Spectacled hare-wallaby

Glasses hare kangaroo ( Lagorchestes conspicillatus ) Drawing by John Gould

The glasses hare kangaroo ( Lagorchestes conspicillatus ) is a pouch species from the family of kangaroos ( Macropodidae ). It is by all rabbits kangaroos the most common and the most widespread representative.

Features

Glasses - rabbit kangaroos reach a body length 40-47 cm, including another 37 to 49 centimeters long tail comes. Your weight is 1.6 to 4.5 kg. Her long, thick fur is colored on the top gray-brown to yellow-gray, the underside is lighter, usually reddish white. Named giving feature is the reddish patches around the eyes, on the hip is whitish fur drawings can be located. As with most kangaroos, the hind legs are much longer and stronger than the front legs and the tail is long and muscular.

Distribution and habitat

Previously lived Glasses hare kangaroos almost the entire northern half of Australia, today their range is reduced, though not to the same extent as in the other rabbit kangaroos. You can still be in the north-eastern Western Australia, including the preliminary Barrow Iceland, in the northern Northern Territory and northern Queensland. There are also unconfirmed reports of a presence in New Guinea. The population on Barrow Iceland is the subspecies Lagorches conspicillatus conspicillatus, the remaining animals the subspecies L. c. leichardti.

The animals inhabit a range of habitats, including open woodlands and shrub lands, but also dry, covered with spiny head grasses grasslands.

Way of life

These kangaroos are crepuscular and nocturnal, during the day they hide in the thicket plants or other hiding places. Barrow In Iceland, the animals have a territory 8-10 hectares, where they have several hiding places. At night, they go looking for food, while they take leaves and grasses to himself. Like all kangaroos they have a multi-chambered stomach for better utilization of indigestible plant food. You do not need to drink. Usually, they live solitary, but sometimes go up to three animals together in search of food.

The pairing can take place throughout the year. The juveniles spend their first five months in the mother's pouch and are self-employed for about one year.

Endangering

The reasons for the decline in glasses hare kangaroos are varied and not always known. Likely causes the re-enactment by introduced predators such as foxes and cats, the conversion of their habitat and competition for food have been caused by introduced herbivores and grazers.

Today the situation is different: in some regions such as the northern Western Australia they are very rare, in Queensland, in turn, usually still relatively common. Overall, the IUCN lists the species due to the large distribution area as not at risk.