It has been a very exciting week here at flamingo land as we have some new Australian additions here at the zoo. Our Wallaby Walkway has been undergoing some new developments as six yellow-footed rock wallabies have been introduced to the enclosure.

To make our rock wallabies more comfortable in their new home we have added… Yes you guessed it – lots of rocks for them to climb on! They will be joining our twelve Swamp Wallabies who currently have two joeys and also our two Parma Wallabies. They are all members of the Macropod family which are marsupials that includes the kangaroos, wallabies, tree-kangaroos, and wallaroos.

Yellow-footed Rock Wallabies get their name from their forearms and hind legs being yellow, almost orange in colour. The majority of their body is grey is colour with white stripes on their face, head and sides. They were also previously known as Ring-tailed wallabies as they do have a yellow/orange tail which rings around them. Their tail helps them balance and is useful for when they are on the move. Almost all Macropods use the well-known method of moving which is to hop.

In the wild our species of rock-wallaby can be found in western New South Wales, eastern South Australia and also fragmented areas of Queensland. They prefer to live amongst rough terrain and rock outcroppings so they are rarely found near human populations. They are currently estimated to be near threatened in the wild and unfortunately this species had been poached in large numbers for their pelt in the early 1900s.

They are currently settling into their new home and when they are ready our visitors will be able to walk through the enclosure with them. This will give our guests unrestricted views of all our Wallabies and also some of their young known as joeys.