Eastern wallaroo (Macropus robustus) 'goondarwa'
We sighted all three local macropods on the Megalong trip, including this big, muscular, male Wallaroo. Others were Grey kangaroo and Red-necked wallaby, the Swamp wallaby is at nearby Jenolan.
This big boy joins the petite, female wallaroo in my Mammal set.
The timber post and rail fence would date from the late 19thC pioneer days, after the valley was first settled. Before then it was Gundungurra territory and he was called 'goondarwa', and his wife was 'bawa'. In the inland Dharug dialect he is 'Wolaru', which was adopted as his English name.
The flowers high up in the background are belladonna lilies, another relic of pioneer days.
Driving back past the Megalong school house, another big male crossed the road in front of us and cruised up a vertical 4 metre cutting without missing a beat.
Below is a partial rewrite of part of the limited and, I'm sorry to say, poorly written Wikipedia entry:
"The common wallaroo (Macropus robustus) or wallaroo, also known as euro or hill wallaroo is a species of macropod (Kangaroo). One subspecies (M. r. erubescens) is commonly called euro. The eastern wallaroo is mostly nocturnal and solitary, and is one of the more common macropods. When disturbed it makes a loud hissing noise and is sexually dimorphic.
Eastern wallaroo (M. r. robustus) – Found in eastern Australia, males of this subspecies have dark fur, resembling the black wallaroo (Macropus bernardus). Females are lighter, being sandy in colour.
"en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_wallaroo
I'm actually a Wikipedia editor but fixing all the poorly written articles would take more than one lifetime!
Here is another article which has also been edited for readability:
"Identification
The Eastern Wallaroo is the temperate eastern sub-species of the most widespread kangaroo, the Common Wallaroo (or Hill Kangaroo). Eastern Wallaroos have a large naked rhinarium giving them a dark shiny ‘button nose’ like koalas and wombats. They have no facial stripe but they do have large rounded ears. Their coat is coarser and shaggier than the fine down of Red Kangaroos. Females are smaller and rarely exceed 25 kg. Their coat colour varies from light grey through to black. Males are larger and stocky with pronounced forearm musculature when mature. They reach around 50 kg and show a similar variation in coat colour but are darker than females and often predominantly black on the upper parts. The under parts are lighter and the tail tip is not black. The Eastern Wallaroo can be distinguished from the Eastern Grey Kangaroo by its less gracile form and blacker coat. Eastern Wallaroos hop on their short legs in an upright posture, which seems less elegant than Eastern Grey Kangaroos on flat ground, but comes to the fore as they effortlessly bound up rocky slopes.
Habitat
The Eastern Wallaroo is a hill-dweller and so occupies the slopes and ridges, using rocky overhangs and shallow caves as shelter. In some places they inhabit low lying areas of dense scrub. Females tend to be more easily alarmed by people than males who sometimes tolerate quite close approach..."
www.rootourism.com/fsheet30.htm
I prefer Sid Bellingham's article which is reproduced below.
Eastern wallaroo (Macropus robustus) 'goondarwa'
We sighted all three local macropods on the Megalong trip, including this big, muscular, male Wallaroo. Others were Grey kangaroo and Red-necked wallaby, the Swamp wallaby is at nearby Jenolan.
This big boy joins the petite, female wallaroo in my Mammal set.
The timber post and rail fence would date from the late 19thC pioneer days, after the valley was first settled. Before then it was Gundungurra territory and he was called 'goondarwa', and his wife was 'bawa'. In the inland Dharug dialect he is 'Wolaru', which was adopted as his English name.
The flowers high up in the background are belladonna lilies, another relic of pioneer days.
Driving back past the Megalong school house, another big male crossed the road in front of us and cruised up a vertical 4 metre cutting without missing a beat.
Below is a partial rewrite of part of the limited and, I'm sorry to say, poorly written Wikipedia entry:
"The common wallaroo (Macropus robustus) or wallaroo, also known as euro or hill wallaroo is a species of macropod (Kangaroo). One subspecies (M. r. erubescens) is commonly called euro. The eastern wallaroo is mostly nocturnal and solitary, and is one of the more common macropods. When disturbed it makes a loud hissing noise and is sexually dimorphic.
Eastern wallaroo (M. r. robustus) – Found in eastern Australia, males of this subspecies have dark fur, resembling the black wallaroo (Macropus bernardus). Females are lighter, being sandy in colour.
"en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_wallaroo
I'm actually a Wikipedia editor but fixing all the poorly written articles would take more than one lifetime!
Here is another article which has also been edited for readability:
"Identification
The Eastern Wallaroo is the temperate eastern sub-species of the most widespread kangaroo, the Common Wallaroo (or Hill Kangaroo). Eastern Wallaroos have a large naked rhinarium giving them a dark shiny ‘button nose’ like koalas and wombats. They have no facial stripe but they do have large rounded ears. Their coat is coarser and shaggier than the fine down of Red Kangaroos. Females are smaller and rarely exceed 25 kg. Their coat colour varies from light grey through to black. Males are larger and stocky with pronounced forearm musculature when mature. They reach around 50 kg and show a similar variation in coat colour but are darker than females and often predominantly black on the upper parts. The under parts are lighter and the tail tip is not black. The Eastern Wallaroo can be distinguished from the Eastern Grey Kangaroo by its less gracile form and blacker coat. Eastern Wallaroos hop on their short legs in an upright posture, which seems less elegant than Eastern Grey Kangaroos on flat ground, but comes to the fore as they effortlessly bound up rocky slopes.
Habitat
The Eastern Wallaroo is a hill-dweller and so occupies the slopes and ridges, using rocky overhangs and shallow caves as shelter. In some places they inhabit low lying areas of dense scrub. Females tend to be more easily alarmed by people than males who sometimes tolerate quite close approach..."
www.rootourism.com/fsheet30.htm
I prefer Sid Bellingham's article which is reproduced below.