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
Table 2. Comparison of reproductive biology in the harvested species (after Dawson 1995, and multiple sources).
| Species | Oestrus cycle | Gestation period | Post-partum mating? | Blastocyst diapause? | Lactation period (months) | Loss of pouch young to next birth (days) | Pouch life, a) 1st emerge b) vacation (days) |
Normal interval between young (months) |
| Macropus rufus | 34.8 + or - 0.6 | 33.2 + or - 0.2 | yes | yes | 12 | 34.7 + or - 0.3 | a) - b) 235 |
8 |
| Macropus giganteus | 45.6 + or - 9.8 | 36.4 + or - 1.6 | no | yes | 18+ | 28-32 | a) 284 b) 319 |
12 |
| Macropus fuliginosus | 34.9 + or - 4.4 | 30.6 + or - 2.6 | no | no | 18+ | n/a | a) 298 b) 323 |
12 |
| Macropus robustus robustus | 33.6 + or - 1.3 | 32.7 + or - .5 | yes | yes | 15+ | 30.9 + or - 2.0 | a) - b)260 + or - 5.4 |
8-9 |
| Macropus parryi | 42.2 | 36.3 | no | ? | approx. 15 | ? | a) - b) 281 |
10 |