Wirra

Description

I was born and raised at Waterfall Springs breeding facility and released into the magical Kangaroo Valley River colony in October 2012 – with my friend Flower – when I was 2 years old.

My Dad Warrigal used to live right here and my Mum Selina was from the Watagans. My parents were specially chosen from their surviving wild populations and bred in the relative safety of captivity so that their children could be re-introduced back into tiny populations threatened by fox predation and loss of genetic diversity. My family is helping to save my species from extinction.

I was radio-tracked by NPWS friends for the first year of my new life in the wild colony. Now the collar’s off I can be identified by a puncture hole near the tip of my left ear, the result of a tiny piece of skin being collected for DNA sampling before I was released.

DNA can be used to determine relations to others of my species, especially offspring. DNA samples can sometimes be obtained from the surface of our fresh scats collected within our habitat.

My name is short for Wirrabara – an Aboriginal name meaning forest of gum trees and running water … and a fitting description of my magic cliff-side home. I look like one of the locals, having inherited from Dad the beautiful dark reddish tinged fur of the resident Rock-wallabies. I am keeping my Dad’s genes alive here with a teenage son Gingernut and another joey in the pouch.

Find out if our joeys survive in the Friends of the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby E-newsletter, and learn more about our unique way of life from your adoption pack. Thanks for helping to save my species.