What Do Wallaroos Eat?

What do wallaroos eat? Wallaroos are herbivorous animals: they only consume vegetables and never meat. However, there are actually four different wallaroos species and they all have slightly different diets, of which different plant types are consumed. What do wallaroos eat? As you know, wallaroos are native to Australia. Their diet will be closely linked to their geographic range, habitat and environment. In this article, you’ll learn what do wallaroos eat?

Wallaroo Types

What do wallaroos eat? As we stated in the introduction, there are different types of wallaroos. There are even marsupials which people put under the wallaroos banner that are technically different animals. While they all have similar abilities in terms of what food they can digest, but their diet is not going to be the same. This has a lot to do with the geography of where they live, wallaroos food changing according to what’s available in their location:

Antilopine Wallaroos 

What do wallaroos eat? Live in the grasslands, flat plains and forests of North Australia. This species, though reclusive, is more sociable than other species of wallaroos.

Eastern Ray Wallaroos 

What do wallaroos eat? They are the most widespread species. They reside in the most fertile regions of Australia. This is the second largest wallaroos, and their build is more muscular and stockier than that of the red wallaroos.

Red Wallaroos 

They are the largest wallaroos, and also the largest marsupial in the world. Red wallaroos are as tall as 2 m and can weight up to 90 kg. They are found in dry, arid parts of Australia.

Western Gray Wallaroos

What do wallaroos eat? They are found in southern and southwestern areas of Australia. They stand at about 1.3 m tall, and thus they are the smallest wallaroos. However, the generic term often also includes other marsupial species within the macropod subfamily, including the following:

Tree – Wallaroos

Tree-wallaroos are an arboreal marsupial genus that includes 12 different species. They can be found in northeastern Australia, and also in New Guinea and other Oceanic islands. Wallabies are difficult to define, because there are many different species across Australia and New Guinea. Wallaroos are halfway in size between wallabies and wallaroos. The black wallaroo can be found in the rocky region of Arnhem Land in northern Australia, while the common wallaroo is more widespread across the island.

Wallaroo Diet

What do wallaroos eat? A wallaroos may enjoy a delicious carrot, but the problem is where would they get it from. As the four species of wallaroos live in different parts of Australia, the diet of each one differs according to the landscape and its flora. However, they will always eat food which is high in fiber and low on protein.

All types of macropods have large chambered stomachs which contain bacteria that break down fibrous food. In other words, wallaroosare ruminant animals. This allows wallaroos to digest cellulose, something that other mammals such as ourselves can’t do.

Specialized Teeth

What do wallaroos eat? Wallaroos have evolved specialized teeth: they have incisor and molar teeth in the back to crop and grind the grass respectively. This grass is abrasive, and eventually the teeth are ground down until they fall out. More teeth are grown in the back, and they move forward to replace the lost ones.

Omnivorous Animals

What do wallaroos eat? Eastern and Western gray wallaroos eat mainly grass, while red wallaroos graze on grasses as well as browsing shrubs. They are all terrestrial wallaroos, meaning that they live on the land and feed mostly on the leaves and grass within their reach. They consume less water, and in fact red wallaroos are so well adapted to dry environments that they can go without water for months. In general, wallaroos do not eat aromatic plants.

What do wallaroos eat? On the other hand, tree-wallaroos usually feed directly from trees, which they can access easily with the help from their longer tail. They not only feed on leaves, but also on fruits and complex vegetable matter such as bark, seeds, flowers and sap. They prefer bamboo, maple and willow branches. There are some instances of omnivorous tree-wallaroos that also eat bird’s eggs.

Baby Wallaroo Food

What do wallaroos eat? An infant wallaroos is called a joey. Marsupials are born before they are fully developed. As their pregnancy is very short, they are blind, hairless and very, very small. In the case of terrestrial wallaroos, the joey climbs into the mother’s pouch and survives on its mother’s milk for close to 9 months.

During the last weeks, the joey’s head will already be visible in its mother’s pouch, peeking out curiously and likely looking for wallaroos food. It begins to go out, returning to the pouch, until it moves out for good and graduates into an herbivorous diet.

Feeding Pet Wallaroos

What do wallaroos eat? Although wallaroos are very rarely pets, they are kept in domestic settings for different reasons. This is usually to do with conservation issues and special considerations. Knowing what food do wallaroos eat is one of the most important. Their diet in captivity will be different as to when they are in the wild. 

Conclusion

What do wallaroos eat? Wallaroos are pretty populous in Australia and are not considered threatened. They are so commonplace that wild wallaroos will walk about in national parks and even areas which are not considered very remote. People in the area, particularly tourists who are excited about the novelty of these indigenous creatures, may want to feed them for a photo op or just to have an interaction.

This is why people want to know what a wallaroos eats or what plants do wallaroos eat. In knowing this, they can feed them without worrying about hurting their digestive system.

What do wallaroos eat? Sticking to the list of what does a wallaroos like to eat will mean you won’t have to worry about poisoning them. Don’t feed them meat, chocolate or any overly sweet or processed foods. They may want to eat some of this food, but it won’t be good for them. Sticking to fruit for wallaroos or suitable vegetables is much better.