Aspects of the ecology of the swamp wallaby Wallabia bicolor (Marsupialia: Macropodidae).

Abstract

The measured ranges of wallabies at Healesville were rectangular or dumbbell shaped, with long axes sometimes as much as 600 m, and often distributed bimodally with respect to intensity of use. Wallabies sometimes used particular parts of their ranges at particular times of the day. The ranges of several animals at Healesville overlapped, but very rarely during daytime was more than one individual seen in the same place at the same time. There is evidence that different animals used the same general area at different times of the day. Although wallabies do not appear solely to occupy and defend territories in the traditional sense of the term. limited force-tracking evidence suggests that there may be well-defined home range boundaries which they will not cross. Wallabies were not repelled by water and forded a creek frequently as part of their regular movements. Wallabies fed on and off throughout day and night, though they spent some time resting during the day. They frequently fed on open pasture at night, but were almost always back in thick cover before sunrise. Wallabia bicolor seems to be a browsing rather than a grazing animal.