Macropod hybrids

Hybrid (Juvenile) of Red Kangaroo and Great Grey Kangaroo, Rothschild Museum, Tring

Macropod hybrids are hybrids of animals within the family Macropodidae. Several macropod hybrids have been experimentally bred, including:

Male Female Result
Eastern Wallaroo,
Macropus robustus 		Red Kangaroo,
M. rufus 		Infertile female1
Swamp Wallaby,
Wallabia bicolor 		Red-necked Wallaby,
M. rufogriseus 		Sterile male2
Agile Wallaby,
M. agilis 		Red-necked Wallaby,
M. rufogriseus 		Sterile male2
Tammar Wallaby,
M. eugenii 		Black-striped Wallaby,
M. dorsalis 		Sterile male2
Western Grey Kangaroo,
M. fuliginosus 		Eastern Grey Kangaroo,
M. giganteus 		Sterile male and fertile female
Red Kangaroo,
M. rufus3 		Eastern Grey Kangaroo,
M. giganteus
Tammar Wallaby,
M. eugenii 		Parma Wallaby,
M. parma
Tammar Wallaby,
M. eugenii 		Pademelon,
Thylogale sp.

1. May have been so poorly fertile as to be considered sterile
2. Although the males had testes, they did not produce sperm and some were found to have Y-chromosome abnormalities.
3. In-vitro fertilization used

Some hybrids between similar species have been achieved by housing males of one species and females of the other together to limit the choice of mate. To create a "natural" macropod hybrid, young animals of one species have been transferred to the pouch of another so as to imprint into them the other species. In-vitro fertilization has also been used and the fertilized egg implanted into a female of either species.[1]

References

  1. ↑ "Hybrid Marsupials".