Bridled Nail-tailed Wallaby
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There are three species of wallaby that have the characteristic “nail-tail”, with a nail-like spur about 3–6mm long at the tip of the tail: the bridled nailtail wallaby, crescent nailtail wallaby (believed to be extinct) and northern nailtail (common in northern Australia). Other less common names are wFlashjack, merrin, waistcoat wallaby
Average bridled nail-tailed wallabies measure 600mm (including the head and body) with an average tail measurement of 450mm. Coloration is grey with some yellow throughout. There are white stripes that start from the ears and continue to under the arms, giving the appearance of the animal wearing a bridle (hence the name). The underbelly is white. A white stripe is present on each cheek that starts at the nose and continues under the eye. The tail has a point (“nail-tailed”) and is colored similar to the underbelly. This small kangaroo is mainly nocturnal, and while it occasionally moves about in daylight, it spends most of the day in a shallow nest scratched out beneath a tussock of grass or a bush. It shelters by day in the edges of brigalow scrubs and feeds by night in the more open surrounding grassy eucalypt woodlands. Its diet seems to consist mainly of the roots of various species of coarse grass and other herbaceous vegetation. Nail-tailed wallabies are shy and usually solitary, although females with young and groups of 4 to 5 animals have been reported.
The bridled nail-tailed wallaby is endangered in part due to hunting in the early 1900s. The species was hunted not only for its fur but also because it was considered a pest. This nocturnal marsupial was thought to be extinct by 1960, but thirteen years later a population was discovered in 1973 in central Queensland.The disappearance of the species from over 95 percent of its former range and the potential threat to the only known significant population from stochastic events such as wildfire, prolonged drought, over-predation and disease means the bridled nailtail wallaby is currently threatened with extinction.Competition with domestic herbivores, notably sheep, habitat alteration, and predation by introduced predators, especially foxes, have all been suggested as reasons for the species' decline. However, the speed and scale of the decline makes it impossible to identify any one predominant causal factor.
The bridled nailtail wallaby lives in semi-arid areas where dense acacia shrubland and grassy woodland meet.Currently it shelters by day in the edges of brigalow scrubs and feeds by night in the more open surrounding grassy eucalypt woodlands. There have been few sightings recorded in cleared areas except during drought.Today there is only one remaining population of approximately 400 individuals found in the scrubs of Tanton National Park in Central Queensland.
The Bridled Nail-tail Wallaby feeds at dusk and during the night. It sleeps during the day (therefore it is nocturnal), usually in a hollow beside bushes or trees. It keeps close to the edges of pasture grasses.The preferred diet of the bridled nailtail wallaby is largely non-woody broad-leafed plants, chenopods (succulents including pigweed), flowering plants and grasses.
Females stay with their young until they are independent at around one year old. Usually born in May the offspring are extremely under developed, almost in an embryonic stage, common to all other marsupials. They are tiny, with rudimentary limbs and tail, and closed ears and eyes. However, once their umbilical cord breaks they crawl at an amazing speed up through the mother’s fur to the safety of her pouch where they suckle for up to 11 months. Being a marsupial young wallabies are brought up in their mothers pouch.One is born at a time and depending on the right conditions of food sources, and how often they breed.
Attempts to help these animals include trying to maintain existing population, establish new populations in suitable areas and curbing the populations of cats, foxes and dingoes. Also by carrying out research, and providing community education. We can help it from becoming extinct by working together to keep it safe so future ggenerations could see it.
