DIET
Herbivores, eating leaves, grass, twigs, some fruits &
vegetables.
A group of wallabies is called
a mob.
REPRODUCTION
Bennett's Wallabies
are normally grey-brown with a white stomach however, albinos
are found in all species of marsupial. In captivity, albino
births are quite common, as albino parents will produce an albino
Joey. In the wild albino births are as few as one in 10,000.
Small colonies of Bennett's Wallabies live wild in the North
of England having escaped from collections in the 1930's.
Males (boomers) can weigh more than 20kg and stand up to 1.5m
in height.
Females (flyers) are smaller.
Wallabies and kangaroos are macropods which means, "large
footed" and are characterised by their hind legs and long
tail.
The Wallaby is a marsupial and like all marsupials the females
have a pouch in which to carry their young. A young wallaby
is called a Joey.
Wallabies have a remarkable reproduction cycle.
Females give birth after a short gestation period of 28 - 34
days, to a single young that is hardly past the embryo stage.
The newborn makes its way into the pouch and attaches itself
onto a teat where it stays for many months and continues to
develop and grow nourished by the mother's milk. Females mate
again whilst pregnant and the new embryo remains dormant until
the previous young leaves the pouch.
As this cycle continues it is possible for a female to have
one joey suckling in the pouch, a larger Joey outside the pouch
and at the same time be carrying an undeveloped embryo. This
is due to the female Wallaby's remarkable ability to produce
two different types of milk at once!
One teat produces
milk suitable for the young Joey growing in the pouch and
the other produces milk suited to the nutritional needs of
the older Joey outside the pouch. Maybe you will be lucky
enough to see one of our Joeys popping its head out of a pouch
here at the Park!
