Rock Wallaby

Description:

A Rock Wallaby photographed at Valley of Diamonds, Crows Nest National Park Queensland Australia about 200km due west inland of Brisbane near Toowoomba.

Habitat:

Their reliance on refuges leads to the rock-wallabies living in small groups or colonies, with individuals having overlapping home ranges of about 15 hectares each. Within their colonies they seem to be highly territorial with a male’s territory overlapping one or a number of female territories. Even at night the wallabies do not move further than two kilometres from their home refuges. Generally, there are three categories of habitat that the different species of rock-wallaby seem to prefer: - Loose piles of large boulders containing a maze of subterranean holes and passageways - Cliffs with many mid-level ledges and caves - Isolated rock stacks, usually sheer sided and often girdled with fallen boulders Suitable habitat is limited and patchy and has led to varying degrees of isolation of colonies and a genetic differentiation specific to these colonies. The rock wallaby height is ranged from 60cm to 70cm.

Notes:

A rare moment, it just popped out of the scrub for a few moments about 3pm in the afternoon and allowed me to photograph it before it disappeared once more into the rocks and undergrowth.