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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 31(2)

Measurement of defaecation rates in captive swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor)

Bronwyn Fancourt
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

Ecosystem Management, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia. Email: bfancour@une.edu.au

Australian Mammalogy 31(2) 107-110 https://doi.org/10.1071/AM09021
Submitted: 14 August 2009  Accepted: 15 September 2009   Published: 26 October 2009

Abstract

An observation trial was conducted on a group of three captive swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor) to determine the daily defaecation rate. Total number of pellets produced by wallabies was measured every 24 h, and the trial ran for four consecutive 24-h periods. Wallabies produced a mean of 73.2 ± 13.5 pellets per wallaby per day, with each wallaby producing a mean dry weight of pellets of 66.0 ± 13.9 g per wallaby per day. This is the first accurate estimate of the rate of pellet production by captive swamp wallabies, and will assist future attempts at monitoring this cryptic macropod.

Additional keywords: Abundance, density, indirect counts, pellet counts.


Acknowledgements

My sincere thanks to Mark Stone and Christie Brown of Billabong Koala & Wildlife Park for kindly allowing access to their animals for use in this study, and to Karl Vernes for his invaluable guidance, comments and advice on the manuscript. My thanks also to the two anonymous referees whose comments and suggestions have greatly helped to improve this manuscript.


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