1 Swamp Wallaby at Deakin, ACT
Identification history
| Wallabia bicolor | 6 Sep 2020 | DonFletcher | ||
| Wallabia bicolor | 6 Sep 2020 | DonFletcher | ||
| Unidentified | 5 Sep 2020 | LisaH |
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User's notes
I am assuming this is the tail of a possum? I am intrigued by the clean shearing off of the end of the tail from the rest of the body, and wondered if it might have been a meal for an owl or bird of prey?
3 comments
DonFletcher
wrote:
6 Sep 2020
Hi LisaH, I cant tell the size very well but it looks to me like the tail of a Black (Swamp) Wallaby Wallabia bicolor. Some of the possums have bare skin on the underside (for grip) and all have soft thin fluffy fur. This looks too coarse on one side to be any of those. DNA from saliva could identify the predator but my first guess would be fox. Why they bite off tail tips I do not know.
LisaH
wrote:
6 Sep 2020
Thank you! That is fascinating - and makes so much sense, as the hair is so coarse. I would never have imagined the tail tip belonged to a wallaby - or that it could be taken down by a fox. Really appreciate the ID and the background.
DonFletcher
wrote:
6 Sep 2020
I have seen a large male kangaroo dying of starvation but still able to struggle to its feet, lose the tip of its tail while sleeping under a tree. So Black Wallaby - no problem. But why? Maybe it enables the fox to safely assess the potential danger of attacking that animal, though foxes are only known to kill the sub-adults and juveniles of these species.
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Nearby sightings
Location information
- Coordinates 149.101794-35.325311
- Maps Red Hill Nature Reserve
- Places Deakin, ACT
Sighting information
- 1 Abundance
- 31 Aug 2020 12:06 PM Recorded on
- LisaH Recorded by
Species information
- Wallabia bicolor Scientific name
- Swamp Wallaby Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-Invasive
- Up to 1338.8m Recorded at altitude
- 353 images trained Machine learning
