The Red-necked Wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus) is a medium-sized marsupial macropod, common in the more temperate and fertile parts of eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Red-necked Wallabies are distinguished by their black nose and paws, white stripe on the upper lip, and grizzled medium grey coat with a reddish wash across the shoulders. They can weigh 13.80 to 18.60 kg and attain a head-body length of 90 cm, although males are generally bigger than females.
Ten Facts about Red-necked Wallaby
- Sexual maturity at the age of 2 years and gives birth to one babyWallaby after a pregnancy of 30 days.
- Births on the mainland of Australia can occur in any month, but on Tasmania, they occur mostly during February and March.
- The incredibly tiny wallaby baby, also known as a joey, is born naked, blind and helpless, but must pull itself up into its mother's pouch where it will stay for the next nine to ten months
- They feed in the night and in the late afternoon, they graze on grass and herbs close to forest for shelter.
- There gestation period is 29 days.
- They can live maximum 15 years.
- When they do gather in groups, they have a social hierarchy similar to other wallaby species.
- Red-necked wallabies are mainly crepuscular. They spend most of the daytime resting in vegetation.
- A female's estrous lasts 32 days. During courting, the female will first licks the male's neck. The male will then rubs his cheek against the female's. Then the male and female will fight briefly, standing upright like two males.
- They can weigh 13.80 to 18.60 kg and attain a head-body length of 90 cm.
