What to know

Meet The Wallaby of Australia

wallaby, wallabies, kangaroo, australia

Mistaken around the world for a small kangaroo, the wallaby is in fact more of a cousin.

A wallaby is a medium sized marsupial native to Australia and New Guinea. And although it looks a lot like the kangaroo, its larger cousin, there’s much difference between the two species from down under.

In fact, the name wallaby is a name given to any macropod smaller than the kangaroo or wallaroo (a macropod slightly larger than the wallaby but yet smaller than the kangaroo). The largest six species are generally accepted as kangaroos, while the rest are wallabies.

An average wallaby measures between 45 cm and 105 cm from head to bottom without tail. The tail itself can measure anywhere between 33 cm and 75 cm in length.

The smallest member of the genus is the dwarf wallaby, which measures about 46 cm from nose to tail and weighs about 1.6 kg.

Even though the little marsupial can defend itself when it needs to, it is exposed to many dangers out in the wild.

When they don’t have to worry about wild dogs, foxes, and feral cats, they have to keep an eye out for humans looking to hunt them for their meat and fur.

Wallabies are herbivores and feed mainly on grasses, leaves and vegetables. However, due to recent urbanization around their natural habitat you can find many wallabies feeding in urban areas.

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