Effect of long drought on the abundance of red kangaroos in central australia

Abstract

About half way through the severest drought on record in central Australia, the numbers of red kangaroos, Megaleia rufh (Desm.), were estimated on about 2500 square miles of country just north of Alice Springs by aerial surveys. Four years later after the drought had broken the survey was repeated to see what effect, if any, the drought had had on numbers. They had fallen from 4914rt722 in 1962, to 2817k641 in 1966. This would have been a direct result of the long drought because females cease breeding, young die in the pouch, and some adults also die during drought. The drought killed many trees in the mulga woodlands, so it was easier to see kangaroos in 1966 than in 1962. Because of this, and because some kangaroos may have moved into the western end of the study area chasing storms towards the end of the drought, it is likely that many fewer than half the kangaroos present in 1962 survived the drought. As in 1962, most of the kangaroos were living in the mulga (Acacia aneura) woodlands along the flood-outs of the creeks because food and shelter were abundant there.