Lake Mackay hare-wallaby

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Lake Mackay hare-wallaby (Lagorchestes asomatus), also called the central hare-wallaby or kuluwarri, is an extinct marsupial that once lived in central Australia. Only one skull ever survived, collected in 1932 by Michael Terry between Mount Farewell and Lake Mackay in the Northern Territory. Aboriginal people also spoke of it.

Description and life: It is described as having soft, long grey fur, especially on the tops of its feet, with a short, thick tail. It hopped like a kangaroo and was about the size of a rabbit or boodie. Most accounts say it usually produced one offspring at a time.

Habitat and behavior: The hare-wallaby sheltered in spinifex grasses, making grass-lined nests or shallow burrows. It fed on grass leaves, seeds, and desert quandong fruit, using spinifex and nearby shrubs for cover.

Range and environment: It lived in the central and western deserts of Australia, notably in areas with sand plains and dunes that held spinifex. The Tanami Desert (in the Northern Territory) is a typical home, with dry, warm weather and an arid climate.

Decline and extinction: Its numbers were wiped out by a combination of threats, including feral cats and foxes, competition from rabbits, droughts and wildfires, and habitat loss from pastoral development that removed important shelter grasses. The Lake Mackay hare-wallaby disappeared sometime between the 1940s and 1960s.