Animal Facts

The Tammar Wallaby, being one species out of more than 50, are commonly found in Australia, New Guinea, and on closlely knit islands nearby. Tammar wallabies are small statured creatures, measuring less than 18 inches from the head to the base of their tail; their tails nearly making up the height of their body itself! Males weigh up to 20 pounds, and females weigh up to 15 pounds, the size of a large cat or small dog. They are mostly a grayish hue, but their throat, chest, and stomach is lighter and brownish tan. They are known for their large ears and long tapered tail; their hindquarters are much more powerful than the forelimbs. A wallaby's tail can have many uses, including for leaping and can even serve as a third leg! The surviving Tammar Wallaby population is found throughout southern and southwestern coastal Australia; they spend much of their time in dense vegetation but move into open forest or savanna to feed after dark.

A Tammar Wallabies' diet consists on common vegetation such as grass and leaves, a common food for their kangaroo and wallaby relatives. After a pregnancy of only about 28 days (like all marsupials, the young are born very early in their development), a single joey will be born, typically between mid-January and mid-February. The joey will climb into the pouch and attach its mouth to a nipple to continue growing over several months. If the mother becomes pregnant while a joey is in the pouch, the embryo's development will pause until the joey leaves the pouch, a phenomenon called embryonic diapause.