Red-necked Wallaby

Wallabies are generally smaller than kangaroos and have more compact legs. The red-necked wallaby is the largest wallaby species in Australia. Like kangaroos, it uses its sturdy tail as its fifth limb.

Male wallabies can stand solely on their tails, enabling them to kick and box their rivals to win mating rights. Aside from hopping, wallabies can crawl and swim but cannot walk backwards.

Like many Australian animals, wallabies are marsupials. They give birth to underdeveloped young (joeys) which weigh less than a gram.

The joey must crawl into its mother’s pouch to suckle on milk for the next seven months to complete its growth. After that, it can leave the pouch for short periods. The cushy pouch life lasts 10 to 17 months.

Strangely, a female wallaby can become pregnant again immediately after giving birth, even though the first joey is still growing in her pouch.

The second baby develops until it has around 100 cells. Then growth pauses (embryonic diapause) until its mum’s pouch is vacated months later, whereupon embryo development resumes.