Swamp Wallaby

Wallabia bicolor

Other names:

Stinker; Golden Wallaby (for the Stradbroke Is colour phase)

Identification:

Body length 75 cm; tail length 75 cm; weight 15 kg. Dark, thick-set wallaby. Back charcoal; belly orange; black ‘robber's’ mask; yellow face stripe; ears ginger at bases; black fore and hind feet; white tail tip.

Habitat and Range:

Various habitats, including swamps, ferny gullies, open forests, woodlands, lantana thickets, heathlands and shrubby watercourses. Common. Eastern mainland Australia and south-eastern SA.

Notes:

Isolation on Stradbroke Is has favoured the establishment of a golden colour phase which is particularly frequent on South Stradbroke and now sporadically recorded from the northern Gold Coast to the Nerang State Forest . No other local wallaby is as dark on the back or as ginger on the belly, or has a white-tipped tail; no similar species.

Threats:

Dogs.

Traces:

Droppings round and coarse (25 mm diameter); green grass is compressed into a long cigar shape (6 cm long by 18 mm wide).

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