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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 47(2)

Patterns of breeding in the parma wallaby revealed by camera trapping in northern New South Wales and insights for post-wildfire recovery

Ross L. Goldingay https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6684-9299 A *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Faculty of Science and Engineering, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia.

* Correspondence to: ross.goldingay@scu.edu.au

Handling Editor: Graeme Coulson

Australian Mammalogy 47, AM24034 https://doi.org/10.1071/AM24034
Submitted: 4 October 2024  Accepted: 12 June 2025  Published: 27 June 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Australian Mammal Society.

Abstract

Understanding breeding patterns of mammals can be critical to understanding how they may be affected by disturbances such as wildfire, and to formulating conservation programs. I describe the breeding pattern of the parma wallaby (Notomacropus parma), a nationally-listed vulnerable species, on the New England Tableland in northern New South Wales. Remote cameras that operated continuously over a 17-month period produced frequent detections of parma wallabies at 17 sites. Camera images produced evidence of breeding in the form of females with obvious swollen pouches and young-at-foot. This evidence suggested that 45 separate breeding events were documented. Published records of offspring development were used to estimate birth months. Births occurred in every month except August. On a seasonal basis, few (11%) occurred in winter and most occurred in spring (38%). Females produced 1–4 young per site, equating to 1.9 per year per site. This frequency of offspring production aligns with what has been described in captivity, suggesting that breeding was not impaired 3–4 years after a wildfire. This study has further confirmed the potential to use camera trapping to describe aspects of the breeding pattern in a cryptic marsupial.

Keywords: Barool National Park, camera monitoring, Gibraltar Range National Park, macropod, pouch young, reproduction, vulnerable species, Washpool National Park.

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