From 2008 to 2018, red-and-grey wallabies, small kangaroos from the Eastern part of Australia were found almost a hundred times in the UK. This conclusion was reached by a team of specialists from University College Dublin and the University of South Wales.
Initially, kangaroos lived only in Australia and New Guinea, but thanks to humans, the biogeographic boundaries have become much less strong. Today, wild kangaroo populations originating from escaped animals have appeared in New Zealand, Hawaii, and even in Europe. For example, in addition to the UK, wallabies can already be found in France and Ireland.
The species entered the UK in the first half of the 20th century.A few decades ago, there were only two populations of these marsupials in the country, the ancestors of which were purposefully released into the wild individuals.
The group that lived in the Peak District National Park was closely monitored until 2008, but then the kangaroos disappeared in the Park.Most scientists are convinced that the population did not die out, but managed to reach the island on the Scottish Loch Lomond, where wallabies still exist perfectly well.
The researchers decided to investigate whether wallabies live in other areas of the UK and, if so, whether kangaroos are able to form viable populations. To answer this question, the researchers used the posts of popular bloggers on Facebook and Twitter, information from national and regional news sites, and data provided by environment-oriented organizations.
From this set of information, there were selected only reliable cases, those that were supported by photographs or evidence of several independent observers. In addition to dubious reports, the research authors excluded data on escaped wallabies and soon-to-be-captured wallabies.
A total of 95 out of 139 messages were suitable for analysis. Almost always they were solitary animals, but twice there were reports about females with a cub in a marsupium this may indicate that the species is breeding successfully in the UK. However, experts have not eliminated the possibility that the females may become pregnant in captivity.
According to the authors, this is the first attempt to estimate the number and spread of British wallabies. Meetings with these animals turned out to be quite frequent, but it is difficult to say whether there are really more.
In the investigation, it is named several places in the South of Great Britain, for example, in Cornwall, and in a protected area on the Chiltern hills, where wallabies are quite common, so if somewhere these marsupials strike root, it is most probably here.
Alien species are usually considered a threat to local ecosystems, but it is not yet clear whether red-and-grey kangaroos pose a hazard to British species.So far, there are no signals indicating it.
In Ireland and France, they live peacefully with the local flora and fauna.However, the authors call for careful research into the impact of wallabies on British vegetation, as well as the possible role of kangaroos in spreading infections.
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