Meet the Rock Wallabies

A trio of yellow-footed rock wallabies have hopped into the Australian Walkabout on Discovery Trail. The new wallabies share their home with Western great grey kangaroos, Bennett’s wallabies, a Cape Barren goose and a pair of emu, giant flightless birds. The rock wallabies include a male, “Darwin,” who hails from Lowry Park Zoo in Florida, and two females, “Sydney” and “Adelaide,” who came to Brooklyn all the way from Australia’s Adelaide Zoo.

Rock wallabies live in rocky outcroppings in South Australia and New South Wales. Their extra large hind feet act like off-road car tires, with extra padding and bumps for traction that give them excellent jumping abilities. Rock wallabies can jump more than twice their height and make truly spectacular leaps by “cannoning” off upright surfaces, sending them up to 16 feet through the air.

Updated: 11/04/2009