Bridled nailtail wallaby (Onychogalea fraenata)

Description   Signs   Habitat   Ecology   Distribution   Threats   Conservation

Also called: Flashjack, Waistcoat wallaby, Pademelon, Merrin (Indigenous)

Bridled nailtail wallaby.
Photo Lee Curtis

Introduction

The bridled nailtail wallaby is one of three original nailtail species, only two of which exist today. The bridled nailtail wallaby was believed to be extinct until 1973 when a small colony was discovered on a Central Queensland property. The northern nailtail numbers remain steady in northern Queensland and the Northern Territory. The crescent nailtail wallaby was declared extinct in 1956 as a result of fox predation and land clearing.

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the bridled nailtail wallaby’s distribution extended from Charters Towers through central Queensland down through New South Wales and into northern Victoria.

Description

• Grey, white and yellowish fur
• Named ‘bridled’ for the distinctive dark-bordered white stripes running from ears down across the shoulders and the back to under the forearms.
• Slightly over 1m long including the tail
• When racing away at high speeds, rotates forearms - hence the nickname ‘organ grinder’

Nailtail function

All these species of wallaby are named after the bony nail-like projection at the end of the tail. The tail projection possibly helps the animal keep stable or change direction when it travels at high speeds.

Signs

Fewer than 1000 bridled nailtail wallabies probably exist in the wild. All live on restricted access State Government property or private nature refuge land, so sightings are unlikely.

Habitat

• Open grassy eucalypt woodland dominated by poplar box (Eucalyptus populnea)
• Dense acacia forest dominated by brigalow (Acacia harpophylla)
• Transitional vegetation between the woodland and forest
• Dense brigalow regrowth.

Any previously undiscovered wild populations would probably be found in brigalow scrub.

Ecology

Life history

• 10–12 years in captivity
• 6–8 years in the wild

Breeding

• Females produce 2.5 joeys a year in suitable conditions.
• Gestation period is about 23-24 days and pouch life is about 120 days.
• Little is known about the population dynamics of the species. Recent observations indicate it is a social animal with distinct hierarchies.

Food

Wallaby feeding, showing bridle markings.
Photo Lee Curtis

• Herbs and non-woody broad-leaved plants such as daisies from open eucalypt woodland
• Grass and browse eaten if normal diet in short supply

Behaviour

• Wallaby mothers build nests in long grass, stick piles and hollow logs.
• Nocturnal, emerging a few hours before nightfall to browse and groom and feed
• Day spent in shaded scrapes on the edges of brigalow scrub
• Very acute hearing alerts it to anything approaching from a distance
• Shy animals that freeze when disturbed and shelter in a hollow log, or under a bush or even lie flat in the long grass
• Bolts at high speed when frightened

Home range

25–60ha

Distribution

• Small wild populations occur only in a tiny area of Taunton Scientific Reserve, Avocet Nature Reserve at Emerald, west of Rockhampton, and Idalia National Park, south of Longreach.

Threats

• Land clearing
• Feral predators (dogs, cats, foxes)
• Exotic grasses (for example, buffel grass)

Conservation

Status

Onychogalea fraenata

Queensland: Critically endangered (Queensland Nature Conservation (Wildlife) Regulation 1994)

National: Endangered

Activities

• EPA/QPWS Recovery Plan in effect since 1997
• Project Kial, run by Australian Animals Care and Education Inc., is waiting for governmental approval to run a captive breeding and release operation. Since 2003, under the auspices of Queensland EPA, AACE has been maintaining a population of 60+ wallabies that were rescued from a mine site in central Queensland. Find out more about Project Kial.

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Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland