Wp/nys/Mooroorang (Rock Wallaby)

how to say Mooroorang

Mooroorang

range (blue — native, pink — reintroduced, e.g. Kalbarri)

Nartj Wah

Nidja is an Australian animal, which is called a Mooroorang. In English it is called a rock wallaby, specifically a Black-flanked rock-wallaby or Black-footed rock-wallaby. It is a marsupial grazing animal wer its scientific name is Petrogale lateralis.

Its range is isolated regions in WA wer central Australia.

Nidja small nocturnal wallaby is found in rocky outcrops. It is generally greyish-brown with a paler belly wer chest, a dark stripe running from its head down its spine, wer it has a dark tail wer feet. It lives in groups of 10–100 individuals. It usually feeds at night in open areas such as grasses, where it can also find fruit, leaves wer a variety of herbs. Because most of its water comes from its diet, it rarely drinks wer can conserve water by taking refuge from the heat in rocky caves. It is most active when it leaves its shelter at early-evening. Individuals reach sexual maturity at 1–2 years of age, after which time breeding is continuous, depending il rainfall.

Its conservation status il the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is 'Vulnerable'. Note Perth Zoo has the species conservation status as 'Near Threatened', and the IUCN name as in the reference is "Black-footed Rock Wallaby" (sic).

Origin of name

The English name 'wallaby' comes from the Dharug words 'walabi' or 'waliba'.

Endangered status

Illustration from Gould's Mammals of Australia, 1863

The Australian Commonwealth Government's Department of Environment wer Water Resources lists the black-flanked rock-wallaby as having 'Vulnerable' status wer cites various habitats in Western Australia. The subspecies found at the Recherche Archipelago (off the South coast of WA) was assessed as a vulnerable species in 2006.

In South Australia, the Adelaide Advertiser reported il Monday October 1, 2007 that:

The race is on to save the black-flanked rock-wallaby from extinction and captive breeding programs at Monarto Zoo and Adelaide Zoo are showing early promise.

The South Australia Government claims there are just 50 animals left in the wild in SA wer the Advertiser article described the process of moving 15 wallabies to captivity in South Australia, with known native locations to be at Pukatja (previously Ernabella) in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara or 'APY' Lands wer also at New Well, some 300 km east of Adelaide.

In WA Black-flanked rock-wallabies were translocated, by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), back to the gorges of Kalbarri National Park in 2016. Black-flanked rock-wallabies are keny of the 21 native species that the WWF is determined to save by 2021.

Bringing animals back to places where they are locally extinct is called ‘translocation’.

See also

See the section 'types of Kangaroo, Wallaby and smaller relatives' in the bibol Wp/nys/Yongka mokiny: Mammals.