaby, Petrogale godmani
- Herbert's rock-wallaby, Petrogale herberti
- Unadorned rock-wallaby, Petrogale inornata
- Black-flanked rock-wallaby, Petrogale lateralis
- Mareeba rock-wallaby, Petrogale mareeba
- Brush-tailed rock-wallaby, Petrogale penicillata
- Purple-necked rock-wallaby, Petrogale purpureicollis
- Mt. Claro rock-wallaby, Petrogale sharmani
- Tasmanian pademelon, Thylogale billardierii
- Brown's pademelon, Thylogale browni
- Dusky Ppademelon, Thylogale brunii
- Calaby's pademelon, Thylogale calabyi
- Mountain pademelon, Thylogale lanatus
- Red-legged pademelon, Thylogale stigmatica
- Red-necked pademelon, Thylogale thetis
- Swamp wallaby or black wallaby, Wallabia bicolor
Images for kids
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An agile wallaby family
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Three wallabies (one grey with a joey in her pouch and one white) in captivity in England
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A red-necked wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus) joey in a pouch
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A female wallaby with a joey in the Tasmanian summer rain
See also
In Spanish: Ualabí para niños
