Top 10 Incredible Wallaby Facts
1 : Australia supplies 50% of the world’s opium for legal painkillers. Opium is made from the fluid inside poppy plants which grow in large fields across the continent.
2 : Wallabies have been in Scotland since the 1940s. Fiona Gore, Countess of Arran, brought them to Inchconnachan, an island in Loch Lomond.
3 : Ectoparasites like ticks frequently pester wallabies in the wild. Ticks attach themselves to a wallaby’s neck and ears when it bends down to eat or drink.
4 : Humans brought wallabies to a zoo in Hawaii during the early 1900s. In 1916, a small population of rock wallabies escaped the zoo, never to be captured.
5 : Conservationists attempted to capture the remaining 14 in the wild and breed them in captivity to save them from extinction. Their attempt did not go as planned.
6 : Conservationists attempted to capture the remaining 14 in the wild and breed them in captivity to save them from extinction. Their attempt did not go as planned.
7 : Forget dogs; get a wallaby! Officials in the Netherlands decided to tackle the growing problem of people owning exotic pets by introducing an animal welfare policy.
8 : They are very fragile and underdeveloped. Minutes after being born, the joey climbs into its mother’s pouch and nurses safely until it’s ready to face the world.
9 : They are very fragile and underdeveloped. Minutes after being born, the joey climbs into its mother’s pouch and nurses safely until it’s ready to face the world.
10 : A group of divers off the coast of New South Wales had to cut their trip short after they spotted a wallaby over half a mile from the shore.