If you are dreaming of buying a kangaroo, but you just have nowhere to place it, you can purchase a smaller copy of it - Bennett's wallaby. Wallaby Bennett is a variety of red and gray kangaroos. Therefore, they are often called red-and-gray wallabies, as well as bennett kangaroos.
Wallaby Bennett's species description
Unlike regular Australian kangaroos, the data is smaller, so they are sometimes kept at home. An adult weighs 8-14 kg, and the average weight is 10.5 kg. In addition, Wallaby Bennett has relatively short hind legs and relatively large front legs.
Males are larger than females. The weight of adult males ranges from 11.5 to 13.7 kg, and of females - from 8 to 10.6 kg. Their main body color is dark brown, and the throat, abdomen, chin are lighter. This species of kangaroo has black legs, a grayish forehead, and a rusty color on the neck, muzzle, shoulders, and nape. Their characteristic feature is a black spot at the base of the tail.
Mini kangaroo spread
Wallaby Bennett live in the tropical rainforests of Australia in a very limited area, which occupies about 4 thousand square meters. km - in the south of the Daintree River and in the north to Mount Amos.
This type of kangaroo is called arboreal for a reason, since usually these animals settle in the crowns of trees, but they can move along the ground and feed on fruits and leaves that have fallen to the ground.
Wallaby Bennett's food
Wallaby bennett eat the leaves of shrubs, trees, grass. If they have plenty of fresh grass, they may not drink for a long time, taking moisture from it. If dry weather sets in, then these small dexterous kangaroos dig out the soil with their not small forelimbs and extract from it the succulent roots of plants, which simultaneously serve as food and drink for them.
While eating, they stand on four legs, sometimes standing on their hind legs to inspect the surroundings. In doing so, they lean on their strong tail.
Mini kangaroo behavior
Bennett's kangaroos are dexterous animals. Using their prehensile tail, they can jump to a nearby tree, even if they have to fly 7-9 meters down! But this is not the limit.
If the wallaby urgently needs to descend from the tree to the ground, from a height of 18 meters, they will do it in one jump and will not break. But they take such extreme descents only as a last resort or fall accidentally when they move along the branches, in flight they instantly group together, so they do not get injured. They usually go down the trunk of the tree, backing away.
In general, these representatives of reddish-gray kangaroos are very cautious. They move around their territory mainly in the evening or in the morning, at the same time they look for food and feed themselves, and on a hot day they rest in the shade of trees. These kangaroos are mostly solitary. Adult males strictly guard their territory, not allowing competitors there, while females are allowed to enter. On this basis, males often flare up conflicts, so you can see Bennett's wallaby with scars or even a missing ear, which he lost in an unequal battle.
Areas of reddish-gray kangaroos are mainly located around large trees. During the day, they are almost invisible, since during the day's rest, they climb high on a tree, and hide behind leaves and vines.
If these kangaroos live in favorable places where food is abundant, there are sources of water, there is no shortage of shelters, then wallabies can form groups in which a social hierarchy is established.
Wallaby breeding
Wallaby Bennett live in rainforests, where there are small differences between seasons, so they reproduce at almost any time, but more often until July. Females give birth to only one cub.
Pregnancy lasts a little over a month, then a very small kangaroo is born, weighing 1 gram. But he clearly follows in the right direction, making his way into the mother's bag, where he will feed and grow until he becomes independent. This will be when he is 9 months old. In the meantime, a few minutes after birth, he firmly clings to the nipple, from where he receives the milk he needs so much. The baby is still weak and undeveloped, he cannot even suck. Therefore, for the first months, the female mother, contracting special muscles, injects milk into his mouth in portions herself.
In the mother's bag, the baby is warm, here he continues to grow and develop. Along with this process, the composition of milk and its quantity change. In the first six months, he receives milk, in which more than half of the dry matter is carbohydrates. Then the amount of fat gradually increases, and carbohydrates practically disappear by 8-9 months.
But the bag contains space not only for this cub, but also for its younger brother or sister. When the newborn is several days old, the female mates again. But this embryo will be born later than the older kangaroo. This process is very interestingly regulated.
The older baby is no longer sucking milk as intensely as before, since he is already leaving the bag and begins to feed on leaves and grass. This enables the second embryo to develop again.
The female wallaby bennett has 4 nipples. A couple of days before the birth of the second baby, the mother tidies up her bag and does not allow the grown kangaroo to suck milk yet. When the younger offspring is born, gets to the bag and takes the nipple intended for him in his mouth, then the older cub can continue to feed on milk. It will be different in number and composition for the two cubs. What was described above.
In a month, the grown older kangaroo will leave the bag. But he will still be near his mother. Grown up males leave her when they are 2 years old, and females can be near their mother, on her territory, all their lives. Females enter puberty at 14 and males at 19 months.
Keeping wallaby bennett in captivity
At first glance, it seems problematic to keep a kangaroo of this species in captivity, but it is not. It is enough to build an open-air cage five by five meters and put there a small insulated house that he needs. There the kangaroo will be able to hide from the rain, shelter from the wind and cold. This is how the acquired wallaby kangaroo is kept. When he gets used to the new living conditions, then he will move freely throughout the site, but when he wants to, he can rest again or wait out the bad weather in his small dwelling.
In winter, Bennett's wallaby will be able to withstand frost down to -10 ° C, but the main thing is that the kangaroo's dwelling should be dry. Therefore, put sawdust there and lay a thick layer of hay. But the animal will not be there all the time in winter. Bennett loves to wander in the snow, and they go into their home to warm up, sleep or eat.
Their winter diet in captivity consists of hay, vegetables, rusks, fruits, grain, and a certain amount of compound feed. In the summer they are fed mainly with grass, with the addition of grains and fruits. They need to be given fresh branches of fruit trees with buds and leaves and acacia trees.
Remember that kangaroos are shy animals. If you have a dog, introduce your new pet gradually. After all, frightened, a kangaroo can, in a panic, run away, crash against an obstacle.
If you want to buy a kangaroo, it is better to get a pair, ideally one male and two or three females, but you can also buy one kangaroo animal. The price for it ranges from 100 to 200 thousand rubles. You can buy a wallaby bennett kangaroo for $ 1250.
Then you will acquire an affectionate, good-natured animal, which, if treated well, will become your faithful friend for 10-12 years. That is how long they live in good conditions in captivity, and less in nature.
For more information on wallaby bennett, see this video: