Tammar wallabies
| Tammar wallaby | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Diprotodontia |
| Family: | Macropodidae |
| Genus: | Macropus |
| Species: | M. eugenii |
| Binomial name | |
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Macropus eugenii Desmarest, 1817 |
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| Current tammar wallaby range. Red areas are where they have been reintroduced. | |
The tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii), also known as the dama wallaby or darma wallaby, is a small macropod native to South and Western Australia. Though its geographical range has been severely reduced since European colonisation, the tammar remains common within its reduced range and is listed as "Least Concern" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It has been introduced to New Zealand and reintroduced to some areas of Australia where it had been previously eradicated. Skull differences distinguish tammars from Western Australia, Kangaroo Island and mainland South Australia, making them distinct population groups or possibly different subspecies.
About the size of a rabbit, the tammar is among the smallest of the wallabies in the genus Macropus. Its coat colour is largely grey. The tammar has several notable adaptations, including the ability to retain energy while hopping, colour vision and the ability to drink seawater. A nocturnal species, it spends nighttime in grassland habitat and daytime in shrubland. It is also very gregarious and has a seasonal, promiscuous mating pattern. A female tammar can nurse a joey in her pouch while keeping an embryo in her uterus. The tammar is a model species for research on marsupials, and on mammals in general. It is one of many organisms to have had its genome sequenced.
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Wikipedia