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Rothschild's rock-wallaby (''Petrogale rothschildi'') – sometimes known as the Roebourne rock-wallaby, is a species of macropod found in
Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
, in the
Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, sparsely populated regions of Western Australia, region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people; wealth disparity; its ancient landscapes; the prevailing r ...
district and the Dampier Archipelago. It is not currently considered to be threatened, but is at risk from the
red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia, plus ...
(''Vulpes vulpes''). Rothschild's rock-wallaby is one of the largest rock-wallabies. It is predominantly golden-brown in colour with a greyish wash down its neck, which often has a purple appearance. It is mainly a
nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...
grass-eater usually found around rocky ground.


Taxonomy

''Petrogale rothschildi'' was first described by
Oldfield Thomas Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist. Career Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for ...
in 1904, describing a skin provided by J. T. Tunney's collection from the Northwest of Australia. Tunney's specimen was a female's skin, without a skull, collected in July 1901 at Cossack River. Thomas saw an affinity with what was termed the ''Petrogale pencillatus-lateralis'' group, but distinguished enough characteristics to propose a new species of the rock wallabies. The author honoured a patron of Tunney's expeditions in the naming of the species, Walter Rothschild, whose special interest in
Macropodidae Macropodidae is a Family (biology), family of marsupials that includes kangaroos, Wallaby, wallabies, tree-kangaroos, wallaroos, pademelons, quokkas, and several other groups. These genera are allied to the suborder Macropodiformes, containing ...
was also noted.


Description

Described as one of the most appealing species of '' Petrogale'', the rock wallabies, it is also one of the largest of the genus. The fur colour at the upperside is a golden shade of brown, becoming greyish at the shoulders and rear of the neck. The top of the head and muzzle is dark brown, contrasting the paler grey-buff at the lower muzzle that extends below the eyes to the upper surface of the ear. The pelage sometimes has a purplish hue, most evident at the shoulder and head. The head and body length combined is 470–600 millimetres, with a long tail recorded as 550–700 mm; the colour of the tail becomes dark brown for around a third of its length. The length of the ear from its point to the base is 56 mm. The weight range of ''Petrogale rothschildi'' is 3.7–6.6 kilograms. The population found at the islands of the Dampier Archipelago are smaller than those on the mainland, the weight range is from 2.6 to 3.5 kilograms.


Behaviour and habitat

The species seeks shelter during the day in the cooler temperatures provided by the crevices and caves of its favoured habitat. They are highly secretive in their behaviour and use the rocky terrain to remain hidden or inaccessible to predators. Rothchild's rock-wallaby occurs at hummocks of vegetation covering scree slopes, around boulder piles and on cliff faces. They feed nocturnally beyond their daytime refuge, venturing out to seek green vegetation such as grasses on the surrounding sand plains. ''P. rothschildi'' requires access to water and foraging areas close to its refuge. The diet includes buffel grass, herbaceous plants and fruits of native ''Ficus'' species and prickly pear is consumed by the introduced population at West Lewis Island. The range of diurnal refuge for the species is most frequently at caves, crevices or the collapse of cliffs, but it extends to include records of occupancy at features such as displaced rock piles and rail embankments created by the region's iron ore mining operations.


Distribution and range

Found only in the Ashburton and
Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, sparsely populated regions of Western Australia, region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people; wealth disparity; its ancient landscapes; the prevailing r ...
regions, they are known at Burrup Peninsula and both the Chichester Range and
Hamersley Range The Hamersley Range is a mountainous region of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The range was named on 12 June 1861 by explorer Francis Thomas Gregory after Edward Hamersley, a prominent promoter of his exploration expedition to the ...
s. ''Petrogale rothschildi'' also occurs on islands of the Dampier Archipelago, these are Burrup,
Dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...
, Enderby and
Rosemary ''Salvia rosmarinus'' (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers. It is a member of the sage family, Lamiaceae. The species is native to the Mediterranean r ...
islands. As a result of sand mining operations on Enderby Island, a translocation of a group was successfully undertaken to the nearby West Lewis Island. The area occupied in historical periods is not known to have significantly contracted. The distribution range has been extended to the south and east on contemporary sighting information collected in 2013. The southernmost records are from Newman to the south-west at Barlee Range and Wanna Station. Any former overlap in range with ''Petrogale lateralis lateralis'', at an easternmost boundary, has not been determined. They are recorded as far north as Marble Bar and to the west at Woodstock Station.


Conservation

The species is not noted on state or federal Australian conservation listings. A Western Australian management plan published in 2013 included ''P. rothschildi'' amongst the five species of rock wallaby identified for recovery actions to protect them from threatening factors to the populations. The introduction of the red fox ''
Vulpes vulpes The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia, plus ...
'' is assumed to have caused local extinctions, as reported at the East and West Intercourse islands, and declines in other localities. Fox control programs have improved the population trajectory where declines had been recorded. The shifting coastal terrain allows occasional access for red foxes to island refuges of ''P. rothschildi'', causing periodic threats to these populations. The species has been displaced by mining of iron ore in the region, and proposals for future ventures are expected to impact a larger area of its range. Translocation where these operations have removed their habitat have also been undertaken. The increased road traffic associated with the natural gas industry of northwest Australia has resulted in a greater number of these wallabies becoming road fatalities.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q209117 Macropods Mammals of Western Australia Marsupials of Australia Mammals described in 1904 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas