Looking absolutely adorable, the Mareeba rock wallaby is probably the cutest wallaby species you have ever seen. While other members in the family look rather large, this macropod rather has the cute size. Not many people know about them, and their population is not doing well at all. We are going to talk a bit more about the Mareeba rock wallabies today, so take a look below.
1Appearance
Mareeba rock wallabies are tiny, weighing around 4.5 kilograms and standing between 45 and 50 centimeters tall. They molt, and the freshly molted ones are typically grayish on the back but will change to pale then dark brown. There are also some individuals who are black in color, but their undersides are all lighter in color. A Mareeba rock wallaby has patching markings behind its shoulders and a dark strip along the crest of its head. As for their feet, there are thick, spongy, and highly granulated pads that provide excellent grip on rocky surfaces. And not different from other macropods out there, this one also has a long cylindrical tail that acts as a counterbalance and rudder.
2Feeding & Habitats
The main food of the Mareeba rock wallaby is grasses, specifically native grasses such as cockatoo grass and kangaroo grass. This rock wallaby species is a resident of Mareeba of northeastern Queensland, Australia; hence the name. It is a rare species, so its distribution is also limited to only the top of a few mountain ranges. You can also see them in their natural habitat which is in the Granite Gorge Nature Park. These adorable macropods thrive in habitats with boulder piles and escarpments, cliffs, gorges, rocky outcrops, and wet-dry tropics. Due to their small range and rareness, the Mareeba rock wallaby is also a Near Threatened species. One of their main threats is bushfire because it reduces the tree foliage and native grasses that are their food.
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