Parma Wallaby (Macropus parma) Fact Sheet: Behavior & Ecology

• Primarily nocturnal (Maynes 1977b; Staker 2006)
  • Typical for most macropods
  • Day spent resting under dense shrubbery, emerging at dusk to feed
  • Secretive; rarely sighted in daytime - occasionally on wet/overcast days
• Pre-dawn activity peak (Ord et al. 1999)
  • One study monitored nocturnal behaviors in managed care (2 groups of 6 individuals each)
  • Social interactions, alert postures, and movement peaked in the 2 h prior to dawn
    • Above study of nocturnal behaviors in managed care evaluated 6 common behaviors during peak active time
    • Feeding - most common behavior (about 32-55% of active time)
    • Resting and hiding - next most common behaviors (about 13-22% of active time)
    • Being on alert and moving - less common behaviors (about 5-12% of active time)
    • Social interactions - rare (about 2% of active time)
    • Males spent more time feeding and less time resting, hiding, on alert, and moving
    • Females distributed their time more evenly, spending a larger proportion of their time in non-feeding behaviors
      • Speculation by researchers: smaller females may spend more time in cover to avoid predation, or to hide from male courtship attempts

• Home range (Hume et al. 1989)
  • Small - a few hectares

• In the wild (Jarman & Coulson 1989; Maynes 1977b)
  • Typically solitary; may feed in groups of 2 or 3
    • One Australian study recorded 52 solitary animals, 14 pairs, and 5 trios (Maynes 1977b)
  • This behavior typical of species whose food is scarce, is scattered, or requires extensive searching - especially small species living in dense cover
  • Larger aggregations occur on Kawau Island - perhaps due to higher population density
• In managed care (Ord et al. 1999)
  • Largest male in group most dominant, tolerates presence of females only during feeding
• Contact between two individuals (Herter et al. 1985)
  • Social grooming - head and ears preferred
  • Gentle touching with forepaws
  • Nose touching
  • Agonistic behaviors: see below

• Vocalizations during courtship (Ord et al. 1999)
  • Males produce soft clucks - rapid pulses of sound
  • Females produce long hisses
  • Also see Courtship
• Posturing (Herter et al. 1985; Warburton 2005)
  • Variety of positions communicate intent, for example:
    • Aggression - approaching rapidly, stretching head forward
    • Submission - crouching, lowering the head, nose sniffing, ear quivering
    • Sexual arousal (male) - tail lashing, bending over female

(Ganslosser 1989; Herter 1985; Miller 2001)

• Aggression/fighting seldom seen in wild (probably due to solitary lifestyle)
• Common agonistic behaviors (attack, fight, defense, flight, submission)
  • More common in males:
    • Raising up almost fully erect on hindlegs and tail (superiority display)
    • Hitting another animal violently with one/both forepaws
  • More common in females:
    • Defense
    • Avoidance
    • Stretching head forward with neck extended, muzzle slightly upward (threat display)
  • Typical in both sexes:
    • Attacking by jumping at the opponent
    • Wrestling upright
  • Kicking behavior differs from larger macropods
    • Parma wallabies don't always balance on tail when kicking - often lose balance and fall over

• Not well documented in parma wallabies

Notes on behavioral repertoire (Herter et al. 1985)

• Less complex than larger macropods
• More variable, less ritualized, shorter sequences of behaviors
• May be related to the parma wallaby's more solitary lifestyle

Play (Watson 1998)

• Not well-documented in macropods
• No play behaviors were observed in one study of parma wallabies in the wild

(Kar et al. 2003; Maynes 2008)

• All terrestrial (ground-dwelling) macropods move by hopping
  • Low speeds - "pentapedal" locomotion
    • Heavy tail used as a fifth leg
    • Energetically inefficient compared to quadrupedal (4-legged) running
  • Medium to high speeds - switch to bipedal hopping
    • As speed increases, stride length increases but hopping frequency remains constant
    • In larger macropods, bipedal hopping is energetically efficient
    • For smaller macropods, improved predator avoidance may be primary benefit
• Parma wallaby hops in nearly horizontal position close to ground - a defining feature
  • Forearms tucked tightly against body
• Tail curves upward in shallow U-shape at medium pace

• Predators (Ganslosser 1990; Staker 2006)
  • Primarily introduced predators, especially red foxes (introduced in mid-1800s)
  • Also, dingoes, eagles, other birds of prey, pythons, cats, and wild dogs

Those dark eyes give the parma wallaby away as being active at night.

Image credit: © San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. All rights reserved.

Ganslosser (1989)
Herter et al. (1985)
Hume et al. (1989)
Jarman & Coulson (1989)
Lentle et al. (2003)
Maynes (1977b)
Maynes (2008)
Miller (2001)
Ord et al. (1999)
Staker (2006)
Watson (1998)