Stinkers in the garden

For some reason Wallabies don’t seem to panic as easily as Grey Kangaroos. They can be quite approachable particular in areas where they have become accustomed to people walking around. As long as you don’t cut off their escape paths they are happy to keep eating and just keep an eye on you. We recently saw a few Black or Swamp Wallabies at Cranbourne Botanical Gardens – woodlands area. They are usually on their own or with a joey.  We were able to take a few shots and slowly creep forward before they ambled off. They have nice colouring especially in late afternoon sun light. The Grey Kangaroos were much more flighty and generally took off as soon as they saw us.

According to Wiki, the swamp wallaby (Wallabia bicolor)  has some unusual names that I have not heard of before including black-tailed wallaby, fern wallaby, black pademelon, stinker (in Queensland), and black stinker (in New South Wales) due to its characteristic swampy odour (which we did not smell on this occasion but now I am curious).