Swamp Wallaby
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Photo] A Swamp Wallaby with a leaf in her hands -- right before eating it. Photographed in Port Douglas Zoo in December 2005. пан Бостон-Ки??вський http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:PanBK 18:46, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

The Swamp Wallaby (Wallabia bicolor) is a small (85 cm 33 in) macropod marsupial of Australia. It is also known as a Black Wallaby or Stinker (in Queensland). It is dark-brown to black above and light yellow to strong rufous-orange below - thus the latin name bicolor.

"Swampees" will eat leaves, grass, young plants and have even been seen eating lantana.

According to Aboriginal people of the Bundjalung Nation, the Swamp Wallaby was considered inedible, due to its smell and taste after cooking.

Taxonomic debate
J C Merchant places the Swamp Wallaby in the genus Wallabia. Writing in Mammals of Australia, Ronald Strahan (ed), revised edition, Reed New Holland Publishers, Sydney, 1995, Merchant says “A combination of genetic, reproductive, dental and behavioural characteristics set the Swamp Wallaby so far apart from other wallabies that it is classified as the sole living member of the genus Wallabia.” p409. Others point out that the Swamp Wallaby can hybridize with Macropus agilis (agile wallaby) so perhaps should be placed in the genus Macropus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swamp_Wallaby

The text in this page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article shown in above URL. It is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.