Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby Petrogale Penicillata Research Articles

Wedge-tailed Eagles Aquila audax regularly sunning during a camera-monitoring survey

Two Wedge-tailed Eagles Aquila audax sunning were observed on images from a monitoring camera that was located at Flinders–Goolman Conservation Estate, in Ipswich Local Government Area, south-eastern Queensland. I observed the Eagles across multiple days in March–April 2023 whilst the camera was in place, despite the camera being unbaited, and originally positioned to detect Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies Petrogale penicillata. The images showed one adult, a pair of adults or an adult and a juvenile Eagle. This behaviour has been poorly documented in this species, although it has been widely observed in other bird species.

Corporate support for threatened species recovery efforts: three case studies from the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season

ABSTRACT A diverse range of corporations, businesses and organisations play an important role in threatened species conservation. During the unprecedented bushfire season in Australia in the 2019–20 summer, corporations, businesses and organisations contributed significant financial and in-kind support for the Saving our Species Program’s threatened species recovery efforts. On the eastern coast, a combination of food shortages and heat stress events resulted in large numbers of Grey-headed Flying-foxes Pteropus poliocephalus requiring rescue and rehabilitation. Prolonged drought and intense bushfires reduced available foraging resources for the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby Petrogale penicillata and Mountain Pygmy-possum Burramys parvus. Corporations donated produce to feed flying-foxes in care and provide supplementary feeding for wild populations of rock-wallabies and pygmy-possums. Local businesses and organisations also supplied resources, funding and food storage capacity to support these conservation actions. The contributions from corporations, businesses and organisations in these case studies totalled more than $70,000.

Nocturnal home ranges and social interactions of the brushtailed rock-wallaby Petrogale penicillata at Hurdle Creek, Queensland.

The nocturnal ranges of six male and 15 female adult brush-tailed rock-wallabies (Petrogale penicillata) were calculated from November 2001 to March 2002 at Hurdle Creek, Queensland. Social interactions were recorded during the same period. Nocturnal range data were collected by walking transects with a spotlight, and identifying individuals from their colour-coded reflective eartags. Males? nocturnal home ranges averaged 2.84 + 0.32 ha, while those of females averaged 2.01 + 0.20 ha, using the 100% minimum convex polygon method. Home ranges at this site were thus smaller than those described for this species at other sites. The nocturnal home ranges of males and females overlapped with those of several other individuals of both sexes. There appeared to be three groups within the population who emerged from their diurnal refuges along separate lengths of cliffs, had nocturnal ranges that overlapped highly with those of their own group and associated more often with members of their own group than with those of others, indicating social structuring within the population. Males and females associated with and had sexual interactions with several different partners, and there was no indication of long-term guarding of females by males at night. However, males may have monitored the oestrus state of females during the day and guarded females at night only during their oestrus periods.

Multifaceted genetic analysis of the "Critically Endangered" brush-tailed rock-wallaby Petrogale penicillata in Victoria, Australia: implications for management

The use of molecular genetic techniques can aidwildlife managers in setting priorities anddevising management strategies for scatteredpopulations of threatened taxa. In this study,six remnant populations of the “criticallyendangered” brush-tailed rock-wallaby (Petrogale penicillata) in Victoria, Australia,were examined using karyotypic, microsatellite(11 loci) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) controlregion sequence analysis. Each remnantpopulation was found to be genetically distinct(unique microsatellite alleles and controlregion haplotypes), but had low geneticdiversity. This distribution of geneticdiversity between, rather than withinpopulations, is most likely a consequence ofrecent severe reductions in population size anddispersal that have occurred since Europeansettlement. The six mtDNA control regionhaplotypes identified in the Victorianpopulations were all closely related (average1.3% sequence divergence), and only 2%divergence separated haplotypes from EastGippsland and the Grampians (550 km to thewest). In contrast there was considerablesequence divergence (7.7%) between theVictorian haplotypes and those found in P.penicillata from elsewhere in the speciesrange. In comparison, 8.8% divergenceseparates P. penicillata from the closelyrelated P. herberti. The Victorianhaplotypes also formed a distinct and wellsupported monophyletic group that excludedhaplotypes from other P. penicillata andP. herberti. In light of these data, werecommend that the remnant Victorianpopulations of P. penicillata be managedseparately from remaining populations in NewSouth Wales and Queensland; and thatindividuals be regularly exchanged amongst theVictorian populations to increase theirdiversity and reduce the likelihood ofinbreeding depression.

An Overview of The Status and Management of Rock-wallabies (Petrogale) In New South Wales.

Two species of rock-wallabies occur in New South Wales; the Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby Petrogale xanthopus in the far west and the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby Petrogale penicillata in the east. Both species have contracted in distribution and abundance across their former range and are threatened in NSW. The P. xanthopus population in NSW now comprises only two sub-populations. Removal of large numbers of goats, thought to be the primary threat, has not halted the wallaby's decline. Fox and cat predation is now considered the major threat. Fox control is currently being conducted. P. penicillata has undergone a dramatic and continuing decline from being common throughout south-eastern Australia to currently being extremely rare in the southern and western parts of its range and found only in isolated colonies throughout the north of its range. Predation (particularly fox, but including dog and cat), once again, is considered the major threat. A recovery program has been commenced involving the media and wider community in locating extant colonies, as well as developing and implementing Population Management Plans. This program has documented further local extinctions and extremely low numbers of individuals in colonies in the southern and western parts of the range. While no surviving colonies are known between the Shoalhaven area and the Victorian border, there remain more and larger colonies in the north of the state.

Behavioural Ecology of Petrogale penicillata In Relation to Conservation.

Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies Petrogale penicillata are still widely distributed in the gorges on the east of the New England Tablelands of northern NSW, in small (mean <6 adults) colonies, separated by an appreciable distance (median separation 308 m) from neighbouring colonies. Within colonies, established adults occupy a refuge or set of refuges by day, moving away from the colony to forage mainly at night. A set of 1-3 adult females shares a small number of refuges, with one adult male defending access to them and their refuges. A colony contains one or several such sets. Established females occupy refuges persistently, up to at least 4 years and perhaps until death; males also defend their diurnal ranges persistently, but male ranges do change owner through intrusion or supplanting, as well as when the incumbent dies. Sub-adults of both sexes seem to be the dispersing classes, although a daughter may remain, mature and breed in her mother’s range. Only adults established in refuges appear to breed. The most dominant among the females sharing a set of refuges tends to produce more young than do subordinates. The combination of small and separated colonies, dispersal only by naive sub-adults, a strong restriction of mating opportunities within breeding groups, and unequal contribution to breeding even by females, could make P. penicillata prone to predation by agile predators that can learn the locations of their persistently used sites, and to problems of conserving population numbers and allelic diversity. These latter conservation problems can be simply addressed by artificial dispersal (translocation) of appropriate animals.

An Ecological Interpretation of The Historical Decline of The Brush-Tailed Rock-Wallaby Petrogale penicillata in New South Wales.

Widely based historical research was conducted in an attempt to construct a timetable of the decline in the abundance of the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby Petrogale penicillata in New South Wales. The discovery of 24 new locality records extended its historical range to the coast and provided greater continuity in its distribution than previously recorded. Historical references indicate that P. penicillata was abundant last century but it had declined in most districts by 1915. Protection was declared in 1908 at Bombala and Cooma, in 1912 at Braidwood and in 1913 at Picton and Hartley. Intense hunting pressure on P. penicillata, which resulted in some local extinctions, generally preceded and overlapped with its decline. Hunting for bounties was largely replaced by hunting for the commercial fur trade, which continued until at least 1927. At least 144,000 P. penicillata skins were sold in the 1890s, when their price was lowest. The fox Vulpes vulpes arrived well after the onset of the period of prolonged and sustained hunting pressure, but was in some areas from 7-16 years before P. penicillata was officially declared protected for that area. The time interval between the year when 100+ fox bounties were first paid in the district to the year when P. penicillata was locally protected varied from 5-10 years. Both of these periods of overlap are likely to be overestimates. This paper identifies the extent and relevance of commercially driven hunting to the early and steep decline of P. penicillata in NSW. Concurrent arrival of rabbits, together with the fox and possibly goats, is likely to have contributed to the decline and suppression of P. penicillata populations.

A genetic study of the Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby Petrogale penicillata in East Gippsland and relevance for management of the species in Victoria

Within the Australian macropod genus Petrogale (rock wallabies) nine chromosomally distinct species occur along the Great Dividing Range of eastern Australia (Sharman et al. 1990; Eldridge et al. 1991a; Eldridge and Close 1992). However, Close et al. (1988) found Petrogale from the Grampians, Victoria and from Jenolan Caves, New South Wales, to be remarkably similar despite their 800 km separation (Fig. 1). Standard and C-banded karyotypes of both populations were typical of Petrogale penicillata and were identical except that one Grampians animal was heterozygous for absence of a C-band on chromosome 2. Apart from their smaller physical size, the only difference was that the Grampians animals were homozygous for a unique Pgm allele.