Kangaroo

Dr Stephen Jackson has worked in the wildlife industry for the past two decades, as a field biologist, wildlife consultant, zoo keeper, wildlife park curator and government regulator, among other roles. He has a PhD in zoology and has worked extensively with macropods in captivity, giving him a unique insight into their biology and behaviour. Dr Jackson is the author of Koala: Origins of an Icon, Biology of Australian Possums and Gliders and Australian Mammals: Biology and Captive Management, for which he received the prestigious Whitley Medal, and has published numerous papers on various areas of Australian mammalogy. Dr Karl Vernes has been studying the ecology of Aus- tralia’s native mammals for more than 20 years. He first worked on kangaroos as a Masters student in north Queensland where he examined the Red-legged Pademelon in tropical rainforest before undertaking a PhD on the endangered Northern Bettong. Since 2003 Dr Vernes has lectured in conservation biology and wildlife ecology at the University of New England in New South Wales, where he has studied various macropods and worked on other kangaroos from as far afield as Tasmania and Papua New Guinea. Dr Vernes has published more than 40 scientific papers and book chapters.



Kangaroo Portrait of an Extraordinary Marsupial Stephen Jackson and Karl Vernes

First published in 2010 Copyright © Stephen Jackson and Karl Vernes 2010 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act. Allen & Unwin 83 Alexander Street Crows Nest NSW 2065 Australia Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100 Fax: (61 2) 9906 2218 Email: [email protected] Web: www.allenandunwin.com Cataloguing-in-Publication details are available from the National Library of Australia www.librariesaustralia.nla.gov.au ISBN 978 1 74175 903 7 Set in 11/14.5 pt Garamond 3 by Midland Typesetters, Australia Printed and bound in Australia by ??? 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To our own little ‘joeys’: Olivia, James and Theo; and ‘young-at-foot’ Emma and Cole



Contents ix xi Acknowledgements Introduction 1 22 1. Fangaroo to Kangaroo: The Evolution of Macropods 2. Dreamtime: Indigenous Peoples and the Kangaroo 45 3. Civet Cats, Giant Rats and Jumping Raccoons: 81 104 Early European Observations 120 4. Suspended Animation: Kangaroo Reproduction 136 5. Boxing Kangaroo: Macropod Behaviour 152 6. Truffles, Fruit, Leaves and Grass: Kangaroo Diet 191 7. High Jumpers: Locomotion in the Kangaroo 216 8. Kangaroo Commodity: Hunting a National Icon 242 9. Flying Kangaroos: Ethnotramps and Public Fascination 10. Extinct? The Disappearance of Australia’s Macropods 259 11. Kangaroo Conservation: Saving Australia’s Macropods 262 272 Conclusion 328 Appendices Endnotes Index vii

List of Tables and Figures

Acknowledgements Many thanks to the experts who have added considerably to this book by reviewing sections or chapters, including John Bradley (Monash University), Hilary Carey (University of Newcastle), Danielle Clode, Jacqui Coughlan, Graeme Coulson (University of Melbourne), Chris Dickman (University of Sydney), Gordon Grigg (University of Queensland), Thomas Heinsohn (University of Canberra), Kris Helgen (Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC), Cathy Herbert (University of Sydney), Chris Johnson (James Cook University), Ben Kear (La Trobe University), Athol Klieve (Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries), Tony Pople (Biosecurity Queens- land), Euan Ritchie (Deakin University), Tanya Vernes (World Wide Fund for Nature) and George Wilson (Australian Wildlife Services). Isabelle Devos read and commented on the penultimate draft of this book, and made several excellent ix

Kangaroo recommendations for improvement, for which we are also grateful. Many other researchers and experts have been generous with their time and assistance. Andrew Woolnough, Steve Van Dyck and David Alonso Love, along with the Australian Museum and its staff, including Anina Hainsworth, Fiona Simpson, Fran Smith and Leone Lemmer, were a great help with obtaining various references. Thanks also to Francine Gilbert (la Bergerie Nationale de Rambouillet, France), Bruno Munilla (Centre d’Etude de Rambouillet et de sa Forêt, France), Derek Yalden (University of Manchester, UK), and Philippe Devos (Deputy Foreign Editor, Globe and Mail, Canada) who provided information about expatriate wallabies in Europe and North America. Enormous thanks go to the School of Environmental and Rural Science and Professor Iain Young, Head of School at the University of New England, who generously provided the funds we needed to purchase many of the wonderful images seen throughout the book. Other images were made freely available to us—thank you to all of the people and organisations who so quickly and generously responded to our requests for material, especially Gerhard Körtner and James Turner who provided most of the stunning colour photos of macropods. Isabelle Devos did the beautiful sketches that open each chapter. Finally, sincere thanks go to our partners, Kerstin and Isabelle, for their enduring support and patience during this project. x

Introduction Picture a large Red Kangaroo lying under the shade of a tree on a hot day, its head up and its ears swivelling like antennae, tuned for the slightest sound of danger. The alarm given, the animal bounds into action, its muscular body and unique, spring-like hind-legs allowing it to leap effortlessly over the red sands of central Australia. It’s an image of power, grace and efficiency. The Red Kangaroo may be the archetypal image of ‘the kangaroo’ but there are, in fact, nearly 80 species of ‘kangaroo’ in Australia, New Guinea and the islands of Oceania. Strictly speaking, only the largest of these magnificent hopping animals are, officially, ‘kangaroos’. Those that are medium- sized are known as wallabies, while the smaller species go by fascinating names like pademelon, narbalek, quokka, mala, boodie, woylie, potoroo and bettong—to name just a few. All of these animals are known as ‘macropods’ (literally meaning xi

Kangaroo ‘big foot’), and we will use this term interchangeably with the generic ‘kangaroo’ throughout this book for all the kangaroos, wallabies, rat-kangaroos and their relatives. Evolutionarily speaking, kangaroos are stamped ‘Made in Australia’. They evolved on that fragment of Gondwana we call Australia, and have adapted superbly to its range of habitat types, and its unpredictable and often fickle climate. Through- out Australia and New Guinea you will find kangaroos living in almost every habitat type—lush forest to the driest of deserts, alpine meadows to steep rocky gorges. The kangaroos’ unique and adaptable body form means they can be found living in underground burrows, scurrying about the rainforest floor, following well-worn paths through dense heath, scrambling up and down sheer cliff faces, and climbing into the dizzying heights of the rainforest canopy—and, of course, hopping across the vast open grassy plains, woodlands and deserts that dominate the Australian landscape. Their diet is varied too—grass, leaves, fruit, seeds, tubers, insects and even truffles are on the kan- garoos’ menu, and some of the extinct species might even have had a taste for flesh. In satisfying their dietary needs kangaroos fulfil many of the same roles played by mammals on other continents, such as grazing antelope and deer, seed-dispersing rodents and even leaf-eating monkeys. However, the large graz- ing kangaroos differ from other grazing animals in that they can digest plant material without producing methane gas—an evolutionary adaptation that, if harnessed, could quite literally help to save the planet. What else makes this particular group of marsupials (pouched mammals) so interesting? For one thing, macropods have a remarkable reproductive biology—you won’t find anything xii

Introduction like it even among other marsupials like possums and wombats. Although macropods have a pouch and a short gestation period, the resemblance to other marsupials stops there—macropods can produce young continually, produce young at three differ- ent stages of development and, incredibly, can deliberately stop the development of an embryo. Another defining characteristic of the macropods is their gait. Macropods are exquisite hoppers, their method of locomotion energy-efficient and surprisingly rapid—and probably the first thing that springs to mind when we think of a ‘kangaroo’. Why? Because it is such a strange thing for a large mammal to do. Australia’s first human inhabitants have lived with and hunted kangaroos for tens of thousands of years, and celebrate them in stories, ceremonies and art. When Europeans arrived in Australia, they too were intrigued by these strange mammals. The journals of the early seafarers, explorers and colonists tell of their fascination, and within a few years of the First Fleet leaving England, kangaroos had been brought back by returning ships and exhibited in London, and would later establish wild popula- tions in England, mainland Europe, Hawaii and New Zealand. Modern preoccupation with macropods seems not to diminish with familiarity either—depictions of kangaroos appeared in art, official currency and the literature of Australia’s early European colonists, and continue to be used today by sporting teams, sports fans and advertisers as a symbol of all things Australian. Direct use—in the form of food—has also been a big part of the human experience of kangaroos for as long as people have lived alongside them. Many smaller macropods have not been able to adapt to the arrival of Europeans in Australia and the release of foxes and xiii

Kangaroo cats—a string of extinctions tell that sorry tale. In contrast, a handful of species are not only widespread over vast areas of Australia but overabundant. The response by the agricultural community has been to actively hunt kangaroos to protect pastures, and today many hundreds of thousands of animals are harvested each year by official sanction for their skins and meat as part of successful and environmentally sustainable commer- cial enterprise. In the coming chapters we explore these issues in detail— from the ancient origins of kangaroos to modern efforts to conserve and manage them. Along the way we chart the signif- icance kangaroos have to Aboriginal peoples, the amazement that accompanied the first kangaroo sightings by Europeans— and later efforts to manage them—and the sustained fascination people have with kangaroos that leads these animals to be instantly recognised the world over. We also discuss the natural history of kangaroos—reproduction, behaviour, diet and, of course, that amazing hopping ability—all of which make kangaroos such extraordinary marsupials. xiv