Bridled nail-tail wallaby

Short nail kangaroo ( Onychogalea fraenata ) Drawing by John Gould

The short nail or kangaroo grazing reins Nail kangaroo ( Onychogalea fraenata ) is a pouch species from the family of kangaroos ( Macropodidae ).

Features

Short nail kangaroos reach a body length 43-70 centimeters, with yet another 36-73 centimeters long tail. Your weight is 4-9 kg, the males are much larger and heavier than the females. The hind legs are like most kangaroos big and strong, the front legs, however, significantly shorter. The tail is long and muscular, as with all nail kangaroos located on the tip of the tail a small nail-like spur. The coat color is predominantly gray at the top, the underside is whitish. It is characterized by white, rein -shaped stripes that run from behind the ears over the neck and shoulders to the bright bottom. In the field of hip white, but often inconspicuous strips are also available.

Distribution and habitat

Previously, short nail kangaroos were common across much of eastern Australia, they lived in eastern Queensland, New South Wales and northern Victoria. Today the population is on three small areas in Queensland, such as the Taunton National Park, limited. Their habitat are rather dry, acacia -lined bush country.

Way of life

These kangaroos are crepuscular or nocturnal. During the day, resting in tall grass or in low nests at night, they go in search of food. They live mostly solitary, in very dry conditions they sometimes form groups. Their diet consists mainly of grasses and herbs, like all kangaroos they have a multi-chambered stomach in order to exploit the indigestible plant food better.

The female gives birth after 24 -day gestation period, a single young is born. The newborns spend their first months of life in the mother's pouch, self-employed, they are around one year.

Endangering

By the end of the 19th century short nail kangaroos were still relatively common, then began a dramatic decline in the population. The main reason for this was the conversion of their habitat in pastures for sheep. To a lesser extent the persecution came by the new arrivals foxes and competition for food with the rabbits added. From 1937 to 1973 there was no sighting and maintaining the kind already extinct.

In the 1970s, a small population was discovered in a 100 km ² area in Queensland. Parts of the area were purchased by the government and what has become a sanctuary, the Taunton National Park. This area is now the only known, in which the species naturally still alive. In addition, a captive breeding and reintroduction program was started. In two areas of Queensland, the Idalia National Park and Avocet Nature Refuge, there are now again free-living populations. In New South Wales, the animals were reintroduced in the Scotia - reserve.

The IUCN estimates that the total population to less than 1,100 adult animals in the wild and lists the species as " critically endangered " ( endangered ).