Euro (female with joey)

Description:

Also called the Common Wallaroo. These lovely critters are marsupials which means that they carry young that are not fully developed in a pouch. As you can see here, this joey is looking well developed! "Euros have a large naked rhinarium giving them a dark shiny ‘button nose’ like koalas and wombats. They have no facial stripe but they do have large rounded ears. Their coat is coarser and shaggier than the fine down of Red Kangaroos. Females are relatively short and small and rarely exceed 25 kg. Their coat colour varies from light grey through light tan to dark grey. Males are short but very stocky with pronounced forearm musculature when mature. They reach around 50 kg and show a similar variation in coat colour to females but are distinguished by a rufous-brown nape and may often be darker coloured than females. The underparts are lighter and the tail tip is not black." (http://www.rootourism.com/fsheet28.htm#S... )

Habitat:

Hanging about the vegetation on the sand dunes near the sea, at Lakeside, Cape Range National Park.

Notes:

Here is some really interesting information I found: "Euros, like Red Kangaroos, are continuous breeders and the timing of sexual maturity and the progress of offspring development is very similar. However, female Euros tend to shut down reproduction (i.e. enter anoestrus) under less severe drought than Red Kangaroos. As the mother enters drought, her offspring die in order of their energy and nutrient demands. First the young-at-foot dies, then the pouch young as the mother cannot meet its milk requirement and then the embryo in utero is born. If drought persists the latter's fate is sealed but rainfall and a flush of green vegetation may see it through. If the female loses all her offspring and drought persists then she ceases to come into oestrus." (http://www.rootourism.com/fsheet28.htm#S... )