For those who wish
to know more
A number of research projects on the species have been completed. For example Diana Fisher and Dominique Sigg have both done PhDs on the Bridled Nailtail wallaby, supervised by Anne Goldizen, Craig Moritz and Andrew Lowe. Diana’s PhD focused on the Flashjack population at Taunton National Park. She showed that the number of young fathered by a male depended on his physical size and the size of his home range and she found that females hid their young once the joeys left the pouch. She also compared the sub-populations of wallabies in different parts of Taunton National Park to understand how they use different habitat types and how these habitats should be managed to ensure the survival of this species at Taunton.
Dominique Sigg studied both the wild population at Taunton and the translocated population at Idalia National Park. Using molecular genetic techniques Dominique established that individuals of this species do not move far from their birthplace (although males move further than females). This behaviour, together with the unique mating system of this solitary marsupial, may explain why the Flashjack wallaby has retained high genetic diversity despite an extreme contraction in geographic range. Tony Pople and colleagues investigated the success of the translocation to Idalia, finding that site-bred animals had the highest survival rates and that a breeding population was successfully established over the first four years. Following this study, Dominique found that male breeding success was not adversely affected by captive-breeding and that large released males were the most successful breeders. She also found that the genetic diversity of the translocated population was reduced compared to the wild population at Taunton, suggesting the need for ongoing translocation of genetically different animals.
A number of other important research questions exist, for example:
- What are the distribution and habitat use patterns of the wallabies at Avocet reserve?
- Does a reduction in the rabbit population encourage greater predation of young Flashjack wallabies by feral cats?