Recovery plan for the brush-tailed rock-wallaby - Department of ...

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Approved NSW Recovery Plan Brush-tailed rock-wallaby 4 Description The BTRW is a distinctively-marked medium-sized wallaby and one of the larger species of the genus Petrogale. Individuals average 510–586 millimetres in head to tail length and 500–700 millimetres in tail length. Females are slightly smaller on average than males, with less muscle development on the forelimbs. Body weight for males ranges from 5.5 to 10.9 kilograms and for females from 4.9 to 8.2 kilograms (Strahan 1995). BTRWs are most commonly dull brown above, tending to reddish-brown on the rump and to grey on the neck and shoulders, and lighter underneath (Eldridge pers. comm.). The flanks are distinctly striped in pale grey and black. Although little colour variation generally occurs between the sexes, the rufous coloration of the male may be more distinctive (Jarman 1989). However, there is considerable variation in colouring and patterning among populations, and among individual wallabies within a population, such as variability in the extent and shape of white chest blazes (Bayne 1994), which often allows for individual identification. The head is marked by a light coloured cheek stripe and a black dorsal stripe from the eyes to behind the head. The posterior third of the tail is generally distinctively bushy (hence the species’ common name) and is generally brown to black but can be paler (Eldridge pers. comm.). Colours tend to be lighter and tails less bushy in the north of the BTRW’s range (Close 1993), and juveniles are more brightly marked than adults. The hind feet are comparatively short. The foot pads have rough surfaces and the central toes bend more freely than those of other long-footed wallabies (Troughton 1944). The toes do not extend as far beyond the toe pad as they do with other wallabies (Close pers. comm.). Rock-wallabies are agile animals that can move swiftly and confidently, with highly precise bounds, through very rugged and precipitous areas. The rock-wallabies’ great agility has been attributed to their long flexible tail used for balance, and their short, flexible, well-padded, and rough textured feet which give ‘remarkable traction’ (Maynes and Sharman 1983). Brush-tailed rock-wallaby Photo: S. Ruming 12
Approved NSW Recovery Plan Brush-tailed rock-wallaby 5 Distribution 5.1 Range The historical range of the BTRW extended from the Grampians in western Victoria to Nanango in south-eastern Queensland, roughly following the line of the Great Dividing Range (see Figures 1 and 7). However, there has been a decline in numbers and a reduction in the species’ range, with the decline being greatest in Victoria, and in western and southern NSW (Short and Milkovits 1990, Dovey et al 1997, Lunney et al 1997). The species’ range is now fragmented, particularly in the south where BTRWs are now mostly found as small isolated populations dotted across their former range. Vic. NSW NSW N.S.W. Qld. A.C.T. Grampians East Gippsland 400 0 400 800 Kilometres Figure 7. Past and present range of the brush-tailed rock-wallaby Coastline State Boundary Current range Past range Until recently, the small population in the Grampians in Victoria was the most westerly population, some 550 km away from the nearest population in East Gippsland. The population in the Grampians is now thought to be extinct (Seebeck pers. comm.). In NSW, the populations in the Shoalhaven and the Warrumbungle Ranges are the most southerly and westerly known populations, respectively. Although still fragmented, BTRW occurrence in the north is more continuous along a number of the major river system gorges such as the Apsley-Macleay and Clarence river gorges. A major survey of the species’ distribution was carried out in 1990 (Short and Milkovits 1990). This survey found 37 sites where the species had occurred within the previous 20 years and 30 sites where it was presumed extinct. In 1993, a more comprehensive survey identified 47 W N S E 13
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Page 5 and 6: Executive summary The brush-tailed
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