Commercial harvesting of Kangaroos in Australia

by Tony Pople and Gordon Grigg
Department of Zoology, The University of Queensland
for Environment Australia, August 1999
Chapters 10,11,12 and 13 and Appendix 1 provided by staff at Environment Australia

Contents

Table 1. Australian Macropodoidea, their conservation status, likely change since white settlement and suggested reasons for the change. (From Calaby and Grigg, 1989)

FAMILY POTOROIDAE (POTOROOS, BETTONGS AND RAT-KANGAROOS)

Scientific Name	Common Name	Status	Pest Destruction Sometimes?	Commercial Use ?	Change Since Settlement	Suggested Reasons
Hypsiprymnodon moschatus	Musky Rat-Kangaroo	Common, limited	-	-	Range reduced	Rainforest clearing in North Qld.
Potorous tridactylus	Long-nosed Potoroo	Common, limited	-	-	Range reduced	Clearing of east coast forests
Potorous platyops	Broad-faced Potoroo	Extinct	-	-	Extinction	Unknown
Potorous longipes	Long-footed Potoroo	Rare, endangered	-	-	Unknown	Habitat possibly threatened by wood pulp industry
Bettongia penicillata	Brush-tailed Bettong	Rare, endangered (1)	-	-	Range reduced severely	Land clearing and impact of grazing animals, foxes ?
Bettongia tropica	Tropical Bettong	Limited, vulnerable	-	-	Range reduced	?
Bettongia gaimardi	Tasmanian Bettong	Common, limited	-	-	Extinction on mainland, common in Tasmania	Fox predation on mainland, habitat change
Bettongia lesueur	Burrowing Bettong	Limited vulnerable (WA islands)	-	-	Extinction on mainland	Rabbits, foxes, cats
Aepyprymnus rufescens	Rufous Bettong (or Rat-Kangaroo)	Common	-	-	Range reduced	Land clearing, grazing, foxes
Caloprymnus compestris	Desert Rat-Kangaroo	Presumed extinct	-	-	Extinction?	Unknown

FAMILY MACROPODOIDEA (KANGAROOS AND WALLABIES)

HARE-WALLABIES

Scientific Name	Common Name	Status	Pest Destruction Sometimes?	Commercial Use ?	Change Since Settlement	Suggested Reasons
Lagorchestes leporides	Eastern Hare-Wallaby	Extinct	-	-	Extinction	Grazing
Lagorchestes conspicillatus	Spectacled Hare-Wallaby	Common (Qld) elsewhere common to rare, abundant Barrow Island	-	-	Decline on mainland	Grazing
Lagorchestes hirsutus	Rufous Hare-Wallaby	Rare, vulnerable	-	-	Range severely reduced	Grazing, changed wildfire regime
Lagorchestes asomatus	Central Hare-Wallaby	Extinct	-	-	Extinction
Lagostrophus fasciatus	Banded Hare-Wallaby	Vulnerable, limited to two WA islands	-	-	Extinction on mainland

NAILTAIL WALLABIES

Scientific Name	Common Name	Status	Pest Destruction Sometimes?	Commercial Use ?	Change Since Settlement	Suggested Reasons
Onychogalea unguifera	Northern Nailtail	Common	-	-	Local reductions in numbers	Grazing
Onychogalea fraenata	Bridled Nailtail	Endangered	Yes	-	Range severely reduced	pastoral industry, clearing of habitat
Onychogalea lunata	Crescent Nailtail	Presumed extinct	-	-	Decline to extinction	?

ROCK-WALLABIES

Scientific Name	Common Name	Status	Pest Destruction Sometimes?	Commercial Use ?	Change Since Settlement	Suggested Reasons
Petrogale lateralis	Black-Footed Rock-Wallaby	Vulnerable, scattered	-	-	Range reduction	Foxes, farming
Petrogale penicillata	Brush-Tailed Rock-Wallaby	Common	Yes	-	Range reduction	Foxes
Petrogale inornata	Unadorned Rock-Wallaby	Common	-	-	Unknown
Petrogale assimilis	Allied Rock -Wallaby	Common	-	-	Probably little change
Petrogale godmani	Godman’s Rock-Wallaby	Vulnerable	-	-	Unknown
Petrogale rothschildi	Rothschild’s Rock-Wallaby	Common, limited	-	-	Unknown
Petrogale xanthopus	Yellow-Footed Rock-Wallaby	Vulnerable, limited	-	Little in 19th century	Range considerably reduced	Land clearing, goats, grazing
Petrogale persephone	Proserpine Rock-Wallaby	Rare, endangered	-	-	Unknown	May be threatened by 'natural' circumstances
Petrogale brachyotis	Short-Eared Rock-Wallaby	Common	-	-	Probably little change
Petrogale burbidgei	Warabi	Common, limited	-	-	Little or none
Petrogale concinna	Nabarlek, Little Rock-Wallaby	Common in restricted area of occurrence	-	-	Little or none

Note: extinction of rock-wallabies (?P.lateralis) on some offshore islands by hunting and ?foxes.

PADEMELONS

Scientific Name	Common Name	Status	Pest Destruction Sometimes?	Commercial Use ?	Change Since Settlement	Suggested Reasons
Thylogale stigmatica	Red-Legged Pademelon	Common	-	-	Range reduction	Clearing of rainforest
Thylogale billardierii	Tasmanian Pademelon	Abundant	Yes	Yes	Extinction on mainland, prob. Increase in Tasmania	Unknown, clearing for agriculture adjacent to forest
Thylogale thetis	Red-Necked Pademelon	Common	Yes (but not legally)	No	Local eruptions	Clearing for agriculture adjacent to forest

TYPICAL WALLABIES AND KANGAROOS

Scientific Name	Common Name	Status	Pest Destruction Sometimes?	Commercial Use ?	Change Since Settlement	Suggested Reasons
Macropus parma	Parma Wallaby	Secure, scattered	-	-	Range reduction	Vulnerable to forest clearing
Macropus eugenii	Tammar Wallaby	Common, limited	Sometimes on Kangaroo Island	Yes (2)	Range severely reduced	Land clearing for wheat, foxes
Macropus greyi	Toolache Wallaby	Extinct	Yes? Scalp bounty	-	Extinction	Hunting, foxes. Used for coursing
Macropus irma	Western Brush Wallaby	Common	-	-	Population decline	Land clearing, foxes
Macropus parryi	Whiptail Wallaby	Common	Yes	Yes (Qld)	Local eruptions	Grazer, benefited from grassland increase
Macropus dorsalis	Black-Striped Wallaby	Common	Yes (Qld)	Yes (Qld) (2)	Range reduction, but local eruptions (Qld)	Agriculture, grazing
Macropus rufogriseus	Red-Necked or Bennett’s Wallaby	Common	Yes	Yes (Tas & Qld (2))	Little change, local eruptions	Agriculture
Macropus agilis	Agile Wallaby	Abundant	Yes (Qld)	No	Little change or increase	Pastoral industry
Macropus giganteus	Eastern Grey Kangaroo	Abundant	Yes	Yes	Increase in numbers and possibly range	Pastoral industry, land clearing and dingo destruction
Macropus fuliginosus	Western Grey Kangaroo	Abundant	Yes	Yes	Increase in numbers and possibly range	Pastoral industry
Macropus robustus	Common Wallaroo	Abundant	Yes	Yes	Little change or increase	Pastoral industry
Macropus antilopinus	Antilopine Wallaroo	Common	-	-	Little change or increase	Pastoral industry
Macropus bernardus	Black Wallaroo	Restricted	-	-	Little change
Macropus rufus	Red Kangaroo	Abundant	Yes	Yes	Increase in numbers and possibly range	Pastoral industry incl. Dingo destruction and provision of water

*Commercial harvesting discontinued.

ANOMALOUS WALLABIES

Scientific Name	Common Name	Status	Pest Destruction Sometimes?	Commercial Use ?	Change Since Settlement	Suggested Reasons
Setonix brachyurus	Quokka	Vulnerable, limited	-	-	Range reduced	?
Wallabia bicolor	Swamp Wallaby	Common	Yes (Qld)	Yes (Qld) (2)	Little change, local eruptions

TREE-KANGAROOS

Scientific Name	Common Name	Status	Pest Destruction Sometimes?	Commercial Use ?	Change Since Settlement	Suggested Reasons
Dendrolagus lumholtzi	Lumholz’s Tree-Kangaroo	Vulnerable, limited	-	-	Range severely reduced	Clearing of rainforests
Dendrolagus bennettianus	Bennett’s Tree-Kangaroo	Vulnerable, limited	-	-	Range reduced	Clearing of rainforests

(1) The 1996 Action Plan for Australian Marsupials and Monotremes lists Bettongia penicillata under the IUCN Red List category of Lower Risk (conservation dependant).

(2) Commercial harvesting has been discontinued.

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