Density and dispersion of two species of kangaroo in relation to habitat

Abstract

The dispersion of red and grey kangaroo faeces is usually random in any one plant association although the animals themselves are contagiously distributed. However, groups of kangaroos show a random dispersion in contrast to the contagious dispersion of groups of sheep. The density and dispersion of grey kangaroo faeces correlates with the thickness of cover, probably reflecting selection in the past by marsupial carnivores which are now extinct on the mainland. The density and dispersion of neither kangaroo species correlates with the density or dispersion of the woodland canopy. Although both species of kangaroo utilize all of the plant associations studied, there is a quantitative difference in preferred habitat in that the ratio of densities differs between associations.