Rock-wallaby (c)

Gallery: WildlifePosted May 19, 201087 views5 comments

Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies are an endangered species, their numbers are greatly diminished mainly through predation by the introduced Red Fox. This female is part of the captive breeding population at the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, near Canberra. She lives in a 3 acre area of natural habitat enclosed by electric predator proof to exclude foxes. The local population went extinct in 1959, but the nature reserve has established this captive population to supplement the numbers of the last wild populations that still occur in very remote areas of south-eastern Australia.

Canon 7D, EF500mm f/4 + 1.4tc, tripod, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/500. Slight crop for composition.

Comments

5 comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on May 19, 2010 at 10:30 PM

Captive or not still a good shot of a rare animal. I like the pose and BG, Her face seems alittle soft, it appears her right eye may be swollen just a bit. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on May 20, 2010 at 10:03 AM

Hi Simon,

Interesting image and very interesting story about the impact of the introduced Red Fox - do you know if the Red Fox introduction was accidental or intentional? Just curious...

I like the image as posted. Having the tail in that position (and the obvious need to include it) certainly constrains compositional options. In a perfect world I'd like to see a little more room on the right side of the frame, but obviously not possible while retaining the tail! Where's that pano camera when you need it!

Cheers...thanks for sharing this and for the natural (and unnatural) history info!

Brad

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on May 20, 2010 at 6:30 PM

Very interesting story, and thanks for sharing the details of an animal never knew existed! I think you did a good job with this image. You might be able to level out/brighten sections of the coat to make fur detail more obvious. Pleasing as posted. Thanks.

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Rhodus on May 22, 2010 at 8:11 AM

A very interesting specimen Simon. I like the environmental presentation and background information about the species struggles. I'm guessing that the wallaby's body (excluding tail) is probably less than a meter in length, is that right?

Registered on November 16, 2003, 157 Posts, 3326 Comments

Comment posted by Simon Bennett on May 22, 2010 at 5:10 PM

Thank you all for your comments.

This wallabies head-body length is a little over 500mm, with the tail the same length. They weigh 5 to 11 kg.

Red Foxes were introduced to Australia in the 1870's by huntsmen wanting to establish the English hunting tradition out here. Foxes quickly spread across the southern two-thirds of the continent. This has been a complete disaster for the populations of small marsupials like wallabies and bandicoots, with more than a dozen species going extinct due to predation by foxes.

Foxes had not established in the island state of Tasmania and small mammals still thrive there. However recently there is evidence of a small number of foxes having been released by rogue human elements, and there is a active campaign to stop foxes getting established there.

Registered on February 4, 2007, 350 Posts, 4614 Comments